A look at the gaps in the lectionary.
This week: the gap between Proper 12A and 13A
The text: Matthew 13:53-14:12
The gap in the lectionary this week includes a couple of essential stories we often cover at a different time. What does reading them here do to the story?
Jesus’s rejection at home
Chapter 13 concludes with Jesus heading out, then heading home. And once there, people don’t believe in him. Nostalgia glasses prevent them from seeing him as he is.
We might also assume those glasses are tinted with class and sense of place in community. Particularly as they render Jesus powerless.
Death of John the Baptist
Chapter 14 kicks off with an interlude—the death of John. It comes because of Jesus. And then word comes to Jesus.
The case for skipping them
As I said at the beginning, both of these stories get covered elsewhere. And besides, both feel like interludes in the bigger narrative. Since we see ourselves as apostles, we’re prone to focusing on Jesus teaching.
This, however, isn’t necessarily the most appropriate response. Especially given our strong positivity bias.
The reason I make the case for context is precisely because our bias for smoothing out the rough parts leaves us vulnerable to misunderstanding the greater point.
The case for reading them
Jesus is in the middle of deep, challenging teaching. It reminds me of that point in a semester when the professor tells the class Pay attention! If you don’t get this down, you won’t get what comes after it.
Jesus began chapter 12 by challenging the leadership to a theological duel over God’s Law. He uses Sabbath as a way to challenge tradition. Not God, but how we interpret God. But, in a sense, this itself is semantics. Because the purpose is teaching.
We then read a chapter of confrontation and then a chapter of teaching (remember the parables about seeds and harvesting?).
What Jesus sets up for his followers is not gardening tips or universal truths about people. This isn’t about naming some people good and others evil. It’s about comparing the Kin-dom to our world. So they can see how we’re messing things up.
The rejection of Jesus is a rejection of the Kin-dom.
There is no way that this one moment in all the gospels when Jesus has no power at all should be treated as insignificant.
And it should read as a companion piece with Jesus sending the apostles out with his power. It demonstrates the challenge of bringing the Good News to where it won’t be received. In this case, to Jesus’s hometown.
This is particularly troubling for most Christians, I should think. We are used to elevating the place of family, tradition, and hometown practices. There is deep love for passing things down in these ways and encouraging our people to learn from us.
Even as the dangers of this are plain.
In the US, this is, after all, the great mythology associated with small towns, regional differences, and local customs. It is subject of beloved folk art and the stories we pass down.
It is also the jet fuel used to brandish a culture war ideology and call certain people “real Americans”.
In a sense, it doesn’t surprise us at all that the people that saw Jesus in diapers would be the ones to reject his divine authority. At least intellectually. But acknowledging what that would actually look like in our world would be deeply wounding to many.
And don’t forget about John the Baptist.
This, too, is a rich story we cover elsewhere. Let’s focus on what it gives us now.
- More Power — It connects the powerlessness of Jesus to the powerlessness of John the Baptist. And in both cases, it is the civic power to control others that traps these prophets.
- Choice — Like the people in Jesus’s hometown, Herod has a choice to listen to God on this one. And he’s tempted. But he’s afraid of how it will look. And he feels an obligation to do the wrong thing (thinking honoring these obligations itself is the right thing).
- Cowardice — Herod is drawn to John, but kills him anyway. This is a cautionary tale for people! Especially those who misunderstand their place (1) and think they’re doing the right thing (2). Herod murders to save face with people who don’t even respect him.
- Impact — News of John’s death comes to Jesus. And just because the text doesn’t give us an internal monologue from him, we know this weighs on him.
The very next thing Jesus tries to do is get some down time. He tries to get away. But can’t. The crowds are too many, too needy.
So what does he do?
He feeds them. By the thousand.