Below is
a rough translation and some initial comments regarding Matthew 11: 2-11, the
Revised Common Lectionary reading for the 3rd Sunday of Advent.
Note the reference to Jesus’ disciples in v.1: Now when Jesus
had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach
and proclaim his message in their cities.
2 Ὁ δὲ Ἰωάννης ἀκούσας ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Χριστοῦ πέμψας
διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ
Yet John having heard in the
prison the works of Christ, having sent by means of two of his disciples,
ἀκούσας: AAPart nms, ἀκούω, 1) to be endowed with
the faculty of hearing, not deaf 2) to hear 2b) to attend to,
consider what is or has been said
πέμψας: AAPart nms, πέμπω, 1) to send 1a) to
bid a thing to be carried to one 1b) to send (thrust or insert) a thing
into another
3 εἶπεν αὐτῷ, Σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἢ ἕτερον προσδοκῶμεν;
said to him, “Are you the one who
comes or are we to await another?”
εἶπεν: AAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to
speak 1a) affirm over, maintain
προσδοκῶμεν: PAI 1p, προσδοκάω, 1) to expect
(whether in thought, in hope, or in fear) 2) to look for, wait for
1. After two participles in v.2, we arrive at the main verb in
v. 3, “said.”
2. The definitions for προσδοκάω above almost read like
descriptions of the season of Advent: To expect (whether in thought, in hope, or in fear) 2) to look for, wait for .
3. John has heard about “the works of Christ” from prison, but
it is difficult to tell either what he heard or why that report has raised the
question his disciples will ask in v.3. Is the report disappointing? Was he
expecting a revolution that looks more like a revolution? Is the report
affirming and this delegation is simply confirming what John believes? Of
course, as distant readers we want to assume that Jesus and John are always on
the same page, because the Spirit seems to be directing both of them in ways
that we imagine to be profoundly clear and perfectly synchronized. But, this
episode allows us to see John and Jesus in a much less magical light – there
are questions to answer, doubts to address, points to ponder.
4. Jesus lists what his works have been in v.5, causing me to
wonder if that list is what John had heard, a supplement to what John had
heard, or simply a literary device by which the narrator enables us to know the
substance behind the question from John and Jesus’ answer.
4 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Πορευθέντες ἀπαγγείλατε
Ἰωάννῃ ἃ ἀκούετε καὶ βλέπετε:
And having answered, Jesus said to
them, “Having gone tell John what you see and hear;
ἀποκριθεὶς: APPart nms, ἀποκρίνομαι, 1) to give an
answer to a question proposed, to answer
εἶπεν: AAI 3s, λέγω, 1) to say, to
speak 1a) affirm over, maintain
Πορευθέντες: APPart nmp, πορεύομαι, 1) to lead over,
carry over, transfer
ἀπαγγείλατε: AAImpv 2pl, ἀπαγγέλλω, 1) to bring tidings
(from a person or a thing), bring word, report
ἀκούετε:
PAI 2p, ἀκούω, 1)
to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf
βλέπετε: PAI 2p, βλέπω, 1) to see,
discern, of the bodily eye
1. (Side note): The aorist
participle Πορευθέντες (having gone) is the
same word and tense in Mt.28:19, the so-called Great Commission. There, it is
typically translated as an imperative, “Go and preach …” but here and there it
should be translated as a participle. I see a lot of parallels between the
commission of Mt. 11:4 and Mt. 28:19.
2. It is interesting that Jesus does not
simply respond to the disciples’ question, but makes them witnesses. They are
to tell what they themselves have seen and heard.
3. It is also interesting that Jesus does
not say to John’s disciples, “You are following the wrong master. Leave him and
follow me because I’m the only true way.” Even though there seems to be some
pointedness in the gospels over how to name John and his ministry best – and it
always shows subordination of John’s ministry to Jesus’ ministry – there is not
a decided effort on Jesus’ behalf to wrest disciples away from John. I find
that a promising approach for how to think about other inspired religious
leaders.
