gregoryjenks

Tag: RCL

  • 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

  • Easter 5C (28 April 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 11:1-18 & Psalm 148
    • Revelation 21:1-6
    • John 13:31-35

    Introduction: The New (and greatest?) Commandment

    This week’s Gospel includes the most familiar version of the so-called “new commandment” that is widely seen as a hallmark of Christian character and community:

    I give you a new commandment,
    that you love one another.
    Just as I have loved you,
    you also should love one another.
    35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
    if you have love for one another.” [John 13:34-35]

    The New Commandment in the New Testament

    If this command had the significance within early Christianity that so many people attribute to it in contemporary Christianity, we might expect to find it given some prominence in the NT writings. We might anticipate finding it among the sayings of Jesus that enjoy multiple independent attestation. We should find it being promulgated by Paul, whether or not it is identified as a saying “from the Lord.” And it should be found in other parts of the NT, including a document such as James with its focus on practical wisdom for holiness in everyday life.

    The saying is not listed as a separate item in John Dominic Crossan, Sayings Parallels A Workbook for the Jesus Tradition (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986). In the historical Jesus inventory developed by Crossan, and which forms the basis of the Jesus Database, the saying of Jesus known as the “New Commandment” is subsumed within the larger literary unit of Jesus’ Last Supper discourse, extending from John 13:31 to John 17:26: 363 Jesus Supper Discourse

    In the database generated by the Jesus Seminar , co-chaired by John Dominic Crossan and Robert W. Funk, the extended discourse at the Last Supper is broken into smaller units and this saying is listed as item 271 “New Commandment.”

    At first glance, this saying would certainly seem to meet the test of multiple and independent attestation.

    Stratum One: 30-60 CE

    In the traditions that can reasonably be dated prior to the Jewish war with Rome (66-73 CE), we find the following examples:

    Gospel of Thomas

    Jesus said, “Love your friends like your own soul,
    protect them like the pupil of your eye.” [GThom 25]

    Paul

    9 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, [1Thess 4:9-10]

    9 Let love be genuine;
    hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
    10 love one another with mutual affection;
    outdo one another in showing honor. [Rom 1:29-10]

    8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. [Rom 13:8-10]

    Stratum Two: 60-80 CE

    Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, there is nothing from the synoptic tradition (Matthew, Mark & Luke), nor from the Deutero-Pauline tradition (Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians) that seems to relate to this tradition, unless the tradition of Jesus teaching a two fold summary of the Law — 201 The Chief Commandment — is understood as related in some way to this tradition:

    One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 33and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ –this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question. [Mark 12:28-34 = Matt 22:34-40,46b = Luke 10:25-28]

    Stratum Three: 80-120 CE

    The tradition that knows of this instruction as a “commandment” from the Lord Jesus is found only in the Johannine writings, all of which date to the decades either side of the turn of the century:

    34 I give you a new commandment,
    that you love one another.
    Just as I have loved you,
    you also should love one another.
    35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,
    if you have love for one another.” [John 13:34-35]

    12 “This is my commandment,
    that you love one another as I have loved you.
    13 No one has greater love than this,
    to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
    14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
    15 I do not call you servants any longer,
    because the servant does not know what the master is doing;
    but I have called you friends,
    because I have made known to you
    everything that I have heard from my Father.
    16 You did not choose me but I chose you.
    And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last,
    so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
    17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
    [John 15:12-17]

    10 The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way
    all who do not do what is right are not from God,
    nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.
    11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning,
    that we should love one another.
    12 We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you.
    14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another.
    Whoever does not love abides in death.
    15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers,
    and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.
    16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us
    –and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
    17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us. [1John 3:10-24]

    7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. [1John 4:7-21]

    But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. [2John 1:5]

    The following instruction found in 1 Peter can also be dated to this period, 80-120 CE:

    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. [1Peter 1:22]

    The following non-canonical examples from around the perimeter of the NT also come from this period:

    Therefore let us love one another, that we all may enter into the kingdom of God. [2Clem. 9:6]

    Let all, therefore, accept the same attitude as God and respect one another, and let no one regard his neighbor in merely human terms but in Jesus Christ love one another always. Let there be nothing among you which is capable of dividing you, but be united with the bishop and with those who lead, as an example and a lesson of incorruptibility. [Ignatius, Mag. 6:2]

    Farewell in Jesus Christ. Be subject to the bishop as to the commandment, and likewise to the presbytery. And love one another, each one of you, with an undivided heart. [Ignatius, Tral. 13:2]

    Stratum Four: 120-150 CE

    Oddly, none of the Christian texts—such as Luke-Acts or the Pastorals—that might be dated to the fourth stratum make use of this tradition.

