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Category: Lectionary

Links to lectionary notes from the Jesus Database site.

  • Third Sunday after Pentecost (9 June 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24) & Psalm 146
    • Galatians 1:11-24
    • Luke 7:11-17

    Introduction

    This week we return to the principal cycle of readings centered around Luke as we move into the Sundays after Pentecost. From now until the end of the cycle, Luke will be the principal reading with separate minor series of readings drawn from the Old Testament and the letters of Paul.

    First Reading: The prophet heals a dead child

    The OT reading for this week offers a parallel to the miracle in which Jesus raises to life a dead child.

    In addition to the set reading from 1Kings 17:8-24, there is another very similar story in 2 Kings 4. This account seems to share the same location as the miracle in Luke, and may have served as a stimulus for Jesus (understood as a prophet like Elijah and Elisha — and operating in the same traditional Israelite territory) being credited with a similar miracle at the site:

    One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.”
    One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. He said to him, “Say to her, Since you have taken all this trouble for us, what may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?” She answered, “I live among my own people.” He said, “What then may be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.” He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood at the door. He said, “At this season, in due time, you shall embrace a son.” She replied, “No, my lord, O man of God; do not deceive your servant.”
    The woman conceived and bore a son at that season, in due time, as Elisha had declared to her.
    When the child was older, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. He complained to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” He carried him and brought him to his mother; the child sat on her lap until noon, and he died. She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, closed the door on him, and left. Then she called to her husband, and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.” He said, “Why go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath.” She said, “It will be all right.” Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Urge the animal on; do not hold back for me unless I tell you.” So she set out, and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
    When the man of God saw her coming, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman; run at once to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?” She answered, “It is all right.” When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress; the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.” Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?” He said to Gehazi, “Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, give no greeting, and if anyone greets you, do not answer; and lay my staff on the face of the child.” Then the mother of the child said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave without you.” So he rose up and followed her. Gehazi went on ahead and laid the staff on the face of the child, but there was no sound or sign of life. He came back to meet him and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
    When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. So he went in and closed the door on the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. Then he got up on the bed and lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth, his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and while he lay bent over him, the flesh of the child became warm. He got down, walked once to and fro in the room, then got up again and bent over him; the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her. When she came to him, he said, “Take your son.” She came and fell at his feet, bowing to the ground; then she took her son and left.”
    (2Kings 4:8-37 NRSV)

    Second Reading: Paul’s gospel

    This week continues the series of readings from Galatians, one the most universally accepted of the letters attributed to Paul.

    For links to online and print resources, see the Early Christian Writings page.

    In the first two chapters of Galatians, Paul refers to his own encounter with the risen Christ and also to some of his earliest encounters with the apostolic leaders within the emerging Christian community. When we compare Paul’s own description with the version of events founds in the Acts of the Apostles, there are a number of discrepancies. Note especially Paul’s insistence that there were no human intermediaries, and that his commissioning—like his message—came direcly from God.

    Paul’s insistence that his gospel was received by direct revelation from God is a most remarkable claim, and puts him in a small group of prophetic figures that have shaped humanity’s religious traditions. Such a claim is not susceptible to historical inquiry, any more than Isaiah’s claim to have seen YHWH or Muhammad’s claim to have received the Quran by direct revelation.

    It is a great loss that we do not have other first-person reports of the “Easter revelation.” How might Mary Magdalene or Peter the fisherman have described the moment when they came to “know”—directly and for themselves—that Jesus was not dead and gone, but rather alive and with God?

    Paul was to spend the rest of his life unpacking this moment of revelation, an epiphany that made Paul both a prophet of God and a devotee of Jesus. He did not convert from Judaism to Christianity, but he was certainly transformed by the experience.

    It is very interesting that Paul’s witness to the resurrection of Jesus does not rely on traditions about an empty tomb. For Paul, what mattered is that Jesus had appeared to various people, and especially to himself. Yet it was not their witness that persuaded him, and he insists that he owes them nothing as his gospel derives directly from God and without any human mediation. He would be a difficult person to have on the local parish council, although not the first to think that God was giving them direct instructions. As Paul describes it, God chose to reveal “his Son” to Paul in a vision of some sort. For Paul that was enough, and the rest is history.

    For Paul to comprehend that Jesus was “son of God” was not to embrace a philosophical position of the divinity of Jesus, or to begin a lifelong puzzle about the two natures of Christ. “Son of God” was a familiar political title in the Roman world, and indicated the person who enjoys the favour of the gods and exercised their authority to rule the nations. The great revelation for Paul was not so much that Jesus was alive as a result of God raising him from the dead, but rather than Jesus had been designated by God as the Messiah, the Lord, the “son of God.” This was the great revelation. This is the heart of Paul’s gospel. This came direct from God and not through any human intermediary. This was revolutionary. This changed everything. It still does for anyone who takes it seriously.

    Gospel: Jesus raises a dead boy at Nain

    This week’s Gospel is a story that occurs only in Luke, and it involves an otherwise unknown village somewhere in Galilee.

    So little is know about the village of Nain that the BiblePlaces web site offers no photographs – although it does have links to some other sites that seem more confident of their ability to describe the site.

    Those commentators who remark on the location also highlight the traditional association of Nain with the story of the Shunnamite woman whose dead son was said to have been raised to life by the prophet Elisah in 2 Kings 4.

    Within Luke’s narrative, this episode is one of a series of events that follow the “sermon on the plain” in Luke 6:

    • Jesus heals the centurion’s slave (7:1-10)
    • Jesus heals the widow’s dead son (7;11-17)
    • Questions about Jesus and John (7:18-35)
    • Jesus and the woman with the oil (7:36-50)

    It may well be that the most significant aspect of this week’s passage is not the healing miracles but the pairing of a story about a woman with another story about a man. Kraemer and D’Angelo, Women and Christian Origins (p.181f) have noted the way that Luke uses gender as he constructs his account of Christian origins:

    Unlike the other three canonical Gospels, Luke-Acts uses gender as a central category. This has sometimes caused Luke to be read as the gospel for women. But a number of feminist scholars have observed that Luke’s writings also restrict or denigrate the participation of women. Luke-Acts is less a compilation of good news for women than in the words of Turid Karlsen Seim, a “double message”.

