Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent

This Advent season, we are reading Silence and Other Surprising Invitations of Advent by Enuma Okoro. We have heard from Enuma Okoro in the Animate: Practices series in 2016. You can read our post about her here: Enuma Okoro.  Since then, Okoro was recognized on the 100 most inspiring women in Nigeria list in 2018, and this fall she is the Literary Guest-In-Residence at The BACASItaly Center for Culture, Arts and Science in Vallo di Diano, southern Italy. See her full bio, as well as links to articles she has written & her TED Talk on her website here: https://www.enumaokoro.com/enuma.

According to the book description at The Upper Room Bookstore:

Usually when we think of the Advent story, Mary, Joseph, and the angel Gabriel come to mind. Okoro approaches Advent a little differently, inviting us to sit for a while with Zechariah and Elizabeth and the story of how they came to bear their only son, John.

We'll be reading through this book together November 20th - December 18th. That means we'll be a little ahead of Advent, which officially begins December 1st this year, and we'll finish a week before Christmas. This gives all of us a little extra space to prepare our houses, families, hearts, minds, or whatever else needs to be prepared to really meet Advent this year. Looking forward to the journey!

Gospels comic

Here's a comic on the gospels I thought you might all enjoy.

"Do not resist the one who is evil." Matthew 5:39

One of the puzzling statements from our reading this week comes from Matthew 5:39, "Do not resist the one who is evil." (ESV) This is translated variously:

"...do not resist an evil person." (NIV)
"...you must not oppose those who want to hurt you" (CEB)

Arlette shared the following link with some thoughts from a Hebrew scholar, David N. Bivin, on what Jesus might have meant by those infamous words: https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/2699/. Bivin suggests, based on similar proverbs from the Old Testament, that:

In idiomatic English, Matthew 5:39a might read simply, “Don’t try to get even with evildoers.”

Bivin continues,

Our response to evil does have to be resistance—it is morally wrong to tolerate evil. However, we also must continue to show love for the evildoer.

It should be noted that loving and praying for one’s enemies in no way precludes defending oneself when one’s life is in danger.

Brigitte brought us additional perspective on the various specific examples used in the passage (turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, etc...) as acts of peaceful protest or non-violent resistance. This seems very much in keeping with Bivin's perspective. The passage may be about how to respond to evil without either ignoring it or exacting revenge.

The explanations of how the actions describes in the Matthew passage could be viewed as non-violent resistance (as opposed to non-resistance) can be found in Walter Wink's work: Jesus' Third Way.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement

The week's reading on John the Baptist and the baptism of Jesus raised questions about baptism, repentance, and forgiveness...which led to some questions about the upcoming Biblical Holidays - Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (September 29-October 1 this year), followed quickly by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (October 8-9 this year). This post is intended to share some information and links that might enlighten our thinking about these matters.

In the Jewish New Testament Commentary, David H. Stern tells us that in Old Testament Judaism:

"Ritual purity could be lost in many ways; the preeminent way of restoring it was through washing." (page 15)

And so...

"A person who immerses himself participates in an obvious yet living metaphor of purification, with the water, as it were, washing away the impurity. Here Yochanan [John] the Immerser [Baptist] proclaims for the old practice of immersion a new context, cleansing from a life pattern of sin." (page 15)

So, we see that baptism was not a foreign concept to John's audience, though John may have been introducing a new take on it. Nor were repentance or confession new concepts. Yom Kippur/The Day of Atonement continues as a particular time when the Jewish people fast and recite prayers of confession. In current tradition, the 40 days prior to Yom Kippur are days of self-examination, reflection, with an eye toward change in the coming year. In this way, the relationship between the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) and Yom Kippur are not all that different from the way that we, who follow the Gregorian calender, commonly follow our New Year with resolutions.

For good explanations of any of the Jewish or Biblical holidays I recommend:
https://hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/holidays.html - This site offers a Christian perspective by very dear friends of mine.
The following sites are excellent resources from a Jewish perspective:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/category/celebrate/
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/default_cdo/jewish/holidays.htm

Matthew Study: Fulfilled Prophecies Cross-References

Since we quickly caught on that Matthew is very interested in fulfilled prophecy, I went looking for a chart that could point us to the Old Testament references. I found this incredible chart with many of the prophecies mentioned throughout the New Testament and where they can be found in the Old Testament: http://www.aocibibletraininginstitute.org/fulfilledprophecies.html

Who was Rahab? And what's the deal with conflicting geneaolgies?!

Many of us noticed in the very first page of Matthew the listing of just a few women. One of those women, Rahab, draws particular attention because she was thought to be a prostitute and she was not Jewish. How interesting that she should be named in the genealogy of Jesus when so many others are not. Is there a message to be found in the inclusion of these particular few?

Rahab is listed in the Jewish Women's Archive (Rahab: Midrash and Aggadah) as, "among the four most beautiful women the world has ever known: Sarah, Rahab, Abigail and Esther," and among the prominent conversions stories of the Old Testament.

"The Rabbis deduced from the story of Rahab the superiority of repentance over prayer, for Moses prayed exceedingly, but God did not accept his entreaty to enter Erez Israel, while the repentance of Rahab the harlot was accepted, and seven kings and eight prophets issued forth from her."

The Jewish Midrash also teaches that Rahab married Joshua, thus the seven kings and eight prophets that descended from her. This conflicts with the genealogy of Matthew, which states, "Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab," which would indicate that Rahab married Salmon. In either case, a line of kings descend from her, including, eventually, Jesus. 

 This brings us to the question of what to make of the genealogies of Jesus found in both Matthew (chapter 1) and Luke (chapter 3), because they most certainly do not agree. Bible.org has an article that helps to make some sense of this: The Genealogy of Jesus. Go check it out!

Manuscript Study - The Book of Matthew

What's brewing at Morning Blend?

This year we'll be taking a deep dive into the Gospel of Matthew with a manuscript study!

What is a manuscript study?!!

Here are a couple of helpful links for you to check out:

http://manuscriptbiblestudy.com/

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/scripture-engagement/manuscript-bible-study/home

And a YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/4ytHYFTC5SM

 

 

What you might find helpful:

If you join us at Morning Blend, you'll get a binder with a manuscript of Matthew (without chapter breaks, verse numbers, or paragraph breaks). The translation we'll be using in the ESV, as it is considered to be one of the most literal while still being readable. We'll also be making an effort to get colored pencils into the hands of everyone in the group. 

We strongly encourage doodling! So, the back sides of all the pages in your binder will be blank for note taking and doodling. 

You may wish to pull out translations of the Bible other than the ESV for comparison, though you are strongly encouraged to read through the manuscript a few times first before consulting additional translations or commentaries. Bring those translations with you whenever you can. They'll make for great discussion after our initial readings.