    The Love Commandment in Second Temple Jewish Writings

    While not frequently attested outside the New Testament, we do find the idea of an exhortation to mutual love between siblings as a familiar element in the “testament/farewell discourse” genre. As the dying patriarch gives his final admonitions and blessings, one of the themes is to exhort his children to love one another:

    Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

    In consideration you also ought to have no malice, my children, and love one another, and do not consider evil against his brother. [Zebul. 8:5]

    And now, my children, each one love his brother, and put away hatred from your hearts, love one another in deed, and in word, and in the intention of the soul. [Gad 6:1]

    Therefore love one another from the heart; and if a man sin against you, speak peacefully to him, and in your soul hold no bitterness; and if he repent and confess, forgive him. [Gad 6:3]

    Therefore remove hatred from your souls, and love one another with uprightness of heart. [Gad 7:7]

    Do you also, therefore love one another, and with long-suffering hide you one another’s faults. [Joseph 17:2]

    Jubilees

    This ancient expansion of the Genesis story includes the following suggestion from Rebekka to Isaac:

    Rebekka asked Isaac, in (his) old age, to exhort Esau and Jacob to love one another. [Jub. 35:9]

    And] he replied, “I will do what [you ask me; I will not refuse your request.” (Jubilees 35:20) So she] said, “I
    [would ask of you that on the day I die, you bring me and bury me next to Sarah, your father’s mother, and that you]
    [and Ja]cob love one an[other and not seek one another’s harm, but rather love each other. Then you will prosper,] [Jubilees 35:19-20 = 4Q223_224 f2ii:16-18]

    Reflections on the New Commandment

    On the basis of these citations, it is reasonable to conclude that the virtue of mutual affection and practical care for one another was a primary virtue in the early Christian movement. While the ethic of mutual love was especially typical of the Johannine community (that had apparently just experienced a major internal schism), it is also found in the much earlier Pauline texts as well as in such diverse traditions as 1Peter and the Gospel of Thomas.

    In most of these cases, the ethic is seen as primitive and is attributed to the teaching of Jesus himself. However, this may also be a Christian adaption of the contemporary Jewish traditions which imagined patriarchs such as Isaac and Jacob exhorting their sons to “love one another” as part of their farewell discourses.

    Surprisingly, the love ethic is not attested in the Saying Gospel Q or in the wider Synoptic tradition, even though the (more) radical instruction to love one’s enemies is found in those traditions.

    The silence of the wider Jesus tradition, and the special attraction of the love ethic for the internal cohesion of the post-Easter Christian community, sharpens the historical question concerning the attribution of this saying to Jesus.

    In The Five Gospels (1993:450), Funk and Hoover observe in passing that the new commandment directing love for one another within the fold of the Church represents a significant retreat from the radical call to love our enemies, or even the obligation to love one’s neighbors. This brief observation challenges the self-serving fascination that many contemporary Christians have with this “new commandment.” It is a most agreeable doctrine to be urged to love ourselves, and to take care of our own! A call to be there for others — not just our neighbors but even our enemies — is much more challenging.

    It is possible to see the focus on strong mutual affection as an expression of the way that the early Christian communities functioned as alternative kinship groups for isolated and marginalized individuals who found salvation in the fellowship of the Kingdom communities centered around Jesus. As children of the divine Abba, and as sisters and brothers of the Lord Jesus, these congregations functioned as fictive households that protected and sustained their members.

    In some contemporary Christian communities we can observe similar dynamics at play. Those who belong have a strong sense of having left behind a former life and been drawn into the common life of a new community where they find forgiveness and affirmation, healing and purpose. The positive dimensions of that experience can be celebrated in the reiteration of the “new commandment.” Indeed, the presence of authentic mutual love is often seen as a powerful witness to others of the presence of the Spirit of Jesus in that community: “see how these Christians love one another.”

    The suspicion remains, however, that what we have here is the Christian adaptation of the ancient and widely attested ethic of friendship between equals. This possibility seems even more likely when it is noted that the only element of Jesus’ “new commandment” that can be traced to the pre-Gospel tradition (John 15:13) seems to be a well-known aphorism from the ancient world:

    No one has greater love than this,
    to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. [John 15:13]

    Of a noble man it can be truly said that
    he does everything for the sake of his friends and his fatherland,
    and, if need be, even dies for them.
    [Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics IX 8.9]

    The adoption and adaptation of this ancient virtue by the 1C Christian communities may have been culturally appropriate. It was also a strategy that served them well as they negotiated the transition from a religious renewal movement centered around the ministry of itinerant prophets (in the time of Jesus and the earliest Q communities in Galilee) to a self-conscious alternative society within the Roman Empire over the course of a hundred years.

    However, we might ask whether our most urgent need is encouragement to focus on our internal life as a religious community. Would the “better way” be to look beyond our own comfort zones in order to see how best to reshape our relations with those neighbors who find us quaintly eccentric (if mostly harmless souls), as well as those who actively seek our harm?

    The NT reading for this Sunday is Rev 21;1-6, with its vision of a new heaven and a new earth becoming a reality in human experience. That wider vision may reset the old/new commandment in a positive framework. Who are the ones we are called to love without limit? Is our love for one another only to extend as far as those who belong to our own congregation? Our own denomination? Our own school of thought within the Church? Christians alone? Jews and Christians? Muslims as well? Buddhists? Hindus? New Age gurus?

