Things to be Alert to in Chapter Two of Prof. Levine’s Book

Friends, Monday is new podcast day on Notes from the Diaspora. This week we read Chapter Two in Professor Levine’s book, Entering the Passion of Jesus. This week we enter the Temple.

As promised, I’ve kept my time down in the podcast! This week it’s around 13 minutes—hopefully a more digestible length! I also included the audio transcript below, with timestamps to break up the block of text.

I welcome your feedback on this format! Writing is what I do best, but I think audio and video are preferred formats for many, so let me know if you’re appreciating these and what may improve them.

Happy reading!

Transcript 

00:00:01 

In many congregations, children come to the front for a story and then are dismissed from the main area so that they can have religious education or cookies, or both. 

00:00:11 

And the adults can listen more closely to the sermon. 

00:00:14 

The temple was something much different. 

00:00:16 

It was a tourist attraction, especially during the pilgrimage festivals. 

00:00:21 

It was very crowded and it was noisy. 

00:00:24 

The noise was loud and boisterous, and because it was Passover, people were happy because they were celebrating the Feast of Freedom. 

00:00:32 

For many, it was one of the few opportunities to celebrate by eating meat rather than just fish. 

00:00:39 

We might think of the setting as a type of vacation for the pilgrims, a chance to leave their homes, to catch up with friends and relatives, to see the big city, and to feel a special connection to their fellow Jews. 

00:00:50 

And with God it is into this. 

00:00:53 

Saying that, Jesus. 

00:00:58 

This is notes from the diaspora, the podcast, and this week we’re reading Chapter 2. 

00:01:08 

Now, before I get into Chapter 2 and the themes that I hope that you watch out for, I do want to pass out some things. 

00:01:14 

And so first by name, I want to thank Jim, John, Melissa and Sandy. 

00:01:21 

You have been really active and involved in participating. 

00:01:25 

With the chats you’ve replied to, the chat prompts you’ve replied to each other. 

00:01:29 

It is really terrific to see that activity and engagement within the. 

00:01:33 

That I want you to take part in the chat also if you haven’t yet, you’ll need to download the sub stack app in order to participate in the chats. 

00:01:42 

And I do have a post about that, but you can scroll back to see a new topic is posted in the chat each Wednesday, and so you’ll see another one this week on Wednesday, March 8th with a prompt. 

00:01:53 

About Chapter 2 and so get the sub stack app. 

00:01:56 

Once you have it, you can participate in the chats. 

00:01:59 

It’s a great way to share some of your key learnings to ask questions of others to read. 

00:02:04 

How other people are processing the information and so thanks to Jim, John, Melissa and Sandy for your participation in the chat, I would encourage everyone to join them. 

00:02:14 

It’s friendly. 

00:02:15 

It’s a nice place to be. 

00:02:16 

You can learn what other people are are taking away from the reading and compare and contrast that to your own lessons learned. 

00:02:23 

And so that’s a bit about the. 

00:02:24 

Chat while we’re on the topic of participation and engagement, I do have special extra thanks that I want to hand out to two people in particular. 

00:02:33 

Their initials are J. 

00:02:35 

And these two people have subscribed as founding members of notes from the diaspora. 

00:02:41 

So that is really, really cool. 

00:02:43 

And so, as a founding member, there’s some extra perks. 

00:02:45 

Monthly videos, quarterly live events. 

00:02:49 

The next topic that we will be doing as a newsletter community will be around the authorship. 

00:02:55 

In composition of the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, also called the five books of Moses. 

00:03:02 

Also called the. 

00:03:04 

So as a newsletter community, we’ll be talking some about that on the other side of Lent and Easter, but if you are in the founding Member Group, you will get videos going in depth on additional source material you will be invited to these quarterly live streaming events where you can participate and chat with me and chat with each other. 

00:03:23 

And so just special thanks to those founding members JG and SH, and if more. 

00:03:28 

People want to sign up as a. 

00:03:29 

Sounding a subscriber, it means so much to me and allows me to continue really buying the materials that go into study and presenting this newsletter to you. 

00:03:39 

So thanks so much for that. 

