gregoryjenks

Author: Gregory C. Jenks

  • Postcards … Jesus Then and Jesus Now

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  • Easter 3A (4 May 2014)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 2:14a, 36-41 & Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
    • 1 Peter 1:17-23
    • Luke 24:13-35

    First Reading: The response of the crowd

    In this week’s excerpt from Peter’s great Pentecost sermon, we are given a description of how the crowd responds to Peter’s proclamation of the resurrection:

    Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.” (Acts 2:37–41 NRSV)

    There is, of course, no evidence for such a massive religious revolution in Jerusalem just a few weeks after Easter, but this is how Luke (writing almost 100 years later) would like his pagan readers to imagine the unfolding story of Christianity’s beginnings.

    The idea that Christianity exploded in size through a series of mass conversions is popular in many circles, but has been soundly dismissed by social scientists such as Roger Stark. When summarising his earlier work in a 2000 essay, On theory-driven methods, Stark (p. 191) observes:

    … the ‘facts’ justifying the miraculous assumption were wrong. The only reason people believed that there was an arithmetic need for mass conversion, was because no one ever bothered to do the actual arithmetic. I have done it in considerable detail, taking care to verify my results with the pertinent literature (Stark 1996).

    A brief summary suffices here.

    There is general agreement among scholars that Christians in the Greco-Roman world numbered somewhere between 5 and 7 million in the year 300 CE. How this total was reached from a tiny starting point of, say, 1000 Christians in the year 40 CE is the arithmetic challenge. At first glance, growth of this magnitude might seem a miraculous achievement. But suppose we assume that the Christian growth rate during this period was similar to that of the Mormon growth rate over the past century, which has been apporoximately 40 perent per decade (Stark 1984 and 1994). If the early Christians were able to match the Mormon growth rate, then their ‘miracle’ is fully acccomplished in the time history allows. That is, from a starting point of 1000 Christians in the year 40 CE, a growth rate of 40 percent per decade (or 3.4 percent per year) results in a total of 6 299 832 Christians in the year 300 CE. Moreover, because compounded rates result in exponential growth, there is a huge numerical increase from slightly more than 1 million Christians in the year 250 CE to more than 6 million in 300 CE.

    Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-23

    The second of our series of readings from 1 Peter during Easter is as follows:

    If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
    Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1Peter 1:17–23 NRSV)

    To the modern ear such a discourse sounds familiar, if a little traditional. However, that reflects the influence of 2,000 years of traditional Christian theology, and masks the significant theological developments that must be presumed to lie between the first generation of Christians and the writer of 1 Peter.

    • Far from living with a sense of the imminent return of the risen Lord, the recipients think of themselves as living in exile – a metaphor that evokes a sense of time passing without a resolution to the hardships being experienced.
    • The timeline is not one of a single generation, but of a great cosmic story stretching back to the distant past and through to the “end of the ages.”
    • Faith has come to be trusting in the power of God who raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him to glory.
    • “Souls” are being purified and saved, rather than people set free from the power of evil.
    • Salvation is equated with a process of rebirth and divinization, effected by the imperishable seed of God’s living and enduring word.

    In this second century Christian sermon we hear some echoes of the Johannine tradition, but barely a hint of Paul; and nothing of Jesus.

    Gospel: On the road to Emmaus

    This week’s Gospel is the much-loved story of Jesus discoursing anonymously with two disciples as they waked from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and then revealing himself in the breaking of the bread.

    The following excerpt from one of the longer endings to Mark’s Gospel provides early attestation for the Lukan story of Emmaus even if it was not originally part of Mark’s text:

    After this he appeared in another form to two of them,
    as they were walking into the country.
    And they went back and told the rest,
    but they did not believe them. [Mark 16:12-13]

    The identity of Cleopas and his partner (his wife, perhaps?) has attracted considerable interest over the centuries. Who is this otherwise unknown pair of disciples? Are they examples of the settled householders who were disciples of Jesus, and perhaps provided safe houses and other practical support while not becoming itinerant preachers and healers?

    Certainly Luke-Acts seems to have such a constituency as its audience, and it would not be a surprise if Luke went to the trouble of providing them with the honour of the first Easter apperance. They were, after all, the future of the Church—not the itinerant charismatics whose freedoms were already being curtailed around the end of the first century.

    Even more powerful than the image of Jesus appearing to a householding couple in the intimacy of their kitchen is the classic scene of Jesus instructing the disciples “from the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms” as they walk the road to Emmaus. How many Christians have wished they could be blessed with such a “master class” in biblical interpretation? And what better claim for Luke to make than this? He claimed to have access not simply to the apostolic teaching, but to the divine instructor, none less than the Risen Lord himself.

