From the Daily Lectionary for Wednesday in the Fifth Week after Pentecost
Matthew 23:27-39
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Matthew’s pen is on fire as he has Jesus continuing his angry rant about the apostasy of the Jewish leadership. I think it is important here to remember the theology of the Covenant. It began with Abraham, and was renewed with Moses and the successive patriarchs of the faith. It is that theology that is the contextual backdrop of the Jesus movement, recognizing that the teachings of Jesus are a re-articulation of classical Judaism.
The Covenant between God and the people of Israel was simple: Worship the one true God (Yahweh) and follow God’s commandments as presented in the Torah, and Israel will be blessed; turn away from God and God’s just Law, and Israel will be cursed. That ancient theology is not without challenge in Hebrew scripture. Job is the example of a just and good man, who despite his favor with God, that is to say, his keeping the Covenant, experiences all manner of calamity. The story of Job suggests that the divine order of things owes to a randomness as opposed to a linear divine plan. Several of the Psalms suggest the same thing…. “God provides rain for the fields of the righteous and sinner alike.”
On the surface the theology of the Covenant appears to depict a God who rewards loyalty and punishes disloyalty. It flies in the face of the concept of a God who forgives to a fault. But there are reasonable practical aspects to Covenant theology. At its heart the Torah demands justice. It exhorts the people to take care of their neighbor; to welcome the immigrant; to tend to the needs of the poor and the vulnerable. The Covenant is community-centric; it prescribes the means by which a society might be sustained; a society in which dignity and well-being find equilibrium. The Covenant is good, practical advice.
In the late first century C.E., the time in which the Gospels were written, the so-called nation of Israel was falling apart. The Temple had been destroyed by occupying Roman legions, Jerusalem burned; taxes were excessive; poverty was a way of life, except for the elite of the empire, including the vassal leadership of Judea. Matthew in the words of Jesus is citing Covenant theology as an explanation for the demise of his people’s nation. It is hard for us to understand, but the spiritual life of Israel was intimately connected to the fortunes of their nation. That is why it is important to recognize that salvation is about people, not a person. Salvation has to do with the sustainability of a community, of a society.
So the leadership of Israel, about whom Matthew writes, has committed the unpardonable sin of violating the Covenant. They have turned their backs on the least of their community in deference to their own opulence. Their sin is what brings societies down… the sin of injustice. Matthew is placing the blame for the demise of Israel squarely on the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees… much more than on the occupying Roman overlords. In short, the sin is abandoning the Faith, the bedrock of a community.
Faith is about doing justice, in all of its myriad manifestations. Therefore faith has ramifications far beyond the individual. Faith affects the very viability of a people. We would do well to take note. Our democracy is foundering… foundering for the same reason any empire founders…. Injustice. That is at the heart of our present predicament. The prophets of Israel all shared a common critique of their leadership: They decried the injustice of the powerful, a breach of the Covenant. I suspect the words of the prophet Amos were ringing in the ears of Matthew as he wrote this Gospel:
“Seek out Yahweh and you will survive or else he will sweep like fire upon the house of David and burn it down, with no one able to quench the flames. The rulers turn justice into wormwood and throw uprightness to the ground…. But let Justice flow like water and uprightness like a never-failing stream.”
This is not about a vengeful God. This is just good practical advice.
A Prayer for the Mission of the Church (BCP p. 257)
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
