Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter, May 19,2007

Scripture: Acts 18:23-28. Psalm 47. John 16:23-28. Lectionary # 296:

Could the Jew who is named Apollos and who is from Alexandria in Egypt, be
the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews? This unusual essay knows very
much about the Jewish concepts of sacrifice, Temple, prayer and the records
of the saintly heroes of the past. The high Christology of this writing at
times resembles that of the Prologue of John! This Apollos was an eloquent
preacher and he was recognized as such by Paul's friends who were
tentmakers. They had received the Good News about Jesus through Paul and
realized that Apollos did not have the full story about Jesus; they correct
and lead Apollos into this new way of thinking called the WAY-- which meant
the Christian message about Jesus. Jesus said that he was the way, the
truth, and the life. Father McKenzie clarifies who Apollos is, "a Jew of
Alexandria, learned in rhetoric and the Scriptures, possibly a student of
Philo of Alexandria.He preached Jesus as the Messiah, although he was still
a disciple of John the Baptist; but Priscilla and Aquila met him at Ephesus
and gave him full instruction in "the Way." Perhaps, Apollos also had the
talent to write with the great structural presentation and content that the
Ep. to the Hebrews displays. Certainly the Hebrew Scriptures and
narratives are well known by the writer of this work and are apparent as
the chapters unfold. Certain Psalms which were considered Messianic by the
Christian Jews are cited and explained in the light of Christ fulfilling
them (Psalm 2, 110). Moses and the angels are considered to be less than
Jesus the Messiah. The theological perspective of this epistle causes some
troublesome difficulties for Christian-Jewish dialogue because of its
supercessionism, that is , saying that the covenant of the New Testament
supercedes that of the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures. Paul, on the
other hand, sees both covenants continuing for they emanate from the same
God who loves both Gentiles and Jews. One only has to read chapters 9-11
to find out Paul's great love for the covenants made with Israel which are
irrevocable. No one can question the great literary quality of Hebrews
for its splendid Greek and for its flow and structure. It is its content
that gives Jews and exegetes some problems. The lively discussions that
evolve from this New Testament work are helpful in pushing forward to new
ways of looking at one another as Christian meets Jew. There is no doubt
that the work has much to offer the scholar in examining the Jewish
traditions within its pages. Sometimes the inspired writings of both
testaments are written with crooked lines!
Amen.