    Searching for Emmaus

    Four different sites lay claim to be the original location of Emmaus. The following summary provides the basic information relevant to each site:

    l. At Amwas near Latrun. I Maccabees 3:40, 57; 4:3 mentions an Emmaus “in the plain” where Judas attacked the forces of Syria and Philistia. Josephus reports that a few years later Bacchides fortified Emmaus and half-dozen other places around Jerusalem (I Macc 9:50; Ant. 13.1,3 §15). [Bacchides was the governor of West Euphrates sent in 161 by the Seleucid king Demetrius I to quell the Maccabean revolt and install Alcimus as high priest. After the death of Nicanor, he returned and Judas died in a battle against him at Elasa in 160.] Josephus also refers to this Emmaus as a village burned to the ground by Quintilius Varus (legate in Syria from 6-4 BCE) in revenge for the slaying of some Romans (Wars 2.4,3 §63; 2.5,1 §71; Ant. 17.10,7 §282; 17.10,9 §291). The rebuilt town appears in a list of Roman toparchies in 66 CE (Wars 3.3,5 §55)–The Fifth Legion camped here for two years before the final attack on Jerusalem in 70 CE (Wars 4.8,1 S444-5) The town is mentioned in the Mishnah as a place frequented by Jews in the early 2nd C. CE (Kerithoth 3:7). In the 3rd C. a soldier-diplomat Julius Africanus got permission to change the town’s name to Nicopolis in 223. Both Eusebius and Jerome identify this place as the site of the Lukan scene with Cleopas and it became the undisputed Byzantine site. The fact that this site is nearly 20 miles from Jerusalem probably gave rise to the textual variant of 160 stadia. It would be very difficult and unlikely to walk from Jerusalem to this Emmaus and back in one day. This Emmaus suffered a severe plague in 639. By the time the Crusaders arrived, there was no memory of the identification with Emmaus. The Crusader fortress here was for military purposes, even though they built a church over the remians of the Byzantine one, but apparently without knowing the tradition.

    2. At Abu Ghosh. On the hill is the site of Kiriathjearim, where the Ark of the Covenant rested for 20 years. The town moved down into the valley by the 2nd C. CE, for a detachment of the Tenth Legion was stationed here at the site of a spring. The Crusaders apparently sought to identify Emmaus merely by measuring about 60 stadia from Jerusalem. The closest town was Riryat el-Enab. Here they built a fine church. [The town name changed in the early 19th C. when a powerful Arab sheik Abu Ghosh levied taxes on travellers to Jerusalem.]

    3. At Qubeiba. After Saladin defeated the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin in 1187, the main route to Jerusalem changed and Riryat el-Enab lost its importance. Along the new route that went a little farther north and followed an old Roman road was a village called Parva Mahomeria that was built by the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre and became a way station for Christian travellers. It had a small castle and a church. Toward the end of the Mamluk period (about 1500), Christians began to venerate the site (Arabic name: Qubeiba) as Emmaus. Probably they thought the Crusader church must commemorate some event in Jesus’ life and the distance from Jerusalem (about 7 miles) brought to mind Emmaus.

    4. At Moza. Jospehus mentions another Emmaus that was much closer to Jerusalem. In Wars 7.6,6 §217 Josephus says Vespasian settled 800 veterans of the Roman army at a place called Emmaus, 30 stadia from Jerusalem. This must be a different place from the Emmaus Nicopolis site. This new military colony soon dominated the site and the name was changed to Colonia, which has survived until recent times as the Arabic Qoloniyeh. This place is below Moza (Motza) at a sharp curve in the main road from Jerusalem.
    [SOURCE: Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies]

    Eating and drinking with the Lord Jesus

    At the heart of the Easter faith lies the conviction among the earliest Christians that, as they gathered for meals, Jesus himself continued to be present with his followers. A number of the Easter appearance stories revolve around this experience of Jesus revealing himself when the disciples had gathered for a meal:

    Luke 5:1-12 is sometimes thought to be a post-Easter story –

    Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

    Luke 24:28-31 has Jesus reveal himself and then vanish during a meal –

    As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

    Luke 24:41-43 has Jesus accepting the hospitality of his disciples –

    While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

    John 21:9,12-13 has Jesus offering food to his disciples –

    When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

     

    As Luke describes the primitive Christan community in Jerusalem, gathering for the breaking of the bread, was one of the hallmarks of the first Christians:

    So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [Acts 2:41-42]

     

    We know from 1 Corinthians 11:17-33 that some early Christians considered Jesus to be so truly present when they gathered for the Supper that any inappropriate conduct on their part was a failure to discern the Body of Christ and could result in sickness and death:

    Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it. Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine. When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. For when the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What! Do you not have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!
    For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
    Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined11 so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
    So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.

    Reflections

    • In our celebration of the Eucharist, how can we move beyond a medieval fascination with the objectivity of the sacramental elements to a deep appreciation of the dynamic reality of Christ present in and among the gathered community?
    • What does it mean to “discern the body” of the Risen Lord in the people gathered around the Table?
    • To what extent are we able to affirm that the Christian Church is the resurrected Jesus?
    • How do we emphasise Eucharist as a sacrament of Jesus risen into and among the gathered Body of Christ, rather than limiting its significance mostly to a celebration of his death understood as an atoning sacrifice?

    Jesus Database

    • 003 Bread and Fish: (1?) 1 Cor 15:6; (2) John 6:1-15; (3a) Mark 6:33-44 =Matt 9:36; 14:13b-21 = Luke 9:11-17; (3b) Mark 8:1-10 = Matt 15:32-39; (4) Luke 24:13-33,35; (5) Luke 24:41-43; (6) John 21:9,12-13.

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

    Music Suggestions

    See the following sites for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre:

  • Snowstar 2014 Annual Conference

    Over the last few days I have had the privilege and the pleasure of presenting several sessions at the 2014 annual conference of the Snowstar Institute of Religion, an independent Canadian organisation committed to open inquiry, critical thinking, historical realism, and humanitarian concern.

    The theme of the conference was Caution! Renovations Under Way: The Bible, the Historical Jesus, the Future of the Church, so the various sessions ranged across a variety of topics.

