gregoryjenks

Author: Gregory C. Jenks

  • Pentecost 18B (30 September 2012)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Esther 7:1-6,9-10;9:20-22 and Psalm 124
    • James 5:13-20
    • Mark 9:38-50

    First Reading: Esther

    This week the RCL provides for a reading from the Book of Esther as part of its series of texts from the Wisdom literature of ancient Israel. The excerpt from Esther comes from the climax of the story, when Esther achieves the reversal of a royal decree calling for the murder of Jews across the Persian empire and has its author executed.

    The following extract provides a helpful summary of the book:

    The Book of Esther is named after its Jewish heroine. It tells the story of the plot of Haman the Agagite, jealous and powerful vizier of King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) of Persia (485-464 B.C.), to destroy in a single day all the Jews living in the Persian Empire. He is moved to this out of hatred for the Jewish servant Mordecai, who for religious motives refuses to render him homage. The day of the proposed massacre is determined by lot. Meanwhile Esther, niece and adopted daughter of Mordecai, is chosen queen by King Xerxes in place of Vashti. She averts the pogrom planned against her people and has the royal decree of extermination reversed against Haman and the enemies of the Jews. Mordecai replaces Haman, and together with Esther, works for the welfare of their people. The event is celebrated with feasting and great joy, and the memory of it is to be perpetuated by the annual observance of the feast of Purim (lots), when the lot of destruction for the Jews was reversed for one of deliverance and triumph by Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. (New American Bible)

    Within the Hebrew Bible, Esther is the last of the five scrolls (Heb: megilloth) that are read on special feasts of the Jewish liturgical year. It is the liturgical text for the feast of Purim.

    Esther is not a historical document, but more like a story set in a past historical situation. It reflects the reality that the Jewish community has often been the object of racial and communal violence, and it celebrates the hope that God will intervene to rescue the covenant people. Similar themes are celebrated in the biblical story of Joseph (Gen 37 & 39-45) and in the deuterocanonical story of Judith (Jud 8-16).

    Like the account of the Innocent Victim in WisSol 2:12-5:23, such stories of the oppressed innocents triumphing over all foes provided the model for early Christians to understand Jesus as the vindicated one. Paul’s statement “that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Cor 15:4) reflect precisely these “scriptures.” A similar idea can be seen in the interpretation of Psalm 16 (“you will not abandon my soul to hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption”) attributed to Peter in Acts 2:22-28.

    The Book of Esther is a story that assumes communal violence and celebrates a vindictive attitude towards the enemies of the covenant community. These themes are not restricted to Esther, but are to be found in many parts of the Hebrew Bible and — in spectacular form — in the Book of Revelation within the NT. Apocalyptic literature is especially prone to such violent imagery as it emerges from communities in crisis and draws hope from the dream of divine violence against the enemies of the present victims.

    A reading of Scripture that is informed by the wisdom and spirit of Jesus will reject such violent imagery for the divine re-ordering of society. While some of the canonical representations of Jesus found in the NT have themselves mortgaged the legacy of Jesus to such violent apocalyptic fantasies, the core of Jesus’ teaching and the clear example of his own practice is non-violent even when confronting lethal oppression.

    Unlike the story of Esther, which finds its climax in the hanging of Haman, in the story of Jesus it is the Holy One who hangs on the cross. In that counter story of redemption, God draws the violence into her own self rather than projecting it upon the enemies of the Beloved.

    Alternative first reading: Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29

    At the heart of this passage is the story of Moses’ divine blessing being shared with a wider circle of people, rather than being restricted to him alone. The focus is clearly the declaration of Moses:

    Are you jealous for my sake?
    Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets,
    and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!

    This celebration of a generosity of spirit on the part of both Moses and God is one of the key texts for an inclusive interpretation of faith, one able to embrace diversity and eschew clutching at exclusive privileges. It is a similar “mind set” to that attributed to the Christ figure in the early hymn cited by Paul in Phil 2:5ff:

    Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
    who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,
    but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave …

    This is a very different “spirit” from that seen in a defensive traditionalism that needs to exclude those who are different and restrict the life-giving presence of the Spirit to certain groups or classes of people. The outlook celebrated in this ancient story seems more akin to that attributed to Jesus in the Sayings Gospel Q:

    For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine,
    and you say, ‘He has a demon;’
    the Son of Man has come eating and drinking,
    and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
    Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children. [Luke 7:33–35]

    Second Reading: James 5:13-20

    One of the many themes that James shares with the early Jesus traditions is a suspicion of wealth. These are uncomfortable words for those of us wealthy enough to own and use a computer, as that indicator alone places us high in the relative prosperity stakes.