    Can we imagine any limit to God’s generosity?

    Would the Jesus who taught his followers to love even their enemies, and to pray for those who mistreated them, be satisfied with a love ethic that recognized any boundaries?

    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.

  • Easter 4C (21 April 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 9:36-43 & Ps 23
    • Rev 7:9-17
    • John 10:22-30

     

    Introduction: The Good Shepherd

    As the following citations indicate, the metaphor of the (good) shepherd is found in several parts of the Bible.

    Reflecting the role of shepherd in ancient oriental societies, this term has a rich history as a title for rulers and teachers as well as being a metaphor for God. In the early Christian texts we see this rich complex of traditions being applied to Jesus.

     

     

    Hebrew Scriptures

    Genesis

    Joseph is a fruitful bough,
    a fruitful bough by a spring;
    his branches run over the wall.
    23The archers fiercely attacked him;
    they shot at him and pressed him hard.
    24Yet his bow remained taut,
    and his arms were made agile
    by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
    by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
    25by the God of your father, who will help you,
    by the Almighty who will bless you
    with blessings of heaven above,
    blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
    blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
    26The blessings of your father
    are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains,
    the bounties of the everlasting hills;
    may they be on the head of Joseph,
    on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
    [Genesis 49:22-26]

     

    Numbers

    Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is a festival; seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.” [Numbers 27:15-17]

     

    2 Samuel

    For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.” [2 Samuel 5:2]

    Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders2 of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” [2 Samuel 7:1-2]

     

    1 Kings

    Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains,
    like sheep that have no shepherd;
    and the Lord said, ‘These have no master;
    let each one go home in peace.’” [1 Kings 22:17]

     

    Isaiah

    He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms,
    and carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead the mother sheep.
    [Isaiah 40:11]

    … who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,
    and he shall carry out all my purpose“;
    and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,”
    and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”
    [Isaiah 44:28]

    Then they remembered the days of old,
    of Moses his servant.
    Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea
    with the shepherds of his flock?
    Where is the one who put within them
    his holy spirit,
    [Isaiah 63:11]

    Jeremiah

    The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
    Those who handle the law did not know me;
    the rulers [Heb: shepherds] transgressed against me;
    the prophets prophesied by Baal,
    and went after things that do not profit.
    [Jeremiah 2:8]

    I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
    who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
    [Jeremiah 3:15]

    For the shepherds are stupid,
    and do not inquire of the Lord;
    therefore they have not prospered,
    and all their flock is scattered .
    [Jeremiah 10:21]

    Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
    they have trampled down my portion,
    they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
    [Jeremiah 12:10]

    But I have not run away from being a shepherd in your service,
    nor have I desired the fatal day.
    You know what came from my lips;
    it was before your face.
    [Jeremiah 17:16]

    Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
    [Jeremiah 23:1-4]

    Wail, you shepherds, and cry out;
    roll in ashes, you lords of the flock,
    for the days of your slaughter have come–and your dispersions,
    and you shall fall like a choice vessel.
    35Flight shall fail the shepherds,
    and there shall be no escape for the lords of the flock.
    36Hark! the cry of the shepherds,
    and the wail of the lords of the flock!
    For the Lord is despoiling their pasture,
    [Jeremiah 25:24-36]

    Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
    and declare it in the coastlands far away;
    say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him,
    and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”
    [Jeremiah 31:10]

    Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennial pasture,
    I will suddenly chase Edom away from it;
    and I will appoint over it whomever I choose.
    For who is like me? Who can summon me?
    Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?
    [Jeremiah 49:19]

    My people have been lost sheep;
    their shepherds have led them astray,
    turning them away on the mountains;
    from mountain to hill they have gone,
    they have forgotten their fold.
    [Jeremiah 50:6]

    Like a lion coming up from the thickets of the Jordan against a perennial pasture,
    I will suddenly chase them away from her;
    and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.
    For who is like me?
    Who can summon me?
    Who is the shepherd who can stand before me? [Jeremiah 50:44]

    with you I smash shepherds and their flocks</b>;
    with you I smash farmers and their teams;
    with you I smash governors and deputies.
    [Jeremiah 51:23]

    Ezekiel

    The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them–to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4 You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.
    7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.
    11For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
    17 As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?
    20 Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22 I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
    23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.
    25 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely. 26 I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. 27 The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the insults of the nations. 30 They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord God. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture1 and I am your God, says the Lord God.
    [Ezekiel 34:1-31]

     

    Micah

    But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
    who are one of the little clans of Judah,
    from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to rule in Israel,
    whose origin is from of old,
    from ancient days.
    3Therefore he shall give them up until the time
    when she who is in labor has brought forth;
    then the rest of his kindred shall return
    to the people of Israel.
    4And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
    And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth;
    5and he shall be the one of peace.
    [Micah 5:2-5a]

    Shepherd your people with your staff,
    the flock that belongs to you,
    which lives alone in a forest
    in the midst of a garden land;
    let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
    [Micah 7:14]

