Scriptural accuracy, spelling, or grammar the wisdom of the wise

THE GATHERING OF THE CROP BEGINS

“Then Philip went down to a Samaritan city and preached to them about Christ. 6 And when the people of that place heard his word, they gave heed and listened attentively to everything Philip said, because they saw the miracles which he did.” (Acts 8:5, 6)

PETER BRINGS THE KEYS TO THE CITY

“Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that the Samaritan people had accepted the word of God, they sent to them Simon Peter and John, 15 who, when they went down prayed over them that they might receive the HOLY SPIRIT. 16 For as yet it had not come upon them although they had been baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the HOLY SPIRIT.” (Acts 8:14-16) Peshitta text

THE KEYS USED

1. 
   In the 3^rd hour to the Jews – Acts 2:15
   
2. 
   In the 6^th hour to the Samaritans – John 4:6; Acts 8:17
   
3. 
   In the 9^th hour to the Gentiles – Acts 10:3
   
4. 
   In the11th hour to all the world in the 1900’s A.D. + Paul the Learner
   

10. 
    The Surprise of the Discovery of the True Savior of the World
    

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:39-42)

The Samaritans were not anticipating a messianic ruler, as were the Jews, but rather a Taheb [prophet] who was modeled after Deuteronomy 18:18, which says, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” The Taheb was to be a teacher like Moses. After spending some time with Jesus, their vision was stretched to look beyond a teacher to a Savior. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eves by Kenneth E. Bailey Paul the Learner

THE WISDOM OF GOD

The Syro-Phoenician Woman

Text Matthew 15:21-28

This story is often viewed as a troubling embarrassment. A sincere foreign woman seeks help from Jesus. At first he ignores her. He then appears to exhibit racism and insensitivity to her suffering as he insults her in public. Yes, he does finally heal her daughter, but only after the mother demonstrates a willingness to be publicly humiliated. Why, the reader inevitably asks, is this poor woman “put through the wringer” before Jesus accepts to exorcise the demon from her daughter? These serious concerns virtually guarantee the authenticity of the story. How then can the story be best understood?

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. (15:21-28)

1. 
   And behold, a Canaanite woman from that
   

Region came out and cried, “Have mercy on THE WOMAN’S REQUEST

Me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is No Healing Word

Severely possessed by a demon.” But he did

Not answer her a word.

2. 
   And his disciples came and begged him, saying,
   

“Send her away, for she is crying after us.” Jesus for lost sheep of Israel

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep

Of the house of Israel

3. 
   But she came and knelt before him, saying,
   

“Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not The Parable of Children,

Fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to bread and dogs

Little dogs.”

4. 
   She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs Jesus for the woman of
   

Eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s Great Faith

Table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman,

Great is your faith!”

5. 
   “Be it done for you as you desire.” THE WOMAN’S REQUEST
   

And her daughter was healed instantly. A Healing Word

THE RHETORIC

The outer bookends are composed of the woman’s request (1) and a final healing word from Jesus (5). In the opening scene Jesus is uncharacteristically silent. A word is requested and denied. At the conclusion of the story the healing word is given. In the middle there are three dialogues involving Jesus, the disciples and the woman. In the first of this trilogy:

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(2) Jesus affirms his task as a good shepherd seeking the lost sheep in the house of Israel.

(3) In the very center Jesus breaks into metaphorical language with a mini parable about children, crumbs and little dogs.

This rhetorical feature also appears in Luke 7:36-50 where the parable of the creditor and the two debtors is in the center of the story.

(4) In scene four Jesus observes and affirms great faith in a Canaanite woman.

In each of these three scenes a statement is made to Jesus and he responds. The appearance of the disciples in the initial dialogue is unusual. The training of the disciples is a prominent feature in all four Gospels. But characteristically some story about Jesus takes place and at its conclusion the disciples pose a question seeking clarification, and Jesus offers some telling comment. Here the dialogue opens with an exchange between Jesus and the disciples. This initial conversation sets the tone for what follows, as we will see.

COMMENTARY

The scene takes place in a Gentile province. Clearly, Jesus could speak to the people, just as he was able to talk to Pilate, without need of a translator. More and more evidence from the first century in the Holy Land points to the fact that a great deal of Greek was spoken in Galilee at that time. Sepphorus, the new capital of Galilee, was four miles from Nazareth and a large Greek theater was constructed within it during the first century [reference Richard A. Batey, Jesus & the Forgotten City (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991) page 90].