    The centrality of gender in Luke-Acts emerges most notably in the pairing of stories about women with stories about men. There are two types of paired stories in Luke. The first is the unit of two brief stories with an identical point or similar function, one story about a male figure and one about a female figure. This technique does not originate with Luke; some pairs of this type of taken over from Q, while others are from Mark. But in many cases, the story about the man comes from Mark or Q, while the one about the woman is special to Luke; one example is the man who had a hundred sheep (Luke 15:1-7) supplemented in Luke by the woman who had 10 coins (Luke 14:8-10).

    The second type might be termed “architectural” pairs: two similar stories are told in different contexts to bind the narrative together and to manifest the coherence of “God’s plan and work”. As a list of the 12 male disciples precedes the sermon on the plain (Luke 6:12-19), so a list of named women disciples precedes the parables sermon (8:1-3).

    Lukan pairs of one or the other type can be detected in almost every chapter of the gospel:

    • two annunciations: to Zachariah and to Mary (1:5-23; 1:26-38)
    • two songs: of Mary and of Zachariah (1:46-56; 1:67-79)
    • two prophets: Simeon and Anna (2:25-35; 2:36-38)
    • two miracles: for Gentile widow and male leper (4:25-27)
    • two first miracles: for possessed man and Peter’s mother in law (4:31-39)
    • two lists of named disciples: men Apostles (6:12-19; 8:1-3)
    • two rescues from the death: the Centurion’s servant and the widow’s son (7:1-10; 7:11-17)
    • two penitents: the paralytic and a penitent woman (5:19-26; 7:35-50)
    • three miracles: the Gerasene demoniac, the daughter of Jarius, the haemorrhaging woman (8:26-56)
    • three questions about discipleship: the scribe, Martha and the disciples (10:25-37; 10:38-42; 11:1-13)
    • two Gentile accusers of Israel: the Nivevites and the Queen of the South (11:29-36)
    • two “releases”; the bent over woman and the dropsical man (13:10-17; 14:1-6)
    • two hider parables: man (?) planting mustard and a woman hiding leven (13:18-19; 13:20-21)
    • two finder parables: man with sheep and woman with a coin (15:1-7; 15:8-10)
    • two taken: men (?) sleeping, women grinding (17:32-35)
    • two examples of prayer: widow, Pharisee and publican(8:9-17)
    • two attitudes to worship: scribes and widow (20:45-21:4; 23:26-32)
    • two sets of followers: Simon and women (23:26-32)
    • two groups of watchers: women and all his acquaintances (23:49)
    • two groups of resurrection witnesses (24)

    It should be noted that, while the stories about women usually have been added by the author, not every story about a man is doubled with a story about a woman; men still outnumber women in the gospel. And in some cases men are introduced to the narrative: men are added to the group of women watching at the cross (23:49).

    Although the appearances of women are significantly fewer in Acts than in Luke, Acts also includes a number of references to women paired with men. But the pairs in the two works differ significantly. In Luke, the pairs consist of a variety of paired stories that form a single unit or a sequence and architectural pairs of stories, while in Acts (though not all) of the references to women consist not of paired stories, but of either the names of couples or the merismus “both men and women”.

    • two groups were waiting (1:13-14)
    • menservants and maidservants, sons and daughters (2:17-18)
    • Ananias and Sapphira (5:1-11)
    • a crowd of both men and women added (5:14)
    • Paul as persecutor of both men and women (8:3)
    • both men and women added (8:12)
    • Paul as persecutor of both men and women (9:2)
    • Peter cures lame man and Tabitha (9:32-43)
    • worshipping women and first men of the city (13:50)
    • Paul driven from Lystra by cure of Lame man (14:5-18)
    • Paul driven from Philippi by cure of mantic girl (16:16-40)
    • Lydia baptised with all her household (16:15)
    • Jailer baptised with all his household (16:32-34)
    • a great crowd of worshiping Greeks and not a few of the first women were persuaded (17:4)
    • not a few respectable Greek women and men (17:12)
    • Dionysus and Damaris converted at Athens (17:34)
    • Paul received by Priscilla and Aquila (18:1-4)
    • Four prophesying daughters of Philip and Agabus, the prophet from the Judea (21:8-14)
    • Paul as persecutor of both men and women (22:4)
    • Felix arrives with Drusilla (24:24)
    • Agrippa and Bernice (25:13, 23, 20 6:30)

    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

    • A mighty stronghold is our God – AHB 8
    • For your holy book – AHB 338
    • Stand up and bless the Lord – AHB 383
    • Be thou my vision – AHB 455

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

  • Pentecost 2C (2 June 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • 1 Kings 18:20-21, (22-29), 30-39 & Psalm 96
    • Galatians 1:1-12
    • Luke 7:1-10

    Introduction

    This Sunday we return to the cycle of ordinary time, now described as “Sundays after Pentecost.” The Gospel readings from now until the end of the liturgical year will be from Luke, as that as the primary Gospel for this year, while the other readings will initially be selections from 1 & 2 Kings (for the First Reading) and Galatians (for the NT Reading). The readings for this week are well-known although not so often read in church these days. It has been some years since this set of readings has been used in the Sunday lectionary.

    First Reading: Elijah and the prophets of Baal

    The dramatic story of the confrontation between Eljiah and the prophets of Baal is a classic of the biblical tradition. It is also a ghastly tale of religious violence and exclusive religious prejudice. Its legacy can be observed in the tragic legacy of violence driven by religious extremism, and is graphically expressed in the statues of Elijah slaying the pagan prophets sometimes found at the entrance to Christian villages in northern Israel as well as at the Muhraqa, the holy site on Mt Carmel that marks the traditional location of the massacre.

    Elijah Muhraqa.jpg
    Elijah slaying a prophet of Baal, Muhraqa

    Given the contribution of religion to the historical and current violence it is hard to see how a Christian faith community could embrace such a text of terror.