00:03:41 

Thanks to all the subscribers. 

00:03:42 

We have 30 total subscribers right now. 

00:03:44 

I appreciate that continue to forward on the e-mail to friends who may. 

00:03:50 

Enjoy taking part in this community if you are bold enough and brave enough, maybe even share one of the posts to your social media channels. 

00:03:58 

A great way to build community around this important work and all the while confront and combat Christian, anti-Semitism and Christian nationalism. 

00:04:09 

OK, let’s get in to chapter 2. 

00:04:14 

So we entered Jerusalem last week in the introduction and in chapter one we discussed the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 

00:04:22 

And so the next obvious place to go is the temple. 

00:04:26 

So in chapter two, we are entering the temple. 

00:04:29 

There’s some things that I really want you to pay special close attention to the first. 

00:04:34 

It’s really kind of an infrastructure piece, which. 

00:04:37 

Is a funny word. 

00:04:39 

The temple complex itself was vast, 12 soccer fields in size. 

00:04:45 

Just imagine. 

00:04:46 

So our youngest of three plays soccer. 

00:04:49 

So I’ve seen a soccer field. 

00:04:51 

In fact, I watch soccer on TV just about every weekend. 

00:04:54 

So one soccer field is pretty big. 

00:04:57 

And during the course of the game. 

00:04:58 

A player may. 

00:05:00 

Run between 7:00 and 9:00 miles just on one soccer field in one game or one match. 

00:05:07 

So a match in 12 soccer fields. 

00:05:09 

That is enormous. 

00:05:11 

That is the size and scale of the temple in Jerusalem. 

00:05:16 

That was surprising to me when I first learned that it might be surprising. 

00:05:20 

To you too, on this same kind of infrastructure design architecture conversation. 

00:05:26 

It may also be interesting when you find out that there was a court of the Gentiles at the temple, so it was not only Jews who could come and worship or experience the temple. 

00:05:37 

There was a court of the Gentiles where even if you were not Jewish, you could still come and participate in many temple activities. 

00:05:44 

So I. 

00:05:44 

Want you to pay? 

00:05:45 

Special close attention to those things about the temple. 

00:05:48 

Well, I also want you to pay special close attention to the really difficult and unique and challenging political relationship that the priests had to maintain with Rome. 

00:06:03 

The high priests. Listen, I am very sympathetic toward the high priests. Now that is not always the take away. 

00:06:10 

That we hear particularly within Christian Community. 

00:06:12 

Cities because and you’ve heard me complain about this before. 

00:06:16 

Oftentimes it is the case that people envision Jesus as liberating his people from this temple domination system. 

00:06:25 

Or that people may imagine that Jesus was there to confront directly the Pharisees that they were the ones who were most problematic for Jo. 

00:06:35 

Where I have tried to redirect us several times and will continue to redirect us that Jesus is liberating us from Roman Empire from militarized empire. 

00:06:46 

That is the real enemy and the real target. 

00:06:49 

When you read Jesus writings in context, but the listen the the temple. 

00:06:55 

Authorities, the priests. 

00:06:56 

They had to maintain the right and the rituals of the cultic practice, while also appeasing Rome, that Rome would not interfere with the rights and the rituals that really the temple was given a pretty long leash by Rome. 

00:07:11 

They were allowed to practice their religion and cultic practices, but. 

00:07:16 

Only if they kept the violence down, so Rome maintained peace through militarism. 

00:07:22 

It was peace through victory, and so I want you to understand that these people in the Greek scriptures like Caiaphas, it’s easy to think of somebody like. 

00:07:33 

As turning Jesus over to the authorities, leading directly to Jesus execution or crucifixion. 

00:07:41 

But of course the story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. 

00:07:45 

So the other thing that I want you to pay a special close attention to in addition to the temple structure, the temple complex also about. 

00:07:52 

The relationships within the temple and particularly. 

00:07:56 

The high priest. 

00:07:58 

Who are in this really difficult place of having to maintain the cultic practices while also appeasing Rome? 

00:08:04 

So I have a tremendous amount of sympathy for those in the priestly class who are doing the very best that they could during a very busy pilgrimage. 