5 τυφλοὶ ἀναβλέπουσιν καὶ χωλοὶ περιπατοῦσιν, λεπροὶ καθαρίζονται καὶ
κωφοὶ ἀκούουσιν, καὶ νεκροὶ ἐγείρονται καὶ πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται:
Blind persons see and the lame persons
walk, leprous persons are cleansed and deaf persons hear, and dead persons are
raised and poor persons are evangelized;
ἀναβλέπουσιν: PAI 3p, ἀναβλέπω, 1) to look up
2) to recover (lost) sight
περιπατοῦσιν: PAI 3p, περιπατέω, 1) to walk
καθαρίζονται: PPI 3p, καθαρίζω, 1) to make
clean, cleanse
ἀκούουσιν: PAI 3p, ἀκούω, 1) to be endowed
with the faculty of hearing
ἐγείρονται: PPI 3p, ἐγείρω, 1) to arouse,
cause to rise
εὐαγγελίζονται: PPI 3p, εὐαγγελίζω, 1) to bring
good news, to announce glad tidings
1. This description of Jesus’ ministry is described with both
active and passive verbs. Perhaps that is due to the nature of the verbs
themselves, but perhaps it is also indicative of how ministry works. Sometimes ministry
is empowering others to do; other times it is doing for those who cannot.
2. I think it is important for biblical translators/interpreters
to do our work with both a sense of responsibility to the text and an ethical
responsibility for the way the text inscribes reality. To wit, I am trying to
avoid reducing persons to their condition by saying “blind persons” instead of
“the blind,” etc. Those choices are not driven by my own agenda, but because of
the very human way that Jesus approaches healing and exorcism stories. It is
the lives that are affected that mark both the tragedy of the malady and the
joy of the healing.
3. And, of course, we would be remiss on this third Sunday of
Advent not to connect this text with Isaiah’s vision of renewal in Isaiah
35:1-10. Part of what it means that God “will come and save you” is that “the
eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of
the speechless sing for joy.”
6 καὶ μακάριός ἐστιν ὃς ἐὰν μὴ σκανδαλισθῇ ἐν ἐμοί.
And blessed is the one who would
not be scandalized in me.
ἐστιν: PAI 3s, εἰμί, 1) to be, to
exist, to happen, to be present
σκανδαλισθῇ: APSubj 3s, σκανδαλίζω, 1) to put a
stumbling block or impediment in the way, upon which another may trip and
fall, metaph. to offend.
1. This verse indicates that whatever it was that prompted John
to send his disciples, there was and edge to it. Something about what John had
heard from prison was potentially a scandal/stumbling block.
2. When we look at the list of Jesus’ works in v.5, it is hard
to imagine that there would be any cause for scandal/stumbling block in it, if
it were simply a matter of making sick, demonized, and dead people feel all
better. I wonder, however, if what we often imagine to be ‘medical miracle’
stories are better understood as ‘resistance’ stories. Since illness or
disability or even premature death were often described as acts of punishment
by God, maybe by curing them in the name of God, Jesus is re-describing them.
To be sure, it would be another 1,500 years before they are atomized as
strictly medical issues. If, however,
illness and wellness are matters of communal health, rather than simply medical issues, the scandal/stumbling
block would be the implied criticism of the conditions that have allowed such
things to exist. By performing these works, Jesus may proclaiming be two
things:
A. The lame, blind, poor, etc. are not
cursed by God, but beloved by God.
B. The cause of such maladies are not God’s
wrath, but something else –
Maybe a lack of community, maybe the hardship of imperial oppression,
or maybe some other holistic way of envisioning health.
To make those claims by healing, etc., would be a cause for
scandal.
7 Τούτων δὲ πορευομένων ἤρξατο ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγειν τοῖς ὄχλοις περὶ Ἰωάννου,
Τί ἐξήλθατε εἰς τὴν ἔρημον θεάσασθαι; κάλαμον ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον;
Yet as these were leaving, Jesus
began to say to the crowds concerning John, “What did you go into the
wilderness to watch? A reed shaken by a wind?
πορευομένων: PMPart gmp, πορεύομαι, 1) to lead over,
carry over, transfer 1a) to pursue the journey on which one has entered,
to continue on one's journey
ἤρξατο: AMI 3s, ἄρχω, 1) to be chief, to lead,
to rule, to begin
λέγειν: PAInf, , λέγω, 1) to say, to
speak 1a) affirm over, maintain
ἐξήλθατε: AAI 2p, ἐξέρχομαι, 1) to go or come
forth of 1a) with mention of the place out of which one goes, or
the point from which he departs
θεάσασθαι: AMInf, θεάομαι, 1) to behold, look upon, view attentively,
contemplate (often used of public shows)
σαλευόμενον: PPPart asm, σαλεύω, 1) a motion
produced by winds, storms, waves, etc
1. Where did the crowds come from?
2. The noun θεά-ομαι (to see) transliterates to thea-(ter). And now I am on a rabbit hole journey of imagining the people going out to see and hear John as a first century blockbuster movie or online streaming phenomenon. What did we just watch? Did we have eyes to see it?