    Graphic violence is a common element in biblical texts, as well as in the sacred texts of other religious communities and many non-religious texts. This story stands out for its gratuitous violence when—according to the text—the prophets of Baal had already been exposed as frauds, and humiliated by the success of Elijah. For Elijah then to take them captive, transport them to another location, and kill them in cold blood is a crime against humanity and a dark blot upon the biblical tradition.

    Interestingly, the RCL steps around the worst of the sacred violence, with its omission of the most offensive verses from the material recommended for reading in church. However, the church (like the synagogue) finds it all but impossible to name such religious violence for what it is, and to repudiate it. Small wonder then, that religious violence continues to be a hallmark of our human experience. While the churches no longer have the power to enforce conformity on the pain of death, our history offers many examples of exclusion, degradation, torture and killing. And that is not even to mention the Crusades.

    There is a propensity for violence within monotheistic religion that is rarely named, and should never be celebrated. Perhaps those with ears to hear might discern what the Spirit is saying to the churches about religious violence this coming Sunday?

    Second Reading: Galatians 1:1-12

    Galatians is a polemical document, seemingly composed in the heat of the moment.

    This is arguably the earliest of Paul’s letters to have survived, and it is a mix of raw anger and deep insight into the human possibilities derived from the Easter experience.

    In the opening section of the letter, Paul abandons any pretence of conventional civility. He asserts his authority as an apostle in the opening lines, and reiterates his claims to privileged knowledge and to apostolic authority in the lines that follow. Anyone who teaches a different form of Christianity than the one he promotes is to be accursed. In case that was too subtle, Paul repeats himself and pronounces the anathema a second time:

    I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed! (Galatians 1:6–9 NRSV)

    These are harsh words, and they are spoken from a position of privilege and power. Paul will have better moments in his career as a religious essayist, but he has many admirers in today’s church. The theological thought police are quick to confront deviations from approved forms of liturgy or theology. What the world needs now is more religious communities with some capacity to live with ambiguity. We need fewer fatwas and no more church edicts that divide, exclude and control the faithful. What might the world be like if the followers of Jesus were famous for our gentleness towards others, and especially those with whom we disagreed?

    Gospel: The healing of the centurion’s slave

    Once again among the readings for this week, we have a story that centres around the theme of authority. In this case, there is the explicit authority of the centurion and the ascribed authority of Jesus, who heals the centurion’s slave on request and at a distance.

    Perhaps one of the themes that might be addressed in preaching this week is the question of authority: how do we recognise it, and (more urgently) how is it exercised? Is it exercised to save life, or to destroy opponents? Is our authority used to close the circle and exclude those with different views, or to push the boundaries and affirm the presence of faith in unexpected places and in diverse forms? To announce a crusade, or to proclaim a year of jubilee?

    The story has a close parallel in Matthew as well as a probable parallel version in John. The form in Luke seems more stylised, with the absent centurion communicating with Jesus via intermediaries who, among other things, suggest that his contribution to the construction of their synagogue had demonstrated his love of the Jewish people. This righteous Gentile centurion sounds suspiciously like the prayerful centurion of Acts 10, and both stories celebrate the discovering of faith outside the Jewish community. In keeping with Luke’s agenda, here we find a Roman official represented as a person of authority, compassion, dignity and piety. Theophilus will have appreciated the implied compliment, I a sure.

    In Matthew the centurion makes no use of intermediaries and there is no mention of him erecting the Capernaum synagogue. Instead, we have the familiar words now used in Catholic liturgies prior to receiving the Sacrament: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed.” (Matt 8:8).

    In the parallel version that survives in John, the centurion is simply a “royal official” and the location changes from Capernaum to Cana. In addition, the slave has become a son. Despite these differences, many scholars consider this to be a variant of the story in Matthew and Luke, and even attribute it to the Q Gospel (making it a rare narrative in what is otherwise a sayings gospel, rather than a story about the deeds of Jesus).

    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:

  • Trinity Sunday (26 May 2013)

    The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity has been observed in the Western (Latin) Church only since the edict of Pope John XXII early in the 14C. The Eastern Churches have no equivalent festival, although the propers adopted for Trinity Sunday are derived from prayers celebrating the Trinity and originating in the Arian controversies of the 4C.

    The absence of ancient and universal observance has not prevented this festival from acquiring special significance for many Christians, and especially those living in places where a majority Muslim presence makes this doctrine one of the key markers of Christian identity.

    Since the edict of John XXII, Western Christians have observed the Sunday after Pentecost as a time to pause and reflect on the Christian understanding of God. It can be helpful to imagine Advent through Pentecost as a mathematical problem, with Trinity Sunday as the solution. If we affirm all these things about Jesus, how is our idea of God changed?

    It is well-known that the doctrine of the Trinity does not appear in the Scriptures, and that it has been contested from time to time by various Christian thinkers. The definitive formulations of the Trinity are found in the creeds agreed upon at the First Council of Nicea (in 325 CE) and the Council of Constantinople (in 381 CE). Those statements were composed to combat specific opposing opinions and naturally drew upon the linguistic and philosophical resources available to Greek-speaking Christian communities at the time.

    The intention of the creeds was to affirm the following core beliefs:

    • the essential unity of God
    • the complete humanity and essential divinity of Jesus
    • the essential divinity of the Spirit

    The immediate political need for the church to resolve conflict between opposing views, and to contribute to the social cohesion of the late Roman Empire, was also a powerful influence on the process and its outcomes.

    While the doctrine of the Trinity is not presented in the Bible, the Scriptures played an important role in the debates over how best to express Christian belief in God. Those fashioning the creeds were especially seeking a way to affirm the significance of Jesus without jettisoning traditional monotheism, and they drew on the biblical texts for insights into the puzzle.

