“You brood of vipers?" Words we do not need.
Advent 2A - Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12.
Hate speech – dehumanizing and inflammatory -- encourages and incites violence. Trump calling people from Somalia “garbage” is hate speech. John the Baptist and Jesus (later in Matthew) calling Sadducees and Pharisees “you brood of vipers” is hate speech.1
It helps me to be pretty sure that the vicious name-calling ascribed to John and Jesus by the author of the gospel of Matthew was an editorial fiction and not an historical memory.2
We don’t know much about John the Baptist, but we know enough about Jesus to doubt he would have called other Jewish leaders, even those with whom he disagreed, “a brood of vipers.” Jesus knew that people would misunderstand his message and mission. He prepared his disciples to deal with that kind of misunderstanding. Before he sent them out on their own, he told them that if they were not welcomed, they should “shake off the dust” and move on. (Mk. 6:11) And to his disciples with a crowd listening in he said “love your enemies” and “bless those who curse you.” (Lk.6:27, Mtt.5:44.)
Words matter — the words we listen to and the words we say.
Writing 30+ years after the life and death of Jesus, the author of the gospel of Matthew had issues with those like the Sadducees, scribes and Pharisees who were part of the hierarchical religious leadership. In Matthew’s view, the faithful should not have to answer to them.3
“It is likely that the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew… represent[ed] the leaders of Jewish communities with whom (other Jews like Matthew) and his fellow leaders competed for power and influence. [Unfortunately,] it is certain that, over the centuries, Christian readers and (hearers) of these passages connected its scribes and Pharisees with the Jews of their own times and cultures.”4
IOW, Matthew had an issue with hierarchical religious leaders. Matthew’s hate speech became enshrined in our scripture. Later generations hearing those words outside of their historical context, understood them to be a denunciation of Jews spoken by Jesus which had centuries of catastrophic consequences.
It’s hard to hear hate speech anywhere. It’s doubly hard to hear it in scripture, especially when it seems to have been said by John the Baptist or Jesus. Words matter – the words we listen to and the words we say. Maybe it’s time for the people who translate scripture and design the lectionary to renounce and excise the words: “you brood of vipers.” Matthew’s issues with religious leadership will survive without them. The gospels of Mark and John – and all but one verse of Luke -- work fine without them.
The truth is, no scripture which is written for our instruction and encouragement, needs those awful, dangerous words.
Peace.
Matthew’s Jesus uses “brood of vipers” at Mtt.12:34 and 23:33.
There is only one other appearance of “you brood of vipers” in the gospels. In Luke’s version of Sunday’s gospel, John the Baptist calls everyone who has come out to repent and be baptized “a brood of vipers.” Scribes and Pharisees are not mentioned.
See e.g., Mtt. 23:8-10 – (call no one your father), and Mtt.18:17 (ask the whole community to judge your dispute.)
Collins, Adela Yarbro. “Polemic Against the Pharisees in Matthew 23” The Pharisees. Ed. Joseph Dievers & Amy-Jill Levine. (Wm.B.Erdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2021) 148-169, 168 emphasis added.