Why Jews & Christians Skip Jesus' haftara
The prophetic portion this week, the haftara, comprises Isaiah chapter 61:10 to chapter 63 verse 9. Strangely enough, there’s no haftara which includes the first nine verses of Isaiah 61. Last week the haftara concluded at the end of Isaiah chapter 60, but this week it resumes in chapter 61 verse 10. I’m going to read from verse 1 anyway, as if this week’s prophetic portion included the entire chapter.
“The Spirit of God HaShem is upon me, in order that HaShem might anoint me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bandage the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners. To proclaim the year of HaShem’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all those who mourn. To attend to Zion’s mourners. To give them beauty instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a heavy spirit. And he will call them terebinths of vindication, HaShem’s planting that he may be glorified. They will rebuild eternal ruins, raise up the desolations of former generations, and renew destroyed cities, the desolations of many generations. Strangers will rise and shepherd your flock, the children of aliens will be your plowmen and vinedressers. But you shall be named priests of HaShem, servants of our God will be said of you. You will eat the wealth of the Gentiles, and revel in their glory. Instead of your shame, which was double, ‘Their portion is disgrace!’ they sang, they will therefore inherit double in their land. Eternal joy will be theirs. For I, HaShem, love justice, hate robbery with an ascending-offering. I will pay their wages faithfully, and cut an eternal covenant with them. Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their descendents among the peoples. All those seeing them will recognize them, that they are the seed which HaShem has blessed. Assuredly I will rejoice in HaShem, my soul will be glad in my God. For he will clothe me in garments of victory, wrap me in a mantle of vindication as a groom adorned with a turban and a bride bedecked with her ornaments. For as the earth brings forth her growth and like a garden her sown area sprouts, so HaShem God will sprout vindication and praise in front of all the Gentiles. For Zion’s sake I will not hold still, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet until her vindication goes forth like brightness, her victory like a burning torch. The Gentiles will see your vindication, and all kings your glory. He will call you a new name, which HaShem’s mouth will pierce. You will be the diadem of glory in the hand of HaShem, a royal headband in the palm of your God. No more will it be said of you, ‘Abandoned.” No more will it be said of your land, ‘Desolate.’ For you will be called, ‘My Delight is in her,’ and your land will be called ‘Married.’ For HaShem will delight in you, and your land will be married. For as a young man marries a young women, your children will marry you. As a groom rejoices over a bride, your God will rejoice over you. On your walls, Oh Jerusalem, I have appointed guards all day long and all night long, constantly. They will not hold still. Those who remind HaShem, ‘Don’t be silent!’ Don’t give him silence, until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” [Isaiah 61:1-62:7]
Recent Israeli scholarship suggests the reason why in current practice the haftara reading skips over the first nine verses of Isaiah 61, is because the story of Jesus reading this passage in synagogue was well known in antiquity. One of the measures the rabbis took to redefine Judaism as something totally different from Christianity was to avoid publicly reading any scriptural passage which Christians interpreted as pointing to Jesus. It was a form of disassociation. That’s probably why there are no annual readings from Isaiah 7, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 53, Hosea 11, Micha 5, Zechariah 9, Zechariah 12, or from anywhere in the Book of Daniel. These were perceived to be Christian favorites. This also explains why the Shabbat immediately before pesach, when the haftara is Malkhi 3, the reading skips the part about HaShem’s messenger suddenly coming to his temple. Instead, the reading begins abruptly with the consequences of the cleansed temple in verse 4. Another example. On the second day of rosh hashana, the haftara is Jeremiah 31. But the reading stops at verse 20 just short of the promise of a new covenant with the house of Israel. Again, the motivation was apparently to deny Christian missionaries common ground with synagogue practice.
In Islamic countries, where Jews weren’t under Christian pressure, the rabbis didn’t feel Christian interpretation to be such a threat. In Islamic countries the rabbis allowed ancient synagogue practice to continue unmodified. From documents placed in storage twelve hundred years ago in the attic of the Cairo synagogue, archaeologists have discovered fragments of a Jewish prayer book where the haftara includes Isaiah 61 in its entirety. But after the invention of printing, the practice of European Jews became dominant throughout the Jewish world. Today all synagogues skip the first nine verses of Isaiah 61.
We have it on record that the first nine verses of Isaiah 61 were once part of the ancient synagogue reading cycle. The record is in Luke 4:16-22.