    Nahum

    Your shepherds are asleep,
    O king of Assyria;
    your nobles slumber.
    Your people are scattered on the mountains
    with no one to gather them.
    [Nahum 3:18]

     

    Zechariah

    For the teraphim utter nonsense,
    and the diviners see lies;
    the dreamers tell false dreams,
    and give empty consolation.
    Therefore the people wander like sheep;
    they suffer for lack of a shepherd.
    My anger is hot against the shepherds,
    and I will punish the leaders;22
    for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
    and will make them like his proud war-horse.
    [Zechariah 10:2-3]

    Listen, the wail of the shepherds,
    for their glory is despoiled!
    Listen, the roar of the lions,
    for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed!
    4 Thus said the Lord my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, “Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich”; and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 7 So, on behalf of the sheep merchants, I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep. 8 In one month I disposed of the three shepherds, for I had become impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another!” 15 Then the Lord said to me: Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd. 16 For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering,23 or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy,24 but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
    17Oh, my worthless shepherd,
    who deserts the flock!
    May the sword strike his arm
    and his right eye!
    Let his arm be completely withered,
    his right eye utterly blinded!
    [Zechariah 11:3-17]

    “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
    against the man who is my associate,”
    says the Lord of hosts.
    Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered;
    I will turn my hand against the little ones.
    8In the whole land, says the Lord,
    two-thirds shall be cut off and perish,
    and one-third shall be left alive.
    9And I will put this third into the fire,
    refine them as one refines silver,
    and test them as gold is tested.
    They will call on my name,
    and I will answer them.
    I will say, “They are my people”;
    and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
    [Zechariah 13:7-9]

    Psalms

    The LORD is my shepherd,
    I shall not want.
    2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
    he leads me beside still waters;
    3 he restores my soul.
    He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
    4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
    I fear no evil;
    for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff– they comfort me.
    5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
    you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
    6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
    and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
    [Psalm 23]

    O save your people, and bless your heritage;
    be their shepherd, and carry them forever.
    [Psalm 28:9]

    Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
    Death shall be their shepherd;
    straight to the grave they descend,5
    and their form shall waste away;
    Sheol shall be their home.
    [Psalm 49:14]

    from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel, his inheritance.
    [Psalm 78:71]

    Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
    you who lead Joseph like a flock!
    You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
    [Psalm 80:1]

    O come, let us sing to the LORD;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
    2Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
    3For the LORD is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
    4In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
    5 The sea is his, for he made it,
    and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
    6O come, let us worship and bow down,
    let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
    7For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
    [Psalm 95]

    Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
    2Worship the LORD with gladness;
    come into his presence with singing.
    3Know that the LORD is God.
    It is he that made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
    4Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise.
    Give thanks to him,
    bless his name.
    5For the LORD is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.
    [Psalm 100]

    Ecclesiastes

    The sayings of the wise are like goads,
    and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd.
    [Ecclesiastes 12:11]

     

    Deuterocanonical Writings

    Judith

    Then I will lead you through Judea, until you come to Jerusalem; there I will set your throne. You will drive them like sheep that have no shepherd, and no dog will so much as growl at you. For this was told me to give me foreknowledge; it was announced to me, and I was sent to tell you.”
    [Judith 11:19]

     

    Sirach

    The compassion of human beings is for their neighbors,
    but the compassion of the Lord is for every living thing.
    He rebukes and trains and teaches them,
    and turns them back, as a shepherd his flock.
    [Sirach 18:13]

     

    2 Esdras

    Therefore I say to you, O nations that hear and understand,
    “Wait for your shepherd;
    he will give you everlasting rest,
    because he who will come at the end of the age is close at hand.
    [2 Esdras 2:34]

    Rise therefore and eat some bread, and do not forsake us,
    like a shepherd who leaves the flock in the power of savage wolves.”
    [2 Esdras 5:18]

    New Testament Texts

    Matthew

    And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
    for from you shall come a ruler
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.’
    [Matthew 2:6]

    When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
    [Matthew 9:36]

    What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?
    [Matthew 18:12]

    All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats …
    [Matthew 25:32]

    Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written,
    “I will strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
    [Matthew 26:31]

    Mark

    As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
    [Mark 6:34]

    And Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters; for it is written,
    “I will strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep will be scattered.’
    [Mark 14:27]

    John

    “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
    [John 10:1-2]

    “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away–and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

    [John 10:11-16]

     

     

    Acts

    Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.
    [Acts 20:25-26]

     

    Hebrews

    Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant …
    [Hebrew 13:20]

     

    1 Peter

    For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
    [1 Peter 2:25]

    And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away.
    [1 Peter 5:4]

    Revelation

    for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
    and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
    [Revelation 7:17]

     

     

     

    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.

