{"id":6711,"date":"2024-07-12T05:30:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T09:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/?p=6711"},"modified":"2024-07-12T05:30:42","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T09:30:42","slug":"ambassadors-gospel-for-14-july-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/2024\/07\/ambassadors-gospel-for-14-july-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambassadors (Gospel for 14 July, 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Ambassadors<\/h4>\n <\/p>\n An ikon of the Twelve<\/small><\/p>\n I\u2019ve laid things out a little unusually in this post. Instead of just addressing the Gospel reading, I\u2019m analyzing it together with its parallels in other Gospels. These are all about the mission of the Twelve Apostles. This is not the Great<\/em> Commission; that comes later, after the Resurrection. This is when the Twelve were sent on their first \u201csolo project\u201d (solo in the sense that Jesus wasn\u2019t physically present there). It was a mode they\u2019d need to get used to in a few years\u2019 time\u2014a first \u201coff-book\u201d rehearsal for what they\u2019d be doing for the rest of their lives, in fact.<\/p>\n What is an \u201capostle\u201d? It\u2019s a religious word to us, but like I was saying in my last post, that\u2019s because it\u2019s \u201cGreeklish,\u201d and Greeklish words were all ordinary terms to the people who actually spoke Koine Greek. Taken hyper-literally, \u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 [apostolos<\/em>] means \u201csent one\u201d; a host of more natural synonyms comes to mind: ambassador<\/em>, envoy<\/em>, messenger<\/em>, emissary<\/em>, nuncio<\/em>, legate<\/em>, missionary<\/em>, spokesman<\/em>. There are probably more. The point is, in the world of international relations, this is familiar. It\u2019s a common function\u2014a common class<\/em> of functions, really\u2014that any sovereign, even of a tiny state, is going to deal with very formally and officially, to ensure first that he\u2019s being represented correctly, and second, that the people who meet his qualified representatives are treating them right, because that\u2019s a signal of how they view him, his crown, and his whole people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A tabard (a bit like a chasuble) once worn<\/small> \nby heralds of the British crown\u2014note the<\/small> \nquartered arms.1<\/sup> Photo by Nicholas<\/small> \nJackson (CC BY-SA 3.0 license: source<\/a>).<\/small><\/p>\n This is, if anything, ramped up<\/em> in the Near East, especially back in antiquity. It\u2019s not uncommon for an author to make no explicit distinguish between a message sent from someone and an appearance of that person: the centurion with faith that surprises Jesus himself is a great example, given that Matthew writes about him<\/a> as if he (the centurion) were there in person, whereas Luke (who\u2019s from a Gentile background) specifies<\/a> that the centurion sent elders and friends of his, bearing messages. Luke, too, records the saying, \u201cHe that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.\u201d Biblical prophets were understood in precisely these terms. This principle went further still. At least some of the Judaic wariness about the Divine Name came from an idea that a person\u2019s name, in some sense, was<\/em> the person\u2014to injure or mis-handle someone\u2019s name was to do them real (if invisible) harm.<\/p>\n As a result, \u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9 aren\u2019t exactly ambassadors in the modern sense. Ambassadors are often appointed for short terms, do not normally designate their successors, and cannot be automatically presumed to have full powers to represent their state the way that, well, a head of state does; moreover, ambassadors (and the embassies of which they are a part) are normally only present in, or at least only open and operating in, countries that are at peace with their own. Jesus\u2019s \u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9 are appointed to all appearances for this life and the next are capable of transmitting their office, are told several times that they possess full powers, and are not only anticipated but even assumed to be operating in actively hostile territory. It\u2019s tempting to translate it as something like \u201cviceroy<\/a>.\u201d I think the translation I\u2019ve most opted for in fact has been \u201cemissary,\u201d since, not being a formal<\/em> legal title in most of the historical reading I\u2019ve done, it has more leeway than terms like \u201clegate\u201d or \u201cambassador.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Remains of a temple to Pan near C\u00e6sarea<\/small> \nPhilippi (modern Banias); when Jesus tells<\/small> \nthe Apostles \u201cthe gates of hell shall not prevail,\u201d<\/small> \nthey may have been in sight of this temple.<\/small><\/p>\n The textual notes are arranged a little differently in this one. Due to differences in content or completeness among the Synoptic Gospels, none of the passages below bear the complete set of notes a through I. (Mark has five: a, E, f, h, and I. Matthew has seven\u2014B, C, D, E, G, h, and I\u2014and Luke, four: B, E, h, and I.) Also, content in the other two Gospels that is not present in Mark is shown in green. (Since I\u2019m only providing my personal translation for Mark, I\u2019ve simply offered the RSV-CE\u2019s version of the parallel Gospel passages.)<\/p>\n

