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3.3 Reading Scripture in the Light of Christ Matthew 12:1–8; Luke 24:44–49 SUSAN EASTMAN Matthew 12:1–8 1 At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry , and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’’ 3 He said to them, ‘‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’’ Luke 24:44–49 44 Then he said to them, ‘‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, ‘‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’’ My colleague, David Steinmetz, wrote an essay about reading scripture called ‘‘Uncovering a Second Narrative,’’ in which he compares reading the New Testament to reading a mystery novel.1 Mysteries have complex plots with disparate events and characters, at the end of which the ingenious detective convenes all the characters in one room and retells the plot, drawing unexpected 124 Reading Scripture in the Light of Christ 125 connections between characters and events, explaining how all has led to a particular conclusion, until—voilà!—the truth comes out. Something like this happens in the ways Israel’s scriptures are taken up and resignified in relationship to Christ in the New Testament. The New Testament writers read scripture by starting at the end and reading backwards—that is, they find coherence and meaning through the revelation of Christ, who is the point of the story. Whenever we read any text, we read from a certain vantage point in time and place. ‘‘Reading scripture in the light of Christ’’ means that we read from the time and place of the crucified and resurrected Christ. That is to say, we read scripture after the cross and the resurrection, with the expectation that Christ is its fulfillment and telos, its goal and perfection. We also read with the expectation that Christ is the final interpreter, as well as interpretation, of Israel ’s scripture. From the standpoint of Christian faith, we know Christ through the scriptures of Israel, but we also know those scriptures through Christ, who interprets them for us. Indeed, for Gentiles, it is through Christ that we have access to those scriptures. In addition, we know Christ through the new scripture that originates in his life, composed of his words and deeds, and interpreted through the complex life and witness of his followers. But more than this, and of utmost importance, is that to read from the place of Christ, in Christ, is to read with the expectation that Christ is present now, guiding our interpretation for the particularities of our time and place—which means to read in an attitude of prayer and waiting upon God. The two texts considered here show us Christ interpreting scriptures of Israel, in different settings and different ways. In Matthew 12:1–8, Jesus disputes with the Pharisees over the interpretation and application of the Mosaic Law. In Luke 24:44–49, the risen Christ instructs his disciples immediately prior to his ascension. Taking these two passages in chronological order (both...

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