    Prayer and Healing

    The RCL reading takes up the classic NT text for the sacrament of Holy Unction, or anointing.

    Prayer for healing continues to be an important part of many Christian communities, and its appearance in James is yet another of the points where this book seems to be preserving authentic traditions that have their roots in the practice and teachings of Jesus.

    However we seek to explain this dimension of Christian practice, it remains the case that Christians find strength and healing (if not always a “cure”) when prayers are said on their behalf. The emphasis on miraculous cures in some Pentecostal communities may strike us as exaggerated, but it is one expression of the same instinct expressed in James as much as the votive candles lit for the sick at a Mass for Healing.

    * See also Jesus as Healer

    Gospel: Gentle words, hard words

    The Gospel extract presents us with some “comfortable words” as well as some of the most harsh teachings attributed to Jesus.

    The gentler words are to be found in Jesus’ response to the self-serving angst of the disciples who have just “bounced” an unauthorized exorcist who was invoking the name of Jesus to heal people but was not one of their band. Jesus rebukes the disciples and encourages a more open and inclusive attitude on their part.

    Of course, elsewhere in the tradition Jesus is remembered as saying precisely the opposite: 057 For and Against

    Following these attractive sentiments, Jesus is represented as giving his disciples some very stern instructions and warnings:

    These injunctions are expressed in the severe terms we now know as Sharia law from the Muslim world, and their presence in the Jesus tradition may remind us that the Christian community has had periods of barbarity and injustice in the way it dealt with those who deviated from communal expectations.

    It seems likely that Jesus is using hyperbole as an instructional device; exaggeration for the sake of impact.

    In the wisdom of the Church, it has not been normative to take these words literally:

    • Few Christians amputate limbs or excise their eyes in obedience to these words. If they did so, most of us would support legislation to ban such inhumane interpretations.
    • The same hermeneutical generosity is not always applied to biblical texts that condemn homosexuality, even though it is often claimed for those who have been divorced.

    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 David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • Wife of Jesus papyrus fragment

    The September 18 story from the New York Times about a papyrus fragment in which Jesus refers to someone (presumably Mary Magdalene) as “my wife” caused considerable controversy.

    There now seems to be a growing consensus among Coptic specialists that this is a modern forgery, which was also the assumption of Karen King when first offered an opportunity to examine the papyrus.

    For a more detailed description of the papyrus and a draft of Karen King’s paper, see the story on her Harvard Divinity School web page.

    Karen King is a colleague of mine in the Jesus Seminar, and a long time scholar of early Christianity in antiquity. There is no problem about the Egyptian provenance, Coptic language, etc. A large percentage of our ancient papyri are from Egypt. They survived there due to the dry conditions.

    There seems to be nothing especially improbable about the fragment, but its lack of provenance and the desire of its owner to sell the papyrus ring alarm bells.

    As a fourth-century Christian text—even if genuine—the fragment would tell us nothing about the historical Jesus. What it would reveal (if genuine) is that Christians 250-300 years after Easter were still speculating on the nature of his personal life, and especially the idea that Mary Magdalene may have been both a disciple and a spouse.

    The latter is not really a question we can address as biblical scholars and historians, but it is worth asking ourselves why we might find such a prospect either attractive or repulsive. Our answer to that question will tell us more about ourselves than about Jesus, of course!

    If only some dastardly dealer had not torn up the larger papyrus to create more pieces for sale!

    One the other hand, if—as now seems likely—the text is a modern forgery it also tells us a great deal about a modern problem with ancient roots: greed.

  • Pentecost 17B (23 September 2012)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Proverbs 31:10-31 and Psalm 1 (or WisSol 1:16-2:1,12-22)
    • James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
    • Mark 9:30-37

     

    First Reading: Wisdom, the perfect life partner

    The classic description of an ideal wife in Prov 31 has often been read simply as a reflection of a male point of view. We cannot get away from the fact that the passage reflects the patriarchal values of ancient Israel, but we may miss a hidden treasure if we too lightly pass this passage by.