Mark 6.7-13, RSV-CE<\/h4>\n* ** *And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two,a<\/sup> and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff;E<\/sup> no bread, no bag, no moneyf<\/sup> in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, \u201cWhere you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.h<\/sup> And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them.\u201dI<\/sup> So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.<\/p>\n Matthew\u2019s Parallel (10.1-15)<\/h4>\n*** ** And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity.B<\/sup> The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.C<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n ** These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, \u201cGo nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.D<\/sup> And preach as you go, saying, \u2018The kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u2019B<\/sup><\/span> Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,<\/span> cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay.<\/span> Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff;E<\/sup> for the laborer deserves his food.G<\/sup><\/span> And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and<\/span> stay with him until you depart.h<\/sup> As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.<\/span> And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.\u201dI<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n ** Luke\u2019s Parallel (9.1-6)<\/h4>\n ** <\/p>\n ** Symbol of St. Luke from folio 27 of<\/small> \nthe Book of Kells (9th cent.)<\/small><\/p>\n ** ***And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,<\/span> and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal<\/span>.B<\/sup> And he said to them, \u201cTake nothing for your journey, no staff,E<\/sup><\/span> nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.h<\/sup> And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.\u201dI<\/sup> And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.<\/p>\n Textual Notes<\/h4>\n***** ** Since I\u2019ve put Mark beside Matthew and Luke, I\u2019ve set up the notes slightly differently. Notes in capital letters (B, C, D, E, G, and I) discuss text that\u2019s in the other two Synoptics,3<\/sup> while those which are also in italics (B, C, D, and G) refer to information found only<\/em> in other Synoptics; notes a, f, and h are the only Mark-exclusives.\u00a0 To help avoid confusion, within the references themselves, I\u2019ve set text from Matthew in dark red<\/span> and text from Luke in dark blue<\/span>; text from Mark remains in black<\/span>.<\/p>\n ** <\/p>\n ** a. two by two:<\/strong><\/span> Only Mark mentions the detail that the Twelve were sent out in pairs, though he doesn\u2019t tell us what they were. Matthew seems like he may<\/em> be listing the pairs: if so, they were Peter-Andrew, \u201cbig\u201d James-John, Philip-Bartholomew, Thomas-Matthew, \u201clittle\u201d James-Thadd\u00e6us, and Simon-Judas. This reveals that our Lord tastefully assigned those six apostles who shared first names\u2014the Jacobs, Judahs, and Simons4<\/sup>\u2014to different teams. He also put the two confirmed sets of brothers together; however, if Matthew and James the Less were brothers (check the bullet on the name \u201cMatthew\u201d in note C), them he split up for some reason. Luke does mention pairs when talking about the later mission of the Seventy5<\/sup> (which only he records), but not here.<\/p>\n ** B.<\/span> and to heal every disease and every infirmity \u2026 And preach as you go, saying, \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d<\/span> |<\/span> to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/em> Curiously, while both Matthew and Luke mention express instructions to preach the gospel, Mark\u2014though he mentions that they did<\/em> preach\u2014has nothing to say about what message they were told to bring to people. Presumably, since they had been apprenticed to Jesus for a while at this point, they had seen him preach quite regularly, and had an idea of what to say.