“He came to Nazeret, where he had been raised. And as his custom was on the day of Shabbat he entered the synagogue, and stood to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him. Opening the scroll, he found the place where it is written, ‘The Spirit of HaShem is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send the oppressed at liberty, to proclaim the year of HaShem’s favor.’ He shut the scroll, giving it back to the attendant, and sat down. All the eyes of those in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is made good in your ears.’ And all witnessed him and marveled at the words of favor proceeding from his mouth.”
To Jews listening in the synagogue, “the year of HaShem’s favor” was a code word for the Jubilee year of Leviticus 25. Under Roman occupation the Torah’s provisions for debt release every seven years and land reversion to the original owners every forty-nine years were ignored, because they weren’t in Roman interest. Jesus announces in synagogue that ordinary Jews are about to inherit the land God promised their fathers. It is the year of HaShem’s favor.
In his hometown synagogue Jesus is confronted with lack of trust in the God of Israel, so on this particular occasion he doesn’t unpack Isaiah 61. On this particular occasion we only learn that Jesus understands Isaiah 61 to describe his own mission task. But in his well-known “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus unpacks Israel 61. Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” talks about the poor, mourners, inheriting the land, and vindication, just like Isaiah 61. Let’s rack the two up side-by-side.
Isaiah 61:1 says, “in order that HaShem might anoint me to proclaim good news to the poor.” That corresponds to Matthew 5:3, “Privileged are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”
Isaiah 61:2-3 says, “To comfort all those who mourn. To attend to Zion’s mourners. To give them beauty instead of ashes, oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a heavy spirit.” That corresponds to Matthew 5:4, “Privileged are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Isaiah 61:7 says, “Therefore they will inherit double in their land.” That corresponds to Matthew 5:5, “Privileged are the meek, for they will inherit the land.”
Isaiah 61:10-11 says, “For he will clothe me in garments of victory, wrap me in a mantle of vindication as a groom adorned with a turban and a bride bedecked with her ornaments. For as the earth brings forth her growth and like a garden her sown area sprouts, so HaShem God will sprout vindication and praise in front of all the Gentiles.” That corresponds to Matthew 5:6, “Privileged are those hungering and thirsting for vindication, for they will be satisfied.”
Same topics; same sequence: the poor, mourners, inheriting the land, and vindication. This is too close to be coincidence. The “Sermon on the Mount” is Jesus’ extended development of Isaiah 61. The “Sermon on the Mount” is the sermon Jesus didn’t get to preach the Shabbat they ran him out of town. So how does Jesus understand his haftara?
For one thing, Jesus’ self-identified role as the Spirit-anointed proclaimer of the jubilee, is pegged to the restoration of Jerusalem. At first this seems like an odd connection. After all, in Jesus’ day the deportees had long since been released and had been back in town five hundred years. In Jesus’ day the temple had been enlarged and beautified on an unprecedented scale. Yet in the broader sense, Israel’s exile wasn’t over. Israel didn’t enjoy self-determination. The occupation government prevented Jews from implementing the Torah’s provisions for justice. The occupation government interfered with attempts to obey God. When tithes were collected for the support of the priests and Levites, the Romans seized the funds to pay for public works projects.
Isaiah’s prophecy envisions Jerusalem’s restoration not only in terms of repatriation of deportees, but in terms of total liberation to serve Israel’s true King. Jesus identifies his mission with that total liberation: restoration of Torah justice for the disenfranchised, restoration of the material basis of economic prosperity, restoration of God’s sovereignty over the Promised Land. Then God’s worshipers will have something to show the Gentiles!
Isaiah 61 helps us understand what sort of salvation Jesus proposed to bring the hometown folks in Natzeret. Rather than on individual salvation, the emphasis is on a repaired creation and a healed community of relationships. Since sin is about the breakdown of relationships, of necessity salvation is about fixing those relationships. Salvation is social, economic, and ecological, as well as psychological. Salvation can never be isolated from what goes on around us. Salvation is about the outside world just as much as the inner world.
Another thing we learn in Isaiah 61 is that Jerusalem’s restoration is not something God accomplishes apart from Israel’s cooperation. Indeed, we can understand the “Sermon on the Mount” as Jesus’ Spirit-anointed instruction on what Israel must do in order to participate in Jerusalem’s restoration.