    For selections of the principal biblical texts see:

    For each year’s feast of the Holy Trinity, the lectionaries draw on a variety of texts that use trinitarian language. As such, these passages provide summaries of the raw material behind the formal doctrine. If—as these texts do—we speak of God as Father, of Jesus/Christ as the Son, and of the Spirit as the “go-between God” (to use John Taylor’s term) what kind of God concept are we affirming?

    Crossan on Trinitarian Structures in Religion

    In the epilogue to Who Killed Jesus? (1995:215), John Dominic Crossan reflects on the trinitarian “structures” he perceives in all religions:

    All religions that I have ever known or can ever imagine are trinitarian in structure. And I use this term very deliberately for this is how I understand the Christian Trinity. There is, first of all, that ultimate referent known in supreme metaphors as power, person, state, or order, as nature, goddess or god, nirvana, or way. There is, next, some material manifestation, some person, place, or thing, some individual or collectivity, some cave or shrine, or temple, some clearing in the forest or tree in the desert where that ultimate referent is met and experienced. There is, finally, at least one faithful believer to begin with and eventually more to end with. But since there are always non-believers as well, some prior affinity must exist, as it were, between believer, referent, and manifestation. The spirit of referent and manifestation must already be present to the believer else why does one accept belief and another refuse it. There is always, in other words, a trintarian loop involved. For me, therefore, all faith and all religion, not just my own Christianity, is trinitarian in nature.

    Praying and Living the Trinity

    While definitions of the Trinity have often been used to exclude suspected heretics and other kinds of church dissidents, there is also a rich tradition of exploiting the inherent symbolism of the Trinity for prayer and meditation. This has been a particular feature of Celtic Christianity, which seems to have celebrated the creation themes of God the Father in combination with a high Christology and a strong sense of the pervasive presence of the Spirit in the affairs of everyday life.

    The following caim (or ‘encircling’) prayer is a fine example of this development:

    The compassing of God be upon you,
    the compassing of God, of the God of life.
    The compassing of Christ be upon you,
    the compassing of the Christ of love.
    The compassing of the Spirit be upon you,
    the compassing of the Spirit of grace.
    The compassing of the Sacred Three be upon you,
    the compassing of the Sacred Three protect you,
    the compassing of the Sacred Three preserve you. Amen.
    [SOURCE Celtic Daily Prayer from the Northumbria Community, ©2002 Northumbria Community.]

    For further examples of the living tradition of Celtic Christianity, you might wish to check the following web sites:

    One of the best examples of Trinitarian faith in the Celtic tradition is the hymn, St Patrick’s Breastplate:

    I bind unto myself today
    the strong Name of the Trinity,
    by invocation of the same,
    the Three in One, and One in Three.

    I bind this day to me for ever,
    by power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
    his baptism in Jordan river;
    his death on cross for my salvation;
    his bursting from the spiced tomb;
    his riding up the heavenly way;
    his coming at the day of doom
    I bind unto myself today.

    I bind unto myself the power
    of the great love of cherubim;
    the sweet “Well done” in judgment hour;
    the service of the seraphim;
    confessors’ faith, apostles’ word,
    the patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls;
    all good deeds done unto the Lord,
    and purity of virgin souls.

    I bind unto myself today
    the virtues of the starlit heaven
    the glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
    the whiteness of the moon at even,
    the flashing of the lightning free,
    the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
    the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
    around the old eternal rocks.

    I bind unto myself today
    the power of God to hold and lead,
    his eye to watch, his might to stay,
    his ear to hearken, to my need;
    the wisdom of my God to teach,
    his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
    the word of God to give me speech,
    his heavenly host to be my guard.

    Christ be with me,
    Christ within me,
    Christ behind me,
    Christ before me,
    Christ beside me,
    Christ to win me,
    Christ to comfort
    and restore me.
    Christ beneath me,
    Christ above me,
    Christ in quiet,
    Christ in danger,
    Christ in hearts of
    all that love me,
    Christ in mouth of
    friend and stranger.

    I bind unto myself today
    the strong Name of the Trinity,
    by invocation of the same,
    the Three in One, and One in Three.
    Of whom all nature hath creation,
    eternal Father, Spirit, Word
    praise to the Lord of my salvation,
    salvation is of Christ the Lord.

    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:

  • Pentecost (19 May 2013)

    The origins of this festival go back into ancient biblical times, and beyond.

    On one level the festival is simply the Jewish version of the universal celebrations to mark the completion of the grain harvest at the end of Spring. The fact that this happened seven weeks after Passover, which coincided with the beginning of the harvest, assisted in the development of the idea that this festival brought to a solemn conclusion a “week of weeks”.

    The observance of the “festival of harvest” is stipulated in the ancient Covenant Code now found in Exodus 20:22-23:19, but there are very few references to this “feast of Weeks” (shavuot) in the Hebrew Bible:

    • Exodus 19:1 (Sinai revelation coincides with date of Shavuot)
    • Exodus 23:16 (Shavuot is one of the three pilgrim festivals)
    • Exodus 34:22 (Shavuot is one of the three pilgrim festivals)
    • Num 28:26-31 (details of the sacrifices to be offered at Shavuot)
    • Deut 16:10 (freewill offering proportionate to the harvest is expected)
    • Deut 16:16 (Shavuot is one of the three pilgrim festivals)
    • 2Chron 8:13 (Shavuot is one of the annual feasts)

    We find casual references to the festival in Tobit 21 and 2 Macc 12:32, as well as the first use of the Greek term pentekoste (fiftieth), and there are a few references in Philo (Decal. 160; Spec. Leg. 2,176) and several in Josephus (Ant. 3,252; 13,252; 14,337; 17,254. Bell. 1,253; 2,42; 6,299).

    Only Luke-Acts gives the 50th day after Easter a special significance in the Christian calendar, and it now seems that Luke was following an older Jewish tradition that considered the Spring harvest festival of Shavuot (“Weeks” or 7 x 7 days) to mark the end of a sacred period that began with Pesach (Passover/Easter). Gunther Plaut (ed), The Torah. A Modern Commentary (New York, 1981), notes that the Rabbis spoke of Shavuot as “the Atzeret (solemn gathering) of Pesach” —€” suggesting that the two festivals were linked by their connection to the beginning and the end of the grain harvest.