<\/p>\n ** Similarly, though he mentions acts of healing\u2014and specifies anointing with oil, a detail left out by the other two\u2014Mark has nothing to say about the commission<\/em> given to the Twelve to heal the sick: the only authority he mentions is that which they were given over demons. This could indicate that a somewhat superstitious way of thinking about diseases was habitual to the author of Mark or to his sources\u2014or at least, that he\/they were in the habit of speaking<\/em> that way, which is not necessarily the same thing. (That said, the absence of a single clause from one passage can\u2019t bear much theological weight!)<\/p>\n ** <\/p>\n ** Calling of the Apostles<\/em> (1481)<\/small> *****\nby Domenico Ghirlandajo<\/small><\/p>\n C.<\/span> The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thadd\u00e6us; Simon the Canan\u00e6an, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/em> All three Synoptics list the Twelve; only Matthew does it here. Mark\u2019s list is in chapter 3<\/a>, where it says \u201che ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.\u201d This suggests that this mission was anticipated, and maybe even discussed when the Twelve were originally selected, but that he kept them with him a while first. (It might even mean their ordination preceded<\/em> their training, which would be wild by our standards.) Luke lists the apostles twice: once in his Gospel (in chapter 6<\/a>, around the same position as in Mark\u2019s shorter narrative), and again in the first chapter of Acts.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to get into some of the names and epithets here\u2014nine, all told. We\u2019ve touched on four of them on this site already: Alph\u00e6us<\/em>, Peter<\/em>, Thomas<\/em>, and Zebedee<\/em>.<\/p>\n \nAlph\u00e6us<\/em> probably represents the same name as Clopas\/Cleophas: \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc\u05e4\u05d0\u05d9\u2014a name I can\u2019t really transcribe properly, because I can\u2019t find a version with the niqqud<\/em><\/a> and I\u2019m not good enough at Hebrew or<\/em> Aramaic to insert any vowel except \u201ca\u201d when in doubt.6<\/sup> But I\u2019m assured by better-informed people that it comes out to [Chilfai<\/em>].<\/li>\nPeter<\/em>, \u201cRocky,\u201d is a well-known nickname: \u03a0\u03ad\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 [Petros<\/em>] represents the Aramaic \u05db\u05b5\u05bc\u05d9\u05e4\u05b8\u05d0 [Keyfa\u2019<\/em>], or Cephas<\/em>.<\/li>\nThomas<\/em>, \u201cTwin,\u201d is almost certainly a nickname as well; at least, I\u2019ve never heard<\/em> of anybody actually being named \u201cTwin.\u201d \u0394\u03af\u03b4\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 [Did\u00fcmos<\/em>] stands for \u05ea\u05b0\u05bc\u05d0\u05d5\u05b9\u05de\u05b8\u05d4 [T\u2019owmah<\/em>] of the same meaning.<\/li>\nFourth, Zebedee<\/em> is the same as Zebadiah<\/em> (in Hebrew \u05d6\u05b0\u05d1\u05b7\u05d3\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05d4 [Z\u2019vad\u2019yah<\/em>]), filtered as usual through the classical languages and then Anglicized. (Incidentally, Zebadiah<\/em> means \u201cgift of God.\u201d No, you\u2019re not misremembering, that\u2019s also what Matthew<\/em> means; they really just did this twice.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n******* ** Five others drew my eye: Bartholomew<\/em>, Canan\u00e6an<\/em>, Iscariot<\/em>, Matthew<\/em>, and Thadd\u00e6us<\/em>.<\/p>\n ** *******<\/p>\n Judas Iscariot in stained glass at the<\/small>******* \nChurch of St. John the Baptist in Yeovil,<\/small> \nSomersetshire; note the black halo. *******\n(GadgetSteve, CC BY-SA <\/small>4.0: source<\/a>.)<\/small><\/p>\n \nBartholomew<\/em> is a surname. The prefix \u201cbar-\u201d functions a little like \u201cMc-\/Mac-\u201d in Gaelic surnames; -tholomew<\/em>, on the other hand, is the Aramaic name Talmai<\/em>. This name came from Hebrew, and was also used as the Hebraization of the (quite unrelated) name Ptolemy<\/em><\/a>. Based on the fact that bar-Talmai<\/em> in the Synoptics is regularly paired with Philip, he is thought by most people to be the same individual as Nathanael<\/em> in John\u2014thus netting us a first and last name, Nathanael bar-Talmai<\/em>.<\/li>\nSt. Jerome suggested that Canan\u00e6an<\/em> might mean \u201cfrom Cana,\u201d which is the origin of the (very misleading!) rendering \u201cSimon the Canaanite\u201d you\u2019ll occasionally find. However, the older and more common theory is that Canan\u00e6an<\/em> comes from \u05e7\u05b7\u05e0\u05b7\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9 [qanna\u2019y<\/em>], \u201czealous.\u201d If Greek bothered to borrow an Aramaic word, it probably had some special significance: referring to a localized movement like the Zealots would do nicely. This is reinforced by Luke titling him \u03b6\u03b7\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u03ae\u03c2 [z\u0113l\u014dt\u0113s<\/em>]. Granted, it\u2019d be surprising for a Zealot to start following a pacifist rabbi; but personally, I\u2019d be even more surprised if no<\/em> Zealots changed their minds on hearing Jesus. I see no reason to doubt the old theory.