Nonconformist Chronicles

Prophecy that isn't Predictive: Two Examples

There is more to prophecy than predictions that came true. In fact, most prophecy is not "predictive" in nature. Here are two examples.

After the death of Herod it was safe for Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to end their sojourn in Egypt and return to Israel. Matthew 2:15 states: 

And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I have called my son." 

This cites a prophecy from Hosea 11:1. But the Hosea passage, in its original context, was clearly not a prediction about Jesus coming out of Egypt. The Hosea passage reads: 

When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I have called my son. 

The "son" in Hosea is the collective nation of Israel. So words referring to Israel being called out of Egypt are now applied to Jesus being called out of Egypt. It is the midrashic principle at work in which "stories about heroes and events of the past are heightened and retold about later heroes and events." So here is a case in which events in the life of Jesus are shown to parallel events in the sacred history of Israel. 

Likewise, Matthew 1:22-23 speaks of another prophetic fulfillment.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel--which means "God with us."

Matthew applies these words to Mary, mother of Jesus. But the original context of Isaiah 7 clearly refers to a child born during the lifetime of King Ahaz, 700 years before Christ. The child serves as a sign to King Ahaz that before this child is old enough to know right from wrong, the two kingdoms to the north will be laid waste. So Ahaz needn't fear these enemies. He needn't make an alliance with Assyria for protection. Assyria cannot be trusted. But Ahaz should trust God. 

The Hebrew word almah in the original text of Isaiah 7:14 does not mean "virgin." It meant "young woman" as it is accurately translated in the New Revised Standard Version. In the days of Ahaz a young woman would bear a child who would be a sign to Ahaz. The child's name will be Immanuel as a reminder to Ahaz that God is with Israel.

When Isaiah was translated into Greek, some 200 years before Matthew, The word almah was translated parthenos, a word that could mean virgin or young maiden. Matthew, who likely had the Greek translation of Isaiah in front of him as he composed his Gospel, chose to render the term parthenos as "virgin" and apply the prophecy to Mary. 

So was Matthew dishonest in applying this passage to the mother of Jesus? The Western Gentile mind might assume that Matthew took Isaiah 7:14 out of context to make it fit what he wanted it to mean. But rather, he was showing how the life of Jesus recapitulates Israels's sacred history at practically every turn. 

So prophecy is most often "fulfilled" in New Testament literature not in terms of predictions that came true, but in terms of events in Israel's sacred history that parallel events in the life of Jesus. As John Shelby Spong asserts, the only way the Jewish Christians could make sense of the God presence they encountered in Jesus was to search their sacred Scriptures for texts that seemed to foreshadow this experience. 

This follow up to my previous post hopefully prepares us to further consider the midrashic principle at work in New Testament literature. We'll look at this and more implications of Spong's work in a near future post. 

(Photo courtesy Flickr)          

The New Testament through Jewish Eyes

The prophets were not fortune tellers. Prophecy is too often misunderstood as predictions that came true, possibly years after they were spoken. It is wrongly assumed that the Old Testament scriptures are chock full of Messianic predictions that came true. Christians wonder why Jewish Scripture students do not see how Jesus fulfills these predictions.

I would say that there is little "predictive" prophecy in Scripture. Prophecy is inspired preaching and is not always predictive. When a prophet does make a prediction he typically refers to events that will take place within his own lifetime, not hundreds or thousands of years later. 

Yet there are many New Testament passages that relate back to Old Testament passages. But this rarely, if ever, refers simply to a prediction that came true. In the words of John Shelby Spong "Jews filtered every new experience through the corporate remembered history of their people, as that history had been recorded in the Hebrew scriptures of their past." 

Since the earliest Christians were Jews, they filtered their experience of the God presence they encountered in Jesus of Nazareth through the lens of their Jewish sacred texts. To the Jewish-Christian mind, the life of Israel and its salvation history are recapitulated in the life of Jesus. 