3. The phrase “a reed shaken by the wind” seems to have some
significance that Jesus and his audience understood. A quick overview of the
word “reed” in the OT shows some interesting possibilities that call for more
in depth study: II Kings 18:21 refers to Pharaoh/Egypt as “that broken reed of
a staff,” and that verse is repeated word-for-word in Isaiah 36:6. is Ezekiel
29:6-7 stays with the analogy of a reed as a staff when describing Egypt. The
purpose here is not a staff for support like a walking stick, but a staff for
bruising the shoulders of others, like a caning. That is, in fact, how the
Roman soldiers use a reed to torture Jesus in Matthew’s crucifixion story, in
27:29-30.
Isaiah 42:3 is a reference that would be familiar to many
persons from Advent readings, but takes a slightly different direction, describing
the the coming one’s actions as “a bruised reed he will not break.” I clearly need a better sense of the functions that reeds played both as a part of the landscape and as harvested products put to some kind of use.
8 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθατε ἰδεῖν; ἄνθρωπον ἐν μαλακοῖς ἠμφιεσμένον; ἰδοὺ οἱ τὰ
μαλακὰ φοροῦντες ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις τῶν βασιλέων εἰσίν.
But what did you go out to behold?
A man who has been clothed in soft garments? Behold, those who dress in soft
garments are in the house of kings.
ἐξήλθατε: AAI 2p, ἐξέρχομαι, 1) to go or come
forth of 1a) with mention of the place out of which one goes, or
the point from which he departs
ἰδεῖν: AAInf, ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes
ἠμφιεσμένον: PPPart ams, ἀμφιέννυμι, 1) to put on, to clothe
μαλακοῖς
& μαλακὰ : μαλακός, 1) soft,
soft to the touch 2) metaph. in a bad sense 2a) effeminate
2a1) of a catamite 2a2) of a boy kept for homosexual relations with a
man 2a3) of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness 2a4)
of a male prostitute
φοροῦντες: PAPart nmp, φορέω, 1) to bear constantly,
wear 1a) of clothing, garments, armour
1. At least in the minds of the folks producing Greek-English
lexicons, the words μαλακοῖς & μαλακὰ come from the word μαλακός,
which has sexual implications as some secondary possibilities: 1) soft, soft to
the touch 2) metaph. in a bad sense 2a) effeminate 2a1) of a
catamite 2a2) of a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man
2a3) of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness 2a4) of a male
prostitute. Maybe μαλακός is a 1st century feathered boa.
I do not know if μαλακός carries any sexual connotation in this verse
or if it was more symbolic of rich and opulent lifestyles that would be
ridiculous out in the wilderness and was the opposite of how John is described.
2. The word “behold” (ἰδοὺ) is rooted in the same word ἰδεῖν that,
earlier in this verse and also in v.9, is translated “to see” in most
translations. I will translate it “to behold” there to show the repetition.
9 ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθατε ἰδεῖν; προφήτην; ναί, λέγω ὑμῖν, καὶ περισσότερον προφήτου.
But what did you go out to behold?
A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and exceedingly more than a prophet.
ἐξήλθατε: AAI 2p, ἐξέρχομαι, 1) to go or come
forth of 1a) with mention of the place out of which one goes, or
the point from which he departs
ἰδεῖν: AAInf, ὁράω, 1) to see with the eyes
περισσότερον: ams περισσότερος, 1) exceeding
some number or measure or rank or need
1. Again with "behold." Now I am curious about the relationship between θεάομαι in v.7 above (see note 2) and beholding in vv 8-9 (and 10!). It all feels quite significant.
10 οὗτός ἐστιν περὶ οὗ γέγραπται, Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου, ὃς κατασκευάσει τὴν ὁδόν σου ἔμπροσθέν σου.
This is the one about whom it is
written, “Behold I am sending my messenger before your face, who will prepared
your way before you.
ἐστιν: PAI 3s, εἰμί, 1) to be, to
exist, to happen, to be present
γέγραπται: PerfPI 3s, γράφω, 1) to write, with
reference to the form of the letters
ἀποστέλλω: PAI 1s, ἀποστέλλω, 1) to order (one) to go to a
place appointed
κατασκευάσει: FAI 3s, κατασκευάζω, 1) to furnish,
equip, prepare, make ready.
