A Small Realization

The first time I saw a picture of Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor (in Doctor Who), I felt like I’d seen him before. (Which I may well have done, since he was in a lot of BBC and Granada stuff that aired on US television.)

I just now realized that, although the Bilbo of the Bakshi Lord of the Rings movie was played by Norman Bird, he was drawn in a way that makes him look a LOT like Patrick Troughton.

And I doubt this is a mistake or coincidence, because Doctor Who did air in syndication in the early 1970’s in the US, and in many of the cities where Bakshi lived. So Bakshi might well have seen his guest appearance on “The Three Doctors” during a syndicated rerun of the Pertwee years, or have seen a few other Troughton things that had survived.

So yeah… that’s pretty hilarious, if I’m right.

Jesus Trolls His Questioners

So today we have the “Render unto Caesar” story as our Gospel reading. Mt. 22:15 and following, the reading right after last Sunday’s Gospel.

And we have a real odd couple again: Pharisees’ disciples hanging out with Herodians (who not only supported Herod, but thought he was probably the Messiah).

They say a few true things to butter up Jesus. They say, “Teacher [didaskale], we know that you are truthful [alethes] and you teach the way of God [ten hodon tou Theou] in truth.” This is interesting, because it refers directly to what Christianity was initially called, “the Way”, as well as to Jesus’ true identity as the Way and the Truth.

Then they add, “And you care about nobody” (ou melei soi peri oudenos) which isn’t quite so flattering. (For example, John 10:13, where Jesus says that the hireling who flees “does not care about the sheep.” Or when the apostles in the boat ask if Jesus cares about them.)

They go back to flattering truth by saying that Jesus shows no partiality, no concern for position or person. But that’s not what they actually say, which is why Jesus can proceed to troll them hard.

The actual expression is, “For you do not look at [ie, consider] a human’s face” (ou gar blepeis eis prosopon anthropon).

So think about it. They say He doesn’t look at faces. And then He makes them pull out a coin, say whose face is on it, and consider exactly the position and person who’s on that coin. (And the same phrase is in Mark, too.)

Jesus is justified in trolling them, as well as teaching them, because He saw their “malice” (ten ponerian auton).

So He tells them off first, asking, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?” (ti me peirazete, hypokritai?) The word “to test” is also the word “to tempt,” so… yeah, they are tempting God. Oops.

And He calls them “hypokritai,” actors — the kind of actors who wear masks, not a mime actor (mimetai, imitators, which is what disciples are supposed to be).

Then He says, “Show me the money.” (Epideizate moi to nomisma) Okay, literally it’s “Show me the coin,” but it’s kind of funnier the other way.

And they bring him a denarius.

And He says, “Whose likeness [eikon] and inscription [epigraphe] are this?”

Obviously it would be funnier if He had asked whose prosopon it was, but it wouldn’t have been technically correct. Also, I’m sure He wanted all those commentaries on the image and likeness of God being stamped on us, as proof we belong to Him.

So they go away amazed, or in wonder (ethaumasan).

Of course, everything really belongs to God, including Caesar and his face. But if you’re running around with government money (especially with a denarius saying Tiberius was the son of god-ified Augustus, and his mom, Empress Livia, being depicted as the goddess Pax on the other side), you’ve also agreed to do things like pay taxes.

(It might have been another, less exciting denarius, but they all had stuff on them that Jews shouldn’t have been okay with. And Livia as Peace holding a wheat sheaf is just hilarious.)

Sorry I Haven’t Posted Much

I have been ridiculously busy at work, and I have been working pretty much every day except Sunday. I had another day off, but then one of my coworkers got sick and they called me in.

So when I’m not working, I’ve been sleeping, or involuntarily napping a lot.

I mean, a new gaming store opened a few blocks from me, and I still haven’t been there. This is how tired I’ve been.

In other news….

This whole attack on Israel has been horrible. I’m glad that Israel has been striking back.

I would say more if my brain were in any shape to do so.

On the bright side, Gary Michuta’s book, The Gospel Truth, is a really good book about how the Gospels tie into Jesus’ teaching in the style of a rabbi, and with the authority of a prophet, and with the authority of being the Word and the Messiah. You can get it from his publisher or from Amazon.

The Rented Vineyard Parable

Man, I like Greek. Greek is cool.