Due to external constrains, for many Jews in Jesus’ day Torah obedience had largely been reduced to expressions of personal piety. What distinguished devote Jews from sinners was their almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. These three forms of obedience had great symbolic significance. Particularly for Jews who lived far away from Jerusalem or out in the far-flung Diaspora, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting substituted for offerings in the temple. Jesus latches onto the existing big three and redirects them as the way his followers are to prepare Israel for her prophesied restoration.
One of the key concepts in our haftara is tzdaqa. I’ve translated tzdaqa as “vindication.” Tzdaqa is right triumphing over wrong, either in military victory or a court of law. In Bible English tzdaqa is often translated as “righteousness.” That’s not a bad translation, “righteousness” does mean being proven right, but in English usage “righteousness” has become specialized religious jargon. Ever since the debate among European Christians toward the end of the Middle Ages, the connotation of the word “righteousness” has been individual qualification to enter heaven. But unlike Protestants and Catholics, ancient Jews weren’t debating qualifications or fitness for heaven. Ancient Jews were longing for God’s vindication of Israel. So I’ll go with “vindication” instead of “righteousness.” An example of tzdaqa, in Jesus’ haftara would be Isaiah 61:10-62:2.
“He will clothe me in garments of victory, wrap me in a mantle of vindication as a groom adorned with a turban and a bride bedecked with her ornaments. For as the earth brings forth her growth and like a garden her sown area sprouts, so HaShem God will sprout vindication and praise in front of all the Gentiles. For Zion’s sake I will not hold still, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet until her vindication goes forth like brightness, her victory like a burning torch. The Gentiles will see your vindication.”
In Jesus’ day tzdaqa had evolved the more narrow meaning of almsgiving. When the Hebrew Bible talked about tzdaqa, about God proving Israel right, listeners in synagogue thought about almsgiving. That’s why Jesus’ teaching on the big three starts off with almsgiving. In Jesus’ teaching vindication in the sight of the Gentiles is closely intertwined with almsgiving. Matthew 6:1-4
“Be careful not to perform your almsgiving in front of men and women to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you donate charity, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and on the streets, to be honored by men and women. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you do charity, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your charity may be in secret. Then your Father in heaven, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Jesus here teaches that almsgiving is a way of bringing Israel’s vindication closer. At the time when foreign occupation prevented Israel from practicing the Torah’s provisions for periodic redistribution of wealth, it was the sacred duty of Jews to sustain the destitute until the happy day when God would once again enable Israel to obey him as a community. In the meantime, individual Jews must participate in God’s tzdaqa, in God’s vindication of Israel. Jesus teaches that this cannot be a matter of individual competition or accumulating prestige. Almsgiving is not a device for converting economic inequity into spiritual inequity. Almsgiving must be for the sake of God’s kingdom. When he vindicates Israel God will richly reward those who have given alms. Those who give must refrain from rewarding themselves.
The second of the big three was prayer. For the most part, the occupation forces did allow Jews to pray unmolested. What Jews prayed about was the establishment of God’s kingdom, first over Israel and then over the entire earth, Rome included! Matthew 6:5-10.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men and women. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like Gentiles, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. In this manner pray, ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, sanctified be your name. May your kingdom come, may you will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’”
Jesus’ teaching on prayer assumes that the principle subject matter of prayer is God’s kingship. The rabbis taught that a prayer which doesn’t mention God’s kingship is no prayer כל ברכה שאין בה מלכות אינה ברכה [Bavli brakhot 40b]. Jewish prayer constantly acknowledges God’s kingship and urges him to take charge. Jesus’ teaching on prayer is very much in line with his haftara in Isaiah 62:6-7.
“On your walls, Oh Jerusalem, I have appointed guards all day long and all night long, constantly. They will not hold still. Those who remind HaShem, ‘Don’t be silent!’ Don’t give him silence, until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
The third of the big three was fasting. Matthew 6:16-18.
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they contort their faces in order that others may see that they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they receive their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, in order that others cannot see that you are fasting, but your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Because of our familiarity with the religions of Southern Asia, it’s easy for us to think of fasting as a spiritual exercise to expand our consciousness, or a discipline to purify the soul from the attachment to the body, or a tool in the quest for the inner self. Fasting in the Bible is none of the above. Like almsgiving and prayer, fasting is a way of affirming God’s kingship despite appearances to the contrary. Fasting demonstrates that Jews are loyal subjects of God’s kingdom, even though on account of their sins their King is hiding his face and is not granting them full privileges of obedience. Fasting is a tangible reinforcement of almsgiving and prayer.