The city itself was being built during the early life of Jesus, and Joseph (along with Jesus) may have found work there in the building trade. The natural assumption is that Jesus was able to converse in Greek. Thus he was able to talk to this non-Jewish woman either in Greek or Aramaic. The woman begins with the traditional cry of a beggar. “Have mercy on me.” (Luke 18:38). She reaches out to Jesus across two barriers. She is a woman, and Jesus is a man. Mark notes that early in his ministry Jesus became known in the region of Tyre and Sidon (Mark 3:7-8) clearly the woman have some prior knowledge of Jesus and of his compassion for all.

Her initial request is studied. She opens with the title Kyrie (Lord / Sir), to which she adds a relatively rare Jewish messianic title, “Son of David,” which implies some contact with Judaism. Without the second title it would be possible to translate Kyrie as “Sir.” But when she adds “Son of David,” she means more than “Sir.” For a Gentile woman to use this combination of titles with an itinerant Jewish teacher is quite unexpected.

Ibn al-Tayyib notes that the woman does not cry out, “O Lord, have mercy on my daughter,” but rather, ‘Have mercy on me.’ Her daughter could not feel her mother’s pain. And at the end Jesus does not say, ‘O woman your daughter is healed,’ but rather he says, ‘let it be to you as your desire.’ But this takes us ahead of the story to which we now must return.

THE WISDOM OF GOD

THE SILENCE THAT SPEAKS VOLUMS

Jesus responds to the woman’s request with silence. Is this indifference and rejection? Before drawing either conclusion it is important to note that Jesus is dealing with the woman and at the same time educating the disciples.

THE CRITICAL TEST

Here Jesus, like Elijah, is in the region of Sidon dealing with a Gentile widow who has a needy child. Like Elijah he begins with an exam. [Note the wisdom of God] only in Jesus’ case the exam process is carefully observed by his disciples. That is, the rabbinic scholar (Jesus) is reenacting his authoritative source (the story of Elijah) for the benefit of the woman and for the education of his graduate students (the disciples). In the process he not only heals the woman’s daughter but he gives the woman the privilege of earning the unfading honor of passing a very tough exam that immortalizes her.

The complete exam has three parts, of which this is only the first. Here Jesus pretends indifference as he sets the stage for his dialogue with his disciples and with the woman. Thus when Jesus did not respond to the woman’s plea, he was no doubt seen by the disciples as acting in an entirely appropriate manner. That is, by ignoring the woman’s desperate cries he appears to endorse views toward women with which the disciples were comfortable. This is clear from their response:

And his disciples came and begged him, saying, DISCIPLES

“Send her away, for she is crying after us.”

He answered, JESUS

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The text can be understood as follows; Jesus is irritated by the disciples’ attitudes regarding women and Gentiles. The woman’s love for her daughter and her confidence in him impress Jesus. He decides to use the occasion to help her and also challenge the deeply rooted prejudices in the hearts of his disciples. In the process he gives the woman a chance to expose the depts. Of her courage and faith.

QUESTION WILL SHE CATCH THE HINT?

This first round of the three-part dialogue was no doubt followed by a tense pause. Would the woman “catch the hint” and leave? She did not move because she believed Jesus did not mean it. With the implied affirmation she passed the first part of the exam.

The second stage of her exam was quick to follow. Was her concern for her child so deep and her confidence in the universal compassion and healing power of Jesus so profound that she would proceed with her request in spite of this apparent slamming of the door in her face?

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But she came and knelt before him, saying,

“Lord, help me.” WOMAN

And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread And Jesus

And throw it to the [little] dogs.”

Her response is both moving and magnificent. She omits the messianic title and the beggar’s traditional petition. With the sobbing screams of her child ringing in her ears, she kneels in stark simplicity before Jesus and reduces her request to an elemental cry of an anguished human soul, “Lord, help me!” She may not be aware of the story of Elijah and the woman of Zarephath, but the disciples know it well. They are also familiar with the classical prophetic concern for the widow and the orphan.

Thus far in his ministry Jesus’ compassion for all was constantly on display and the disciples could not have missed it. Only the hardest of hearts would be unmoved by the woman’s dramatic action and her simple yet desperate words. Will Jesus venture beyond his mandate to serve Israel and help this Gentile? Not quite yet. Jesus chooses to take the theological attitudes of the disciples and press them to their ultimate conclusion with an absurd conclusion. If effect, Jesus tells the disciples, “You will be happy if I get rid of this woman, and limit my ministry to Israel. Very well, I will verbalize where YOUR THEOLOGY leads us.

