textweek

Blog Break

I'm in the middle of an overwhelming few weeks. I'll plan to get back to the blogging (hopefully more consistently!) with the week of Pentecost. My apologies! Jenee

John 10 & Easter 4A

Some commentary/reflections I’ve found especially helpful this week:

Don’t miss "The 'Noble' Shepherd in John 10: Cultural And Rhetorical Background," Jerome H. Neyrey, Journal of Biblical Literature 120 (2001): 267-91. Neyrey interprets the death of Jesus in the gospel of John as the death of the "Noble Shepherd" of John 10. He also finds the adjective for the shepherd, within the honor/shame domain rather than the good/ideal/true domain. While Neyrey specifically refers to John 10:11-18, there are implications for our passage for this week as well.

"We propose to examine Greek rhetorical literature on "noble death" to discover the rich complex of terminology, reasons and motifs whereby the ancients labeled a death as "noble." Our hypothesis is that the labeling of the shepherd as "noble" reflects the rhetoric topos of "noble death" in the Hellenistic world. As a result, we shall come to see that 10:11-18 is not a sequence of miscellaneous remarks, but is structured like the topos on noble death found in Greek rhetoric."

At The Center for Liturgy, St Louis University, John J Pilch’s Historical Cultural Context for this week includes:

"At the implicit level, Jesus seems to be attacking the Jerusalem priests and the Pharisees. Leading sheep in and out echoes the symbolic description of Joshua in Numbers 27:16-17. Moses is urged to "appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd." The leaders of Jesus' time are not doing this (see Mark 6:34).

"At the explicit level, Jesus identifies himself as the gate. This image, however, is interpreted in two senses. In verse 8, Jesus notes that any shepherd who approaches the sheep other than through him (the gate) is a thief and bandit. In verses 9-10, Jesus is the gate through which the sheep must pass to gain life, salvation. This interpretation fits the parable in verses l-3a rather clumsily; it must have been torn from a different setting (Ps 118:20; see John 14:6).

"To find pasture is to find life. Sheep who seek pasture through Jesus find life, life in abundance (v. 10). The thief can offer only theft, destruction, and death. Such a shepherd contrasts starkly with Jesus the gate and the noble shepherd, the figure to which Jesus turns attention in the subsequent section."

At Preaching Peace commentary, Easter 4A, Jeff Krantz & Michael Hardin:

"Sir Edwin Hoskyns, The Fourth Gospel, is essential reading on this passage. ‘Through the life and death of Jesus, Christians not only have life, but have it abundantly. This does not mean that they have life more richly than other people. Their life is different in kind; and it is abundant because it is life according to the will of God; and, in being the consequence of [God’s] action, it is measureless and unlimited.’"

At Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary, Easter 4, by Paul Nuechterlein & Friends.

"A crucial question -- perhaps the crucial question -- in interpreting John 10 is what is so hard for us to get about this otherwise seemingly transparent, though admittedly dense, metaphor. Verse 6 says, "Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them." What is so hard for us to understand? Could it be the allusion to the Sheep Gate that Gil Bailie features in his interpretation above?

"The latter gets my vote. Bailie points to the mentioning of the Sheep Gate of Jerusalem in John 5:2 as a clue to which gate is meant here in John 10. I find the entire context of John's Gospel to be even more compelling. The first thing that someone in John's Gospel tells us about Jesus is that he is the Lamb of God who takes the sin of the world (1:29). The narration of the Passion story carefully places Jesus' slaughter on the Passover. I think that this Good Shepherd passage needs to be understood in that larger context of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Thus, he can also be seen as the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep into the paddock of the Passover sacrificial slaughter and then goes before them, taking their place. During this Easter season he can then also be the Risen Lamb of God who shepherds the sheep safely back out."

At "Shepherding Communities," Process and Faith Lectionary Commentary, Bruce Epperly, "...bringing process-relational thought to people of faith."

"John 10:10 is one my favorite passages and has been central to my understanding of God: "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly." God wants us not only to live, as Whitehead says, but to live well and then live better. God is truly on your side, but God is also on everyone’s side. God wants all creation to have abundant life. While we are often cross purposes, God still presents us with the vision of the peaceable reign, the world of shalom, in which all creatures live in harmony. In light of today’s readings, we can only have abundant life in the context of a shepherding community, that is, a community of faithful and intentional companions who live by a vision of wholeness and justice, and practice this vision on a daily basis. With whom can you embody this vision of divine abundance? How can your congregation live out healthy community that embraces the world?"