    Plaut (1981:924) continues:

    The Bible describes Shavuot only as an agricultural festival. Later tradition regards it as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai. According to Exodus, chapter 19, the revelation occurred early in the third month; but an explicit identification of the festival as anniversary of the revelation is not found until well after the beginning of the Christian era. Thereafter the stress on the historical meaning of the holiday overshadowed the agricultural aspect. The latter survived only in the custom of decorating the synagogue with greens and flowers. The prayers and hymns of Shavuot all glorify the Torah. And the occasion was fittingly chosen by Reform Jews for the ceremony of confirmation, at which the pledge of Sinai is renewed.

    Pentecost in the New Testament

    In the account of Christian origins crafted by Luke, we find this festival elevated to conspicuous significance although even his own later acount in Acts does not ever make anything of this event; and we find no hint of such a special Pentecost soon after Jesus’ death in any other NT writing.

    Acts 20:16 does impute to Paul an eagerness to be in Jerusalem, if at all possibe, in time for the celebration of Pentecost but that appears to be no more than a creative flourish by Luke as author:

    For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia;
    he was eager to be Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

    There is no convincing reason to think that Luke had direct knowledge of Paul’s personal wishes. Even if Luke had access to a travel narrative written by a companion of Paul, Luke does not suggest any specifically Christian reason for Pentecost being a special observance. The wording we have in Acts 20:16 is quite in keeping with his description of Paul as a faithful Jew who honored traditional observances (cf. 21:26).

    Likewise, Paul’s own reference to Pentecost in 1Cor 16:8f suggests nothing more than a simple chronological marker:

    But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
    for a wide door for effective work has been opened to me …

    Actually, that authentic Paul reference to Pentecost sits most oddly with the way Luke develops the Ephesus sojourn (or lack thereof) in relation to Pentecost. Where 1Cor has Paul planning to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, Acts 20 has Paul bypassing Ephesus in his haste to get back to Jerusalem for Pentecost. These two NT references to Pentecost seem at odds with each other and both are blithely unaware of the special charcater of Pentecost in the narrative of Acts.

    It may also be significant that both volumes of Luke-Acts begin with an impressive public event that sets the stage for what is to follow. In the Gospel of Luke, we find Jesus beginning his public activity with an otherwise unattested appearance in the synagogue at Nazareth.

    When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

    18″The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to bring good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to let the oppressed go free,
    19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

    20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers4 in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. (Luke 4:16-30)

    It is is most unlikely that a small Galilean village like Nazareth would have had a synagogue around 28 CE. In addition the village was not built on the brow of a hill. Like the crisis at the edge of the cliff, the liturgical functions peformed by Jesus in the synagogue seem to be a figment of Luke’s imagination. Whatever their historical value, however, they set the scene for the ensuing narrative.

    It is no surprise, then, to discover that some NT scholars point to the similar function that the Pentecost scene plays in the Acts of the Apostles, part two of Luke-Acts:

    When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
    5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs–in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:1-13)

    In both Luke 4 and Acts 2 these impressive scenes also provide the occasion for the key character (Jesus/Peter) to deliver a programatic speech that outlines what the reader can expect to encounter in the narrative that follows. The Pentecost episode (Acts 2) has a similar function within the narrative of Acts to the part played by the Nazareth synagogue scene (Luke 4:16-30) in the narrative of Luke.

    • Both set the scene for the longer narrative that will follow.
    • Both revolve around the Spirit’s presence (upon Jesus in Luke 4, and on the gathered community in Acts 2).
    • There is an appeal to prophetic texts in both cases.
    • The Jewish religious community misunderstands and rejects the prophetic word.

    In both cases we have reason to suspect the narratives are the result of Luke’s own literary creativity, since Luke seems to be developing strategic scenes without support in parallel traditions (cf. Mark 1:14-15 + 6:1-6a and Matt 4:12-17 + 13:5-58 for the more traditional description of Jesus beginning his ministry and his homecoming in Nazareth).

    This is the same author who provides Jesus with an impressive infancy narrative, complete with angelic annunciations and a Jerusalem location for the key scenes. Luke will also relocate all the Easter appearances so that everything happens in Jerusalem and its environs, as befits the Holy City (and his own careful literary design).

    In Acts 2 it is likely that Luke is developing a scene to exploit the significance of Shavuot as the solemn conclusion of the Paschal season. The occasion connects the proclamation of the resurrection to the tradition that angels announced the divine Torah to all the nations of the earth, proclaiming God’s requirements in seventy different languages.

    Peter himself suddenly emerges in this scene as an eloquent speaker and a gifted scholar of the prophetic writings. There have been no hints of such a depth to his character in the earlier traditions, but he will deliver several significant speeches in Acts.

    Given its single attestation in Acts, and its inherent contradiction by the Pauline and Johannine traditions, we have to conclude that Luke’s powerful scene, which has shaped Christian consciousness for almost 2,000 years, has no basis in history. It remains, nonetheless, a powerful parable of the new faith’s self-understanding around 125 CE.

    The Christians for whom Luke is writing understood themselves to have a heritage reaching back into the biblical times, but they also know that Jerusalem and its temple had been destroyed by the Romans. For them Jerusalem now exists only in the imagination of the Christian community. It is not a physical site to be visited, but a memory to be invoked. Jesus could be imagined as presented in the Temple for circumcision. The 12 year old Jesus, his bar Mitzvah being presumed by the narrative, could be imagined visiting the Temple and engaging the learned scholars in discourse on religious themes. All the Easter events take place at this sacred site. And the church itself is inaugurated on the day when the tradition had the divine Torah revealed to the nations and entrusted to Israel.

    Luke was not afraid to use story to communicate meaning. Unless we consciously put it to one side, our obsession with historicity may prevent us from enjoying the story and embracing the message.

    Jesus and the Spirit

    It may be interesting to note the very different approach taken by James D.G. Dunn in his classic 1975 study, Jesus and the Spirit (and especially chapter VI).