<\/li>\nThe name Iscariot<\/em> has prompted a couple theories. One is that it\u2019s a lightly scrambled form of the Latin sicarius<\/em>, which means \u201cassassin\u201d or \u201chitman,\u201d and that Judas\u2019s background was similar to Simon\u2019s. There was a Zealot-aligned group of sicarii<\/em> active in Jud\u00e6a a little after Jesus\u2019s time, in the 50s. However, not all Zealots were murder guys who loved to do murders; and while the Romans called them sicarii<\/em>, I don\u2019t know that that name was current among Jews. Besides, while Jesus and\/or the other apostles calling one guy \u201cSimon the Zealot\u201d is one thing, openly referring to another as \u201cJudah the Hitman\u201d\u2014before<\/em> all the, you know, went down\u2014seems a little far-fetched. And that\u2019s to say nothing of their doing so in Latin<\/em>, garbled or not. Anyway, there\u2019s a more natural explanation: there was a town in Jud\u00e6a called \u05e7\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05ea [Q\u2019riyyowth<\/em>], \u201cKerioth.\u201d Prefix the Hebrew word for \u201cman,\u201d \u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 [\u2018iysh<\/em>], to make \u201cguy from Kerioth,\u201d and what do you know: ish-Kerioth<\/em>. But nah, sure, it\u2019s the murder one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n******* ** <\/p>\n ** A seventeenth-century Armenian miniature<\/small> *******\nof St. Matthew the Evangelist.<\/small><\/p>\n \nMatthew<\/em> is an interesting case.7<\/sup> All the lists of the Twelve contain his name. The Gospel of Matthew also records him being called<\/a> from the tax-collector\u2019s office, but Mark<\/a> and Luke<\/a>, in relating an identical story, make it about a man named Levi<\/em>. (Mark adds the tantalizing detail that Levi is a \u201cson of Alph\u00e6us.\u201d Like James the Less? Do we have a third set of brother-apostles?) Levi is<\/em> broadly agreed to be Matthew, but I haven\u2019t discovered an explanation for the naming discrepancy. Of course, it wasn\u2019t uncommon for a person to have multiple names, but there\u2019s normally a reason\u2014from one as simple as \u201che also has a nickname,\u201d to elevated causes like a religious initiations. I wonder whether Mark and Luke, knowing what a bad figure tax-collectors cut, were sensitive to what people might think of Matthew and so quietly omitted the fact that he was Levi; but, perhaps St. Matthew couldn\u2019t be bothered to stand on his dignity. That would align with St. Paul\u2019s attitude, and we see what may be echoes of Matthew in Paul\u2019s writings (cf. note G). Of course, this rests on the assumption that the Synoptics, or Matthew at least, were written by the saints they\u2019re named for, an idea not widely accepted by scholars. (I find the arguments against the tradition unsatisfying, but it is true that I\u2019ve got most of Academe against me on this.)<\/li>\nFinally, Thadd\u00e6us<\/em>, thought to be the same as John 14.22\u2019s \u201cJudas saith unto him, not Iscariot\u201d (nice save). The etymology of Thadd\u00e6us<\/em> is uncertain, but some of what I read proposed it was a version of the Aramaic \u05ea\u05b7\u05d3\u05b7\u05bc\u05d9 [Thadday<\/em>], which appears to come from \u05ea\u05b7\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05bc\u05d0 [tadda\u2019<\/em>], \u201cbreast.\u201d The name thus could<\/em> mean something like \u201csuckling child.\u201d The image that immediately came to me\u2014and which, to be honest, strikes me as credible, if not inevitable<\/em>, in a group of thirteen men hanging out for months on end\u2014is that one guy in the group basically got the same nickname as \u201cBaby John\u201d from West Side Story<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n******* ** *******<\/p>\n A lunette with fifteen relics of apostles:<\/small>******* \nthe Eleven are all here, as are SS. Matthias<\/small> \nBarnabas, and Paul, plus two from St. John.<\/small> *******\n(By ExorcisioTe, CC BY-SA 4.0: source<\/a>).