The Readings: Numbers 3:1-13; Galatians 6:11-18; Matthew 17:1-13

Matthew begins “Six days later”: six days after Peter’s confession and Jesus’ pivot to warning his disciples about his coming passion. This narrative of “the Transfiguration” might take us in many directions; here are two.

The same Jesus whose face is shining like the sun will undergo great suffering. We might think that the one excluded the other; we might wonder about recalibrating our ideas of how glory and honor work.

The Jewish disciples know Moses and Elijah, and are still trying to puzzle out Jesus. The heavenly voice’s “listen to him” suggests that Jesus properly interprets Moses and Elijah. We Gentile disciples aren’t worried about Moses and Elijah, but have our own set of authorities who jealously guard their turf: Mars (war, national security), Pluto (wealth, the economy), Venus (beauty), etc. And the heavenly voice’s “listen to him” is telling us how to and when to listen to them?

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers– all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15-17).

The Readings: Ecclesiastes 9:11-10:20; Galatians 5:1-15; Matthew 16:1-12

“Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.”

Perhaps this is the place to say more about the early form of globalization that shapes the teacher’s context, in which local control and predictability become, well, like breath. William Brown in Wisdom’s Wonder: “In contrast to the largely subsistence, small-scale, agrarian-based economy of preexilic times, the economy of the Persian period became increasingly commercialized. A standardized monetary currency was established under Darius the Great (550-486 bce) to facilitate commerce between Egypt and Persia. Some two centuries later, under Ptolemy II (283-246 bce), coinage became firmly established in Yehud (as Israel was called in Persian times), yielding dramatic economic development. In addition, an aggressive system of taxation was introduced by the Persians and continued to be enforced and developed throughout Hellenistic times.”

The lectionary ends the first reading at 9:18; the above link expands it. The brief complaint about the social order upended is a familiar topos (meme) in wisdom literature, and we might wonder what the teacher would have made of the Magnificat! The teacher knows the stories of poor wise people (4:13-16; 9:13-16), but defaults to rich=wise, poor=fool, testimony to the trouble all of us have in escaping from our mental ruts. “Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a foul odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor” applies also to the teacher, and is perhaps a reminder to us not to be too indulgent with what we regard as our minor follies.

The Readings: Ecclesiastes 8:1––9:10; Galatians 4:21-31; Matthew 15:29-39

The lectionary begins the first reading at v.14; let’s pick up a little before that.

“Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him, but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.  There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity” (8:12-14).

We’ve seen this tension/contradiction before: it will be well with those who fear God, but not the wicked; the God fearers and wicked often get what they don’t deserve. Why doesn’t the teacher abandon divine justice/retribution? Perhaps because the teacher is even more convinced of his incapacity to discern what God is up to (e.g., 8:16-17).

We might wonder if the teacher is encouraging us to embrace a particular sort of freedom: if you’re going to act justly, don’t do it because that way you’ll succeed, or because God will reward you, or because you’ll get the desired results, or because it will matter in the end, or because it will be remembered. Just do it. The Book of Job opens with the accuser asking whether Job serves God for nothing; the teacher, in his own way, has aligned himself with Job.

And, when God gives the opportunity: “Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do. Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going” (9:7-10).

Ecclesiastes can be read as encouraging conformity. In his context the teacher judged that the wise course. But to assume conformity in all contexts would be to ignore the teacher’s exploratory approach. “…the wise mind will know the time and way,” and if “for everything there is a season” (3:1), if there’s a time for conformity… “Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might.” It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.