00:08:14 

And so the size and the scale of the temple complex, the the relationships that people had to navigate, those politically fraught relationships. 

00:08:23 

These are things that I want you to take away from reading Chapter 2. 

00:08:29 

Amy Jo Levine closes with kind of three things to think about at the end of Chapter 2. 

00:08:33 

I’m going to just summarize those three things now. 

00:08:36 

So you’re actually getting them kind of on the front end before you start reading chapter 2. 

00:08:40 

Although I heard from someone today that they just started Chapter 3. 

00:08:44 

And so you’re already a step ahead. 

00:08:46 

But near the end of Chapter 2. 

00:08:49 

Professor Levine says here are three things to think about. 

00:08:53 

The first thing to think about is do we imagine Jesus to be the new? 

00:09:00 

And so I was in a New Testament class in college, and I wrote a term paper on just this topic, which is really interesting, even more interesting and not to. 

00:09:10 

I’m not sure if this is a. 

00:09:11 

Humble brag, or if this is just. 

00:09:15 

This, like anger I’ve been carrying with me for. 

00:09:17 

Years, but the professor of that. 

00:09:19 

Course did not like my take. 

00:09:21 

Uh, in my term paper, and what I argued is something that Amy Jill Levine argues in Chapter 2. 

00:09:27 

And so when I read this book the first time, I felt totally vindicated from my undergraduate New Testament course from. 

00:09:37 

College that I argued, and I think Amy Joe Levine makes a pretty convincing argument that because the gospel accounts were written after the destruction of the temple in 70 of the common era, there was an argument to be made that Jesus could perhaps be the surrogate temple in the temples absence. 

00:09:57 

And so do we think about. 

00:09:58 

Jesus, as a continuation of the temple that again roots Jesus firmly plants Jesus within Judaism, right? 

00:10:07 

We’re not saying let’s imagine Jesus as the. 

00:10:10 

First Cathedral of a Christian sanctuary instead is Jesus. 

00:10:17 

The continuation of the temple is Jesus, the new temple. 

00:10:21 

So we’ll think about that some as we reach Chapter 2. 

00:10:24 

#2 if Jesus is the body of the church, then we need to make sure that is. 

00:10:29 

A welcoming body. 

00:10:31 

Where everyone. 

00:10:32 

Feels welcomed. 

00:10:34 

Validated, not merely accepted, but affirmed. 

00:10:38 

Let me repeat that affirmed when we have an open and affirming covenant that validates the LGBTQ I a population in our midst, have full participation within the life of the church. 

00:10:51 

That’s usually where open. 

00:10:53 

Firming covenants. 

00:10:54 

Are proclaimed. 

00:10:56 

It is not open and accepting it is open and affirming, and so the second thing to think about is if Jesus body. 

00:11:06 

Is meant for all. 

00:11:08 

Is it welcoming of all, not merely accepting, but is it affirming of all? 

00:11:15 

So that’s the second thing to think about. 

00:11:17 

The third thing that Professor Levine leaves us with at the end of Chapter 2 is to bring up the notion of this image of the divine. 

00:11:26 

We were each created. 

00:11:28 

In the image of the divine in Hebrew, the name or term for that concept is betsalel Elohim. 

00:11:35 

In the image or likeness of the divine. 

00:11:38 

And so as we turn to look at our neighbors, do we see the image of the holy one in the neighbors that we turn to look to? 

00:11:46 

What about strangers? 

00:11:48 

What about the other? 

00:11:49 

What about people who intimidate us? 

00:11:51 

What about people whose lifestyle we don’t quite understand? 

00:11:54 

Do we see that? 

00:11:55 

Ohim the image of the divine in each other, and so those are three closing thoughts from Professor Levine. 

00:12:02 

But I’m giving to you them to you on the front end of Chapter 2, so that maybe they’ll just be in the back of your mind as you work through the material for Chapter 2. 

00:12:12 

OK, this has been the notes from the Diaspora podcast. I’m Adam happy reading on chapter 2. Download the sub stack app so you can participate in this week’s chat topic and I’ll be back with you. Another podcast episode coming next Monday. Cheers.