  • Easter 3C (14 April 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 9:1-6, (7-20) and Psalm 30
    • Rev 5:11-14
    • John 21:1-19

    Acts 9: Paul’s encounter with the Risen Lord

    In 1Cor 15 we see that Paul includes himself among those to whom Jesus had appeared:

    Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
    (1Cor 15:1-11 NRSV)

    We have another—and perhaps slightly earlier—reference to his encounter with the risen Christ, together with a fervent insistence that there were no human agents involved in his calling by Christ, in Galatians:

    Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the members of God’s family who are with me,
    To the churches of Galatia:
    Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. …
    For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
    You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
    (Gal 1:1-5,11-17 NRSV)

    Paul does not elaborate on that appearance in his surviving letters, although it is possible that the following passage in 2Cor 12 is a thinly veiled account of one such mystical experience that Paul understood to be an encounter with the living Christ:

    It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
    I have been a fool! You forced me to it. Indeed you should have been the ones commending me, for I am not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, signs and wonders and mighty works. How have you been worse off than the other churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!
    (2Cor 12:1-13 NRSV)

    Note that this revelation is recounted in the context of a conflict over Paul’s status as an apostle, and especially his parity with some other group of apostles; dismissed by Paul as “super-apostles” (Greek: tōn uperlian apostolōn).

    Although Luke is not averse to deleting material he considered redundant, in the Acts of Apostles he tells the story of Paul’s “conversion” three times over:

    • Acts 9:1-20
    • Acts 22:1-21
    • Acts 26:1-20

    These stories differ slightly—but significantly—from one another. As the story is told and retold it moves from a legend about his conversion (featuring human agents such as Ananias) to which Paul would most likely have objected strongly to a version that fits more closely with Paul’s own assertion that his apostleship and his understanding of the gospel came directly from the risen Lord and not through any human agency. Was the author of Acts deliberately modifying a well-known legend about Paul and gradually softening it to the point where even Paul would have been happy with the representation of his encounter/call in Acts 26?

    Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

    The second reading offers a vision of the heavenly court in a moment of worship:

    Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice,

    “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
    to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
    and honor and glory and blessing!”

    Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,

    “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
    be blessing and honor and glory and might
    forever and ever!”

    And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

    (Rev 5:11-14 NRSV)

    Here we have a snapshot that reveals how some 1C Christians imagined heaven to be, including devotion to Jesus as a divine Lord alongside God. There is no carefully articulated trinitarian theology here, but a simple assertion that Jesus is now with God and worthy to be worshipped in ways that traditional Jews would only have directed to God. This imaging of the risen One is not concerned about the fate of Jesus’ bones, but does celebrate his new authority as the one worthy to be worshipped by all of creation—and who would “soon” come as judge of all.

    Lakeside in Galilee

    For the Third Sunday of Easter, the major western lectionaries all draw on the Johannine story of the lakeside appearance in Galilee. The RCL adds the following episode where Peter’s love for Jesus and his commissioning as an apostle is renewed (vss 15-19).

    The scene is idyllic, and preserves some authentic memories of time spent with Jesus and his followers in Galilee. The cast is more selective than we might have anticipated but reflects characters known from earlier in GJohn:

    • Simon Peter
    • Thomas the Twin
    • Nathanael of Cana in Galilee
    • the sons of Zebedee (ie, James and John)
    • two other unnamed disciples

    The incident recounted seems very similar to the story in Luke 5:

    4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

    John P. Meier

    The observations of John P. Meier, also relevant when the Luke passage is used for Epiphany 5C, are worth noting at this point. Meier considers this miracle story as part of his extensive discussion of Jesus’ miracles in volume two of A Marginal Jew. He notes the following features that suggest the same story underlies the two accounts:

    1. A group of fishermen, among whom Peter is the chief actor, has spent the night fishing but has caught nothing (Luke 5:2-5; John 21:2-5). Now daylight has come, and Jesus is on the scene.

    2. With apparently supernatural knowledge, Jesus directs Peter and his colleagues to cast their nets into the water once again, with the explicit (John) or implicit (Luke) promise that now they will have success …

    3. Peter and his colleagues trust and obey Jesus’ command, with the result that many fish are caught …

    4. The effect of the large number of fish on the nets is mentioned …in spite of the extraordinary number of fish, and contrary to what one might expect, the nets are not torn …

    5. Peter is the only named disciple who reacts in a dramatic fashion to the miraculous event …

    6. In the third-person narrative in which the author directly speaks to his audience, Jesus (even the risen Jesus of John’s narrative) is referred to simply as “Jesus”; Peter and Peter alone addresses Jesus as “Lord” …

    7. The other fishermen share in the action of catching the fish … but neither on sea nor on land do they (apart from the beloved disciple in John 21:15-17) say anything once the miracle begins.

    8. At the end of each story, Jesus directly or indirectly issues a summons to Peter to follow him …

    9. The abundant catch of fish symbolizes in each story the future missionary work and the resultant success of Peter and the other disciples. A further idea symbolized in each story is that the disciples, left to themselves in the night of this world, are doomed to failure. With Jesus’ help and direction, they are granted startling success.

    10. The same Greek words are used for many verbs and nouns in the two stories … since both stories are concerned with fishing, some of the agreements may be coincidental.

    11. In both stories, at the moment when he reacts to the miraculous catch, Peter is referred to as “Simon Peter” … This point is especially remarkable because this is the only time in the Third Gospel that Luke uses the double name, while it is the regular way in which the redactor refers to Peter in John 21:1-14.