<\/small><\/p>\n Taking the Evangelists\u2019 four lists and combining it with data gleaned from John, we get a probable list8<\/sup> of \u201cThe Twelve Classic\u201d along these lines:<\/p>\n \nSimon \u201cRocky\u201d bar-Jonah | St. Peter<\/strong><\/li>\nAndreas bar-Jonah | St. Andrew<\/strong><\/li>\nJacob bar-Zebadiah | St. James the Greater<\/strong><\/li>\nJohn bar-Zebadiah | St. John<\/strong><\/li>\nPhilip | St. Philip<\/strong><\/li>\nNathanael bar-Talmai | St. Bartholomew<\/strong><\/li>\nLevi \u201cMatthias\u201d bar-Chilphai | St. Matthew<\/strong><\/li>\n\u201cthe Twin\u201d | St. Thomas<\/strong><\/li>\nJacob bar-Chilphai | St. James the Less<\/strong><\/li>\nSimon \u201cthe Zealot\u201d | St. Simon<\/strong><\/li>\nJudah \u201cBaby Jude\u201d bar-Jacob | St. Jude Thadd\u00e6us<\/strong><\/li>\nJudah \u201cof Kerioth\u201d bar-Simon | Judas Iscariot<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n******* ** *******<\/p>\n Contemporary Samaritans observing Passover on<\/small>******* \nMount Gerizim, 2006. Photo by Edward Kaprov,<\/small> *******\nused under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license (source<\/a>).<\/small><\/p>\n D.<\/span> Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/em> Characteristically, Matthew focuses on the explicitly and at this stage exclusively<\/em> Jewish mission of Jesus and the Apostles. Mark rarely if ever touches on this (he has nothing to say about the dispute between orthodox Jews and Samaritans, for instance, a topic even John takes head on); St. Luke, a Gentile convert and close associate of St. Paul, downplays it.<\/p>\n E. except a staff\/except a single rod |<\/span> nor a staff<\/span> |<\/span> no staff<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong> This is an odd discrepancy between Mark and the other Synoptics. The best I can make of Mark\u2019s phrasing is that the word \u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd [monon<\/em>], which I think the RSV is taking to mean \u201conly\u201d (in the sense that it is the \u201conly\u201d exception to Jesus\u2019s directions to under-prep), is really being used in a numerical sense here. In other words, they\u2019re allowed to bring a<\/em> staff, but only one\u2014no backup: if it breaks, it breaks, and they\u2019ll have to either do without a staff or accept a new one as a gift.<\/p>\n f. money\/copper:<\/strong><\/span> Then as now, money was 1) often made from copper or copper alloys, but 2) usually only for the smallest, least valuable coins, like pennies.9<\/sup> Idiomatically, \u201cdon\u2019t bring a penny\u201d would be a very defensible rendering.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An ancient lepton<\/em>, the \u201cmite\u201d of the widow\u2019s<\/a><\/small>******* *******\nmite episode<\/a>, sometimes translated \u201cpenny\u201d;<\/small>******* \nit was typically made of copper and might<\/small> *******\nbe referred to simply as \u201ca copper.\u201d<\/small><\/p>\n G.<\/span> the laborer deserves his food<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/em> St. Paul alludes to this idea a few times (e.g. in I Corinthians 9<\/a>), and in I Timothy 5<\/a> he quotes it directly.<\/p>\n h. stay there until you leave the place:<\/strong><\/span> The command not to go from house to house in a single city or town could have many reasons behind it: for example, if anyone needed to find the visiting apostles to request healing, it would be far easier to find them. (And speed could be important for some illnesses\u2014though on the other hand, Matthew tells us raising the dead was also part of their commission, so \u2026?) But I believe the interpretation I\u2019ve most often seen reads this as a warning against moving around for nicer accommodations, which\u2014besides being suicidally<\/em> rude, and in a culture that took hospitality as seriously as the Near East!\u2014would be gluttonous of comfort10<\/sup> (even if it didn\u2019t start out that way, the habit would be all but certain to form) and, at bottom, a total distraction regardless.<\/p>\n I. when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them\/when you leave there, shake off the dust that is under your feet, as a witness to them |<\/span> shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town<\/span> |<\/span> when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong> As so often, Matthew, while the same as the other two in substance, is more poetic and elaborate, bringing in Sodom and Gomorrah\u2014as, of all things, a positive<\/em> counterexample; one is tempted to think of the abrupt and heartfelt repentance of the Ninevites<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lot and his daughters fleeing Sodom, as<\/small>******* *******\ndepicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).11<\/sup><\/small><\/p>\n I poked around a bit to see if \u201cshaking the dust off one\u2019s feet\u201d was a pre-existing custom. Wikipedia claims it was, but without a source; something about it\u2014I don\u2019t quite know what\u2014gives me \u201cthing Christians have projected backwards onto first-century Judaism\u201d vibes. Of course, now that search engines suck, I couldn\u2019t find anything of use. I do know (though this is a bit different) that showing the sole of your shoe or sandal to someone is insulting in the Near East: not as bad as hitting<\/em> them with it, maybe, but it\u2019s pretty bad. This could be an elaboration of that.