John Shearman's
 Liberal Lectionary Analysis

Rev. John Shearman

 INTRODUCTION TO THE SCRIPTURE

[A more complete analysis follows this brief summary for church bulletins.]

ACTS 16: 9-15. This important transitions story marks the beginning of what scholars call a series of eyewitness accounts in which the pronouns switch from "they" to "we." Luke himself was assumed to be the man who appeared to Paul in the night.

The passage also marks the beginning of the Christian mission in Europe. Of all the congregations Paul founded, he had warmest feelings for the Philippians, as his letter to that community shows.

PSALM 67. This simple hymn of praise may well have been a thanksgiving prayer after a successful harvest had brought relief from a severe famine. The untranslatable word, Selah, may have indicated a place for cymbals to sound. The psalm may have been sung antiphonally during the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jewish thanksgiving festival.

REVELATION 21:10, 22-22:5. In John’s closing vision, he saw God’s holy city of the redeemed, for which God and Christ provide eternal light and life. A vision by the prophet Ezekiel and the Garden of Eden provided Old Testament models for the New Jerusalem. All believers may share this beatific vision made possible by the visible presence of God and Christ. Note that the whole scene takes place on earth.

JOHN 14:23-29. In these words attributed to Jesus John summed up the essential meaning of the Christ coming among us. His promise to send his Holy Spirit to dwell in, guide and strengthen his disciples is still valid. He is the ever present Lord available to everyone in all of life’s daily experiences.

JOHN 5:1-9. (Alternate) This alternate reading presents us with the narrative of another miracle that leads to an expository discourse about Jesus’ authority deriving from God rather than from the legal restrictions of the Jewish Sabbath.

ACTS 16:9-15. This is one of the important transitions in the story Luke is telling in Acts. It is the beginning of what scholars call a series of eyewitness accounts in which the pronouns switch from "they" to "we." It has often been questioned whether Luke himself was the man who appeared to Paul in the night. But debate about the source of the "We" passages has generally concluded with Ramsay's thesis of 1896 that these came from the author of the two volumes, the Gospel of Luke and Acts traditionally attributed to Luke.

It is significant that all the eyewitness passages (this one with 20:5-19, 21:1-18 and 27:1-28:16) include extensive sea voyages. This has prompted some analysts to suggest that Luke had access to a travel diary, perhaps his own or that of some other companion of Paul. Secondly, the effect of the "we" passages, according to Brevard Childs, "is to bring a broader confirmation of the apostolic witness and ground the material in a communal experience." This literary device is distinct from other literary techniques Luke uses, but serves the same theological purpose of witnessing to the common faith proclaimed by all the apostles. It "render(s) the testimony in a particular fashion which serves to bridge the gap between the original author and the subsequent reader." (Childs, Brevard S. The New Testament As Canon - An Introduction. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985.)

Of all the congregations with which Paul was associated, he had warmest feelings for the Philippians, as his letter to that community shows. Yet unlike his visits to the Jewish Diaspora in Galatia, he did not find a synagogue in Philippi. Was there no Jewish community in that important Roman city or too few in number (only ten male Jews were required) to form a synagogue? Was Lydia a Gentile "worshipper of God" (vs. 14) in whose home Paul made his headquarters?

The Greek word thus translated, sebomenos (Eng. = devout), appears several times elsewhere in Acts along with phoboumenos (Eng. = God-fearing) describing Gentiles who demonstrated sincere spiritual concerns. (cf. 10:2; 13:43, 50; 17:4, 17; 18:7). It is also possible that "a certain woman named Lydia" actually means "a woman from Lydia," an ancient kingdom which under Rome became part of the province of Asia in which the prosperous city of Thyatira was located. If so, she may be identified with either Euodia or Syntyche of Phil 4:2. However we hypothesize about such minutiae, one thing is certain: in this instance, Paul's testimony in Philippi marks the beginning of the Christian mission in Europe of which we too are the heirs.

PSALM 67. This simple hymn of praise may well have been a thanksgiving prayer after a successful harvest had brought relief from a severe famine. (vs. 6) It most likely found an appropriate place in the feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) prominently observed after the Exile. As a time for singing and dancing, this festival featured many liturgical compositions which may also have included such Psalms as 113-119 and 136. Having recently witnessed from afar the 50th anniversary of the refounding of Israel, we can easily imagine the unrestrained celebrations in which this psalm may have had a significant part.

The untranslatable word, Selah, which occurs twice in the text, may have indicated a place for cymbals to sound. The superscription indicates that stringed instruments were also used as accompaniment. Human voices in chorus, however, made the predominant music. The psalm would have been sung antiphonally.

Another notable quality of this psalm is its missionary character drawn from such sources as Deutero-Isaiah and Jonah. God's goodness to Israel, so visible in the abundant harvest, should be a revelation to all the world of God's righteous ways in dealing with those who trust God. Accordingly, all nations should join Israel in reverence and praise.

REVELATION 21:10, 22-22:5. In John's closing vision, he sees the New Jerusalem, God's holy city of the redeemed, for which God and Christ provide eternal light and life. New Testament authors generally used Old Testament references to tell of how God's redemptive purpose would be fulfilled through Christ. The models for the New Jerusalem were a vision by the prophet Ezekiel (47:1-12) Ezekiel and the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9-10). This beatific vision is made possible for all believers by the visible presence of God and Christ.

