My friend, Pastor Mike Kelly, who serves as Director of the NorthWest Church Planting Network of the PCA, offered this reflection after reading my piece on martyrdom in the current issue of First Things: “As I’ve watched so many urban ‘hipster-gelical’ Christians try to be part of this City and the Next City in small or large ways, I’ve often thought that it’s martyrdom they want to avoid. Not full on death for Christ, but the incremental martyrdom of social... Read more
A couple more passages from Coloe’s very rich article. She notes that Pilate’s inscription on the cross identifies Jesus not as “a” but as “the” Nazarene. In John, Nazareth is barely mentioned (cf. 1:45-46), and suggests that Pilate’s titlon alludes to Isaiah 11’s prediction of a Messianic Branch ( netser ) from the stump of Jesse. Thus: “Jesus the Branch, King of the Jews.” Qumran texts link the Branch to the temple-building Branch ( semlah ) of Zechariah 6:12: “Behold... Read more
“In my Father’s house are many mansions ( mone ),” Jesus says (John 14:2). It’s normally taken as a reference to a mansion in the sky. Mary Coloe ( Interpretation , 2009) disagrees. She points out that the chapter repeatedly uses the verb form of “dwelling” ( meno ), always with reference to God dwelling with Jesus and the disciples (vv. 10, 17, 23, 25). Coloe concludes: “the subject of the verb ‘dwell’ throughout ch. 14 is not the believer... Read more
A rabbinic text ( Avot de Rabbi Natan , 6) reads: Once, as Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was coming forth from Jerusalem, Rabbi Joshua followed him and beheld the temple in ruins. “Woe unto us,” Rabbi Joshua cried, “that this, the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for, is laid waste!” “My son,” Rabban Yohanan said to him, “be not grieved. We have another atonement as effective as this. And what is it? It is acts of loving... Read more
In an article on temple Christology in John , Mark S. Kinzer devotes a few illuminating pages to Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus. Citing Raymond Brown, he points out that the dialog is set in the middle of a chiasm that includes extensive treatment of Jesus as the temple: A. First sign at Cana (2:1-12) B. Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem (2:13-25) C. Discourse with Nicodemus; the Baptist?s Final Witness (3:1-36) B’1. Discourse with the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well... Read more
Francis Moloney ( Signs and Shadows , 147-8) has this nice comment on Jesus’ conflict with the Jews during the feast of rededication (John 10): “Jesus, who stands before ‘the Jews’ in the portico of Solomon in the Temple, points to himself and claims that he is the visible presence of God among them . . . . The claims of the prologue are being acted out in the story of Jesus: ‘The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.’... Read more
In a brilliant paragraph ( The Mystery of the Temple ), Congar summarizes the synoptic indications that Jesus is Himself the Presence. “When two or three gather, I am in the midst” (Matthew 18:20) attributes to Jesus the place and role Jews assigned to the Shekinah. At the transfiguration, a luminous cloud covers Jesus as a “veritable Tabernacle.” Peter wants to set up three tabernacles, but when the disciples finally open their eyes, they see only Jesus. Jesus is master... Read more
A friend and former student, Katy Cummings, writes with some thoughts on how to take Christmas music back from the sentimentalists. The rest of this post is from Katy. Part of the problem with Christmas carols is that, as the kerygma of Linus has testified, Luke 2 has become the only Christmas lesson. Without priestly and prophetic pillars to hold him up (Isaiah 9 and Titus 2 in the Revised Common Lectionary), Luke’s arms are getting tired. Further, the lectionary... Read more
It took 46 years to build this temple, the Jews object to Jesus. And you’ll raise it up in three days? Clearly, the 46-year period refers to the building. Or maybe not. In his Commentary on John , Aquinas summarizes the view of Augustine who says in his Book of Eighty Three Questions that “the conception and formation of the human body is completed in forty-five days in the following manner. During the first six days, the conception of a... Read more
Thomas, riffing on the tabernacle furniture like a medieval James B. Jordan ( ST I-II, 102, 4, repl. 6): “The outer tabernacle, which denotes this present world, also contained three things, viz. the ‘altar of incense,’ which was directly opposite the ark; the ‘table of proposition,’ with the twelve loaves of proposition on it, which stood on the northern side; and the ‘candlestick,’ which was placed towards the south. These three things seem to correspond to the three which were... Read more
Leithart
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