    If in fact we have two versions of the same story, which Gospel is closest to the original form? Meier concludes that John’s setting of the story as a post-Easter resurrection appearance to Simon Peter is the earlier form of the story, and that Luke reflects the well-attested phenomenon of stories/sayings moving from a post-Easter setting to one during the lifetime of Jesus:

    … behind Luke 5;1-11 || John 21:1-17 we may have some remnants of a primitive tradition narrating the initial resurrection appearance of Jesus, i.e., the appearance granted to Peter. The appearance to Peter is highlighted in one of the earliest Christian creeds we posses (1 Cor 15:3-5) and is also mentioned in Luke 24:34. Yet, while we have stories of appearances of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and to the group of eleven disciples (the Twelve minus Judas), we have no full story of what 1 Cor 15:5 claims was the first of all appearances, the appearance to “Cephas” (= Peter).

    If Meier is correct, and this story preserves a memory of the original appearance to Peter, that may account for the significance of the story and its use alongside the renewal of Peter’s apostleship in the Johannne appendix (ch 21).

    John Shelby Spong

    John Shelby Spong has also argued for the significance of this episode in John 21. In Resurrection: Myth or Reality? (1994: 191-97), Spong notes the disconnect between chapters 20 and 21 of GJohn, and yet also appreciates the Johannine characteristics of this appendix:

    Chapter 21 is set in Galilee, while chapter 20 is set in Jerusalem. … Moreover, the behavior of the disciples in chapter 21 makes little or no sense if we see it as a sequel to events in chapter 20. It reads as if those events had no impact. Despite two appearances to the disciples in chapter 20, one without Thomas and one with him, where the risen Christ breathed on them to impart the Holy Spirit, and where Jesus confronted Thomas with the invitation to touch his wounds … the disciples in John 21 were strangely unmoved. Even Thomas’ cry of faith, “My Lord and my God!” had not served to put any particular new energy into Thomas’s life. What we have here is a strange placement of a text that contains key insights and probably primitive traditions.

    Spong suggests that the various Gospel narratives that are closely associated with the lake must be read together, if we are to recover the symbolic meaning of these stories to the early Christians. These stories include the stilling of the storm and Peter walking on the water to join Jesus. Apart from Luke, the Gospels associate the miraculous crossing of the lake with the miracle of the loaves and fish. Spong summarizes:

    There are similar themes in all the stories, even beyond the lakeside setting. All of them reflected a traditional messianic symbol of mastery over water, including the ability to calm the waves and to walk on the sea or through it. These stories also seem to have some connection with food, and Peter plays either a cryptic or an overt role in each of these accounts.

    Spong mentions biblical texts such as Job 9:8 and Isaiah 43:2,16, before citing the extended passage in Isaiah 51:10-15:

    10Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep;
    who made the depths of the sea a way
    for the redeemed to cross over?
    11So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
    and come to Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain joy and gladness,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

    12I, I am he who comforts you;
    why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
    a human being who fades like grass?
    13You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
    who stretched out the heavens
    and laid the foundations of the earth.
    You fear continually all day long
    because of the fury of the oppressor,
    who is bent on destruction.
    But where is the fury of the oppressor?
    14The oppressed shall speedily be released;
    they shall not die and go down to the Pit,
    nor shall they lack bread.
    15For I am the Lord your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar–
    the Lord of hosts is his name.

    He comments on this evocative passage:

    Given the midrash tradition of searching the Scriptures to interpret God’s action in the present, this passage is quite likely to have been used by early Christians to shed light on Jesus of Nazareth. Mastery over the sea, bread that does not fail, the Son of man who is made like grass, that is, one who can actually die yet one who does not go down into the Pit — all are symbolic phrases far too familiar in the telling of the Christ story to be coincidental.

    A little later, Spong offers this reconstruction of the primary Easter event, the appearance to Simon Peter:

    Somewhere in the dark recesses of time after the earthly life of Jesus had ended, and some forty to seventy years before the writing of the Gospels was undertaken, the event occurred that created the Christian movement.
    The details were, and still are, sketchy — “The crucified one lives” was the heart of their message. Scrape the veneer off their stories and we come to the probability that the moment that convinced them of this truth occurred in Galilee and that Simon was the primary person in whom this truth first dawned. Because of that, Simon became known as the the rock upon which the Christian faith rested, and so the nicknames Cephas, Peter, Rock, were attached to him. When he turned, he strengthened his brethren. When he stopped denying he was reborn. When he ceased to doubt, he no longer sank into the waters of despair. Jesus appeared first to Cephas.

    Bethsaida: A fishing village by the Sea of Galilee

    Bethsaida House of Fisherman.jpg
    House of the Fisherman, Bethsaida

    Bethsaida was one of several fishing villages at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee that feature in the NT stories about Jesus. It seems to have been the home village of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, as well as Philip. Along with Chorazim, Bethsaida would be the subject of a prophetic denunciation by Jesus:

    Woe to you, Chorazin!
    Woe to you, Bethsaida!
    For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
    they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. [Luke 10:13 = Matt 11:21]

    Other lakeside fishing villages that feature in the Gospel stories include Capernaum and Magdala, the home village of Mary Magdalene.