This will give you a chance to observe the response of this ‘unclean” Gentile woman.” Jesus here gives concrete expression to the theology of his narrow-minded disciples, who want the Canaanite woman dismissed. The verbalization is authentic to their attitudes and feelings, but shocking when put into words and thrown in the face of a desperate, kneeling woman pleading for the sanity of her daughter. It is acutely embarrassing to hear and see one’s deepest prejudices verbalized and demonstrated.

As that happens one is obliged to face those biases, often for the first time. The language Jesus uses is very strong. Dogs in Middle Eastern traditional culture, Jewish and non-Jewish, are almost as despised as pigs. Pigs are worse, but only slightly so. Dogs are never pets. They are kept as half-wild guard dogs or left to wonder unattended as dangerous street scavengers who subsist on garbage. Neglecting a beggar is one thing. But to insult her with such language is something else.

Yet the harsh language carries a touch of gentleness. Jesus speaks of the kynarion (diminutive of the noun kyon). These are “little dogs,” not sixty pound guard dogs that on one, aside from their handlers, dares approach. In spite of this, the language is still insulting. The reference to dogs is primarily for the disciples’ education. Jesus is saying to them, “I know you think Gentiles are dogs and you want me to treat them as such! But – PAY ATTENTION – this is where your biases lead. Are you comfortable with this scene?”

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Question How will she respond?

Her exam has reached its most demanding section. Will she reply with a corresponding insult against the haughty Jews who despise and verbally attack Gentiles, even those in pain? Or is her love for her daughter, and her faith that Jesus has the power of God to heal, her confidence that he has compassion for Gentiles and her commitment to him as Master / Lord so strong that she will absorb the insult and press on, yet again, with her request?

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the [little] dogs eat the [little] crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Then, Jesus answered her, “O WOMAN, GREAT IS YOUR FAITH!”

Superb! The woman passes the entire exam with flying colors! She accepts the insult and deftly turns it, with a touch of light humor, into a renewed request. She says,

Yes, I know that in your eyes we may appear as little dogs, and as little dogs we deserve nothing. But the little dogs are thrown the little pieces of bread (diminutive) at the end of the meal. You are still my Lord / Master. I know that you can heal and that you have compassion for all. Do you not have a crumb for my daughter?

The disciples are watching and listening. Indeed, in all Israel they have seen neither such total confidence in the person of Jesus in spite of neither his hard words nor such compassionate love for a sick child. Her response is a deadly blow to their carefully nurtured prejudices against women and Gentiles. A new paradigm of who God is and to whom he extends his love (through Jesus) will inevitable struggle to be born as a result of this dramatic scene.

“Be it done for you as your desire.” THE WOMAN’S REQUEST

And her daughter was healed instantly. A Healing Word

The silence with which Jesus began is now broken with a word of healing power. The verb “was healed” is in the passive. God restores the daughter through the agency of Jesus. The powerful word spoken by Jesus is a divine act. The woman is elevated as a gold medal Olympian in a great test of faith. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes Paul the Learner

THE WISDOM OF GOD

THE LADY IS NOT FOR STONING

Text John 7:53-8:11

ATONEMENT

Already in the New Testament there is serious reflection on this question. By the time Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, the church had already decided that the death of Jesus was different from the death of John the Baptist. To see the death of these two cousins as having the same meaning would have been easy. As young men, Jesus and John both labored to renew Israel and both were murdered for their efforts. But the reality of the resurrection led the followers of Jesus at an early stage to conclude, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). On what basis did they reach this conclusion said Newbigin.

A partial answer to this question can be found in the metaphors of the New Testament that describe this great mystery.

The first metaphor is the picture of a law court where the prisoner is condemned because of sin. The judge, in effect, says, “I will take the prisoner’s place.” Accordingly the judge steps down from the judicial bench and stands beside the prisoner saying, “I will die for the prisoner.” This picture is found behind the text in Romans 3:26 where God is both Just and the Justifier. He is himself just (on the cross a penalty is paid for sin) and the sinner is thereby declared “righteous,” that is, “being Justified” before the judge who himself paid the price for that justification.

The second metaphor is the sacrificial altar. Jesus is the lamb without blemish, which was an important part of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. Paul uses this picture in 1 Corinthians 5:7, where he affirms, “Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.”