Fasting reinforces prayer because it expresses the sinner’s unworthiness. Fasting says I deserve to be dead. Fasting is a gesture which says my routine existence can’t go on.
Fasting reinforces almsgiving because the haves feel hunger exactly like the have-nots. Under conditions of injustice, fasting develops sympathy for the oppressed. Fasting reminds the rich,
“Privileged are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” [Matthew 5:3]
Fasting reminds the rich,
“Privileged are those hungering and thirsting for vindication, for they will be satisfied.” [Matthew 5:6]
Jesus’ unique twist is that his disciples already participate in the end of Israel’s exile, so the big three are subversive acts of allegiance to Israel’s true king. Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting are covert commitments to God’s glory, which will someday be dramatically public. Almsgiving should be so surreptitious that the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing [Matthew 6:3]. Prayer should be offered behind closed doors [Matthew 6:6]. Fasting should be undertaken without appearing to be doing so at all [Matthew 6:18]. The less the occupation government notices the better. Although they are practiced in secret, Jesus infuses the big three with endtime joy. God is about to return to Zion, and children of Zion can’t hold still.
How do Christians living today fit into Jesus’ understanding of his haftara?
Most Christians hope for a spiritual Jerusalem, where the need for justice, for material prosperity, for healing will be bypassed by a different level of existence. Most Christians hope for a Jerusalem where we’ll no longer be our brother’s or our sister’s keeper. Christians have often claimed the new Jerusalem will be a non-material civilization. Christians have often claimed the prophecies of the Holy City’s restoration are no longer relevant.
Other Christians claim the Sermon on the Mount was only meant to be valid up to the cross. They say the surpassing glory of the new religion reduces Jesus’ teaching on almsgiving, prayer, and fasting to petty details. They say the level of Jesus’ discourse only illustrates how primitive Jewish aspirations were in his day, and why they deserved to be disappointed.
Just as rabbinic Judaism skipped Jesus’ haftara, Christians too have skipped Jesus’ haftara, albeit for a different set of reasons. As Seventh-day Adventists we have more respect than some for Jesus’ haftara, because it’s written down in our Bible, which we revere. But it doesn’t resonate with us either.
“The Spirit of HaShem is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send the oppressed at liberty, to proclaim the year of HaShem’s favor.”
Perhaps Jesus’ good news doesn’t resonate with us because we’re tuned to another gospel. For us the gospel is a more individualistic and subjective experience. Our gospel is more about transformed motivations than about transformed circumstances.
Perhaps 1st century Judaism’s big three are foreign to us. If asked what three spiritual disciplines set practicing Christians apart, I’m sure very few Seventh-day Adventists would answer: almsgiving, fasting, and prayer. Most of us would answer: quiet time with Jesus, keeping up with the quarterly, and witnessing. Our spiritual disciplines are simply different. Not inferior; just different.
Perhaps the kingdom of Heaven is an alien notion to us. Most Christians think of Heaven as a place we go, rather than the God we know. In a world where authority has been so abused it’s hard for us to get excited about any sort of king.
I think if we were more in touch with our own Seventh-day Adventist roots, ancient Israel’s longing for justice, for vindication in the eyes of the Gentiles, and for full obedience might find an answering cord. Jesus’ approach of subversive allegiance to the world’s true king, in the face of all appearances to the contrary, is particularly intriguing. It maintains a healthy tension between practical obedience possible in the here-and-now under enemy occupation without losing sight of God’s glorious future for his children. That healthy tension between present action and God’s future has been notoriously difficult for Christians to maintain. We tend to lurch from one to the other. Christians are either worldly or they are entirely other-worldy. Jesus taught commitment both to the old creation and to the new creation, because God loves both.
I think it would be helpful for us to hear Jesus’ haftara in terms of Jesus’ body. Since the Christian community is now Jesus’ body on earth, Jesus’ Spirit-anointed mission task is now our mission task too. Our mission is bringing his good news to the poor, his liberation to the captives, his release to the prisoners, and his comfort to the mourners. As Jesus’ taught in his Sermon on the Mount, it’s a privilege to hear the announcement of God’s kingdom, and it’s a privilege to have a part in bringing it. This is good stuff. Let’s not skip Jesus’ haftara.