    For further information about the archaeological excavations underway at Bethsaids, see Bethsaida Then and Now.

    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 man there lived in Galilee – AHB 176
    • Abide with me – AHB 502
    • Alleluia (Richard Bruxvoort)
    • Once to every man and nation – AHB 499
    • The day of resurrection – AHB 277

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

  • Easter 2C (7 April 2013)

    Contents

    Lectionary

    • Acts 5:27-32 & Psalm 118:14-29 (or Psalm 150)
    • Rev 1:4-8
    • John 20:19-31

    Introduction

    During the great Fifty Days of Easter, the RCL will deviate from the usual lectionary architecture that begins with a reading from the Hebrew Bible, followed by a passage from one of the NT epistles and then a text from the liturgical gospel of the year (in this case, Luke). Instead we shall have all the Sunday readings drawn from early Christian sources:

    First Reading: Obedience to God comes first

    The selection from Acts 5 depicts the apostles—led by Peter—proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus when they are brought before the Sanhedrin to explain their actions in continuing to preach and heal in the name of Jesus:

    When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:27-32 NRSV)

    This is part of a longer narrative in which the storyteller portrays the early Christian community as enjoying incredible success and winning the respect of everyone—even those who did not dare to join the new movement. Typical of Luke’s treatment, however, the Jewish authorities are portrayed in uncomplimentary ways. They are said to be directly responsible for the death of Jesus, the very one chosen and vindicated by God. Their incapacity to see ther significance of Jesus is compounded by their incompetence in keeping the apostles in detention over night.

    Luke’s intention seems to have been to lampoon the opponents of Christianity as unworthy of the authority they exercised, and to boost the respectability of Christianity in the eyes of readers who enjoyed (or aspired to) Roman respectability.

    In the process, Luke has created another occasion for Peter to articulate the Easter message—and unintentionally provided a liturgical text for Christians communities two millennia after his own time (and in locations Luke could not have imagined).

    At the same time, and despite his desire to make Christianity more acceptable in the higher classes of Roman society, Luke has given voice to a core principle of the Christian community:

    • We must obey God rather than any human authority.

    That principle lies at the heart of civil disobedience as a strategy for prophetic actions against discrimination and oppression. It is often expressed as nonviolent resistance but in extreme situations, such as Deitrich Bonhoeffer faced during World War Two, it can also be udnerstood as permission to use violence against those who cause harm to others.

    Second Reading: The coming One

    The second reading is replete with echoes of themes from the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as numerous expressions of Christian devotion to Jesus as the one raised to heaven and soon to return as the divinely-authorised judge of the world:

    John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
    Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
    To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    Look! He is coming with the clouds;
    every eye will see him, even those who pierced him;
    and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.

    So it is to be. Amen.
    “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    (Rev 1:4-8 NRSV)

    The greeting grace and peace is a Christian variation of the common form of greeting used in ordinary letters at the time. We are most familiar with it from Paul’s letters, and its use here serves to give this Christian apocalypse something of the feel of a letter.

    We have a kind of trinitarian formula, but it is not quite the classic form that came to dominate in Christian thinking:

    • God – “the one who is and who was and who is to come”
    • Spirit – “the seven spirits who are before his throne”
    • Jesus – “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth”

    The initial triple description of Jesus is interesting in its own right, as it rehearses different aspects of Jesus role:

    • the faithful witness – the one who faithfully proclaims the message entrusted to him by God
    • the firstborn of the dead – the risen One
    • the ruler of the kings of the earth – a claim to universal dominion that relativizes all other human authorities

    Following that triple description we have another triplet, this time a pastiche of biblical phrases:

    • he is coming with the clouds – like the son of Man in Daniel 7:13
    • every eye will see him, even those who pierced him – c.f. Zechariah 12:10-12
    • on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail – the significance of Jesus extends far beyond the Jewish community

    Alpha & Omega

    Finally there is the distinctive use of Alpha and Omega—a formula that is found only in the Apocalypse, where it occurs three times:

    • “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Rev 1:8)
    • Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. (Rev 21:6)
    • “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Rev 22:13 NRSV)

    By citing the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the phrase suggests an all-encompassing completeness about God, and Jesus. In subsequent Christian art, the Alpha/Omega becomes a symbol for Jesus, but here it seems to be used of God and also of Jesus.

    For an extensive collection of Alpha-Omega images see the WikiMedia Commons.

    Beyond Locked Doors

    GJohn presents a distinctive account of Easter. Unlike Mark and Matthew, there is no immediate trip to Galilee for the first sightings of the risen Jesus. (How do the literalists rationalize the discrepancy between the angels’ clear instructions and the very different versions in Luke and John?) John has more in common with Luke, whose entire relocation of the Easter appearances from Galilee to Jerusalem may have been inspired by John’s compromise with the major appearances taking place in Jerusalem and a secondary set of appearances—relegated to an appendix—happening in Galilee.

