A Word in Time

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What can we learn about the Lord’s purpose for the world from reading about the relationship between the brothers? How might it speak to us today? Maybe, as a faithful and observant Jew, Mary knew the song of another woman whose world became utterly changed: this was Hannah who desperately wanted a baby. She promised that, when her long-awaited son arrived, she would give him to God and she did. She too burst into song – a very similar song. You can read it at 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Each woman has been made special and those who are special in their own eyes will be humbled. Heaven has come to earth! However this is where the problems begin, for it seems that whereas the offering of a lamb was well received, God was less pleased with the crops of the ground, causing Cain to feel resentful towards his brother. It would seem that while the lamb had been the best of those available, although it's not spelled out, Cain's offerings had perhaps not been the best of the crop available, hence the response he received from God for his gift.

I try to thank my staff weekly as recognising and encouraging them is part of caring for them. I know what it's like to have no encouragement at all; it leaves you questioning whether you are doing a good job and doubting whether what you are doing is right – making you feel no one cares. It’s an awful place to be, one in which you feel undervalued and unappreciated. What Jesus does subverts such expectations: he finds and sits on a donkey. Jesus would know his own scriptures, including the reference which the gospel writer quotes ( v. 15) of the coming king riding a donkey, which comes from Zechariah ( Zechariah 9:9). But Zechariah’s king comes in humility ( 9:9) and – tellingly – has a global horizon: he comes to ‘command peace to the nations’ ( 9:10), not merely Israel’s vindication. Jesus again – metaphorically – ‘slips away’ from the crowd’s agenda to pursue the paradoxical, costly glory ( John 12:23; 17:1) and all-embracing love that will lead him to his death on the cross.Good hospitality would have been essential at the wedding, especially as it would have possibly lasted over several days. To run out of wine would have been a huge problem for the hosts. Perhaps Mary is close to the hosts, she is certainly concerned enough to involve her son, and it is implied in the text that she already has a knowledge of his power. She is confident enough to say to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” ( v. 5).

When in your prayer life you feel that God is asking something of you, do you obey without question? It should be remembered that it was fairly common at the time for religious debate to include fiery rhetoric and quite extreme imagery. This was often done for effect and some of the most vehement language was used among people from the same faith group – the language of a family squabble as it were, and not to be taken too seriously or literally. And it has to be said that viewed in the wider context of the New Testament, some of the language and imagery found in the second letter of Peter is somewhat marginal. I know that I need to be watched over and encouraged and in my prison job I know how it helps to be recognised and appreciated. When my Governor says to me "Thanks for doing a good job" (which often means my chaplaincy team has done a good job), it makes all the difference. It makes me feel we are being cared for: it motivates me and it motivates my team to do further good work. I am, of course, a Christian minister and I know that our remembering, what we do today, our profound silence and our deep lament, is not the end of the story. It does not end here. God speaks into our silence with words of justice, grace and peace. God gathers the cries of the broken, bewildered and bereaved and holds them closely.Looking at climate change and increasing alienation between the nations we see around us, do we see some similarities with what was happening at this time? Tradition tells us that Matthew's Gospel was authored by Matthew the tax collector, the disciple of Jesus. There is also an understanding that Matthew took Mark’s Gospel as his primary source. As is clear, Matthew's Gospel is considerably longer than Mark's, and some suggest the use of an outside source which we do not have. Although written in Greek, it is believed that the original may have been in Aramaic as the style is much in that tradition. Matthew uses many Old Testament references and the opening section, containing the birth of Jesus, is from that genre. While this hatred was coming from the religious authorities, Jesus’ words make clear that the hatred is not only of him but of God, and so those who are supposed to be God’s representatives are actually demonstrating hatred for God. To underline the religious teachers' complete misunderstanding, the quote that is “written in their law” from Psalm 35:19 highlights that they have not recognised that this animosity without cause was predicted. Vineyards and workers hired for the day were common features of first-century life in Galilee; the town square or 'marketplace' was where those looking for work would hang out hopefully. As with fruit-growing today, extra casual workers were needed at harvest time, and it was normal for fit people to work for 12 hours from shortly after sunrise until sunset. The urgency of getting the grapes harvested at the optimal time would account for the landowner himself going to the marketplace rather than sending one of his full-time workers, and he would do it several times during the day to secure as many person-hours of work as possible. There is no reason to suppose those employed late in the day had been lazy; they may for example have been harvesting their own small fields and then had time left over.

God speaks to Noah spelling out what is to happen not only to the people but to the whole of the natural world at that time. God warns Noah of the flood which is to come, and gives instruction and clear plans for the ark he is to build to protect his wife and sons, as well as two of each type of animal so that they can survive the flood and make a new start.In our modern world, I wonder if we can imagine the vulnerability of those early Christian communities and the perceived threat of false prophets and teachers? There are now well established creeds and doctrines, and ways of testing out new ideas, for example through reflecting on Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. Little of this was available to those early Christians and hence the concern of church leaders as expressed in this letter. And hence we realise why it was important to claim the authority of eyewitness testimony and that direct link with the person and teaching of Jesus. When Jesus refers to the 'yeast' of the Pharisees and Herod in verse 15, this is because in many places in the Old Testament yeast was used as a symbol of influence, often negatively. (Interestingly, Jesus unusually uses yeast in a positive way, as a sign of the kingdom, in Luke 13:21 – the difficulty of metaphor!). Jesus is warning his disciples that they are in danger of seeing the world through corrupted eyes, even while in the company of himself. There may be another of Jesus’ sighs of exasperation that they are concerned about having enough to eat, when he is with them and is the ‘bread of life'. Besides, haven’t they seen him produce a miraculous bounty of food for thousands of people? One can almost hear Jesus’ thoughts about what more is needed to convince people that he is the Messiah.