<\/p>\n \nFootnotes<\/h5>\n 1<\/sup>In heraldry, \u201cquartered arms\u201d are coats of arms shrunk down to one-quarter size and combined with other coats of arms. Normally (as in this example), this is done with three coats of arms: the primary arms go in the upper left and lower right quarters, and the other two in the remaining two. Here, the arms quartered are those of the royal houses of England, Scotland, and Ireland. (Dynasties\u2014which often rule multiple nations, shift from one throne to another over the centuries, etc.\u2014normally have separate coats of arms from nations as such.) Simplified slightly, the arms of the English monarch are Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or<\/em>: \u201ca scarlet field, three golden lions walking past but facing the observer.\u201d Scotland\u2019s are Or a lion rampant Gules with a double tressure of the second<\/em>: \u201ca golden field, one scarlet lion rearing within a doubled scarlet border.\u201d Ireland\u2019s are normally Azure a harp Or<\/em> (\u201ca blue field with a golden harp\u201d), but here the Azure<\/em> seems to have been replaced with Argent<\/em> (silver, but usually depicted as white). I can\u2019t tell if this is a variant or a trick of the light\u2014probably the latter; Argent<\/em> and Or<\/em> aren\u2019t really supposed to border each other, except on the papal arms.<\/small>********* \n2<\/sup>A chrismarium<\/em> is a vessel for containing chrism, or holy oil, used in the sacraments of Confirmation and Unction (and on some other occasions as well).<\/small> \n3<\/sup>The Synoptic Gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. They are so named because they \u201csee together\u201d: their structure is roughly the same (with a closer resemblance between Matthew and Mark); the actual wording of many episodes is often similar if not identical (again with more resemblances between Matthew and Mark); and none of the three overlap much with John, whose structure and style are strikingly different.<\/small> \n4<\/sup>Jacob<\/em> (\u1f38\u03ac\u03ba\u03c9\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2 [Iak\u014dbos<\/em>] in Greek, from the Hebrew \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u05d1 [Ya3aqov<\/em>]), is typically represented in English New Testaments as \u201cJames\u201d; Judah<\/em> (\u1f38\u03bf\u03cd\u03b4\u03b1\u03c2 [Ioudas<\/em>], from \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b8\u05d4 [Y\u2019hudhah<\/em>]), as \u201cJude\u201d or \u201cJudas\u201d (invariably as Judas<\/em> in reference to the traitor, but inconsistently when speaking about others of the same name). Simon<\/em> (from \u03a3\u03af\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd [Sim\u014dn<\/em>]\u2014or occasionally \u03a3\u03c5\u03bc\u03b5\u03ce\u03bd [S\u00fcme\u014dn<\/em>]\u2014from \u05e9\u05b4\u05c1\u05de\u05b0\u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05df [Shim\u20193own<\/em>]) is not generally altered.<\/small> *********\n5<\/sup>The significance of the Twelve and then the Seventy (or Seventy-Two\u2014manuscripts vary) being sent out by Jesus may seem obscure. However, it is probably an allusion to the idea that Jesus is founding a new Israel. Twelve, the number of the sons of Jacob, symbolizes the chosen people of Israel in its wholeness (no missing ten tribes); seventy, or a number close to it, especially after twelve, evokes the Israelite caravan that went to sojourn in Egypt (as in the opening of Exodus<\/a>; cf. Acts 7.8-14<\/a>). More striking still is the fact that Luke sandwiches his account of the Transfiguration, which describes Jesus\u2019 death as \u201cthe \u1f14\u03be\u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2 [exodos<\/em>]\u201d (the departure) \u201che was about to accomplish in Jerusalem,\u201d between the two missions, with the Twelve before it and the Seventy after it.<\/small>********* *********\n6<\/sup>Which, ironically, works okay for this name. But I\u2019ve been around long enough to know, if I trust that rule of thumb from a position of ignorance even one time<\/em>, hubris will rear up like Ammit<\/a> to devour me. In a month I\u2019d be arguing with some world-renowned Syriacist about how the Aramaic version of Ephesians has a clear reference to aliens in it or something.<\/small>********* \n7<\/sup>For the sake of being confusing, I\u2019m sure now is a good time to note that Matthew<\/em> and Matthias<\/em> are slight variations of the same name in Greek, likely representing one Aramaic name.<\/small> \n8<\/sup>Oddly, even though we\u2019ve got a bar-Jacob<\/em> and a bar-Simon<\/em> in there, I\u2019ve never heard anyone even speculate on whether any of the Twelve were a father-son pair. The absence any such a tradition may be evidence against the idea. (That, and as far as being apprenticed goes, not many men who\u2019ve already had children would have the time or liberty to go pick up a whole second profession<\/em>.)