    Taken at face value the text may act as a mirror for us to recognize the continuing distortions of male-female relationships that arise from uncritical acceptance of traditional patriarchy. So-called “traditional family values” that are so staunchly defended by conservative religious leaders are often a thin disguise for self-serving male domination of women. It is well-attested that men tend to gain most in financial and personal well-being from marriage, while women tend to lose on both counts. At the very least, when a passage such as this is read in church, the Spirit may be whispering in our ears about the desperate need to redress that historic imbalance.

    But there may be much more to this passage.

    Like the majestic Psalm 119 with its extended theological reflection on the divine Torah, Proverbs 31:10-31 is an acrostic poem. These are not words that have been casually cast alongside one another. Someone with a love for the beauty of well-chosen words has gone to the trouble of composing a poem with each line beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

    It may be that what we have in Prov 31 is a thoughtful celebration of Sophia/Wisdom as the soul’s true spouse.

    Elsewhere in Proverbs we have many references to Sophia/Wisdom as the ideal woman (both lover and wife):

    • 1:20-33
    • 3:13-20
    • 4:5-13
    • 8:1-36
    • 9:1-6
    • 14:1
    • 24:3-7

    In addition, Sophia/Wisdom is explicitly contrasted to the “loose woman” who posed a mortal threat to the young sage:

    • 2:16-19
    • 5:1-14
    • 7:1-27
    • 9:13-18.

    There may even be a delightful little “signature” hidden away in verse 12, as the Hebrew word ‏צוֹפִיָּה tsopiyyah translated as “she looks well to” is — possibly a pun on the Greek word, sophia (wisdom):

    Proverbs31Acrostic.jpg

     

    The Innocent Victim

    Many congregations will read from the Wisdom of Solomon this weekend.

    The designated passage is a portion of a Jewish text, written around 40 CE and therefore contemporary with both Jesus and Paul, that describes the evil ones plotting against an innocent “righteous one” with the intention of destroying their victim. In this traditional Jewish genre, however, the innocent victim is vindicated by God and his foes find themselves facing someone dispensing God’s judgment on them all.

    It is now widely recognized that this traditional Jewish version of the classic Greek hero myth has profoundly influenced the way that early Christians chose to present the story of Jesus. Paul’s tantalizing references to Jesus’ death and resurrection as being “according to the Scriptures” may well have WisSol in mind, a point missed by those who search the OT for prophetic predictions of a suffering Messiah raised to life “on the third day.” The “scriptures” (Gk: graphai, or writings) Paul had in mind may not have been restricted to the Hebrew texts that the Reformers (some 1,500 years after Paul) substituted for the Greek Bible that had served as the Christian Old Testament since the beginning of the church.

     

    Second Reading: Wisdom from above

    If there was any doubt that the Letter of James is an example of Christian wisdom literature, this week’s passage puts that to rest:

    • Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. (3:13 )
    • Such wisdom does not come down from above, … (3:15 )
    • But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. (3:17 )

    The passage begins with questions about the wisdom of the readers, and looks for them to exhibit characteristics that derive from wisdom — literally, “with Sophia’s gentleness.”

    The Wisdom in the author’s mind is not a human quality, but something that derives from God. The term “from above” [Gk: anothen] is the same word used in John 3 and variously translated as “from above” or “again” (see John 3:3,7).

    This wisdom from above is then described in terms that seem to echo familiar passages from WisSol:

    For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. 7:27 Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; 7:28 for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom. 7:29 She is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, 7:30 for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. 8:1 She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well. … 8:9 With you is wisdom, she who knows your works and was present when you made the world; she understands what is pleasing in your sight and what is right according to your commandments. 8:10 Send her forth from the holy heavens,and from the throne of your glory send her,that she may labor at my side,and that I may learn what is pleasing to you. 8:11 For she knows and understands all things,and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory. (WisSol 7:26-8:11)

    For examples of the Sophia tradition in Jewish and Christian sources, see the following pages:

     

    Gospel: Master class in discipleship

    While we tend to think of the Gospel of Mark as a simple story of Jesus’ ministry, it may be better to think of it as a textbook on discipleship. The focus on discipleship is particularly clear in the extended section that runs from 8:22 to 10:52, and is clearly identified by its two “book end” as Jesus heals two blind people.

