Shuckin' and Jivin' with the Scribes

Thanks to Sharon Cobb for this link about Passover. Passover began last night, 14 Nisan. Jim Tabor wrote yesterday about how he thinks that the Gospel of John might be more accurate than Mark regarding the sequence of events regarding the trial and execution of Jesus. Mark and John give conflicting accounts. In Mark, Jesus and his disciples celebrate the Passover meal as the Last Supper. In John, Jesus is dead and buried before Passover begins.

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. You can read about the history of how that calculation came about here. How did Easter get separated from Passover? Tabor writes:

For more than a century before the Good Friday/Easter Sunday tradition had fully prevailed in the Church, thousands of Christians all over the Roman world used to observe what they called the “Pasch,” on the 14th of Nisan. They used the Hebrew calendar to determine the proper season. On this day they would remember both the “night he was betrayed,” as well as the death of Jesus on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. They were called by their enemies “Quarterdeciman,” or “Fourteenists.”

Their enemies, those who favored Easter as a substitute for Passover, and wanted nothing to do with the Jews, or Jewish observances of Passover, labeled them as “Judaizers” and sought to have them excommunicated. At the 1st Christian council, at Nicea in 325 CE, the bishops, led by the emperor Constantine, forbid Christians to celebrate their “Pasch” on Nisan 14th, declaring that Christians should have nothing in common with “the detestable Jewish crowd.” The Bishop of Rome in particular insisted that “the entire world” should unite behind a single “Christian Passover” celebration on Easter weekend. (Read More)

Now back to Holy Week as described in Mark’s Gospel. Tuesday was a big day. It is filled with verbal sparring between Jesus and the authorities. You can read Mark’s version of Tuesday in Mark 11:20-13:36. It is too much to comment on in one post. Here are some highlights:

The authorities want to drive a wedge between Jesus and the crowds. They attempt to trick him with a number of questions such as:

By what authority do you do these things?
Should we pay taxes to the emperor?
Who gets the bride in the resurrection?
What is the most important commandment?

In each case, Jesus silences the opposition with wit and savvy. Jesus never answers the tricky tax question (at least directly). He turns the tables and exposes their hypocrisy. He asks them to pull out a coin and they do! Of course, it has the emperor’s image with the phrase “Son of God.” "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” says Jesus.

While many have used this phrase to suggest that Jesus was making a distinction between church and state, religion and politics, earthly matters and heavenly matters, that is not what Jesus said. He got himself out of a tricky question. That is the point. He did a little Shuck and Jive, if you will!

The crowds remain on his side. He also tells the parable of the wicked tenants and denounces the scribes because they “devour the widows’ houses.” Following that he watches people put money in the temple treasury. Regarding a widow who puts in a couple of coins, Jesus says,

‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had to live on.’

This text has often been used as a stewardship sermon. Dig deep folks, be like the widow. But that is not what this text is about. Jesus is making an indictment of the abuses of the temple by the authorities “who devour widows’ houses.” She should not be paying her last coins for temple tax! The temple should be helping her! The temple has taken all she has. She is now desolate. The temple’s corrupt leadership is the wicked tenant.

Then Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple (the Romans laid waste to Jerusalem and the temple in 70 CE). The reference to the Son of Man coming on the clouds is not about his return or “second coming.” It is probably a reference to the people of Israel as a whole to whom YHWH will give victory.

Mainstream scholars are about evenly divided as to whether Jesus was “apocalyptic”-- that is, whether he thought the kingdom would come dramatically and miraculously in his time, perhaps this week at Passover. James Tabor would be here. Other scholars, such as Marcus Borg, think that Jesus was not apocalyptic and that the apocalyptic elements come from other influences.

There appears to be evidence for both views. I am open on this question. In either case, whether from Mark or Jesus himself, the prediction is that the kingdom of God would come in power in their lifetimes. They were of course, mistaken. No scholars (save the evangelicals) think that Jesus (or Mark) was predicting future events (such as in our time). This apocalyptic view was not about “the end of the world.” It was about a new era of justice and peace on this Earth.

That ends Tuesday. Jesus and I both need to go bed.