From "The Voice of the Shepherd," Carol Hampton, Proclaiming Gospel Justice: Reflections on the Scriptures and Progressive Spirituality, The Witness, 2005.

"This gospel reading carries a certain exclusivity. The very nature of any revelation that claims to bring salvation excludes those who have not or choose not to hear the message. Yet, the gate opens to admit those who follow a different voice for the protection of all. The offer is open to all. When morning comes, the sheep follow the voice that they recognize as their shepherd. We follow Jesus because his is the voice that we know will lead us out to the lane that brings us to the heavenly city.

"Jesus calls us to help keep the gate, to open the gate by opening Jesus' word, preaching Jesus' good news to those who have not yet heard it. Jesus calls us to shepherd his flock, to speak in a voice his own can recognize as coming from him. Do we speak with his familiar voice? Can others hear his voice in ours?"

Luke 24 & Easter 3A

Some commentary/reflections I’ve found especially helpful this week:

Check out this image of the Emmaus text by Emmanuel Garibay, Philippines, and the commentary below it. What does it mean to encounter Christ in others? What does it mean to “contextualize the concept of faith within the culture?” What does it mean to be TRULY surprised by Christ/God beyond the rhetoric of "surprise" we "allow" within our own constructions?

From The Word Embodied, John Kavanaugh, S. J. of Saint Louis University:

The story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus presents a strange state of affairs indeed. Jesus was more with them on their journey, even in their doubt and unbelief, than when they actually saw and recognized him and finally believed. And it was only in retrospect that they could see that their hearts were enkindled as they were walking and talking on the road—even though they did not know that it was he who was explaining the scriptures to them.

At Preaching Peace commentary, Easter 3A, Jeff Krantz & Michael Hardin:

I suspect Kierkegaard would have loved today’s text from the Gospel of Luke. It is about misrecognition and the grounding of true cognition. Ricouer, I think, would point out the structure of this misrecognition. Both would have observed the alterity (‘otherness’) of Jesus. When Karl Barth was a young pastor, he also wrote about the problem of our misrecognition of God and spoke of God as ‘wholly other than’ the god of our religion.

At Richard Burgess’s Pericope Study, Easter 3A:

I have outlined this passage in the form of a miracle story. What is the significance of the form to the content of the story? What is the significance of the chiasm surrounding words and meal with Jesus?

From "Raymond's Commentary," William Blaine-Wallace, Proclaiming Gospel Justice: Reflections on the Scriptures and Progressive Spirituality, The Witness, 2005.

With hands carrying carefully prepared recipes of compassion, we are apt to trip over the rug of our cultural biases and power advantage, spilling our good will in the laps of those we seek to serve. Godly hospitality is a moveable feast, moved from the hearth of the server to the hearth of the served. The server is de-centered. The served are centered. The server becomes the awkward and disempowered guest, the one interpreted rather than interpreting. In such a position of vulnerability, the server's good will more likely pertains. The server's care is relevant and related.

Also at The Witness, "The Truth Is: We Don't Know," Isaac Miller:

I read this text as an effort to encourage the remnant church to wrestle with its tendency toward a certain self-righteousness and arrogance. The message and the hope of the Emmaus Road is perhaps a broader call to humility in times where faith assertions all seem qualified, and truth elusive and beyond us all…

Against this background, the Resurrection is the experience in which we are set free from bondage and death in a dull "thingified" world, in which we, too, are ultimately things, and the Eucharist, the dramatic sacrament of Jesus love and sacrifice, is the essence of the community in which our humanity is confirmed as we are set free to be humble -- in the Beatitudes, the word is "meek," I imagine.

Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen at CrossMarks Christian Resources.

"There is a time to speak and a time to listen. Sometimes resurrection enthusiasm needs some damping. Similarly, as soon as they recognize that it is Jesus who is with them, he disappears. Just when we think we've got Jesus all figured out -- he pulls a new trick."