    One of the threads that runs through this section is the nature of discipleship. Time and again Jesus is portrayed as teaching and mentoring the disciples on their own callings as he reflects on his own.

    Like the first blind man, who at first only sees with blurred vision, the disciples seem to have trouble with their vision of what Jesus is about and what that all means for them. Mark makes this all the more obvious by his insistence that Jesus was now saying everything openly and plainly. Yet still the disciples do not get it.

    Three times Mark has Jesus tell the disciples about his impending death in Jerusalem:

    • Mark 8:31-33
    • Mark 9:30-32
    • Mark 10:32-34

    Status in the Kingdom still loomed large in their imaginations. Coming as they did from a society governed by status and privilege, it was not surprising that they could not get their hearts and minds around the idea of a “kingdom of nobodies” (the phrase from comes Crossan, Historical Jesus, 266-68).

    Crossan notes that children were not the objects of sentimental affection as they can be in our culture:

    But what would ordinary Galilean peasants have thought about children? Would “like a child” have immediately meant being humble, being innocent, being new, being credulous? Go back, if you will, to those papyrus fragments quoted in chapter 1 of this book and think for a moment of the infants, often female but male as well, abandoned at birth by their parents and saved from the rubbish dumps to be reared as slaves. Pagan writers were, according to Menahem Stern, rather surprised that Jewish parents did not practice such potential infanticide (1976-84:1.33, 2.41), but still, to be a child was to be a nobody, with the possibility of becoming a somebody absolutely dependent on parental discretion and parental standing in the community. That, I think, is the heart of the matter with all other allusions or further interpretations clustering around that central and shocking metaphor. A kingdom of the humble, of the celibate, or of the baptized comes later. This comes first: a kingdom of children is a kingdom of nobodies.’ (Historical Jesus, 269)

    Jesus seems to have been strangely free of the need to cling to life, power, status. The early Christ Hymn quoted by Paul in Phil 2:5-11 actually identifies that as the essence of his divinity:

    Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
    who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,
    but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness …

    The Child of Sophia has prepared the table and issued the invitation: “Come, eat. Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Christ/Sophia is both host and menu at the Table of Life.

    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 David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • 2013 Bethsaida Holy Land Study Tour

    This afternoon I have received the final costs for the 2013 Bethsaida tour.

    The program has been arranged in two sections:

    1. Core program: Return air travel, two weeks on the dig (16-28 June), weekend visits to lakeside holy places and other selected sites in northern Israel, two nights in Nazareth (28 & 29 June). All participants.

    2. Additional week at St George’s College in Jerusalem (30 June – 6 July), during which time we will visit selected sites of historical and religious significance in and around Jerusalem. Optional program.

    Some participants will be attending the Sabeel International Young Adults Conference from June 30 to July 6. That conference has its own costs, and these will need to be paid directly by the participants.

    Other people may opt to return home after the core program concludes in Nazareth on Sunday, 30 June or to continue their travels to other destinations.

    The cost for the total package (Bethsaida/Nazareth plus SGC) is $8,249.00
    The core program without the week in Jerusalem at SGC is: $6,499.00

    Eligible CSU students will be able to access $6,051 of financial assistance under the OS-HELP program, and a further $500 from the Vice-Chancellor’s Travel Fund.

    We already have several registrations, but I now invite anyone wishing to participate in the 2013 Bethsaida Holy Land Study Tour to contact Audrey Warren at Mission Travel as soon as possible so that you can register for the trip and pay the $500 deposit to secure a place on the trip.

    Audrey’s contact details are:

    Email: audrey@missiontravel.com.au
    Phone: 1300 554 654

    Places will be limited to 25 people.

    More detailed information will be available from Mission Travel shortly, but I know that many people have been waiting for this news so I thought I should share it as soon as I had received it.

  • Pentecost 16B (16 September 2012)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Proverbs 1:20-33 and Psalm 19 [alt. WisSol 7:26-8:1]
    • James 3:1-12
    • Mark 8:27-38

     

    Introduction

    This week’s readings draw on the ancient Wisdom tradition of the Bible and invite us to reflect on the significance of Jesus through the lens of Sophia, Lady Wisdom.

