Scripture Study
14 September 2008 - Exaltation of the Cross
This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast day which is always celebrated on September 14th displaces the normal Sunday of Ordinary Time (24th) which would otherwise have taken place this Sunday. In the Exaltation of the Holy Cross we honor the cross of Jesus Christ as the sign of salvation and victory over evil. It was on the cross that Jesus defeated evil and sin and won for us redemption and salvation. We recognize that the cross is "foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor 1:18) I, like many Christian, frequently wear a cross on a chain. As long as that cross around my neck represents a commitment to the cross of Christ and a commitment to pick up my cross daily to follow the Lord, it serves a laudable purpose. When it fails to represent that commitment or when the commitment it should represent dissolves in selfishness and the silver or gold cross becomes just another piece of jewelry, I am guilty of empting the cross of Christ of its meaning.
NOTES on First Reading:
*21:4 Mt. Hor is the mountain on which Aaron is said to have died. It is located on the eastern side of the valley of Arabah, and is the highest of the whole range of sandstone mountains in Edom. This mountain is also named as one of the marks of the northern boundary of the land which the children of Israel were to conquer and is located in Lebanon.
* 21:5 The people are apparently speaking against the manna. The offense is more serious than it at first appears to be because in rejecting the manna they are rejecting God's grace and therefore they are rejecting God Himself.
* 21:6 The serpents are refered to as Saraph serpents in the Greek text which means fiery or fiery one.
* 21:8 This is directly referred to in John 3:14.
* 21:9 This serpent was placed with the ark and kept in the temple later. Eventually during his religious reform King Hezekiah smashed it because it had become an object of idolatry. See 2 Kings 18:4.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 2:6 Verses 6-11 are thought by most scholars to be a Christian hymn that Paul quotes at length with some of his own modifications to the lyrics. In verses 6-8 the subject of the short rhythmic lines is Christ while in verses 9-11 the subject is God. It follows the pattern of humiliation and then exaltation. The hymn can be divided into six three-line stanzas or into three stanzas. Additions like "even death on a cross" (8c) are thought by many to be Paul's additions (10c & 11c). Here in verse 6 there is an allusion to Adam's desire to be like God (Gen 3:5-6) in contrast to Jesus' self emptying. The language in the original probably owes something to proverbial sayings of the day: "exploit something for one's own (selfish) advantage". That would explain some of the difficulties such as grasping at something he already had and the use of a word elsewhere only attested in the active sense of robbery.
* 2:7 vv 6 & 7 are commonly taken to refer to the pre-existence of the Son and v 8 to the incarnate life making lines 7b and c parallel. It is not absolutely necessary to do so. Vv 6-8 can be taken as two parrallel stanzas dealing with Christ's earthly life. See John 17:5; Matt 20:28.
* 2:8 This verse may reflect the language of Isaiah concerning the suffering servant. Isa 52:13-53:12 especially Isa 53:12.
* The name refered to is "Lord" which as the common word for God revealed the true identity and nature of the one named.
* 2-10 The three levels of the universe as recognized by the ancient world are all depicted as under the dominion of the one "Lord" using the language of Isa 45:23.
* 2:11 "Jesus Christ is Lord" is a common early Christian acclamation 1Cor 12:3, Rom 10:9 The hymn ends with a doxology to the Father in v. 11c.
NOTES on Gospel Reading:
* 3:13 John here negates the claim of any other visionary to have knowledge of heaven and reserves it to Jesus alone. John's Gospel holds very forcefully to the idea that Jesus is the only source of knowledge about what is in heaven. Jesus seems to have prefered the title, "Son of Man," for himself and used it to refer to himself more than any other. It comes from the description of the last of the beings that Daniel sees come before God in his night visions. See Daniel 7:13.
* 3:14 Moses just placed a snake on a pole and raised it up so it could be seen and those who looked upon it with trust in God would be healed ( Numbers 21:9-11). This is the first of the three Son-of-Man sayings to refer to Jesus' exaltation. The allusion to Num 21:9-11 may be a typology created in the Johannine church. The evangelist has used a Greek verb that implies glorification in order to invite comparison with Jesus on the cross and portray the snake in Numbers 21 as a type of Jesus. Wisdom 16:6-7 speaks of the incident as turning Israel toward the Torah and toward God as Savior.
* 3:15 The Johannine connection between believing and having eternal life is applied to the story from Numbers.
* 3:15 Eternal life, used here for the first time in john's Gospel, refers to the quality of life in fellowship with God not its duration.
* 3:16 The evangelist breaks into the story with a discourse about the sending of the son to bring life to the world. It expresses the realized eschatology of John's theology. This is the only place outside the Prologue where Christ is called only son typed after Isaac. This verse is somewhat unusual in that John's gospel does not focus on Jesus' death as a sacrifice like some other New Testament books.
* 3:17-19 The Greek root for the word translated as condemn means both judgment and condemnation. Jesus' purpose is to save, but his coming provokes judgment. Some condemn themselves by turning from the light.
Courtesy of: http://www.st-raymond-dublin.org:80/scripture.php - St. Raymond Parish, Dublin, CA