    Dunn begins by noting that the experiences of the Spirit which are attributed to the primitive Christian community differ in significant degree from the claims of various resurrection appearances by Jesus. These less personalised experiences of the divine Spirit might be understood as more like the experiences of the Spirit which Jesus himself had enjoyed. That is a tantalizing prospect and it transforms this discussion from academic historical inquiry into a quest for authentic encounters with Spirit in the life of the Church.

    Of course, Dunn is well aware of the range of views on the historical character of the account in Acts 2:

    The range of scholarly options stretches from the more traditional view at one end, that Acts 2 is a more or less accurate account of what happened on the first Christian Pentecost, to the more radical thesis maintained most forcefully by E. Haenchen at the other, that Acts 2 is wholly the construct of Luke’s theological expertise. (p. 136)

    One Pentecost or many?

    The first question that Dunn addresses is whether there were actually many separate occasions when the early Christian communities experienced dramatic manifestations of the divine Spirit in their midst, or whether there was just a single event something like the general picture given by Acts 2?

    Is it possible that such ecstatic experiences were part of the primitive Jesus movement, possibly even before Easter? Might such experiences have continued to be characteristic of groups outside the Jerusalem area (e.g., the Q communities in Galilee where itinerant prophets continued to act in ways that seem very much like Jesus’ own actions)? The description of charismatic phenomena in Samaria (Acts 8), in Damascus (note the role of Ananias in Acts 9) and at Antioch (recall the activity of the Spirit in the sending of Barnabas and Saul in Acts 13) seem to suggest a more dispersed charismatic expression of Christianity. The ready acceptance that disciples of John (such as Apollos in Acts 18) could be “aglow with the spirit” despite knowing only the baptism of John seems also to suggest this.

    Dunn concludes as follows:

    It looks … as though there were several individual and groups whose experience of Spirit and faith in Jesus was initially at last independent of Jerusalem. At the same time it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Jerusalem was the main growing point in the first instance — that the main impulse to the growth of a community rejoicing in rich experiences of Spirit and centring faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of Man stemmed from Jerusalem. (p. 139)

    Dunn seeks to incorporate biblical evidence for a more complex distribution of “pentecostal” phenomena without discarding the claim of Acts 2 that the definitive and epochal events took place in Jerusalem.

    The timing of Pentecost?

    The next question that Dunn addresses concerns the timing of the event recounted in Acts 2.

    Would such experiences have been delayed for seven weeks (50 days) after Easter, or would they have even been part of the “evidence” that convinced Jesus’ followers that he was still alive and perhaps even now exalted (one greater than Elijah) to heaven and able to pour out the divine spirit on his followers (just as Elisha had inherited a double share of Eliajh’s spirit)?

    Dunn will argue in favor of just that kind of delay, as he foreshadows:

    The main problem indeed is not the earliness of the Pentcost dating for the first great communal experience of the Spirit, but the lateness (cf. again John 20.19-23; also Acts 2.33). Was there really such a lengthy gap between the first appearances and ‘Pentecost’? In fact, the answer is quite probably, Yes. Indeed, it is quite possible, even likely, that the events of Acts 2.1-13 did fall on the day of Pentecost. (p. 140)

    Dunn acknowledges that the closest parallels to the symbolic interpretation of Pentecost as a festival that celebrated the gift of the divine Torah at Sinai come from Jewish sources in the mid-2C CE, but he presumes these to be significantly later than Acts. (Recent studies that date Luke-Acts in the early 2C would give greater significance to these symbolic parallels.) Dunn also dismisses the Johannine description of the Spirit as part of the Easter blessing from the beginning (“John’s presentation of the gift of the Spirit is almost wholly inspired by theological considerations”), asserting simply that “Luke’s dating must be judged to have the superior claim to historicity.” (p. 141)

    His proposed reconstruction of “what really happened” is nonetheless an interesting example of informed speculation, even if it cannot be persuasive as historical account:

    … if we may assume that the earliest appearances, to Peter and the twelve, took place in Galilee, as seems most likely, then the timing and occasion of the return to Jerusalem becomes a relevant issue. The reason for the return to Jerusalem was presumably the eschatological significance of Jerusalem, the city of God, the expected focus of God’s final acts. The most obvious occasion to return would be in time for the next great pilgrim festival (Pentecost); and since Pentecost seems already to have become regarded as the feast of covenant renewal, the disciples may have expected the decisive eschatological intervention of God on that date. This is all the more likely in view of the fact that Pentecost marked the end of the festival which began with the Passover; it was regarded as the closing feast of the Passover. It would be very natural if the disciples cherished some hope that the sequence of events which had begun on the Passover would end on the day of Pentecost — that the last day of the feast which had been marked by the death and resurrection of Jesus would itself be the last great day of the Lord. The gathering together of the disciples in the sort of numbers mentioned in Acts 1-2 and the increasing anticipation and psychological preparedness which presumably led up to the experience of Spirit and glossolalia certainly makes it more than plausible that the climax was reached on the day of the festival itself, the hopes of the last age beginning to be fulfilled in the outpouring of the Spirit. (p. 141f)

    Pentecost and the Appearance Tradition

    Another question addressed by James Dunn concerns how the Pentecost event (sic) relates to the appearances tradition. He asks whether Pentecost was really a resurrection experience, and then seeks to eliminate that interpretation of the story in Acts 2. Having taken Luke’s general depiction of the disciples in Jerusalem some seven weeks after Easter as authentic, he now dismisses Luke’s underlying scheme of appearances — ascension — Pentecost as “theologically determined.”