    My co-presenters were B. Brandon Scott and Kathleen E. Corley, both colleagues in the Westar Institute (Jesus Seminar), so it was an extra pleasure to be working alongside them once again.

    For those who may be interested, my three sessions were as follows (with PDF and video material available online):

    1. An Open Bible: Imagining an Inclusive Scripture – Video | PDF

    2. Looking for the Nazareth of Jesus – Video | PDF

    3. Encountering God in Jesus of Nazareth – Video | PDF

     

     

  • Easter 2A (27 April 2014)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 2:14a, 22-32 & Psalm 16
    • 1 Peter 1:3-9
    • John 20:19-31

     

    Easter in the lectionary

    It may be helpful to consider what texts are actually drawn upon for Sunday readings during the Easter season. The Year A lections from the RCL are as follows:

    Easter Day

    • Acts 10:34-43 & Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
    • Colossians 3:1-4
    • John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10 [The empty tomb]

    Easter 2

    • Acts 2:14a, 22-32 & Psalm 16
    • 1 Peter 1:3-9
    • John 20:19-31 [Jesus appears to the disciples]

    Easter 3

    • Acts 2:14a, 36-41 & Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
    • 1 Peter 1:17-23
    • Luke 24:13-35 [Emmaus appearance]

    Easter 4

    • Acts 2:42-47 & Psalm 23
    • 1 Peter 2:19-25
    • John 10:1-10 [Jesus the Good Shepherd]

    Easter 5

    • Acts 7:55-60 & Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
    • 1 Peter 2:2-10
    • John 14:1-14 [Jesus’ Supper Discourse]

    Easter 6

    • Acts 17:22-31 & Psalm 66:8-20
    • 1 Peter 3:13-22
    • John 14:15-21 [Jesus’ Supper Discourse]

    Easter 7

    • Acts 1:6-14 & Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
    • 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
    • John 17:1-11 [Jesus prays for his disciples]

    Pentecost

    • Acts 2:1-21 & Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
    • 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
    • John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 [The promised Spirit]

    Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2

    On each of the next three Sundays the first reading will be a portion of the sermon that Peter is portrayed as delivering in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost just a few weeks after the death of Jesus.

    That sermon is, of course, the creation of Luke—the author of both the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. In keeping with the historiographical conventions of the time, Luke has created the kind of speech required of his hero on such an auspicious occasion; just as he did for Jesus’ classic sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth in Luke 4. We should read these texts not for information about the contents of the apostolic preaching, but for an insight into the narrative art and theological intentions of the author.

    Leaving aside the opening sentence (vs 14) that is used to introduce each week’s selection, the excerpt for this week is as follows:

    “You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him,

    ‘I saw the Lord always before me,
    for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
    therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
    moreover my flesh will live in hope.
    For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
    or let your Holy One experience corruption.
    You have made known to me the ways of life;
    you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

    “Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying,

    ‘He was not abandoned to Hades,
    nor did his flesh experience corruption.’

    This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.” (Acts 2:22–32 NRSV)

    Luke begins this speech by invoking a text from the Jewish Scriptures that affirms resurrection. In Psalm 16 Luke finds a text, understood at the time as a composition by David, that describes the happy situation of the Lord’s anointed. Such a person will not be abandoned in Sheol/Hades, and their body will not be allowed to corrupt. Whether written by David or not (and most likely not), this text makes a bold claim for protection even in the most extreme predicament. Most likely it was written as a prayer seeking rescue from impending death, rather than as an affirmation of faith in the resurrection of the dead. However, Luke is using this text as part of a strategy to set up—within the rhetorical dynamics of his audience—a case for Jesus as the one to whom this ancient Psalm, now understood as a predictive prophecy, must apply.

    It is not necessary for us to embrace Luke’s strategy in order to appreciate the message he is seeking to convey: Jesus’ resurrection was in fulfilment of the ancient Scriptures, and was not something totally beyond the religious traditions of Tanakh.

    Second Reading: The First Letter of Peter

    The First Letter of Peter is the longer of two very different books that each claim the authority of Peter, rounding out the set of early church “pillars” (i.e., Peter, James, and John) in the “letters” section of the new Testament.

    First Peter presents itself as coming from “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ” but is clearly not the work of the fisherman from Galilee. This “Peter” not only seems to channel a lot of Pauline ideas, but he even writes better Greek than Paul. This is sometimes explained by the letter having been written after Peter’s death by Mark and/or Silvanus, both of whom were also associated with Paul. However, there seems no convincing reason to defend an authentic connection with Peter, or to imagine the existence of a Petrine school similar to the Pauline school.

    Whatever the actual circumstances of the letter’s composition, it is an exhortation to faithful and holy Christian living. Persecution is not a pressing reality for the readers, but being ready to suffer for and with Christ is part of being a Christian. One of the more interesting aspects of this letter is the survival of a very early understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus, including the “descent to hell” as the old versions of the apostles’ Creed expressed it. in this scenario, after Jesus descends to the realm of the dead after his crucifixion, he liberates the souls incarcerated there and leads them in a triumphant procession to heaven. For further on this theme see 029 Descent into Hell.