In Spong's book, Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes, he insists that in order to understand the four Gospels (or, for that matter, any of the New Testament) we must learn to read the Gospels with Jewish eyes. Spong demonstrates how the Gospel authors employ Jewish Midrashic style in relating Jesus to their Hebrew Scriptures. Midrash is basically rabbinical commentary on the Hebrew texts in which "stories about heroes of the past are heightened and retold about later heroes."  I would add that stories about events of the past are also heightened and retold about later events 

I cannot overemphasize the importance of recognizing the Midrashic principle at work in the New Testament. It revolutionizes our understanding of how the New Testament uses the Old. In the near future I'll touch on some use of the Midrashic principle in the life of Jesus, showing how the Gospel narratives about him correspond to the Jewish corporate history. I'll also mention Spong's theory on the origin of the Gospels in addition to some of his conclusions which I do not believe are necessary. 

(photo courtesy Flickr).         

Coping with the Stress of Transition

Transitions in life can take you beyond your stress thresh-hold. In Roy Oswald's book New Beginnings: A Pastorate Start Up Workbook part of his advice to ministers in a new work regards coping with the stress of transition. While some of the advice may be unique to ministers, much of it can apply to anyone.

In addition to moving, injury, and changes in job, financial status, or living conditions, stress is also produced by changes in marital status, the death of a loved one, retirement, celebration of holidays, a new addition to the family, or even by an outstanding personal achievement. You might need some coping strategies if any of this has been among your recent experience.

So what follows are coping strategies from Oswald, embellished by Yours Truly, and in no particular order: 

1) Don't make more radical changes. Having just been through a major transition, this is not a good time to start a new diet, change your sleeping patterns, or enroll for a university course. Give yourself some recovery time before launching into anything new. 

2) Be good to yourself. Now there is a difference between being good to yourself and self-indulgence. The latter can destroy your health, while the former can preserve your sanity. So take in a movie, have a favorite desert, or read for recreation. 

3) Stabilize the Family Structure. Follow up a major transition by spending more and not less time with family. You will not not function well if they have difficulty adjusting. Family rituals are one way to help with stability. In our family, we observe a weekly "popcorn-and-a-movie" night. It's usually Friday, but is sometimes made up on Saturday. Each week we watch something "family friendly." It might be Don Knotts, Shirley Temple, Roy Rogers, or Jerry Lewis. But we do this religiously even if we're in a motel with a portable DVD player and microwave popcorn. 

4) Exercise. Having a foot in two towns I've fallen down on this one, but I've taken some small steps lately. I recently stopped by Wal-Mart and bought a basketball. While I could spend my work breaks indulging in more caffeine, I now go out to the church parking lot and take a "hoops break." It's a real stress reliever. A two mile walk in the evening doesn't hurt either. 

5) Have a Support System. Keep up with friends by e-mail or telephone. Find some members of the church family in whom you can confide. With ministers it is often safer if those support systems are out-of-town (at least at first). I once heard a wise man compare a preacher who expects his needs to be met by the congregation to a doctor who expects his needs to be met by his patients. While some mutual ministry will likely happen, a minister is not there so the church can minister to him. He is there to minister to the church.

6) Ease into things. As Oswald states, it is tempting to bust a gut in the first six months of ministry until you settle into a routine. Avoid this temptation. Your first order of business is to get to know the members of the congregation. Know their needs. Know where they live. Visit them on their own turf, invite people over, and have lunch with the heads of the households. If I had past ministries to do over, I would have done far more of this sooner as I am doing now.  

Oswald states that in the first few months you are little more than lover and historian. It is not the time to initiate new programs or make sweeping reforms. Get to know folks individually and learn how the congregation functions as a group. 

7) Spend your first Sunday in the pew as a visitor. My current position is the only church where I have been able to do that. It gave me an opportunity to view the congregation through the eyes of a visitor. And I'm glad I did since I heard a great sermon on Habakkuk and just what I needed at the time. 

8) If possible, take some time between transitions. It was healthy for me to take a vacation between my ministries in Illinois and Kansas. And it was healthy to have time off from the ministry before beginning my latest job. Preaching a farewell sermon one Sunday and a sermon at your new congregation the next does not allow any recovery time.      

So there you are. Preacher or not, I hope some of this is helpful.