In these Notes for Liturgical Cycle A, the Gospel
according to Matthew developed into a
relationship between an aged rabbi and his Pharisaic brothers, whom Matthew tried to evangelize. One theme running
through Matthew was that the human
organization of this world would not be the organization of the Kingdom of God. Liturgical Cycle B leaves Matthew for a new and different focus on Mark.
The new and different idea to expect from these Notes
on Mark is overcoming evil makes God
present. This is a Latino idea, using a circular rather than a Western linear
sense of future oriented time. The idea
is not absolute, but relative to humans. Absolutely, of course, God is present
in all of his creation; but God is present to humans when they overcome evil by
being conscious of the presence of God.
The sense is like living in a small town, where a teen-ager
can go to the big city, and Mom knows all about it back in the small town
before she gets home. If the teen-ager’s conscience lets Mom, Mom is present no
matter where the teen-ager goes. God is present in a similar way. While God
overcomes evil, humans must let God do that within their own hearts. Overcoming
evil, thereby, makes God present.
The immediate scriptural issue for this Sunday is the
thirteenth chapter of Mark, wherein Mark has Jesus
warning his disciples to be on the alert for the coming of God. I think this
thirteenth chapter troubles exegetes because, how can the disciples be worrying
about the coming presence of God, when God is already present in the temple.
One scholar, P.M. Casey, suggests
Mark made up the story of the Temple; another scholar, David Seeley, suggests
Mark made up the story about watching
for the master to return home, both to suit the historical Jesus. All I am thinking is that exegetes have a
problem. I guess I lean toward the idea of the renewed presence of God with the
overcoming of evil, rather than too much of a focus on the Second Coming,
Parousia.
I have helped several people through their last illnesses
and have experienced the presence of God as they overcame the evil inherent in
their last illnesses with their love of God (and humans, like me). Isaiah 64:7
illustrates how the prophet drew the presence of God from misfortune, we are the clay and you the potter: we are all
the work of your hands.”
Isaiah 63:16b begins by addressing God directly, as father and redeemer. Exegetes involve this verse in a controversy over how
much Jews at the time of Jesus looked
for a Messiah.
Impatience with waiting for the Kingdom
of God can bring guilt. Isaiah
64:5 proclaims, our guilt carries us away
like the wind. The guilt of sin is evil. The way to get rid of that guilt
is through the redeeming presence of God.
Guilt reflects itself in Psalm 80, a form of the Blues. Pastoral Care of the Sick uses Psalm 80
in two places. The notion is God as shepherd, bringing goodness out of evil.
Psalm 80:3c, come to save us brings
good from evil. The vine, mentioned in Psalm 80:15, is a grape vine, which the
psalmist earlier describes as left for fodder for boars.
In this place, the vine (evil overcome) becomes a symbol for
Christ, the son of man whom you yourself made strong
(Psalm 80:16b). The original Hebrew is clearer, pronouncing that God authorized
the son of man.
The question of authority was what confused the Pharisees, who asked by what
authority Jesus worked his miracles.
The selection from 1 Corinthians draws good from evil. Paul is writing to lambaste the Corinthians for
factionalism, but in this part of his letter, Paul
describes the grace of their original conversion. The
Lectionary 1 Cor 1:3, God our Father
reflects the our father of Isaiah
63:16b and 64:7. Paul takes belief in
one God, the Father, for granted. Paul
is not giving up, writing that God will
keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1
Cor 1:8), that is, the Second Coming. Through
Cycles B and C, I intend to continue with the Greek in the epistles.
My new “apparatus” is an ability to identify word
differences among the earliest manuscripts. The word Christ appears four times in
the reading, 1 Cor 1:3, 4, 6, 8, 9. Some of the manuscripts omit Christ in verses 6 and 8. In
verse 8, some manuscripts substitute Parousia
or Second Coming for Christ. Evidently, the Church
is trying to make a point. When Paul
gives thanks to my God (1 Cor 1:4),
some manuscripts have our God. The
Church may not be convinced that the God of the Faithful was the God of the
Corinthians. Interestingly, keeping firm
to the end (1 Cor 1:8) has beginning
in some manuscripts. Struggling to find God in Holy Scripture makes God
present.
In 2002, available on the internet, these Notes emphasized
the need for watchfulness. Mark 13:35 writes you do not know when the lord of the house is coming and then gives
suggested times, breaking the day into four parts, from evening through
morning, when the Faithful might be sleeping. Mark
does not suggest a special need to watch at mid-day, when the Faithful expect
to be awake and alert. Mark implies the Faithful need to make an effort to
be aware that God is present. In this way, sleepiness and lack of attention are
an obstacle, preventing the Faithful from recognizing that God is present.