    This week’s excerpt from 1 Peter is as follows:

    Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1Peter 1:3–9 NRSV)

    The central ideas in this passage, and especially the specific vocabulary chosen to express them, reflect a stage in the development of Christianity around the end of the first century, if not early in the second century. Note especially these examples:

    • an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading (focus on life to come rather than presence of risen Lord as Spirit among community)
    • protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (a very different use of “faith/fulness” than we find in Paul)
    • now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials (at least some history of persecution/suffering)
    • although you have not seen him, you love him (cf John 20:29 “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”)
    • the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (focus on “souls” being saved rather than whole person, cf 1 Thess 5:23)

    At the same time, we can appreciate the fit of this letter with the Easter season and understand its selection for the lectionary in the Sundays after Easter.

    Like us, the original recipients of this letter from “Peter” stand some distance from the original events of Easter. Their religion is becoming clearer with more definition of its central beliefs, leadership, ritual practices, and sacred writings. Neither Jews nor Pagans, these “Christians” (the actual word occurs in 1 Peter 4:16 – one of only three occurences in the whole NT, and the other two are both in Acts, also best dated early in the second century) are beginning to stand out from the crowd and attract hostile attention. What does it mean to be Easter people in such a situation? What does it mean for us to be different from our neighbours and work colleagues because of our religious identity?

    Gospel: Jesus and Thomas

    This week’s Gospel includes the famous scene of Thomas initially missing the Easter Day appearance by Jesus to the gathered disciples, refusing to believe until he sees the Risen One for himself (and can actually touch his resurrected body), and then subsequently being granted a chance to do just that.

    At first glance this story seems to be the very model of an Easter appearance story.

    • We have fearful disciples hidden away in a secure place for fear of the Jewish religious authorities.
    • We have a miraculous appearance as Jesus appears in their midst and reassures them they are not seeing a ghost.
    • We have words of commissioning, as Jesus both bestows the Spirit on them that very day (rather than some 50 days later as Luke-Acts will one day tell the tale) and empowers the disciples to forgive/retain sins.
    • We have a missing disciple who refuses to accept the testimony of his fellow followers, and demands to have that same experience (and more) himself.
    • We then get a return appearance by Jesus, with no explanation of his intervening absence and for no apparent reason other than to meet Thomas’ demands.
    • Once again Jesus miraculously appears inside a secure place, but this time Thomas is present. His wishes are granted.Thomas both sees Jesus and has the opportunity to touch his (presumably physical) body.

    But is this really a standard example of an Appearance story?

    Note that Thomas is hardly commended for his belated discovery of faith. There is no beatitude for Thomas; only for those who, unlike Thomas, believe despite never seeing Jesus for themselves!

    Have you believed because you have seen me?
    Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

    Jesus does not renew the gift of the Spirit (for Thomas), nor does he repeat the apostolic ordination ceremony so that Thomas can now share in the commissioning previously given to his friends. In the end, Thomas becomes the very model of the kind of disciple Jesus does not need. Far from serving as an exemplar of faith, Thomas is belittled by the narrative. He has come to faith, but he has not received the blessing.

    The summary statement that follows this incident (vss. 30-31) makes it clear that the faith which marks a true disciple relies on the witness of others rather than a personal experience of the Risen Lord.

    The Gospel of John almost seems embarrassed by the appearance tradition here. A visitation by the Risen One might be the basis for ministry by the disciples, but it is neither a necessary nor sufficient basis for faith. Faith depends on accepting the witness of others, not in securing a personal miracle that removes all opportunity for doubt.

    What might be the current equivalent of Thomas’ inappropriate and unwelcome desire for some tangible proof of the resurrection? Might it be the continued insistence by some Christians that authentic Easter faith necessarily involves belief in the empty tomb? Has an insistence on the literal historicity of the biblical texts become a Thomas-like retreat from Johannine faith in its quest for some quasi-tangible miracle to serve as a prop for faith?

    Jesus Database

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

    Music Suggestions

    See the following sites for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre:

  • Holy Week and Easter 2014

    Introduction

    The traditions associated with Holy Week and Easter lie at the heart of the Christian faith dealing, as they do, with the character of Jesus, the circumstances of his death and the affirmation that not even death could prevent the successful outcome of the divine program (the good news of God’s alternative empire) which Christians believe to have been expressed (indeed, embodied) in and through his words and actions.

    There are doubtless historical elements in all this, however inaccessible to us after two thousand years, and no matter how variously weighted by those studying them. There is also a powerful mythology at work here, as the imagination of faith sees through and beyond the historical details to catch a glimpse of a transforming reality; a faith to live by.

    Our primary access to both the history of Jesus and the myth of Jesus is through story, and it is that story which Christian communities around the world will recount all over this week, this ‘Holy Week’. Like the Native American storyteller quoted in Marcus Borg, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time (p. 50) we may find ourselves saying:

    Now I don’t know if it happened this way or not,
    but I know this story is true.

    For many people, their personal and communal preparations for Easter are deeply impacted by the publication of some new discovery, or a controversial new theory, relating to Christian origins. It is, I suppose, a perverse kind of compliment to the enduring influence of Christianity even in our largely secular societies that the media sees an opportunity to make an impact (increase viewers, and multiply advertising revenues) by such tactics. In 2006 it was the Gospel of Judas story, in 2007 the so-called Jesus Tomb story, and in 2011 the anticipated Paschal media beat up was a claim to have two of the nails used to crucify Jesus. In 2013 the election of a new pope seem to exhaust the media interest in religion for a while, but this year we have the Noah film.

    These regular media events timed for release around Easter reinforce the wisdom of the native story tellers who know the truth power of a story lies in its capacity to speak the truth to the present, not the accuracy of its description of the past or its projection of the future.