The third metaphor is the picture of a battlefield. Jesus is described as the victor over sin and death. There has been a great confrontation between good and evil that Jesus won and is still wining. Paul thinks in these terms when he writes, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57)

The fourth metaphor is the language of a prisoner exchange. On occasion the Romans would lose a famous general to the enemies and would then negotiate the return of that general. The word they used for this was redemption. They would redeem the general. This language is used to describe our “redemption through his blood” (Ephesians 1:7)

The fifth metaphor is the slave manumission, where Paul writes to the Corinthians “You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The language is taken from the process of paying a price to set a slave free from bondage.

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The sixth metaphor is an idea that comes from wisdom literature. Turning once again to 1 Corinthians, Paul writes eloquently about the cross as the wisdom and power of God (1 Corinthians 1:17-2:2).

The seventh metaphor is the canceling of a bond. Jesus, through his death has stamped “paid” on the bond of our sins (Colossians 2:14).

Our eighth and finale metaphor is the picture of a triumphal procession. Jesus leads a triumphal procession over the powers of evil (Colossians 2:15).

Almost unconsciously, Christians connect sin and the death of Jesus using one or more of these pictures. But what about Jesus? Does he ever explain the meaning of his own suffering? It is my conviction that he does. One of the occasions in which his thinking is demonstrated is the dramatic account of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11). To this text we now turn, only to discover a textual problem.

A TEXTUAL DILEMMA

For centuries John 7:53-8:11 has been a challenge for biblical scholars. Many of the early manuscripts of the New Testament do not record it.

‘The Jesus saying I am the light of-the system the one-following to-me not no should be about treading in the darkness but will-be having the light of –the-life…’ In chapter 8 it begins at verse 12 so the first 11 verses are not found in the Greek Text of the fourth century.

8:1 Then Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 And in the morning he came again to the temple, and all the people were coming to him; and he sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in adultery; and they made her to stand in the midst….In the Peshitta text of 100 A.D you will find this story. Paul the Learner

Some modern translations place this story in the margins of the text. What can be said about this confusion?

One way to deal with this problem is to see this story as agrapha, an unwritten story known to the church and passed on in oral form and finally recorded in some copies of the Gospel of John. At some point in the early centuries scribes began to add it to the text. Others read it as fiction.

There is a third possible solution to this problem. For centuries traditional Meddle Eastern culture has understood the honor of the family to be attached to the sexual behavior of its women. Thereby in conservative traditional village life, woman who violate the sexual code are sometimes killed by their families. But in the early centuries of the life of the church it would have been very easy for the head of a household to take a copy of the Gospel of John to a professional copyist and say ‘I want a copy of this document. Please leave out the story of this adulterous woman, I don’t want my daughters doing this and saying Jesus forgave can you.

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THE TRAP

The issues were clear. Jesus had claimed to be the living water promised by God to his people [reference John 7:37-38; Isaiah 55:1-3] the Pharisees were upset over the Isaiah 55 passage. This challenge to them and their authority had been made on their turf. They had to respond, and their initial reaction was to craft an astute “game plan.” If they could humiliate Jesus in public by posing a question of interpretation of the law that Jesus could not answer without destroying himself, his popularity would fade quickly and their problem with him would be solved.

Presumably overnight they arrested a woman whom they claimed was “caught in the act of adultery” and held her for the showdown with Jesus. According to Jewish law the day after any major feast had to be observed as a Sabbath. On such a day, no work was allowed. On this “eighth day of the feast” Jesus returned to the temple area. A crowd quickly gathered. In good rabbinic style Jesus sat down (affirming his authority as a teacher) and began to teach them. Only then did the Pharisees make their move. They wanted witnesses, lots of them!

The scribes and Pharisees suddenly appeared and interrupted Jesus in front of his listeners. They brought with them the woman they had arrested the previous night, and publicly declared that she had been caught in the act of adultery. The inevitable question immediately arises: How do religious professionals catch a woman in the act of adultery? Furthermore, adultery is rather difficult to do alone, and if she was caught “in the act” her partner was seen and thereby identified. The law dictated that BOTH should be STONED (Leviticus 20:10).

Where was the man? And why did they not arrest both of them if they were so zealous for the law? The previous day these same leaders had invoked a curse on the crowds that did not know the law. Now they were violating the law in the name of enforcing it! What therefore was the real agenda? The fact that they brought the woman but not her male partner clearly indicates that their concern was not preservation of the law but rather the public humiliation of Jesus. The woman was merely a prop in their plan.