<\/small> \n9<\/sup>Modern American pennies are made of surprisingly little copper, only about 2.5%; most of a penny\u2019s weight is actually zinc. Nickels, on the other hand, are made by alloying 25% copper with 75% nickel, and thus contain way more copper than pennies, which is doubly funny given that nickels are the only coin we named after (some of) the metal they\u2019re made from!<\/small> \n10<\/sup>Gluttony is a rather misunderstood temptation. Most of us have heard the essence of pride is self-focus<\/em>, not self-aggrandizement; as Screwtape<\/em> has it (Letter XIV), \u201c[God] would rather the man thought himself a great architect or a great poet and then forgot about it, than that he should spend much time and pains trying to think himself a bad one.\u201d Similarly, food is a shorthand<\/em> for gluttony; but the real key to it is that gluttony is an unregulated appetite for sense-pleasure. Many sins we mistakenly classify as sins of lust, for instance, are so detached from any human connection (even an unhealthy one) that they\u2019re more intelligible as acts of gluttony that incidentally involve sex than as sins of lust proper.<\/small> *********\n11<\/sup>The sleek, porcelain-like appearance of Lot\u2019s wife qua<\/em> pillar of salt in this woodcut made me reflect: it\u2019s high time somebody created a set of \u201cLot\u2019s wife and the city of Sodom\u201d salt and pepper shakers.<\/small><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ambassadors An ikon of the Twelve I\u2019ve laid things out a little unusually in this post. Instead of just addressing the Gospel reading, I\u2019m analyzing it together with its parallels in other Gospels. These are all about the mission of the Twelve Apostles. This is not the Great Commission; that comes later, after the Resurrection. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4203,"featured_media":4205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAmbassadors (Gospel for 14 July, 2024)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ambassadors An ikon of the Twelve I've laid things out a little unusually in this post. 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He grew up as an evangelical Navy brat and got a degree in Classics from the University of Maryland. He currently lives in Baltimore and is a member of a local parish of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter. The everything notwithstanding, he is in fact not a vegan.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mudbloodcatholic.blogspot.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mudbloodcatholic\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OurLadyofAntifa\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/author\/gblanchard\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ambassadors (Gospel for 14 July, 2024)","description":"Ambassadors An ikon of the Twelve I've laid things out a little unusually in this post. 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He grew up as an evangelical Navy brat and got a degree in Classics from the University of Maryland. He currently lives in Baltimore and is a member of a local parish of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter. The everything notwithstanding, he is in fact not a vegan.","sameAs":["https:\/\/mudbloodcatholic.blogspot.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mudbloodcatholic\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/OurLadyofAntifa"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/author\/gblanchard\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mudbloodcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} Mark 6.7-13, my translation<\/h4>\n*** ** And he summoned himself the Twelve, and began to send them forth two by two,a<\/sup> and he gave to them authority over unclean spirits, and directed them to take nothing on the road except a single rodE<\/sup>\u2014no bread, no bag, no copperf<\/sup> in the belt, but to tie on their sandals, and not be clothed in two cloaks. And he told them: \u201cWherever it may be you come into a household, stay there until you leave the place.h<\/sup> And if that place will not receive you nor listen to you, when you leave there, shake off the dust that is under your feet, as a witness to them.\u201dI<\/sup> And they went out and proclaimed that people should have a change of heart, and cast out many demons, and anointed many sickly people with oil and healed them.<\/p>\n ** ***<\/p>\n A Russian Orthodox chrismarium2<\/sup> (there known<\/small>*** \nas an \u0410\u043b\u0430\u0432\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0440 [Alavastr]). Photo by Shakko,<\/small> ***\nused under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license (source<\/a>).<\/small><\/p>\n