Bible Topics

There is so much complaining and moaning about problems that many psalms lose the appeal they had. They fit the mentality of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity in 597 BC. Ezechiel jumped down their throats for their constant complaining. The same moaning and groaning shows up in the post-exilic period when they were allowed to return to Palestine. Then they were disgusted with the shambles they found in Jerusalem. It was during this time that many of the Psalms were written in final form. I want to concentrate on the best verses.

Today is January 6, the feast of the Magi or Epiphany. For centuries, astronomers tried to find what special star guided these men and they always drew a blank. Finally, it dawned on them that the star was the sun. It appears to rise in the east and travel west.

The Magi story is a well conceived and developed "tale" to enhance the theme in Matthew's account. Matthew is presenting the King of the universe and he wants everybody included. He also wants to stress the Wisdom that Jesus has to offer is for the whole world.

I read through my commentary on Acts and Paul. I am pleased with Acts and have to do more on the Letters of Paul. I am convinced these letters are the third major work of St. Luke, referred to by the Apostolic Fathers of the Church. We know he edited some of them. We know the character of Paul — to get angry or hurt for any or no reason. Then he would fire off a letter in his anger. Luke couldn't stop his petty fits but he could take the sting out of them by his own kindly addition or his eraser. I want to detect these Lucan notes.

The big changes or additions are easy to detect. Example: the beautiful detailed description of true love in 1 Cor 13. Only a man like Luke could offset the rancor of Paul with such tremendous insight.

Paul never worked with the Christians in Rome. Yet one of his outstanding letters is written to the Christians of Rome. I think this is all from the pen of Luke. If this had been understood in 1517, the ruckus with Luther might have been avoided. Certainly, the whole approach of both sides would have been different. Instead of flying tempers, there could have been the calming effect of Lucan ideals.

Today is 40 days since Christmas. On the liturgical calendar this meant the feast of the Presentation and the feast of the Purification. Mary and Joseph and the baby followed the rubrics. Jesus as first-born was presented back to Yahweh for his special role of carrying on the family name and traditions. Mary presented herself to receive the blessings of childbirth.

On this occasion, Mary and the baby were given some special promise or warning. The priest held the child and made this promise: "This child is set for the rise and the fall of 'the many.' Your own soul a sword shall pierce." Then an older lady in the temple came up and added her bit.

Luke alone mentions all these details and they are clearly a post-factum picture. After the lives of Jesus and Mary were complete, Luke says they were in the plans from the beginning. Since Luke tells us explicitly he talked to Mary about all the details and background, the basic picture would come from Mary.

St. Luke is always a good "read" after Mark or Matthew. Matthew has well developed ideas in perfectly logical order but there is never a burst of enthusiasm or feeling no matter what the topic. Mark has a tendency to skim over topics. Luke is keen on all the human interest side of things. He goes to all the sources of the information. He clearly had many a close talk with Mary, the mother, because she told him how she kept all these details in her heart. John gives Mary full status as the New Eve beside the New Adam. Luke shows Mary for all her human tenderness and feeling.

John is the most informative of the first Christians' notions of Jesus. It was written in the present form about 125 AD. It was written after some of the fierce Roman persecutions. Its intent is to portray the new Adam and the new Eve. John was standing at the foot of the cross as the wide-eyed teenager. He and Mary were entrusted to each other's care.

As we talked of the Gospels last night, I thought of what I have written. The first extremely important word is in the title. We have the word "kata" instead of "dia." "Kata" means that the ideas contained in the writing go back to this person as a "source." "Dia" means the ideas were actually written as they are by the person.

Key Greek words to the 4 Gospels are apologia, soteria, basileia, huiothesia — Mark, Luke, Matthew, John. That's the chronological order of their appearance: 58–60 (Mark), 65 (Luke), 80 (Matthew) and 100–125 (John). Mark is the story as told by Peter. Luke is the story as he learned it from Paul and editing the ideas. Matthew talks for himself and John is a firsthand story. The word "kata" indicates that these men are the source of the ideas but not the actual writers.

Mark stresses the idea that a true Christian has to be a person of solid conviction. Luke is interested in health in all senses of the word — physical, mental and spiritual. Matthew is concerned with all aspects of kingship, or the Fatherhood of God as seen in the living Brotherhood of all human beings.

As I read my commentary on Luke, I imagined Luke as the companion of Paul. It took a big man to stay with Paul, edit his letters and pick up the pieces after Paul lost his temper. Paul was a pain in every sense and got worse as he got older. However, he did spread the word outside of Rome and Palestine. There are some very nice passages in his letters but I attribute almost all of them to Luke.

I worked on the Psalms yesterday. I like the introductory work I have written. Now I am developing a title, short summary, 1 or 2 verse quote, and listing of psalms related to each other by style or content.

As I said last night, it is too bad we cannot get a copy of St. Jerome's original translation work. It is in the Vatican Library and can be read with the Swiss Guards standing by. Lyonnet talked about it several times and Bea insisted we all had to go over and look at it. I read it on several occasions. I memorized a few of the phrases but forgot them later. You were not allowed to have pen or paper with you to copy anything down. The Swiss Guard would say "no-no" and if the person persisted he would simply take the paper, tear it up and send the person away. The rule of the Swiss Guard was absolute.

David is given credit for the whole collection of Psalms because he was noted for his songs. He was able to calm Saul down at times when he went into one of his rages.

Matthew's presentation of the Ten Commandments is clearly a contrast between the Old and New. "You heard it said of old... Now I'm telling you." John says explicitly there is only one commandment: "Love expressed in service and sharing." Luke stresses the one notion "Koinonia" (sharing) or "community" in the sense of freely willing to share with others. Now, of course, the one command has been raised to 2,414 commands in the Code of Canon Law.

Jesus was a Jew from Galilee. At the age of 12, he realized how far off base the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees were in their teachings. At age 30, he began to talk publicly about this and immediately roused the anger of Pharisees because he was just an uneducated man from Nazareth. The people flocked to him because they saw him as opposed to authority and the man who could give them their hoped-for dominion again. The Romans were alerted of a possible rabble-rouser who could cause trouble.

Jesus left the crowds and went on his own on several occasions. Finally, he decided he had to back his word by being willing to die for it. He had already picked and trained the men to carry on — the 12 apostles.

We've known for years that the second account of creation is the earlier in time (Gn 2:4–4:26). The second account was introduced by the Yahwist. This account dropped the word "asah" — to make — and introduced the verb "bara" in the second century B.C. This verb is used over 100 times in the OT. "God" is always the subject. It is an Aramaic verb for "Bar" as "a son" and the verb ending "aleph." Thus the verb "Bara," the second word in Genesis as it stands today, means to "beget a son."

The Bible writers didn't have the slightest idea how the world was made. They were interested only in "why." Everything that is, is supposed to manifest the Fatherhood of God in the brotherhood of man. The more scientific marvels that are discovered, the greater the smile of Yahweh. He tells mankind to go out and use the world. With each new discovery, his great wisdom and power are seen.