    The resurrection appearance to Paul certainly took place long after the forty days were past. If there had been an “ascension” which brought the resurrection appearances to a decisive end, or if there had been some other full stop to the resurrection appearances which was recognized by the primitve community as closing the circle of apostles, then Paul would never have been accepted as an apostle. It is Paul himself who seems to be the first to write finis under the list of resurrection appearances (‘last of all’). The real dispute over his own claim was not whether he really had experienced such a commissing appearance of the Lord, but whether he had understood his commission aright. The obvious implication is that the sequence of resurrection appearances listed in I Cor. 15 ran far beyond Luke’s forty days, and that Paul’s own ophthenai was recognized, initially at least, as just another link in the chain. (p. 143 emphasis original)

    After a careful analysis of suggestions that Acts 2 represents nothing more than a variant tradition of an appearance by Jesus “to more than 500 of the brethren at one time” (1Cor 15:6), Dunn concludes that the events described (doubtless with some theological elaboration by Luke) in Acts 2 probably took place between the appearance to the twelve and the appearance to the crowd of 500+ persons. He draws out the significance of this suggestion as follows:

    The not unimportant corollary follows that the gift of the Spirit was not something quite so distinct and separate from the resurrection appearances as Luke implies. Although Pentecost does not itself seem to have involved a resurrection appearance or even a vision of Jesus, it would seem that after the initial resurrection appearances, charismatic and ecstatic phenomena became a not uncommon feature of the communal gatherings of the young church together with occasional visionary appearances of Jesus, on one occasion at least to the whole company. In other words, we can only go so far in distinguishing experiences of Spirit from resurrection appearances in the earliest Christian community. The problem of how the exalted Jesus and the Spirit of God were related in the religious experience of the early churches is by no means solved. (p. 146 emphasis original)

    Jesus Database

    The Pentecost miracle in Acts 2 does not form part of the Jesus Database inventory, but it may be related to the following items:

    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.

    Sermons

  • Easter 7C (12 May 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 16:16-34 & Psalm 97
    • Rev 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
    • John 17:20-26

    Introduction

    This week brings us almost to the end of the Easter cycle, and concludes the series of lectionary readings from Acts and Revelation. Following Pentecost (and Trinity Sunday on the first Sudnay after Pentecost) we start a new series of readings from 1&2 Kings and Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. At that time we shall also resume the series of Gospel readings from Luke.

    First Reading: Adventures in Philippi

    This week’s passage is the final in a series of tales about Paul’s exploits. There are more adventures to come in Acts, and they often seem to be recounted with an ear for their capacity to evoke one of the familiar episodes in Homer or the other writings of the time. In the familiar genre of the Greek aretology, the hero went on a journey during which new wonders were encountered and various challenges overcome – sometimes by superior fighting skills but often my means of clever deceptions.

    In this passage Paul somewhat reluctantly heals a young woman whose demon possession has made her a valuable asset (as a fortune-teller) for her owners. Naturally uspet at the loss of their income stream, the owners bring Paul and Silas before the authorities who promptly have them whipped and then incarcerated in the local jail. Far from distressed by this turn of events, the two heroes pass the time in worship and praise. Even when a convenient earthquake provides a means for their escape, they not only remain vountarily in the shattered cells, but also (apparently) prevail upon their fellow inmates to remain in their ruined jail rather than grasp the liberty fate has offered them.

    The jailer is so overwhelmed by this turn of events that he and his entire household join the new sect, and Paul finds himself an honoured guest in the home of a new Christian. Paul is not only a model citizen (whose civic privileges are publicy acknowledged next morning), but also the surprising victor over all his opponents.

    Gospel: Jesus prays for his followers

    This chaper of John is read each year on the seventh Sunday of Easter:

    • Year A – John 17:1-11
    • Year B – John 17:6-19
    • Year C – John 17:20-26

    The portrayal of Jesus praying for all who would become his disciples in the future is a powerful image. It reads the post-Easter experience of Jesus as the risen One with a passionate concern for his followers back into the memory of Jesus before Easter; in this case, even to the final minutes leading up to his arrest.

    When we compare the Johannine account of Jesus praying in the garden prior to his arrest with the Synoptic Gospels, we can see how much this version has been shaped by distinctive Johannine concerns.

    The Synoptic Gospels preserve an entirely different tradition about Jesus praying in the garden prior to his arrest than we find in John. Mark seems to have provided the basic narrative, while Matthew and Luke have developed the story in slightly different ways. Matthew tends to stay fairly close to the account in Mark, but Luke exercises more freedom in his variations from Mark. Very little of this synoptic tradition matches with what we find in John.

    (A horizontal line synopsis of these texts is available on the Jesus Database site.)

    Matthew has followed Mark’s version quite closely, with the only significant variation being the words provided for the second period of prayer. Luke has been more radical in his retelling of this episode. He shortens the account, and yet he also introduces the new elements of the angelic visitor and the intensity of Jesus’ prayer (sweat like great drops of blood). Despite these differences, it is clear that both Matthew and Luke have derived their story from Mark.

    The story told by John may also be dependent on Mark, but it represents a stage of the tradition that has been subjected to extended reflection. The relatively simple story of Jesus praying for strength prior to arrest has been transformed into an account where the divine Son, fully conscious of his eternal glory shared with the Father, prays for his disciples and not for himself.

    Like the speeches placed on the lips of key characters in a narrative or a play, this prayer serves a key role in the development of the story line in GJohn. It picks up various themes from the farewell discourse in chapters 13-16. The prayer sets the scene for the arrest and trial, making it clear that Jesus was not so much the victim of the process as its omniscient director. Rather than begging his Father to rescue him from the predicament, the Jesus of John 17 calmly exercises the authority of the Glorified One. Jesus prays not for himself or even just for his followers at the time, but for all those who would come to believe as a result of their work.