Quite rightly, the reading excludes the dimensions and description of the holy city, for these are symbolic. In fact, there is a double symbolism in that the city is also a bride bejewelled for her wedding. So conservative an interpreter as Dr. Billy Graham has said that this passage does no more than describe heaven as a beautiful place where the faithful will live eternally with and should not be taken literally. But this is not heaven which John envisions.

Note especially where 21:10 places this eternal city of the redeemed. Most conceptions of the future life of the redeemed relocate earthbound creation and humanity to heaven. John does the very opposite: the heavenly city comes down to earth. There but one meaning for this statement. As Professor George Caird has pointed out: "To the crack of doom Jerusalem can never appear otherwise than coming down out of heaven, for it owes its very existence to the condescension of God and not to the building up of men."

The absence of the temple also has considerable significance. It symbolizes two essential aspects of Jewish thought and religion. One the one hand, it clarified the distinction between the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean. The temple was holy in that it had been set aside for the special service of God, separated from everyday, common use. On the other hand, the temple also represented the presence of God in the midst of God's people, and God's claim on the whole of the secular world. The fact that there is now no temple in the holy city means that the divine presence is no longer confined to a sanctuary set apart, but pervades the whole city and the world it represents.

Still more must be said about John's vision of the holy city. The disappearance of the old and the condescension of the new conveys a dynamic redemptive message. Into the holy city come the nations and kings of the earth. Those who once trampled the holy city under foot have now come with willing tribute to adorn it. As Caird wrote: "Nothing from the old order which has value in the sight of God is debarred from entry into the new.... The treasure that men find laid up in heaven turns out to be the treasures and the wealth of the nations, the best they have known and loved redeemed of all imperfections and transfigured by the radiance of God....Nowhere in the New Testament do we find a more eloquent statement than this of the all-embracing scope of Christ's redemptive work." (G.B. Caird. The Revelation of St. John the Divine. Black's New Testament Commentary. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1966. p. 278-280.)

JOHN 14:23-29. We cannot tell if any of these words attributed to Jesus were part of the remembered tradition of what he actually said. John appears to have cobbled together several disjointed themes within this much loved chapter of his Gospel. The way in which the editors of the lectionary have separated the various readings only serves to make the problem worse. There seems to no reason to separate Judas' question (vs. 22) from the answer Jesus gave (vs. 23-24), nor to isolate that question and answer from the preceding segment about keeping the commandments to receiving the Father's love. There is, however, some justification for the separation of the next segment (vs. 25ff) which the NRSV designates by a new paragraph. The Interpreter's Bible, vol.8 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1952, p. 707-715) seems to have done better by placing vss. 18-31 in three distinct sections: vss. 18-24, "the threefold union;" vss. 25-26, "the second Paraclete saying;" (the first Paraclete saying is in vss. 15-17) and vss. 27-31, "peace, joy and security." In many respects, all such distinctions are speculative, for the original Greek text had no paragraphing or punctuation whatsoever and was written in capital letters.

In this particular reading, John was dealing with the issue of the church living in a hostile world without the visible presence of Christ. He tells his community through these words attributed to Jesus that obedience and love are the conditions ruling the life of the church and therefore guaranteeing the sense of Christ's living presence as God's representative. He then goes on to make an additional promise that the Holy Spirit will teach them and bring to their remembrance all that Christ said to them. Was John here speaking about the Jesus' story he was then actually writing down for his community? And does he also refer to what Calvin many centuries later would describe as "the inner testimony of the Spirit" enabling us to interpret holy scripture?

The final parting words John has Jesus speak have brought peace and security to countless distressed Christians. John obviously regarded the trials his community might be facing as similar to that which Jesus himself faced the night he was betrayed. The closer he came to the cross, the greater was Jesus' sense that his ultimate of security lay in loving obedience to God's will. This did not in any way remove him from the consequences of what others like Judas, Caiaphas or Pilate would do. This was no facile counsel like "love God and do what you will," as Augustine said five centuries later. Rather, this was the ultimate act of faith. For the disciples, for John's community and for us, this is still so, as vs. 29 assures us.

JOHN 5: 1-9. (Alternate) The reason for this alternate reading is not immediately obvious. It presents us with the narrative of another miracle that leads to an expository discourse about Jesus’ authority deriving from God rather than from the legal restrictions of the Jewish Sabbath.

John is very specific about the location of the pool called Bethzatha, but modern archeology has never satisfactorily discovered it. His description of the porticoes gives

some background details about that fill out the where many invalids sheltered awaiting for the moment when an eruption of the water would provide a magical cure. At first glance, Jesus’ challenge to the paralytic seems uncaring. Why else would he have laid there for thirty-eight years? Or is this just an extended period of time that John used to make the miracle seem all the more astonishing? The paralytic’s response seems pathetic, but still emphasized his credulity in the legend that the pool had magical powers.

Jesus’ initiative in selecting this man among many at the pool focused attention on his authority what God desires for every invalid: health of body, mind and spirit. Performing this miracle on the Sabbath set up the issue John wished to discuss at greater length: Jesus’ conflict with the Jews about his authority over all of life.