    At the very least, we know that the earliest Christians found story telling a powerful way to develop and test their theology. The different stories created by those ancient Christian faith communities both encapsulated what they were thinking and also extended their thoughts in new directions. The contest of sacred stories reflects a contest of theologies.

    Our modern question (But did it happen that way?) is ultimately not as urgent, nor its answer so satisfying, as the ancient question: What truth is in this story?

     

    Palm Sunday

    Palm Sunday marks the transition from the observance of Lent to the beginning of Holy Week. Its themes are not restricted to those of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, but extend through to the trial and execution of Jesus. With the solemn reading of the Passion at the Gospel, there is a vast amount of biblical text to process. The passion narrative is the most history-like part of the Gospel tradition. In addition, here we seem to have a connected and coherent series of events from the Last Supper through to the arrest in the garden and then the trials and the execution itself.

    • See Passion Narrative for a list of the major episodes with links to texts and discussion.

    NT scholarship in the mid-20C was persuaded that the Passion Narrative was the first part of the Gospel tradition to take definite shape. The events were so central to the apostolic preaching (the “kerygma”) that some account of how Christians came to believe in a crucified Messiah would have had to be offered to Jews and Greeks alike.

    More recent scholarship has questioned this assumption. Even if the story of Jesus’ betrayal and death was fashioned in the 40s, as Crossan suggests, it is no longer seen as a simple historical narrative. In particular, the relationship between the OT prophecies and the Gospel narrative has been reconsidered. As a result, while the historicity of the core event (Jesus crucified) is affirmed, the political and theological agenda of the Gospel narratives has been increasingly recognized. Key themes running through the passion narrative include:

    • Jesus as an heroic figure familiar to a Greek world
    • Jesus as an innocent victim familiar from Jewish tradition
    • “according to the Scriptures” as a sign of divine providence
    • transfer of responsibility for Jesus’ death from Rome to the Jews
    • claims to apostolic authority by those who were witnesses to the resurrection

     

    Maundy Thursday

    The readings for Thursday in Holy Week focus on the character of the Lord’s Supper:

    • a Christian ritual with paschal overtones
    • a commemoration of the Last Supper
    • a sacrament that celebrates our calling as disciples of the Master

    First Reading: Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

    The first reading draws on that portion of the exodus tradition that prescribes the rules for the future observance of Passover. While clearly a later projection back into the exodus narrative, the association of each and every Passover meal with the mythic events of great escape from Egypt is an essential element of the ritual. The participants think of themselves as having been present on the night of salvation, and as having been the direct recipients of divine grace.

    Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

    Paul’s account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 is our earliest extant reference to the Eucharist. Having been composed by Paul in the mid-50s—and seemingly drawing on even older traditions—this version of the Last Supper story predates the Gospel accounts by at least two decades (in the case of Mark) and perhaps by 60 years or more (in the case of Luke-Acts).

    As we celebrate Eucharist in our contemporary Christian communities we are participating in a defining Christian ritual that can be traced back to within 20 years of Jesus’ death in 30 CE. In this ritual—which seems only to be known to the Pauline tradition within the New Testament writings—we can see the “Jesus movement” undergoing a profound transition to become the “Christ cult.”

    Within the emerging Christian communities associated with Paul, Jesus has already become a divine figure whose devotees gather as a distinctive community (a collegium, or voluntary religious association). The “supper of the Lord” was at the centre of their religious identity, and in those ancient meals we see the beginnings of the Christian Eucharist.

    Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

    The gospel portions have been carefully selected to focus on the theme of loving service to one another:

    • The initial set of verses presents the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet in an act of “servant leadership” intended to inspire a change within the group dynamics of Jesus’ followers. In a totally different cultural setting, where feet rarely get soiled, the practical relevance of this gesture passes us by. In our culture, we might imagine Jesus stacking the dishwasher at the end of a pleasant evening, or even washing the dishes by hand over the protests of his embarrassed hosts.
    • The second set of verses presents us with the “great commandment”—seemingly the signature of Christianity identity within the Johannine community, as it seems also to be attested in the Johannine letters.

     

    Good Friday

    The traditional phrase from the creed—crucified under Pontius Pilate—anchors the Jesus tradition in a specific event, involving at least some historical figures known to us (Pontius Pilate the Roman procurator of Judea, Caiaphas the Jewish high priest, Herod Antipas), from a particular place. This is ground zero for the Jesus tradition, and an event of even more certainty than the baptism of Jesus by John. Here we stand on solid ground. Here we stand on holy ground. Here we seek to understand the significance of Jesus for us today.

    These issues are explored in chapter 8 of Jesus Then and Jesus Now: Looking for Jesus, Finding Ourselves, and there is an earlier version of that material available online.