    One of the interesting ways to read this chapter is to see it as a Johannine meditation that reflected on the tradition of Jesus praying prior to his arrest in light of the memory of Jesus teaching his disciples the prayer that we know as the Lord’s Prayer. Just as the discourses of Jesus in GJohn often seem to echo and elaborate simpler sayings of Jesus known from the Synoptic Gospels, the major themes from the Lord’s Prayer seem to have an echo in John 17:

    Abba —
    may your name be kept holy!
    — let your reign come
    Our day’s bread give us today;
    and cancel our debts for us,
    as we too have cancelled for those in debt to us;
    and do not put us to the test!
    [This translation is from J. M. Robinson et al, The Critical Edition of Q, (Hermeneia) 2000]

    Possible echoes of the Lord’s Prayer in John 17 include the following:

    • The intimacy of Jesus repeatedly addressing God as Father in John 17 reflects the ancient tradition that Jesus taught his followers to approach God as Abba.
    • The appeal for God’s name to be kept holy, is developed by GJohn in the concern for the Father to be honored in the Son, and the Son’s own honor (shared with the Father from eternity) also to be revealed.
    • The reign of God coming on earth is echoed in the work of the Son who completes the work given him by the Father and will be carried forward by those disciples who remain “in the world” to implement the work of Jesus. The symbol of the day’s bread provided fresh each day has been displaced by the theme of the disciples being under the protection of Father and enjoying a unity that parallels the unity of the Father and Son.
    • The theme of mutual forgiveness of debts may have been subsumed into the concern for a divine unity among the followers of Jesus; a profound unity that arises from the kind of love that Father and Son have for one another.
    • The followers of Jesus will be put to the test by a world in which they are seen to be aliens, but Jesus asks the Father to keep them under his protection and to rescue them from evil.

    Critical scholars are united in attributing this prayer to the Johannine community rather than to the historical Jesus, but Raymond Brown provides a way of framing that negative historical judgment that reflects the lived experience of the Church that these words continue to speak to new generations:

    Chapter xvii has been compared to a personal message that a dead man has recorded and left behind him for those whom he loved, but the the comparison limps for such a message would soon become dated. Rather in xvii, in the intention of the Johannine writer, we have Jesus speaking in the familiar accents of his earthly career but reinterpreted (by the working of the Paraclete) so that what he says is always a living message. [John 1970:II.178]

    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.

    • Alleluia No 1 – TiS 390
    • Alleluia (Richard Bruxvoort)
    • Now the green blade rises – TiS 382
    • Shine, Jesus, shine – TiS 675

  • Easter 6C (5 May 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 16:9-15 and Psalm 67
    • Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
    • John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9

     

    Introduction: Jesus and the Spirit

    This week the Gospel texts take a marked turn towards the Spirit as the means by which the risen Lord is present in the community of faith. While the historicity of the words attributed to Jesus in John 14:23-29 is—at best—problematic, the underlying reality of the Spirit as the essential continuing religious experience for the early Christian movement seems to be well-grounded in history.

    While the interpretation of this experience as the “Spirit of Jesus” lies necessarily in the realm of faith rather than history, the fact that early Christians understood themselves to be the community among whom Jesus continued to be present “in the Spirit” seems clear.

     

    John: The Community of the Spirit

    This week’s notes will begin with the core Gospel text for Sunday, and its partial parallels in the Johannine farewell discourse and in the Synoptic tradition.

    For a tabular presentation of these parallels, see the Jesus Database page.

    The direct parallels to John 14:26 come from other parts of the Farewell Discourse as well as from the Synoptic tradition. They reveal a shared memory that understood Jesus as instructing his followers that the Spirit of God would give them courage and eloquence when they faced–as they would do–persecution for their faith. While Luke eliminates the explicit reference to the Spirit in favor of “wisdom,” it seems he knows the same tradition.

    It is a moot point whether the saying attributed to Jesus originated on the lips of Jesus before Easter, or came as a prophetic word “from the Lord” on the lips of some early Christian prophet. In either case, the instruction would have been received and treasured as a word of encouragement from the Master. The distinction between words of the historical Jesus and words of the risen Lord is mostly of interest only to historians.

    We can place this saying in a wider context if we how consider how various key traditions within the NT dealt with the relationship of Jesus to the Spirit they experienced in their midst.

    Apart from the passages already cited, we should note the following representative passages that deal with Jesus and the Spirit in GJohn:

    Testimony of John the Baptist

    1:33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

    Jesus at Tabernacles

    On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. [John 7:37-39]

    Easter Night

    When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” [Joihn 20:19:23]

     

    Jesus and the Spirit in Paul

    The following representative citations give a sense of how Paul understood the relationship between the shared experience of “the Spirit” and the post-easter reality of Jesus.

    Galatians 4:3-7

    So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

    1 Corinthians

    … these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. [1Cor 2:10-13]

    Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say”Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. [1Cor 12:3-13]

    Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 146But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. [1Cor 15:45-49]

    2 Corinthians

    Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. [2Cor 3:17-18]

    Philippians 1:18-20

    Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance. 20 It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.

    Romans 8:5-17

    For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law–indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. 12So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh–13for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ–if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

     

    Jesus and the Spirit in Luke-Acts

    Wait for the promise of the Father

    You are witnesses of these things. 49And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” [Luke 24:48 -49]

    While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts 1:4-8]

    Day of Pentecost

    But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel 17’In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. [Acts 2:14-18]

    This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 33Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. [Acts 2:32-33]

    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. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” [Acts 2:38-39]

    Peter and Cornelius

    While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47″Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days. [Acts 10:44 -48]

    And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” [Acts 11:15-17]

    After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. 8And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; 9and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. [Acts 15:7 -9]

    Barnabas and Saul

    Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. 4So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them. [Acts 13:1-5]

    Disciples of John

    While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” 4Paul said,”John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied– 7altogether there were about twelve of them. [Acts 19:1-7]

     

    Summary

    The experience of being part of an alternative community—that had been called into existence by God through Jesus and was sustained as a community by the ongoing presence of the Spirit—lies at the very heart of Easter. The legends of the empty tomb and stories of individual encounters with the risen Jesus are secondary elements in that spiritual reality centered on the collective experience of the Spirit among them. In their own distinctive ways, the various NT texts gathered here express that same interpretation of Christian community as an ongoing experience of the risen Lord present in their midst as Spirit.

    Perhaps Paul might have the final word on this occasion:

    Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. [2Cor 3:17-18]

     

    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.

    Other suggestions:

    • For the beauty of the earth – AHB 77
    • A New commandment – AHB 571
    • Happy the home that welcome you – AHB 495
    • Now let us from this table rise – AHB 450