Jesus throws an awful lot of charged Biblical language into this parable.

We are back with the “oikodespotes”, the master of the house. And he has a vineyard that he works on carefully, developing it in a way similar to the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah, which we also hear today at Mass. But we also hear about the lenos, the winepress, which is associated with blood and the Messiah in the OT.

The parable in Matthew does talk about letting out the vineyard, but the people there are not “tenants;” they are “geourgoi,” literally land-workers or farmers.

Then “the time of fruit was at hand.” The servants are sent (“apesteilen”) to collect the fruit. And they get beaten up. So here is a sort of warning that the apostles will be treated just like the other prophets were; and they continue to be treated this way by the wicked.

But even though it sounds nicely apocalyptic, when the guy sends his son, Jesus has “hysteron”, afterward, instead of “last of all.” It is a little anticlimactic, given that they kill the son, and that the Son is Himself. Jesus purposefully underplays HIS OWN DEATH! That is the kind of storyteller He is!

But “hysteron” also ties into all the afterwards in last week’s parable of the two sons, and how the tax-collectors and harlots are going to the Kingdom first, even though they only believed John “afterward.”

So what did the man expect they would do with his son? Show him reverence, and humble themselves. Because Israel in the OT is warned, many times, to humble themselves if they don’t want to get destroyed by God, and it turns out okay whenever they do. God forgives their sins and heals their land. So this is a callback by Jesus, again.

But the farmers say, “This is the heir. Let’s kill him and grab his inheritance.”

Well, yes, Jesus is the heir, the “kleronomos.” (And we are also heirs, co-heirs with the Christ by being children of God, and heirs of the Promise by being Abraham’s seed.)

So at this point, Jesus asks what “the lord of the vineyard” will do. The same title as the nice generous guy from last week. Oops.

The listeners say that he will destroy badly the bad men — “Kakous kakos apolesei”.

We don’t get this in English translation, because it is just hard to convey. But it seems pretty strong. And then we get the warning about the Stone Rejected, and the Kingdom of God being taken away, and given to people with better fruits.

The reading ends before Jesus says that anybody who falls because of the Stone Rejected will be crushed into powder/chaff, because I guess that is too scary.

Obviously all Christians have to beware of not bearing fruit, or of disrespecting the servants or the Son.

Gates of Hell/Gates of Enemies

People usually remember that Abraham was promised more descendants than stars in the sky or sands on the seashore, but they don’t remember that his “seed” was promised to “possess the gate of his enemies.”

Similarly, Rebecca’s family blessed her to be the mother of hundreds of thousands, and for her “seed” to possess the gates of those who hate him.

So… isn’t it interesting that Jesus should promise that the gates of Sheol would not stand against the Church?

(And isn’t it interesting that, just like the Woman in Genesis, Rebecca has “seed”?)

Also, I wonder if Rebecca’s blessing means that there were similar blessings at weddings of the time? Was Abraham being given a wedding blessing? Was Jesus giving a wedding blessing to His Bride?

The Don Q. Stories, by K. and Hesketh Prichard

In Pearson’s Magazine, we find a story called “How Don Q. Fought for His Name.”

Now notice that the illustration looks an awful lot like The Shadow. But this is 1901, so Don Q. clearly comes first.

K. Prichard, by the way, is Kate O’Brien Ryall Prichard, so she’s another one of the writer O’Briens.

Her son rejoiced in the name Hesketh Vernon Hesketh-Prichard, and he was a major in the UK army. He did sniper stuff, big game hunting, cricket, exploring the far corners of the earth, reporting and being a war correspondent… and magazine adventure fiction.

Douglas Fairbanks, who played Zorro, also starred in a movie adaptation of Don Q… called… Don Q., Son of Zorro. When the Don Q. stories predated Zorro by A LOT A LOT.

Don Q. stories started appearing in 1897, and kept coming out for years and years. There were also novel-length reprint anthologies, as well as a novel, Don Q.’s Love Story.

The amusing thing is that Don Q. started out being portrayed as a villain with a streak of honor, and ended up becoming a Robin Hood. And yes, it certainly seems like Zorro rips him off, heh.

Yes, this makes me very happy. I had vaguely heard of Don Q., because I am a Zorro fan, but now I have a whole new set of good things to read!