Jesus and His Bible, Part 19

 The Suffering Shepherd

The story in Mark moves from the argument about the perfume to the oncoming disaster. Judas met with the religious leaders and offered to betray Jesus. Then as Passover began, Jesus and his disciples observed the first night of Passover with a supper. Jesus told them that one of them would betray him, to that man’s harm. He blessed the bread and broke it, and said, “Take it, this is my body." Then he gave thanks for the wine, and said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many.” Then they sang a hymn.

On their way to the Mount of Olives, Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered” (Mark 14:27). He added, “After I have been raised, I will meet you in Galilee.” But Peter and the others insisted they would stay with him.

The scripture Jesus quoted is Zechariah 13:7: “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man my associate, declares the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.”

The historical context of Zechariah is after the return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem under Cyrus the Persian and the rebuilding of the temple in the 6th century BCE (Robert Alter, “Prophets,” The Hebrew Bible, A Translation with Commentary, 1193). This quotation comes midway in a prophecy that begins with Zech. 12:1. In that prophecy, Zechariah reverses the oracles against Israel to describe Israel as a bowl of poison, a burdensome stone, and a flaming torch to annihilate any invaders. God will destroy the nations coming against Jerusalem, and after that will pour out “grace and graciousness” upon David’s house and those who live in Jerusalem (Alter, “Prophets,” 1380.)  Chapter 13 goes on to promise cleansing for Israel’s offenses and impurities, the demise of false idols, and the punishing of false prophets. 

However, it pivots to this poem, which is what Jesus quotes: “Sword, rouse against My shepherd, against My companion man—said the Lord of Armies. Strike the shepherd and let the sheep be scattered, and I will bring My hand back against the shepherd lads” (Alter, “Prophets,” 1382-83).  The chapter ends with the apocalyptic vision that two-thirds of the population will die and the remaining third will be purified as if by fire, until they call out for God and say that the Lord is their God.  

This particular quotation continues Jesus’s theme of apocalypse, perhaps intensified by his foresight that he will soon suffer and die. Indeed, Christians from early times have seen in Zechariah 12:10 and 13:1 predictions about the Jews in relation to Jesus. “They will look on the one whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for him, as one mourns for an only son…in that day a fountain will be opened for sin and for impurity.” Understandably, the Jewish commentators see Zech. 12:10 as directly following from the battles and sieges foreseen early in the chapter; thus this mourning is for all their countryfolk who have died in the battle. Intriguingly, the Hebrew can be translated as singular or plural: “they shall lament to Me about those who are slain, wailing over them as over a favorite son and showing bitter grief as over a first-born” (Berlin and Brettler, eds., The Jewish Study Bible, 1264). 

The way Jesus uses Zech. 13:7 not only references apocalyptic cleansing, but also invokes the promise of reconciliation that comes before and after this passage, so that even though a disaster is coming upon his followers, the result will be their longer-term spiritual good.

Jesus and His Bible, Part 17

 Reconciliation and God’s Kingdom

Like the Prophets of his Testament, Jesus first called out the disobedience of Israel and their breaking of covenant with God. But also like the Prophets, Jesus then envisioned a future of reconciliation. Israel will serve him, and all exiles will come home, and their hearts will be devoted to loving God, as is evident in the allusion here in Mark 13:27 to Deuteronomy 30:4. In the context of that verse, God warns Israel that if they disobey and break covenant, he will scatter them among the nations. But if they return to the Lord and obey him with their whole heart and soul, then the Lord will restore them from captivity.

“If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back.” They will return to the land God has given them, and God will “circumcise your hearts to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live” (Deut. 30:4).

Like other prophets, Jesus also invoked a vision of a humanity reconciled in its entirety to God. He alludes also to the prophet Zachariah, who, during the reign of Darius the Mede, sees an angel going to measure Jerusalem, and the angel says that God will be the glory in the midst of Jerusalem, that it will not need walls to protect it, because God will be a wall of fire around her. God says to Israel to return home.

 “Flee from the land of the north, for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens.” Zechariah goes on to say that God is coming to dwell in the midst of Zion and “many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become my people” (Zach. 2:6). This carries forward the vision of a humanity reconciled to God.

Jesus placed his vision in the tradition of the Prophets by invoking Isaiah and Zechariah. He brings in the books of Moses by quoting Deuteronomy (the last to be written down, often dated to the Babylonian exile). He also quoted from the book of Daniel, a book of conundrums, with its pinpoint accuracy about the history of the Middle East up to the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and its far flung predictions in the ending chapters that no one has yet seen fulfilled.  

Jesus referenced by these quotations the covenant of obedience between Israel and God, the breaking of which led to Israel’s exile and after their return to Jerusalem, the collusion of some of Israel with the Greek invaders to the profanation of their Temple. He also spoke of God’s judgment on the occupying powers. He stated that the Israel of his own time was again breaking the covenant, some colluding with the invaders, that they would therefore be dispersed and exiled, and that their own Temple would be profaned and destroyed. He warned his followers that because of their suffering, they would be vulnerable to claims by false messiahs, but reminded them that the work before them will still be to spread the good news of God’s kingdom and God’s Messiah Jesus while enduring unto death.

He asserted as well that the coming of the Son of Humanity will put an end to nations and armies (which was opposite to what Israel hoped for) and that His kingdom will include all humanity. We hope to see this literally true, but we remember as well that Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is among/within you.” This helps define our relationship to nations and armies in our present day. Our first loyalty is always to the Kingdom of God and the King God has chosen, namely Jesus.