    The appearance tradition within the four NT Gospels can be mapped as follows:

    Mark Matthew John Luke
    Women find an empty tomb and are told by an angel to pass on a message that the disciples are to meet with Jesus in Galilee. Women find an empty tomb and are told by an angel to pass on a message that the disciples are to meet with Jesus in Galilee. Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty and reports it to Peter and the beloved disciple. The male disciples verify her report but receive no angelic messages nor any encounter with Jesus. The women find an empty tomb but Luke’s two angels cannot pass on the instruction for the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee, since that is not to happen in Luke-Acts. Instead, the angelic pair remind the women of what Jesus said to them while he was still in Galilee, and the women are left to share this reminder of the biblical texts that spoke of the Messiah’s sufferings and his resurrection “on the third day.”
    The women leave in fright and say nothing to anyone. The women meet Jesus on their way to tell the disciples. He repeats the instruction that the disciples meet him in Galilee. Mary Magdalene meets Jesus in the garden and is given a message to share with the other disciples: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Luke tells the story of two disciples (not members of the Twelve, but the otherwise unknown Cleopas and his partner) who have a surprise encounter with Jesus while walking home to Emmaus, a village just a few miles from Jerusalem. As they travel their unrecognized companion upbraids them for not understanding the Scriptures that had predicted the suffering, death and resurrection of the Messiah. After agreeing to stay the night with them, the Stranger’s identity is revealed as he breaks the bread at the start of the meal — and then he vanishes.
    There are no appearance narratives in Mark, but the suggestion is that they took place in Galilee. The Eleven (No women! Not even Mary, the mother of Jesus, or Mary Magdalene?) go to a specified mountain in Galilee (a detail not previously given) and there Jesus appears to them (out of the sky?). The disciples worship him, despite some having doubts. Jesus then claims universal authority. He commissions them to share his message and make disciples from all nations, before assuring them of his continuing presence. At evening that same day Jesus appears to the disciples in their secure meeting place. He commissions them for their work, and delegates his own authority to bind and to loose. Thomas is absent. After the Emmaus couple have rushed back to Jerusalem to share their news with “the eleven and their companions,” Jesus himself appears in their midst. He relieves their alarm by eating a small portion of food, before giving them a master class on the correct interpretation of all that was written about him in the Scriptures. The disciples are commissioned as witnesses, and told to wait in Jerusalem until they are clothed with power from on high.
    A week later (and with seemingly no appearances in the mean time) Jesus again appears to the disciples, this time including Thomas. There is no purpose for this second appearance other than to meet Thomas’ need for a direct experience of the risen Lord. Jesus then leads them to Bethany on the far side of the Mount of Olives, from where he made his ascension into heaven.
    In an appendix to the Gospel (ch 21), we have the story of an appearance by Jesus by the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee. After a fruitless night of fishing, the disciples are given a miraculous catch of fish by a Stranger on the beach. When they reach land, they find the Stranger is Jesus and he already has fish cooking on a fire for them.
    Jesus then has a private conversation with Peter, in which Peter’s love for Jesus is affirmed and Peter is commissioned to feed the sheep.
    Jesus refuses to entertain Peter’s questions about what will happen to the Beloved Disciple.

    It seems reasonable to conclude that the appearance traditions within the NT Gospels are in three distinctive streams:

    • Mark/Matthew speak of Galilee as the place where the risen One was encountered, and as the birthplace of the continuing Jesus movement after Easter.
    • John has the major events happening in Jerusalem, with appearances to Mary Magdalene, the Ten (plus others?) and to the Eleven (including Thomas, and perhaps others). The lakeside appearance is not part of the original design of the Gospel, but its inclusion in the appendix extends the distinctive Johannine focus on individuals as well as honoring the older tradition of appearances in the Galilee.
    • Luke allows no appearances in the Galilee, and each of his scenes includes explicit reference to the theme of prophetic fulfillment. While there is a mention of an otherwise unreported appearance to Peter (Luke 24:34), Luke chooses to avoid any appearances to significant individuals. Jesus appears only to gatherings of disciples: the twosome heading home to Emmaus, and those gathered in the Jerusalem safe house.

    The point of the appearances never seems to be to establish the resurrection of Jesus. Rather, in all three traditions the appearances serve as occasions for the disciples to be commissioned for their future roles within the Christian community. This is especially clear in John 20, where …

    • The risen Lord tells the disciples that they are now being sent by him, just as he had been previously sent by the Father.
    • Jesus gives them a special endowment of the Holy Spirit.
    • The Eleven are given the power to bind or loose.

    The central issue seems to be not “What happened to Jesus?” but rather “How are we to order our life together as the continuing community of Christ?”

    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

    • Alleluia (Richard Bruxvoort)
    • By your kingly power – AHB 306
    • I know that my redeemer lives – AHB 299
    • The Lord is risen indeed – AHB300
    • The strife is o’er – AHB287

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

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