Addressing the question of whether God is “object” to us, Jenson says that objectivity is essential to conversation: “In all true mutual discourse . . . each must be both subject for and object of the other. As I am present to address you, I am a subject and you are my object. But if this is not reciprocal, if I evade being your object and so frustrate your presence as subject, I enslave you. Is God object? Can God... Read more
Athanasius’ letter to Amun (354) is a meditation on purity. Defilement, he argues, occurs “when we commit sin, that foulest of things.” That is what Jesus meant when He said that we are defiled by what comes out – out of the heart . Bodily functions, by contrast, do not defile in the least. Athanasius rivals Luther in his unabashed affirmation of the goodness of bodies and bodily secretions: “what sin or uncleanness,” he asks, is there “in any natural... Read more
A fragment of Athanasius’ Easter Letter #22: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon Him to die for us all, stretched forth His hands, not somewhere on the earth beneath, but in the air itself, in order that the salvation effected by the Cross might be shown to be for all men everywhere; destroying the devil who was working in the air; and that He might consecrate our road up to Heaven, and make it free.” Read more
INTRODUCTION With the plotters closing in on Him, Jesus celebrates the Passover with His disciples, but in the process He transforms it into a meal centered on the gift of His body and blood and celebrating the cutting of a new covenant. THE TEXT “Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, ‘Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?’ And He said, ‘Go into... Read more
The poor you will always have with you, Jesus says in defending the woman’s “wasteful” devotion, but you won’t always have me. The key to understanding this is to recognize that Jesus speaks of the woman pouring oil on His “body.” The key is to recognize the double body of Christ. While Jesus sits at table, the woman pours perfume on His body for burial. Soon that body won’t be there, but Jesus says at the close of the gospel... Read more
Comparing the beginning and end of Matthew’s passion narrative (Matthew 26:1-16; 28:1-20), Daniel Patte notes that both involve a confrontation between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. But the balance of that confrontation shifts; Jesus begins in apparent passivity (“delivered up”), but in the resurrection story He is the one making plans and issuing orders. The narrative begins with the Jewish plot and Jesus’ counter-plot. It ends with Jesus’ subversive announcement of the resurrection and the official lie that the Jewish... Read more
I can’t fit it all together, but in general outlines, it’s clear that Matthew’s Passion narrative is tracking with Zechariah 9-14. There are a couple of fixed points: Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem explicitly fulfills Zechariah 9 (cf. Matthew 21:5), and despite the fact that he attributes the prophecy to Jeremiah, Matthew quotes from Zechariah 11:13 when describing Judas’ return of his blood money (Matthew 27:9-10). Between these, there are a number of intertextual links. (more…) Read more
The woman pours perfume on Jesus’ head (Matthew 26:7). Jesus says she has “cast” ( ballo ) the perfume on his “body” ( soma ; v. 12). It is like the precious oil upon the head, that runs down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, down to the skirts of His garments. Like the dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of Zion. The head is anointed, but the whole body goes into the grave. Read more
The opening episodes of Matthew 26 are organized in a fairly neat chiasm: A. Passover, delivered up, chief priests, plot, 26:1-5 ( paradidomi , v 2; archiereus, v 3) B. Woman pours myrrh on Jesus, 26:6-7 ( muron , v 7) C. Disciples complain: give to poor, 26:8-9 ( ptochos , v 9) D. Jesus: She’s done a good deed, 26:10 C’. Poor always with you, 26:11 ( ptochos , v 11) B’. Woman poured perfume to prepare for burial,... Read more
Abraham received the coins from Thares (i.e., Terah), and bought a field with them from the people of Jericho; Joseph was also purchased with them (” his etiam Joseph est emptus ab Ismahelitis”); then they came into Pharaoh’s treasury, and then into the treasury of the Queen of the Arabs, who gave them to Solomon. When Nebuchadnezzar pillaged the Temple, he took them along to Babylon, where they were given as pay to the soldiers of the kingdom of Saba;... Read more
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