    First Reading: Lady Wisdom, the divine Sophia

    The passages from Proverbs and WisSol are classic texts from the wisdom tradition of ancient Judaism. In both cases we find wisdom personified as a woman—in Proverbs as a woman prophet, and in WisSol as an eternal spiritual reality that comes to historical expression in the prophets.

    For examples of the Sophia tradition in Jewish and Christian sources, see the following pages:

    Mark seems already to have bought into the Pauline understanding of Jesus as the powerful Son of God who offers his life as a ransom for others, but there were other ways to think of God present and active in human experience. The early 1C Jewish text, the Wisdom of Solomon, shows us that there were Jewish contemporaries of Jesus and Paul who imagined God coming among us as Lady Sophia, the Divine Wisdom.

    For she is a reflection of eternal light,
    a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.
    Although she is but one, she can do all things,
    and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
    in every generation she passes into holy souls
    and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
    for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
    She is more beautiful than the sun,
    and excels every constellation of the stars.
    Compared with the light she is found to be superior,
    for it is succeeded by the night,
    but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
    She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
    and she orders all things well. [WisSol 7:26-8:1]

    As this week’s Gospel invites us to ask ourselves the ancient question (“Who is Jesus?”) all over again, we may find that some of the less familiar voices in the biblical tradition offer helpful insights for us today. Even if time makes ancient truth uncouth, as the hymn writer predicted, we may still find that the storehouse of faith has other treasures that have been lying unappreciated for generations.

    Sophia Christology may be one of those treasures old and new that the scribe trained for God’s Kingdom will know when to bring out from the storehouse (Matt 13:52).

    The song Enemy of Apathy by John Bell and Graham Maule from the Iona Community is one modern expression of this ancient biblical tradition:

    She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters,
    hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day;
    she sighs and she sings, mothering creation,
    waiting to give birth to all the Word will say.

    She wings over earth, resting where she wishes,
    lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies;
    she nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder,
    nourishing potential hidden to our eyes.

    She dances in fire, startling her spectators,
    waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned;
    she weans and inspires all whose hearts are open,
    nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained,

    For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence,
    gifted by the Saviour in eternal love;
    she is the key opening the scriptures,
    enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.

     

    Second Reading: Wisdom beyond doctrine

    The reading from James offers an example of the generic spiritual wisdom that characterizes the ancient Wisdom literature.

    Typically, biblical Wisdom writings are the least “religious” texts in the Bible. There is little reference to God, no interest in the covenant, and not much time for the arcane traditions of the Temple. The sage looks to nature and to daily life—in the home, in the work place, and in society—for inspiration and insight.

    Interestingly, Jesus himself seems rarely to have looked to Scripture and instead to have drawn on his observations of people in everyday life: a man building a tower, a farmer sowing the seed, a woman searching for a lost coin, etc. The episodes that portray Jesus as citing the Scriptures or engaged debate over their meaning are precisely the texts that seem to have been produced by the later Christian tradition, and they often construct a Jesus who is a moralist rather than a radical sage.

    A texts such as James 3:1-12 could be used in almost any religious tradition. It is a reminder that the great religions have much in common, even if we mostly define them by their distinctive hallmarks. Anthologies such as Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings (edited by Marcus Borg), or the bestseller Living Buddha, Living Christ (by Thich Nhat Hanh) help us recapture an appreciation of the wisdom all the great religions offer.

    None of which excuses us from facing the existential questions posed in this week’s Gospel:

    • Who is Jesus?
    • What do others say about him?
    • What do we say about him?
    • What do I say about him?
    • Who is Jesus for me?
    • Who am I for Jesus?

     

    Gospel: Who is this man?

    The Gospel passage for this week is widely seen by scholars as the turning point in Mark’s Gospel. There is much more going on here than the record of a historical memory. Mark has carefully set the scene for this episode, although we miss his literary craft with our lectionary fragments week by week.