    The Death of Jesus in the Jesus Database

    • 005 Crucifixion of Jesus: (1) 1 Cor 15:3b; (2a) Gos. Pet. 4:10-5:16,18-20; 6:22; (2b) Mark 15:22-38 = Matt 27:33-51a = Luke 23:32-46; (2c) John 19:17b-25a,28-36; (3) Barn. 7:3-5; (4a) 1 Clem. 16:3-4 (=Isaiah 53:1-12); (4b) 1 Clem. 16.15-16 (=Psalm 22:6-8); (5a) Ign. Mag. 11; (5b) Ign. Trall. 9:1b; (5c) Ign. Smyrn. 1.2.
    • 180 Pilates Questions:(1a) Gos. Pet. pre-1:1 from later 3:6,9 (Son of God) & 3:7; 4:11 (King of Israel), (1b) Mark 15:1-5 = Matt 27:1-2,11-14 = Luke 23:1-5, (1c) John 18:28-38;19:4-16;
    • 181 The People Repent: (1a) Gos. Pet. 7:25(!); 8:28, 1b) Luke 23:48;
    • 182 Jesus Tomb Guarded: (1a) Gos. Pet. 8:29-33, (1b) Matt 27:62-66, (1c) Gos. Naz. 22;
    • 183 Crowds Visit Tomb: (1) Gos. Pet. 9:34;
    • 184 Transfiguration of Jesus: (1a) Gos. Pet. 9:35-10:40, (1b) Mark 9:2-10 = Matt 17:1-9 = Luke 9:28-36, (1c) 2 Pet 1:17-18;
    • 185 The Guards Report: (1) Gos. Pet. 11:45-49, (1b) Matt 28:11-15;
    • 186 Apostolic Grief: (1) Gos. Pet. 7:26-27; 14:58-59
    • 272 Release of Barabbas: (1a) Mark 15:6-15 = Matt 27:15-23,26 = Luke 23:18-25, (1b) John 18:39-40, (1c) Acts 3:13-14, (1d) Gos. Naz. 20;
    • 273 Simon of Cyrene: (1a) Mark 15:20b-21 = Matt 27:31b-32 = Luke 23:26, (1b!) John 19:17a;
    • 274 Women at the Crucifixion: (1a) Mark 15:40-41 = Matt 27:55-56 = Luke 23:49, (1b) John 19: 25b-27.

     

    Holy Saturday

    By definition, the traditions at the centre of Holy Saturday are not elements from the inventory of historical Jesus materials. However, the idea that Jesus in some sense raided Hell (the traditional “harrowing of Hades”) is perhaps an early Christian way of expressing the resurrection belief within classic Jewish terms.

    Crossan discusses the “Harrowing of Hell” briefly [Historical Jesus, 387-89] as part of his treatment of the death and burial traditions. He notes that the harrowing of Hades was a major theological issue in early Jewish Christianity since it was “in Sheol, Hades, or Hell, that the souls of holy and righteous, persecuted and martyred Jews awaited their final and promised deliverance.” In the account of Jesus’ suffering, his death was necessary both as an historical fact that could not be avoided and as a theological device to allow Jesus to enter the house of “those that slept,” the dead.

    While barely mentioned in the NT and soon marginalized as an embarrassment to developing classical theology, the harrowing of hell remains an important theme in Eastern iconography. It also survives as the brief statement within the Creed: “he descended into Hell.”

    Crossan suggests four reasons for this theological theme being pushed to boundaries of Christian belief:

    1. It was an intensely Jewish theme, and the Christians were increasingly non-Jewish in character.

    2. It was intensely mythological, and involved three related motifs: “a deception in which the demons were allowed to crucify Jesus not knowing who he was; a descent that was the actual reason for his death and burial; and a despoiling whereby Jesus, as Son of God broke open the prison of Hell and released both himself and all the righteous who had preceded him there.”

    3. It created many theological problems as Christianity developed: was repentance required of them? were they baptized? etc

    4. If Jesus was manifested to the dead and led them in triumph directly to heaven how was it possible for him also to be manifested to the apostles between resurrection and ascension? What of their mandate from the risen Jesus? Crossan notes how the tradition sought to resolve that dilemma in the Shepherd of Hermes, Similitude 9.

     

    Easter Day

    The following material is comprised of excerpts (from pp. 141–42) in chapter 10 (“Easter People” in Jesus Then & Jesus Now: Looking for Jesus, Finding Ourselves (Melbourne: Mosaic Press / Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014).

    One of the ways in which the resurrection of Jesus is both ‘good news’ and transformative is the value it assigns to life rather than to martyrdom. At a time when religious extremists have both the inclination and the capacity to destroy life for the sake of their beliefs, the resurrection offers an opposing paradigm of faithfulness: Choose life! God is not in the business of recruiting martyrs for the cause, but she is in the business of creating life, blessing life, sustaining life, and restoring life.

    How might the world be transformed if the followers of Jesus gained a reputation as a pro-life movement that would never use violence to achieve its goals, never cause harm to any of the ‘little ones’ in its care, never glorify suffering, never seek martyrdom, and would always ‘turn the other cheek’ when abused? If such a description of Christianity seems improbable, that is itself a sad index of how far Christianity has moved away from the legacy of Jesus.

    A reclaimed resurrection faith will focus on more than individual human destinies after death. An unsuspected mystery of the faith lurks like leaven in the eucharistic acclamations: “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” That leaven has not yet risen to transform the whole loaf, but perhaps the time is coming. This acclamation proclaims the mystery of the faith, but its significance is for the most part missed. The Christ who has died, who is risen, and who will come again, is not simply Jesus of Nazareth, but the whole of God’s transformed creation.

    This resurrected and much beloved ‘Son’ is not simply Jesus, but all of us—together. Not just homo sapiens, let alone homo christiani—but all of creation. This is not simply a recurrence of universalism, but a reclaiming of Paul’s vision of cosmic salvation extending to the whole of creation.