1. Something about being the messenger and preparing the way of
the coming one makes John “exceedingly more than a prophet.”
2. Behold!
11ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἐγήγερται ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζων Ἰωάννου
τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ: ὁ δὲ μικρότερος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν μείζων αὐτοῦ
ἐστιν.
Truly I
say to you, there has not been risen among those born of women [one]
greater than John the baptizer; yet the smallest in the reign of the heavens is
greater than he.
λέγω: PAI 1s, λέγω, 1) to say, to
speak 1a) affirm over, maintain
ἐγήγερται: PPI 3s, ἐγείρω, 1) to arouse,
cause to rise 1a) to arouse from sleep, to awake
ἐστιν: PAI 3s, εἰμί, 1) to be, to
exist, to happen, to be present
1. The last phrase of this verse feels added, as if someone on
the “Jesus” side of the “Who is greater, Jesus or John?” debate felt as if John
were getting a little too much love from the first phrase. Taken strictly, this
phrase implies that John is not himself part of the ‘reign of the heavens.’
2. ‘Reign of the heavens” is typically translated as the
‘kingdom of heaven.’ Just as Matthew does substitutes ‘heaven’ where others use
‘God,’ I tend to substitute ‘realm’ where others use ‘kingdom.’ It’s a thing
for me that you are free to ignore.
My
Ramblings:
So, what
just happened? Messengers from John some asking a curious question, based on
the news that John had heard while in prison. Jesus first responds in a way
that describes his ministry, then turns his attention to clarifying John’s
ministry for ‘the crowd.’ Since I know of no active “Church of the true Savior John the Baptist” congregations in my area, I would be comfortable focusing
entirely on the first portion of this pericope (vv.2-6) and save the last
portion (vv.7-11) for a ‘Feast of St. John the Baptist’ occasion.
It seems important
that Jesus’ works are not simply awe-inspiring or charitable gifts – they
can potentially cause a scandal. I suggest that we have to get beyond our strictly medical
understanding of maladies of mind and body to genuinely appreciate this text. (Contrary
to how many people interpret Bultmann, I do not believe 1st century folks took their
mythologies literally. But, I do believe his ‘demythologization’ argument is critical in the face of biblical literalism, which does try to take 1st
century mythological language literally.)
I do not
believe that we have to forfeit what science has taught us and revert to some
kind of magical view of maladies. I
do believe, however, that our strictly medical approach to maladies is narrow
and that there is ancient wisdom in the NT’s way of speaking of them. The
relationship between conditions of poverty; the effects of oppression; the role
of community/ex-communication; as well as one’s own self-perception – which is
what the conversations around the healing stories address – all seem to me to
be part of the complex of wholeness, along with DNA, viruses, immune systems,
etc.
Perhaps the
work of Christ is a way of resisting any system – whether imperial, political,
medical, social, or religious – that de-humanizes and de-communalizes life. For
many years I have had a definition of sin as “anything that is destructive of
life and community.” I think that definition and this description of what the
reign of God through Christ looks like are very complementary.
Safe journey!!! I eagerly look forward to your post EVERY week, but will be patient until you settle in somewhere else. I, too, am shifting around these days, so, again, safe journeys to us both. DerLovingItToo!! Pastor Richard
ReplyDeleteBlessings on your journey as well, Pastor Richard!
ReplyDeleteI love your posts! I just want to shout in agreement - thank you for making things so very clear (especially the point about scandal/offence), a great explanation of the Girardion angle. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ruth! That's very encouraging. Glad to be on these journeys with you.
DeleteDear Mark, like Ruth I really enjoy your posts, you often present a new perspective for me to explore. I currently minister in aged care and your comments on verse 6 provide me with a new connection for the stories of Christmas and the physical and mental decline in ageing. God bless you. Jeni
ReplyDelete1. John could have taken offense at a ministry of healing vs. overthrowing the establishment. Remembering the 60's debates.
ReplyDelete2. Reed issue: Ptolemy's entrance to the temple in 3 Maccabees 22: He (God) shook him on this side and that as a reed is shaken by the wind, so that he lay helpless on the ground and, besides being paralyzed in his limbs, was unable even to speak, since he was smitten by a righteous judgment.
FWIW
And - it was hearing of the works that raised the question in John's mind. As in, why are you doing that instead of breaking me out of here?
ReplyDelete