    Before looking at the immediate context, it is worth noting the larger design of Mark’s Gospel:

    Mark has two major divisions: 1:1-8:26 and 8:27-16:8. We find no use of the word “Christ” apart from the title line in 1:1 until we get to the second half of the book. “Christ” then occurs several times, starting at 8:30. The first half has a focus on Jesus and the public, while the second half has a focus on Jesus and the disciples. in the first half of the book we find repeated questions about the identity of this man, while the second half offers repeated instruction on Jesus’ identity. In the first half we have many miracles (15), but just a few (3) in the second half. The earlier section hints at Jesus’ death, but the second section has a sustained focus on Jesus’ death. [see Chapman, The Orphan Gospel. 1993:39]

    Mark has set the stage for this disclosure scene with a double set of stories:

    There were two sets of miracles –

    1a – Jesus rebukes the wind and sea (4:35-42)
    2a – Jesus heals the demoniac at Gerasa (5:1-20)
    3a – Jesus cures Jairus’ daughter (5:21-24a,35-43)
    4a – Jesus heals the woman with the vaginal hemorrhage (5:24b-34)
    5a – Feeding of the 5,000 (6:30-44)

    1b – Jesus walks on the sea (6:47-52)
    2b – Jesus cures a blind man (8:22-26)
    3b – Jesus cures the Greek woman’s daughter (7:24b-30)
    4b – Jesus cures a deaf-mute (7:31-37)
    5b – Feeding of the 4,000 (8:1-9)

    There may also be a connection between this week’s episode and two additional healing stories that feature blind people –

    • Mark 8:22-26 – Blind man healed
    • Mark 10:46-52 – Blind Bartimaeus healed

    These stories frame an important section on discipleship in Mark’s narrative of Jesus.

    The first of the blind persons to be healed can only see clearly after a struggle. Jesus’ initial efforts to heal him were only partly successful. The man had gained fuzzy sight (“I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.”) It took a second attempt by Jesus before the man was able to see clearly.

    The second blind person, Bartimaeus, regains his sight immediately. Unlike the others who Jesus healed and sent home with instructions to keep silent, Bartimaeus regains his sight and follows Jesus “in the way”—the way of the cross, a story that begins in the very next sentence.

    This week’s Gospel comes directly after the healing of the first blind man. It shows the disciples glimpsing—with a rather fuzzy vision—something of the significance of Jesus but not quite getting it. They saw a sacred hero, but were not clear about just what kind of hero this might be. They begin by rubbing their eyes and straining to make sense of what they think they can see.

    By the end of the extended reflection on discipleship (8:31-10:52), the disciples seem to have gained a clarity of vision. They are found with Jesus in Jerusalem as his destiny comes to pass.

    There may not be much of the historical Jesus in this week’s episode. Jesus seems not to have gone around speaking of himself and requesting feedback from others about how they saw him. But this story does capture the deep historical truth that his living and dying presented people with a demand that they decide what to make of a person who could live and die like this. Jesus may not have asked, “Who do people say that I am?” But his followers certainly found themselves asking, “Who is this?” and “What difference does this man make in my life?”

    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 David MacGregor’s Together to Celebrate site for recommendations from a variety of contemporary genre.

  • Wrongly dividing the word of truth

    Recently I have come across a classic mis-use (and misrepresentation) of the Bible by those who claim to be its best friends.

    The Bible Society of Australia is currently promoting its “25 Words” campaign, encouraging people to read 25 words of Scripture each day for 31 days. So far so good, if you ignore the dumbing down of an important spiritual discipline to “catching the habit.”
    But the home page then distorts the Bible and misrepresents its message, by using 1 Peter 1:23 as a by-line: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

    That verse in 1 Peter actually has no reference to the Bible at all, yet that is the misleading and mistaken impression created by its use on this web page.

    The immediate context indicates that 1 Peter is talking about something far more profound than the Bible:

    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. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”  That word is the good news that was announced to you. [1 Peter 1:22–25]

    In their enthusiasm for promoting Bible reading who ever prepared and approved this web page have shown themselves to be biblically illiterate.

    Christianity deserves better, and so does the Bible.

    To quote another biblical text the web authors might take to heart:

    Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him,
    a worker who has no need to be ashamed,
    rightly explaining the word of truth.     [2Timothy 2:15 NRSV]

    As in 1 Peter, this verse from the Pastoral Letters is not referring to Scripture but to the message of salvation. At the risk of “wrangling over words” (2 Tim 2:14), let’s honour both God and Scripture by exercising due care and diligence, and avoid misrepresenting the Bible as being the agent of salvation, or the centre of Christianity. It is neither. Those privileges belong to Christ.