    Understood this way, the resurrection of Jesus is not only the action of a generous and faithful God at the very heart of life, but also the charter for a Christian mission in the global village. The purpose of Christianity is not to gain adherents from other spiritual communities, but to pray and work for the coming of God’s kingdom, for the resurrection of all creation, for the day of cosmic liberation. This is a vision that can shape the way people of Christian faith understand God, the world, and ourselves. It is a broad and generous vision. It offers a basis for lives that are holy and authentic. It might even allow us to form and sustain communities of faith where the ‘dangerous’ memory of Jesus is kept alive, and where “the future of what Jesus started is being lived out.”

  • Lent 6A | Palm Sunday (13 April 2014)

    Contents

    Lectionaries

    Liturgy of the Palms
    Matthew 21:1-11 (Year A)
    Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16 (Year B)
    Luke 19:28-40 (Year C)
    Liturgy of the Passion
    Hebrew Scriptures: Isaiah 50:4-9a & Psalm 31:9-16
    The Apostle: Phil 2:5-11
    The Gospel:
    Matthew 26:14-27:66 or Matthew 27:11-54 (Year A)
    Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39,(40-47) (Year B)
    Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49 (Year C)

    The readings shown here are from the RCL list, and some passages may slightly in other listings.

    Introduction

    This Sunday marks the transition from the observance of Lent to the beginning of Holy Week. Its themes are not restricted to those of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, but extend through to the trial and execution of Jesus. With the solemn reading of the Passion at the Gospel, there is a vast amount of biblical text to process.

    The passion narrative is the most history-like part of the Gospel tradition. Here we are dealing with political events, in a familiar place and involving historical figures known to us. Further, we are dealing with perhaps the most secure historical fact of the entire Jesus tradition, namely his crucifixion. In addition, here we seem to have a connected and coherent series of events from the Last Supper through to the arrest in the garden and then the trials and the execution itself.

    • See Passion Narrative for a list of the major episodes with links to texts and discussion.

    The international controversy surrounding the release of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ in 2004 made regular worshippers as well as the wider community more conscious of the personal and historical dimensions of Jesus’ trial and execution. Regardless of our views on that particular film and its treatment of the passion story, the interest shown in the film may deepen our appreciation of Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

    NT scholarship in the mid-20C was persuaded that the Passion Narrative was the first part of the Gospel tradition to take definite shape. The events were so central to the apostolic preaching (the “kerygma”) that some account of how Christians came to believe in a crucified Messiah would have had to be offered to Jews and Greeks alike.

    More recent scholarship has questioned this assumption. Even if the story of Jesus’ betrayal and death was fashioned in the 40s, as Crossan suggests, it is no longer seen as a simple historical narrative. In particular, the relationship between the OT prophecies and the Gospel narrative has been reconsidered.

    As a result, while the historicity of the core event (Jesus crucified) is affirmed, the political and theological agenda of the Gospel narratives has been increasingly recognized.

    Key themes running through the passion narrative include:

    • Jesus as an heroic figure familiar to a Greek world
    • Jesus as an innocent victim familiar from Jewish tradition
    • “according to the Scriptures” as a sign of divine providence
    • transfer of responsibility for Jesus’ death from Rome to the Jews
    • claims to apostolic authority by those who were witnesses to the resurrection

    The online resources gathered in this site may be helpful when thinking about these traditions, along with the following selected perspectives.

    Perspectives

    The Greek hero myth

    The pervasive Greek hero myth seems to have provided GMark with a way of presenting the Jesus story to people familiar with Greek culture. The classic forms of the hero myth, as outlined by Gregory Riley in One Jesus, Many Christs (1997:39ff), may be paraphrased as follows. The points of contact with the familiar story of Jesus are immediately evident.

    The Greek hero was properly the offspring of divine and human parents: most often a virgin human mother and a male god. As offspring of divine-human liaisons they were especially gifted: prowess, or strength, or beauty, or wisdom. The hero was a kind of bridge between divine and human worlds, and destined to be a central player in divine plan to control balance of justice (diké) among humans. As the one chosen by fate for such a destiny, the hero was also something of a victim to fate: constrained by something beyond personal control. Under these circumstances the willing choice to die for principle and with honor could be a pivotal heroic event. These gifted yet tragic heroes often found they had powerful enemies: sometimes a divine parent (or a jealous divine rival) may turn against the hero. In any case, success and popularity could provoke divine envy. Closer to home, however, were the major human opponents—usually rulers and kings with the hero cast as a subversive element boldly refusing the unjust dictates of those in authority. In the stories of the hero, ruler and city can suffer for their unjust treatment of the innocent hero. Inevitably, the hero faces a test of character that provides an opportunity to reveal his true colors. Not all heroes pass the test, but those who do can find that suffering results in learning. At times the hero is something of a bait in a cosmic trap, with his own suffering and death serving as bait to catch and destroy the wicked. In the Greek tradition, heroes often face an early death: painful and in the prime of life. While skepticism about an afterlife was typical of the Greek outlook, heroes were assured a place of honor after death. They would inherit immortality and claim their place in the Elysian Fields. The dead hero could then become an immortal protector of the living, having secured an ironic victory in his untimely and undeserved death. After such a faithful death the hero could protect his own devotees as they also faced the test of living faithfully in a dangerous world. These dead heroes offered protection and help in dire circumstances, with the cult of the heroes being most widespread religious activity in ancient world.

    It is immediately clear that the early Christian accounts of Jesus fit well with this common structure of meaning in the Hellenistic world. Those accounts would have resonated with the ancient archetype of The Hero. Indeed, Jesus himself would have been affected to some degree at least by such models of perfection. While the ancient Jewish biblical tradition can be assumed as the major influence upon Jesus and the earliest Christian storytellers, we cannot exclude the possibility that he was familiar with this widely-attested mythic pattern. At the same time, it is more likely that the early Christian storytellers chose to cast Jesus into this role, rather than the traditional assumption that Jesus is described this way because that was the historical reality.

