Recently I was giving input to a team who had worked on Psalms. I noticed that in several places they had included footnotes referring to the New Testament use of those Psalms. One example was a footnote in Ps 34:20 'not one of [his bones] will be broken' that referred to John 19:32, 33, 36 where this prophecy is fulfilled. Now, obviously this is a useful link for readers, but it is better to put it in John's gospel referring back to Psalms. Why? Because the New Testament is (to some extent) a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, whereas the reverse is not true (the Hebrew Bible never refers to the New Testament). There are often two possible ways of reading a Psalm: In its original context, and As interpreted by the New Testament writers. This is quite important, as the Hebrew Bible belongs to two faith communities, the Jews and the Christians. (Muslims too, to some extent, though they refer to the Torah and the Psalms only). If we translate the Bible in such a way that it onl...
The Spirit of the Lord is on me... "... because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lordās favour." Isa 61.1-2; Luke 4.18-19 The passage in Luke is often given the title: āJesus rejected at Nazareth.ā That is part of it. It reinforces Jesusā identity as a prophet ā just at those before him were rejected (e.g. Elijah, the first prophet, v26), so will Jesus. It ought, perhaps, to be entitled āJesusā Manifestoā. This has more of a focus on what Jesus actually says (rather than the hometownās rejection of him). Jesus 'owns' the Isaiah quote by claiming that it is fulfilled today (their today), in a region inhabited by Judeans, in his home town. So what do we notice about Jesusā manifesto (quote is from Isa 61:1-2)? The Good News Jesus is proclaiming is: A great example of integral mission (ministry to ...