In the post-resurrection community of Messiah Judaism, we have the first
example of the conversion of a gentile. From the point of view of
conservative Jewish belief and practice, a black Ethiopian eunuch had a
double disqualification. (But see Is 56.3-5 for a post-exilic inclusive
minority view). Signaling the changed attitude now manifesting itself in
this new "way" within Judaism, Philip the evangelist, who had just finished
a successful ministry to Samaritans, makes no hesitation in baptizing him.
A new openness, reaching out, and breaking barriers characterize the new
people of the resurrection. Since the African convert returned home and
did not participate in the Palestinian community's common life, the
question of admission of gentiles did not arise until Peter's encounter
with Cornelius, chs 10-11; but we should not overlook the breakthrough
significance of this incident.
John H. Eaton (Kingship and the Psalms, SCM 1976) points out that in ancient Israel's royal theology this psalm "can hardly be interpreted of the salvation of anyone but the sacral king, God's `son', focus of the cause of God's kingdom and the health of all the world" (p. 34). Traditionally Christians have applied this psalm especially to Jesus.
The first half of it, a lament and desperate call for help beginning "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is a fixture of Passion tide rituals. The second half, vv 22-31 praising and thanking God for answering that call, appropriately characterizes the post-Easter community's celebration of resurrection life. "To hear or read the psalm is to be confronted with a testimony that comprehends the absence and the action of God in a configuration of affliction unto death and salvation to life. The figure whose prayer and praise are heard undergoes a reversal of relations: before, mocked and rejected because of his dependence on God; after, joined by a company who celebrate with him because of it; before, surrounded by forces of evil whose threat replaces the present power of God; after, the occasion for the universal eternal celebration of the sovereignty of God." (Mays, Interpretation PSALMS p 108)
Today's pericope (properly expanded to include vv 22-24) reflects the psalmist's praise in solidarity with the community which he represents and which supports and follows him. He first of all calls on the whole assembly to fear, praise, glorify, and stand in awe of God. Why? "For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted" (v 24). In a eucharistic (thanksgiving) meal "the poor shall eat and be satisfied" (v 26). This recognition of divine grace toward the sociologically and economically deprived among his own people might give us renewed incentive to respond to the needs of these brothers and sisters among us as we face the consequences of dismantling the federal welfare system and the problems of those left behind by an economic system which rewards "those who have" while severaly penalizing "those who have not." (How many preached on Acts 4.32-35 on Second Easter?) As a further reminder that resurrection faith indissolubly joins global mission, the psalmist envisions the time when "all the families of the nations shall worship before him" (v 27, a hint of Gn 12.3a?).
Moving on from the social and spatial dimension to the eternal, the psalmist (at least according to some translators' understanding) goes on to express his faith that even the dead shall do homage to God, and the psalmist in person shall "live [eternally?] for him" (v 29). Concerning life after death, early Israel had only vague ideas at best, and in this verse the Hebrew is unclear. Absent agreement on the proper translation of v 29 I offer a comparison of six versions. NRSV, JB, and NAB translations favoring hope of resurrection, depend upon altering the Massoretic text in various ways. That the psalmist will live for God depends in part upon the LXX rendering.
- To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. NRSV
- All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him -- those who cannot keep themselves alive. NIV
- All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. KJV
- Before him all the prosperous of the earth will bow down, before him will bow down all who go down to the dust. And my soul will live for him. JB
- All who sleep in the earth will bow down before God; all who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD. NAB
"God is love." How many little children have learned this verse in the earliest stages of their religious education! How popular it is among Japanese, including non-Christians, whose biblical knowledge rests principally on the NT; and how surprised some of them are when they come across the unlovely features of the OT. I used to point out that if one began reading at page one of Genesis in the most popular Japanese version and went straight through, one would cover 1326 pages of the OT and an additional 379 in the NT--total 1705 pages--before they reached this high point. "God is love" needs a lot of background substantiation.
Today's pericope which has served generations of preachers in describing and exhorting to the practice of Christian love takes on perhaps a somewhat different cast when read in light of the meticulous research and exposition of scholars like Raymond Brown. Consider their description of the Johannine community as having recently experienced a serious difference of interpretation of the significance of the incarnation and death of Jesus resulting in the departure of a considerable proportion of their membership. We see that "love one another" falls far short of Jesus' "love your neighbor as yourself" and "love your enemies" and "the least of these." The author applies his love principle narrowly to those whom he counts as belonging to the in group. His bitter characterization as "antichrists" of those who "went out from us" (2.18-19) sounds to our ears as rather unloving. For my part, I choose to think this attitude arises from the same sense of crisis as that of the strict separatists under Ezra and Nehemiah in post-exilic Judea. They thought the danger of loss of the core or essence of the faith required a narrowness which in retrospect seems extreme to us. Without ventilating such questions from the pulpit I choose to use this love text but put it in the broader canonical, dominical frame.
Further, careful attention to the wording of 4.18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment [phobos kolasin echei]" narrows the application to the final "day of judgment" (4.17). Brown writes: "To be afraid of God is already to be suffering the punishment of a negative judgment. Neither in this world nor on Judgment Day can a Christian be judged negatively by a God who dwells lovingly within" (Anchor Bible, p 562). He also writes: "One may ask whether `fear' as a good category had not completely disappeared from the Johannine scene with its realized eschatalogy" (p 531; cf the good category of fear expressed in Ps 22.23).
According to TDNT III 814, [kolasis=punishment] comes from the verb [kolazo] which originally meant to cut or prune (cf Jn 15.2 which translates [kathairo=make clean] as [prune]). It also meant to maim, and may indicate that some punishment consisted of maiming, as even today in some lands ruled by Islamic sharia. In modern Greek, [kolasis] means hell, the place of final punishment.
A narrow application of [kolasis] calls in question a long held notion of mine based on my childhood memory of this verse as "fear hath torment" (KJV). I want to broaden the application to apply to the psychological, communal, and social torment which results when individuals' or nations' behaviors grow out of fears of many kinds.
1. Fear which prompts people to purchase handguns supposedly for personal protection. Keeping a gun at home leads to far higher numbers of familial murder, suicide, and accidental deaths than to the repulsion of an attacker from outside. The US rate of death from guns is nearly 12 times that in other industrialized nations. Children make up a large proportion of victims: In the 12 years between 1979 and 1991, 50,000 children died from gunfire, averaging 12 a day. Thousands of children carry guns to school.
2. Fear which prompts the US to maintain military spending at nearly the same level as during the cold war, even though the Soviet Union is defunct and Russia is bankrupt. Meanwhile, health and housing for the poor, school lunches, student loans, protection for the environment, all get cut back drastically.
Each of us can think of other examples of the torment, the punishment, the hell on earth we bring on ourselves because of fear. Too many of us who call ourselves Christians, people of the resurrection, live our lives as though it were still Friday with Jesus hanging dead on the cross.
True human love finds its source in God's love for us demonstrated in Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for us. Even that supreme love remains imperfect until its human recipients respond by showing love to others. In 3.16 (last week's pericope) the author said, "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." In extreme cases, love may indeed cost one's physical life, as when a soldier falls on a grenade to prevent his buddies' injuries and death, or a mother takes a hit protecting a child. But we may see true love in less lethal acts. War hero and presidential candidate Bob Dole often called on citizens to renew patriotic dedication by willingness to make sacrifices, usually in the context of military service. Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Dianne Aprile wrote about one local man who said he accepted being passed over for promotion in favor of a woman as his small contribution to making ours a better society. Here's an example of love overcoming the fear that some people appeal to when they oppose affirmative action policies.
The writer says: "Those who do not love a brother or a sister whom they
have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen." By the same token,
those whom we would reach with our evangelistic efforts cannot know the
love of God whom they have not seen, but they can know acts of love when
genuinely shown by people they have seen.
The importance of bearing fruit to the glory of God (v 8) fits well with the theme of mission expansion in the post Easter community of Messiah Judaism already noted in Acts 8 and the larger context of Psalm 22.
As we might expect, this Gospel pericope has many internal linkages with the Epistle. The importance of the mutual indwelling of the believer and Jesus (15.5) complements the circle of love described in I 4.16. Both use the same phrase, [ballo exo]--to cast out the unfruitful branch (15.6) and to cast out fear (I 4.18).
God the Vinegrower, not the other branches, casts out an unfruitful branch (15.6--the passive form of the verb [eblethe exo], "is cast out" implies God as subject though not specifically stated). God also prunes the fruitful branches in order that they may produce even more fruit. This pruning, as mentioned above, is related to cleansing, [kathairo] rather than to punish or torment. What sorts of practices, neglects, commissions, omissions of individuals or of congregations need the cleansing/pruning attention of the Vinegrower?
ARCH TAYLOR (HR) is a former missionary to Japan and a Bible student/teacher from Louisville, KY. He may be contacted at arch.taylor@ecunet.org.