    The Innocent Victim

    Jewish traditions about the suffering of the innocent victim would also have played their part in shaping Jesus’s own mind set and in determining how Christians would later choose to describe him.

    This pattern is best known to many people these days from the stories of Joseph (Genesis 37-50) or perhaps Daniel in the lions’ den (Daniel 6), but in the 1C the Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-5:23 offered a powerful outline of the innocent victim who suffers at the hands of the wicked. When reading that passage, it is not hard to imagine a Jewish-Christian audience hearing it as a description of Jesus.

    Burton L. Mack (A Myth of Innocence, 1988:267) has taken up the work done by George W.E. Nickelsburg on the innocent victim tradition in second Temple Judaism and applied it to Mark’s Gospel. The basic elements of this Jewish myth of the innocent victim may be paraphrased as follows:

    After an introduction to the characters, there is some act by the victim that provokes the unjustified hostility of the wicked and results in them engaging in a conspiracy to eliminate this threat to their power. When the decision is made to dispose of this troublesome opponent, the response by the victim is one of trust and obedience to the divine requirements. A false accusation is brought against the innocent person, resulting in a trial and condemnation. The innocent can protest in vain (when the accusation is false) and pray for deliverance, but must still suffer the ordeal imposed on them by the unjust rulers. The reaction of others to the unjust treatment of the victim may also be noted. In the end, of course, the victim is rescued in some way and vindicated. This vindication can involve some form of exaltation to a place of substantial dignity and power, much to the shame of the unjust perpetrators. the newly invested judge/ruler is acclaimed by the faithful, while those who had mistreated him fear for their own fates before receiving their deserved punishment.

    This indigenous Jewish tradition about the innocent victim may offer one way to interpret the early Christian claim that Jesus’ suffering and exaltation were “according to the Scriptures.” We may be mistaken to look for texts that predict the suffering of the Messiah. Instead, perhaps we need to read the story of Jesus through the lens of the suffering Righteous One.

    The words placed on the lips of Peter by the author of Luke-Acts show just such a way of speaking about Jesus’ death:

    When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. [Acts 3:12-15]

     

    Biblical Interpretation

    Jewish midrash, and particularly the technique of pesher interpretation, may provide a clue as to how such classic models from both Greek and Jewish sources could be applied to Jesus. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has given us many examples of how the ancient sacred writings were read during the time of Jesus and the first Christians. Operating from the assumption that the texts were intended to provide clues for the reader to identify God’s purposes in the present time, details in the older writings were reinterpreted as cryptic references to current events and persons.

    What is true of isolated lines from the Psalms is also true of extended passages such as Psalm 22 (widely seen until recently as an awesome prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion rather than as the quarry from which Mark derived the details for his passion narrative) or Isaiah — both of which feature in this week’s lectionaries.

     

    The Letters of Paul

    Paul’s own writings offer an opportunity to approach the traditions of Jesus’ death from another perspective. While the impact of the previous considerations has been to deconstruct the historicity of the Gospel accounts, the letters of Paul allow us to see how someone writing before any of the Gospels were composed could talk about the death of Jesus.

    Several important passages are to be found in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Cor 11, Paul refers to the last supper as an event on the night that Jesus was betrayed and to the institution of the “Supper of the Lord.” Later, in ch. 15, Paul quotes a summary of the core events concerning Jesus:

    Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you–unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1Cor 15:1-7)

    Elsewhere in that same letter we find Paul extolling the cross as the central theme of the gospel that he proclaims:

    For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1Cor 1:18-24)

    It is clear that Paul has an interpretation of Jesus that is centered around his death. While the later Gospel narratives might present Jesus’ life and death in heroic terms, and eulogize him as the innocent victim of corrupt rulers, those are not the notes struck by Paul. Instead, Paul is more inclined to speak of Jesus’ death as a sacrificial demonstration of ultimate trust (pistis) by Jesus in God — a trust that allows God to be forgiving to everyone, just as Abraham’s legendary trust had resulted in covenant blessings for the Jewish people.

    Elizabeth A. Johnson

    Johnson offers a fresh interpretation of the death of Jesus in her essay, “The Word was Made Flesh and Dwelt Among Us: Jesus Research and Christian Faith.” Her views are perhaps captured in this provocative paragraph:

    To put it simply, Jesus, far from being a masochist, came not to die but to live and to help others live in the joy of the divine love. To put it boldly, God the Creator and Lover of the human race did not need Jesus’ death as an act of atonement but wanted him to flourish in his ministry of the coming reign of God. Human sin thwarted this divine desire yet did not defeat it. (p. 158)

    See Jesus Research and Christian Faith for additional notes and extracts from Johnson’s essay.

    See The Once and Future Bible: Easter for a more detailed set of online resources relating to the death of Jesus and the significance of the resurrection tradition in earliest Christianity.

    For a more recent discussion see the following chapters from Jesus Then & Jesus Now:

    • ch. 8: Crucified under Pontius Pilate
    • ch. 10: Easter People

     

    Liturgies and Prayers

    For liturgies and sermons each week, shaped by a progressive theology, check Rex Hunt’s web site

    Other recommended sites include:

    Music Suggestions

    See the following sites for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre: