Noah and NukesThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 7th: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; and Ephesians 1:3-6. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Geology made the news this week, which doesn’t happen all that often. A vote was taken by an official body that rejected the creation of designating a new geological era. The geologists who lost the vote argued that the human impact on a global scale is so significant and pervasive that it deserves to be recognized as a new geological era. They were arguing for the naming of the Anthropocene Era with a start date of 1950 based on the worldwide markers of the remnants of nuclear testing in the atmosphere. As I mentioned, the proposal failed. We continue to live during the Holocene Era, which began with the retreat of the last ice age about 11,000 years ago. This period of a relatively stable climate has allowed for human civilization to develop, and with this a loose sort of collective memory begins to form. It’s interesting that in the four and a half billion-year history of our planet, geologists record five mass extinctions. The most complete of all of them was about 250 million years ago and it ended the Paleozoic Era as unimaginably large and long-lived volcanoes changed the climate. Almost 90% of all species died at that time. Much more famous is the extinction that brought the Mesozoic Era to its demise. This is the end of the dinosaurs as an asteroid plunged into the earth around the Yucatan Peninsula. Obviously, we have no memories of such things. Humans and dinosaurs are separated by some 60 million years, my apologies to fans of the Flintstones. Evidence is found in what lies within the earth as consequences of these events, not memories. However, the rise of human civilization allows for story-telling to be remembered, and to be shared. One of those stories comes from the 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian Gilgamesh Epic. Therein we can read of Utnapishtim who boarded his family and animals on an ark as the angry god Ea flooded creation. The Noah story comes along later and picks-up and shares much of the plot. There is no geological record of a universal flood during the Holocene Era. However, as the climate warmed, as glaciers retreated, as ice-dams gave way, shorelines could change dramatically. Entire communities of peoples could be forced to evacuate coastline settlements as waters rose above their usual boundaries. Such a locally destructive cataclysm could be told in all honesty as a world-changing event. The power of myth is not based on its factuality, but on its message. Did George Washington cut down a cherry tree? Probably not, but the message of truthfulness remains. The Noah myth may well be based on some ancient shared memory of cataclysmic flooding, but today’s message is of God’s life-affirming statement of covenant: “‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.’” The Noah covenant is the first in the Bible and it speaks to us of God’s respect for all life, not only human life. There have been five mass extinctions in earth’s history. Somehow life has clawed back, but never the same. Mammals had a chance to become dominant once the dinosaurs went extinct. No lifeform is exempt from cataclysmic extinction. Humans have been around for say five million years. Seems like a long time, like we are destined to be at the top of the food chain forever, but the dinosaurs were around for almost 200 million years and now they’re gone. The Bible holds up for us today the revelation of a life-affirming God. Life borders on the miraculous. It is blessed by a divine covenant. Life is sacred. I see this truth even in the death of Christ. The cross does not glorify death. It glorifies Jesus’ devotion to the value of life, all life, even the lives of His executioners. Jesus even prays for them. All life matters. Jesus would rather die than profane the sanctity of all life. With this said, I don’t know if you’ll be able to read the article or not, but the New York Times is running a series on “The risk of nuclear conflict is rising.” (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/04/opinion/nuclear-war-prevention.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20240304&instance_id=116751&nl=todaysheadlines®i_id=54596592&segment_id=159857&user_id=217c057fdd20aad15e30baf2520d4e00 ) Nuclear war is becoming more tactical where once it was called Mutual Assured Destruction, MAD. The Times writes, “Nuclear war is often described as unimaginable. In fact, it’s not imagined enough.” It is a scary and depressing article, but the topic cannot be ignored, especially by people of faith who trust in God whose first covenant is life-affirming across the board. May we live into that covenant before we bring on ourselves the possibility of the Sixth Mass Extinction. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary.
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Faith bought off by political favoursThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 6th: Psalm 84; Ezra 6:1-16; and Acts 15:36-41. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Ezra tells us today about the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius who allowed for the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple. They offered money and platitudes to the defeated people of Israel. This was a wise investment. Before the Persian Empire, the Babylonians and Assyrians had a practice of deporting and repopulating conquered lands. This kept the defeated nations off balance and ill prepared to offer organized resistance to the empires. Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC. To garner good will among their inherited subjects, the Persians allowed for those in exile to return to their native lands. This did not mean that they were free of Persian rule, that they could become nation states once again. With the case of the Jews and Jerusalem, we read today of Darius’ decree: “‘Now you, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and you, their associates, the envoys in the province Beyond the River, keep away; let the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site.’” There are still no nations of Israel or Judah. These have been erased from the political map, their names replaced by a province called Beyond the River. The Jerusalem Temple is restored. Sacrifices resume. However, the people remain subjugated and disenfranchised. They once were under the thumb of Egypt’s Pharaoh and now under the control of Persia’s king. Their Passover liberation has been denuded. But Darius bought their good will by giving them their Temple building. In this arrangement, Yahweh cannot act as Israel’s king, their leader and their guide. Yahweh is confined within the Temple building. But Darius bought the people’s acceptance of their servitude by giving them the Temple building: “The people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.” For the cost of this building, the Persians ruled over the People of God until Alexander the Great defeated them some two centuries later. There may be a lesson here for people of faith to be wary of courting political favours. Politicians may offer gifts to appease that are not all that dissimilar to the Persian’s gift of the Jerusalem Temple, and the religious can be blinded to greater issues of the faith. Less than a week before the Roman empire that defeated the Greeks who had defeated the Persians who had defeated the Babylonians executed Jesus, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write of Palm Sunday. (The Last Week, chap 1) Pontius Pilate marches into Jerusalem prior to the Passover from the west with powerful symbols of imperial power and theology. From the east, Jesus enters riding on a donkey down from the Mount of Olives: “Jesus’ procession deliberately countered what was happening on the other side of the city. Pilate’s procession embodied the power, glory and violence of the empire that ruled the world. Jesus’ procession embodied an alternative vision, the kingdom of God.” (p. 4) Lent is a reminder of the humbleness of our crucified Saviour. Jesus persuades by His example and teaching. Power is the antithesis of gospel. To force religious beliefs on others who do not accept them is to disavow Jesus and the persuasive example of a sincerely lived faith. To court political favours to enforce some strange conception of moral choice is not to walk into Jerusalem with Jesus from the east, but to be captivated by the pomp and glory of the show to the west. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Faith doesn't work that wayThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 5th: 2 Chronicles 29:1-11, 16-19; Psalm 84; and Hebrews 9:23-28. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Lent is a season of repentance, a time to focus on God in our lives. If that relationship has broken completely, Lent is the invitation to restore it. Take the example of Judah’s King Hezekiah in today’s first reading. His father King Ahaz was judged unfaithful to Yahweh. He broke with Temple traditions and brought in innovations from foreign lands where foreign gods were worshipped. The Temple was profaned in this way. When Ahaz’s son Hezekiah assumed the throne upon his father’s death, immediately he rescinded his father’s policies and turned back to God. He ordered the priests and Levites to cleanse the Temple so that Israel could return to a proper pattern of worship. Hezekiah believed there was a direct causal link between the faith or faithlessness of Judah and God’s protection or harassment of the nation. He says so much in today’s passage: “‘Therefore the wrath of the Lord came upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. Our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us.’” Judah’s fortunes soured because they ceased to worship Yahweh properly and Hezekiah hoped to reverse this trend by restoring Temple worship. While many people hold on to this transactional understanding of faith – God blesses the faithful and curses the faithless, many more have distanced themselves from it. The most obvious weakness of this type of theology is all the evidence that is contrary. There are many very evil people in the world who do just fine, and there are so many good people who suffer terribly. Maybe you have heard of Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. The good Rabbi felt compelled to write this book as he dealt with his own struggles of faith. His three-year-old son suffered from a degenerative disease that would eventually steal his life away in his early teens. Was the Rabbi somehow responsible? Was some moral fault of his the cause of his son’s punishment by God? Did the child of three do something so heinous as to deserve this disease? Rabbi Kushner worked through such questions in his book and he concluded that the good God does all that is possible to comfort, but God does not will everything that happens in life. God allows for our freedom and this in turn allows for chance. Everything that happens in life and in history cannot be reduced to questions of whether deserve has anything to do with it. Accidents, diseases and tragedies are not willed by God, but they must be allowed by God if life is to be free and meaningful. Hezekiah’s story testifies to the vagaries of life. Good and bad populate his story. His own example stands against the notion of a transactional faith. What his story does convey, however, is the power of a relational faith. In good and bad, Hezekiah knew that God was there. Lent’s repentance is not to promise rewards as payback. We turn toward God, we seek out Jesus, to share in the blessings of their presence with us. Lent stares at a suffering Messiah. Faith’s power is not defined by protection from everything that hurts or harms, and Jesus’ cross makes this abundantly clear. But that cross is Jesus’ testimony that God loves us enough even to suffer and die so that when “bad things happen” we can lean on our faith in a suffering Messiah who knows what it is to be us. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Solomon's gold and Jesus' bodyThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 4th: 1 Kings 6:1-4, 21-22; Psalm 84; and 1 Corinthians 3:10-23. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Solomon’s Temple was richly adorned, as the 1 Kings passage lets us know. Gold was everywhere. This was intended to honour God. The other side of the gold bar, however, is that this opulence sowed the seeds of Israel’s civil war and laid the groundwork for the diminishment of the Davidic kingdom. David’s city was Bethlehem of Judah, and Judah was favoured among the tribes of Israel even after David formed the unified country of Israel. Jerusalem was a strategic choice of a capital. Its story is much like that of Washington, D.C. When the United States existed primarily along the Atlantic coast, Washington, D.C was located between the North and the South. Additionally, it was independent of both. It could not be claimed by either section of the country so that it could be claimed by the entire country. Jerusalem stood between Judah to the south and the ten other tribes to the north. Plus, it was captured from its Canaanite inhabitants so it belonged to no particular Jewish tribe. When Solomon turned David’s rather provincial capital into a cosmopolitan city, it was expensive. This is when we begin to hear of “forced labor.” (1King 4:6) Solomon also superseded the traditional tribes of Israel. He created twelve new administrative districts that were each charged with supplying the monarchy for one month each year. You count those twelve districts in 1 Kings 4:8-19, but then it is written: “And there was one official in the land of Judah.” It seems as if Judah was exempt from this tax that the rest of Israel paid. The opulence of the Temple magnified the divisions among the people, and after Solomon’s reign the nation separated into Israel in the north and the much smaller Judah in the south. The Temple was replaced by other holy sites in the north where the majority of the Israelites lived. The division led at first to different ways of worshipping Yahweh, and eventually to the worship of other gods, as well. The Temple’s opulence remained, but at the cost of the people of God. In yesterday’s Gospel reading in church, Jesus challenged the Temple authorities, “‘You destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’” (John 2:19) John inserts an editorial comment a couple of verses later and writes, “[Jesus] was speaking of the temple of his body.” The center of our worship as Christians moves from place to person. Jesus becomes our living temple. Churches become sanctuaries because they are places that help us feel closer to Jesus. If the church building were destroyed by fire on a Saturday night, the church could still gather in the fullness of its worship on Sunday morning because Jesus is our temple. The richness of gold is replaced by the closeness of Christ. Paul takes this another step further today when he writes, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” The Bible begins with the truth that we are made in the image and likeness of God. The Jesus story begins with His birth as one of us in this world, thus reaffirming the sanctity of all creation. And Paul tells each of us that the Holy Spirit abides within us and we are, therefore, “God’s temple.” I can’t imagine that the God of all creation is impressed by shiny gold, but the life and death of Jesus surely testify to the fact that God values us even more than God’s own self. What an unbelievable richness this is. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 2nd: Exodus 19:16-25; Psalm 19; and Mark 9:2-8. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Today’s Gospel is of the Transfiguration and it begins with a time reference: “Six days later.” What does this refer to? If we look back in the text, it is the events of Caesarea Philippi that we talked about last Sunday in church. Peter had declared Jesus to be the Messiah, and then Jesus declared the corrective that He would be the suffering Messiah. The Caesarea Philippi pericope ends with Jesus saying, “‘There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’” (9:1) It would not be wrong to think that this is a foreshadowing of the resurrection. However, this statement is followed immediately by “Six days later.” They may seem further apart in your biblical text because of how the editors have laid out the page. In my Bible, for example, the New Revised Standard Version, a new paragraph heading of “The Transfiguration” stands between 9:1 and 9:2, between seeing the kingdom of God come with power and “Six days later.” This seems to break up the connection that Mark intends with his time reference. The Transfiguration is chronologically and I would say thematically linked with seeing the coming of the kingdom of God with power. We know that Peter for sure and probably all the other disciples were present at Caesarea Philippi. We then see listed that the disciples Peter, James and John were present at the Transfiguration. It is not implausible to assume, therefore, that these three are the ones represented as “There are some standing here …” They were privileged to witness the glorified Jesus. For these moments of the Transfiguration, the hidden nature of Jesus became the visible nature of Jesus. If this is the case, then they see what may be described as: “[T]he kingdom of God has come with power.” Whatever actually transpired is a separate matter. What is important for Mark is that the Transfiguration reveals that the post-resurrection Jesus is identical with the historical Jesus. Jesus did not assume a divine nature after His suffering and death. Jesus’ divine nature was always linked with His human nature and it was carried to the cross. What is wonderfully radical about all of this is that Mark reveals that the power of the kingdom of God breaking into the world is not inaugurated when Jesus resurrects out of the world. It breaks into the world in Jesus of Nazareth, His life, His ministry, His gospel, and since the Transfiguration is linked intentionally through “Six days later” with Caesarea Philippi, with His suffering and death. What does this mean when the coming of the kingdom of God’s power is not limited to the obvious and glorious triumph of the empty tomb, but to the glory of God inherent in the ministry of Jesus that culminates when He does not retreat before the terrible reality of the cross? Isn’t there a challenge here for us to see the power of God’s kingdom in the life of Jesus and in its sacrifice for the sake of the gospel? The coming of the kingdom of God with power is realized in the life of Jesus, the life that includes Golgotha. What an astonishing revelation. Tomorrow is a Communion Sunday. There are no creedal requirements at our sharing of Jesus’ table. If you feel called, you will be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you are on your spiritual journey. If you can see the hidden glory in the simple gifts of bread and wine, not all that unlike seeing the coming power of God in the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth and especially in the brutality of His suffering and death, then the mystery of Communion should be approached. I invite you to join us in person and if that is not possible, to join us via Zoom. Send an email to randyc1897@gmail.com for the login. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. The most definitely unexpected ChristThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for March 1st: Exodus 19:9b-15; Psalm 19; and Acts 7:30-40. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Yahweh orders Moses to consecrate the people of Israel in today’s Exodus passage. To consecrate means to set aside for a holy purpose. The entire people of Israel are consecrated so that they may survive the terrifying presence of God, but they are also instruments of God in the world. With the passage of centuries, as Israel changes from nomadic tribes to a nation-state, Israel’s and Judah’s monarchs are consecrated. Oil is poured over them. This act symbolizes that their lives are now set aside to lead God’s people. God is Israel’s ultimate ruler, but the king acts as God’s plenipotentiary, the king’s authority is based on the enactment of God’s authority. This idea of consecration, being the anointed one of God, with the passage of more centuries, develops into anticipation of the Messiah, the consummate anointed one of God. This hope is based on the failure of the consecrated kings to protect the religion and the people of Israel. The Hebrew word Messiah was translated in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) as Christ. The Messiah, the Christ, would be the ideal king, ever faithful to God and to God’s people. Additional centuries later, the followers of Jesus saw in Him the long-awaited Messiah of God. The connection between the person Jesus and the title of Christ became so intertwined that Jesus Christ became a singular reference. It is found 138 times in the New Testament. Mark is the oldest Gospel and it is there in 1:1. Revelation is the last book of the New Testament and again it is found at 1:1. When the divine nature of Jesus is emphasized, especially by Paul, the name and title are transposed so that we read Christ Jesus. This is found an additional 86 times in the Bible. Jesus is the anointed one of God, the one consecrated by God to serve as the divine presence and activity in the world. His Messiahship is unexpected. It does not fulfill the prophetic expectations associated with the Messiah. It takes a new perspective to see Jesus as the Christ, one we within the faith can claim as inspired by God. It is not fair, however, to condemn those who do not accept Jesus as the Messiah because they adhere to their Scripture’s expectations, especially when many who do hurl such condemnations object to any variance in the reading of Christian Scripture. We will arrive eventually at Palm Sunday. The folk in Jerusalem, excited by the Passover celebration of liberation, proclaim Jesus as the Messiah with their cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David.” When Jesus disappoints them, when He does not embrace the warrior motif of David, the religious enthusiasm turns against Him quickly. To this agitated crowd awaiting the Passover, Jesus taunts, “‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’” (Matt. 22:42) Jesus goes on to question the assumption that the Messiah is David’s son. Jesus is distancing Himself and His Messiahship from that of the warrior king. This is unexpected and unwanted, but this is Jesus the redefined Christ of our Christian belief. On this Lenten Friday, as special attention is given to the crucifixion, we may wish to consider more deeply Jesus’ revision of the meaning of the Messiah, the Christ. There are many people and churches who encourage a warrior Messiah again. They seem to revel in the bloody judgment that Jesus will wreak upon humanity. All sorts of sinners and non-believers (who are most always the people not within the community of those preaching the violent Jesus) will be slaughtered and this massive blood-letting, and it is preached and believed almost with glee. Isn’t this the Messiah that Jesus rejected? Isn’t this the Messiah of those who rejected Jesus? As we look to the cross, the unexpected cross, the most definitely unexpected crucified Messiah, and meditate upon the meaning of Jesus Christ to us and to our world, let us keep the focusing words of today’s Psalm in mind: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Tapping into Leap Day's unusualnessThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for February 29th: Exodus 19:1-9a; Psalm 19; and 1 Peter 2:4-10. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Today is Leap Day. The day is necessary because the earth’s actual rotation around the sun is about 365 days AND six hours. In four year’s time, those annual six hours add up to a full day. In order to keep the human calendar and the natural seasons in sync, we have Leap Day every four years. You may have noticed in the Exodus passage that time is measured by the phases of the moon. This is far less accurate than the solar calendar. The Jewish calendar takes this into account so that the Jewish holy days remain seasonal. The Muslim calendar, however, does not and their holy days roam throughout the year. We are closing in on Ramadan for the Muslims. This month can happen anywhere in the year because it is based intentionally on an uncorrected lunar calendar. Maybe you know someone who was born or who was married on a Leap Day. They could be 24 years old or celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary, but they can joke that they are really only 6 years old or it’s only their 12th anniversary. In Ireland, there is a custom that women can reverse convention and propose to men on Leap Day. When we play with something as fundamental as time, it feels strange, and that can allow for unusual reactions. On such a day as today’s Leap Day, the unusual hopes expressed in 1 Peter may be more amenable to us. In the tradition found in Exodus, Moses is the intermediary between God and Israel. The people are encamped at the base of Mount Sinai. Yahweh is believed to dwell at its heights. Moses travels between the two and reports God’s words to Israel: “‘Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.’” Israel will be God’s people, a holy nation, and thus all Israelites will be counted as part of a priestly kingdom, one divinely designated as unique among the whole earth. 1 Peter expands on this promise. The community addressed by this Epistle may have been located at the frontier of the Roman Empire. Isolation is a reality in their lives. We read, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.” 1 Peter offers them a sense of community through their shared faith in Jesus. They are called into community with words derived from the Mount Sinai experience: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people …” Now, however, God’s people is expanded beyond a chosen nation. It is an invitation to all people to enter into the sacred community through Christ. This broadened invitation plays into the unusualness of Leap Day. Additionally, the entire community of believers is no longer kept at a distance from God because Jesus has broken down those barriers. This offers an unusual closeness to God, and also an unusual expectation of living the faith, akin to belonging to “a royal priesthood.” The only mentioned New Testament priest is Jesus in the Epistle to the Hebrews. And then there is this broad acclamation of the royal priesthood of all believers. Faith presents us with the unusual expectation that every believer will live into the faith deliberately and enthusiastically. A casual faith is not imagined. This promise of 1 Peter is a great honour and also a thrilling challenge. On the unusual day of Leap Day, when the unusual becomes more acceptable, maybe we can give this unusual possibility a more attentive reading as Lent strives to draw us closer to Christ. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Did Jesus say that? Yes and no.Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for February 28th: Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; Jeremiah 30:12-22; and John 12:36-43. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
At our online Bible study group a couple of days ago, we discussed a Johannine passage that has a connection with today’s Gospel where we read, “[F]or fear that they would be put out of the synagogue…” We were reading John 9’s account of Jesus’ cure of the man born blind. The religious authorities questioned the healing as from God because it was performed on the sabbath. To do work on the sabbath, even the work of healing a man born blind, was judged as breaking the commandment of sabbath rest. The man was not believed. They brought in his parents to see if they would corroborate his story of being born blind. They demur because they were afraid of the consequences of opposing the authorities who “had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.” (9:22) During Jesus’ historical ministry this was not the case. At the time, Jesus could be seen as at the fringe, but Jesus and His followers continued to worship at synagogues, follow the commandments and even journey to Jerusalem’s Temple. However, following Jesus’ lifetime, as His followers grew more and more distinct from their Jewish neighbours, then a formal separation was enacted. Rudolf Schnackenburg writes, “If we also take into account that the curse on the heretics in the 12th of the 18 Benedictions was inserted under Rabbi Gamaliel II around 90AD, and that from that date extremely severe measures came into force to ensure social segregation between Jews and the ‘Nazarenes’ and heretics, it is clear that John is writing against the background of his own time.” (John, Vol. 2, p. 250) The biblical reference in today’s Gospel passage and more so in John 9 help scholars to date this Gospel to the end of the first century. It is also a clear example that the biblical authors felt no compunction as they inserted contemporaneous materials into their accounts of Jesus’ ministry. Schnackenburg argues that members of John’s community had experienced personally expulsion from their places of worship. They were forbidden synagogue membership because they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. The impact of these expulsions was profound among those to whom John wrote, and John placed these same concerns within the story of the historical Jesus retroactively. John did so because his Gospel is not explicitly history. It is evangelism. It is explaining who Jesus is to his readers. This is an example within the canonical text of the Bible of the still-speaking Word of God. The historical Jesus had been absent for some 60 years at the time of John’s composition, maybe more. And yet, Jesus was not locked into the past. The Jesus of the historical past continued to speak in John’s present. This does not end with the last Gospel. Jesus continues to speak to us today through the still-speaking Word of God. The Bible still speaks to us today not when we lock its message into antiquity as if God spoke then and nevermore. The Bible shares with us unique inspiration. For Christians, that unique biblical inspiration is derived from a close connection with the historical Jesus. The New Testament books emerge in the second half of the first century. They include actual remembrances of historical events and saying from the life of Jesus. They share the faith of the earliest believers. And those inspired words that are included in the New Testament continue to speak to us 2,000 years later as we read them, pray with them, study them and apply them to our world – just like John did. May Lent help us to hear anew the still-speaking Word of God in the Bible, the Word that adapts to speak to us today in a living way. If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. Through the eyes of a childThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for February 27th: Genesis 22:1-19; Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; and Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-19. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
I have a vague recollection of when I was quite young and looking through a children’s Bible. I think I even remember in which room I was at our house at the time. The recollection has stayed with me, I imagine, because I was so startled by the experience. As I flipped through the pages of a colourful children’s Bible, I came across the picture of an older man wielding a knife above a young and defenseless boy. The man was ready to plunge the knife into the boy, but an angel held back his hand to prevent this atrocity. I recall thinking, before I read the text, that this must be a picture of God intervening to stop an evil man from doing an evil deed. Then I read the children’s Bible account of today’s Genesis passage. I must have been really shocked and surprised to read that Abraham was only fulfilling God’s command, that God had ordered this old man to plunge that knife into the body of that defenseless boy. I think that shock and surprise burned a lasting connection of synapses in my brain somewhere so that this memory has lasted all these decades. The man I had seen as evil was deemed faithful by God. The God I saw as holding back the knife so that such an atrocity could not occur was the God who devised this cruel test. It must have been that reversal that left a lasting impression. At an age when I was first encountering biblical stories, before I could filter them through a lens of piety, the violence of this act is what captured my attention. The reaction to the violence of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac was visceral. Tradition and piety would work to edit these instinctive reactions from the text. For example, Abraham is praised by God for the near murder of Isaac: “‘Now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.’” The Book of Proverbs are sapiential sayings, wisdom sayings, attributed to the Hebrew Bible’s greatest sage, Solomon. The book begins with, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” (1:7) Fear of the Lord equates with reverence and wisdom. However, before piety and tradition intervene, was the more original context that Abraham literally feared what God would do if he dared to disobey, that Abraham was more terrified of something worse than filicide? Isaac is passive throughout today’s Genesis passage. His only apprehension is voiced in the question, “‘Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’” Then there is only silence as “the two of them walked on together.” How could Isaac have not been terrified when he was bound by his father, placed on the altar above the firewood, and his father’s arm was raised above him with a knife? We hear nothing of how the child’s reaction. That is until Isaac’s child enters the story. It is not found in the written record, but it seems that Isaac passed-on to Jacob a literal fear of God that time could never erase. The trauma of Yahweh’s test of faith left its scar throughout Isaac’s life. At Genesis 31:53, we read, “So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac …” Isaac had passed on to his son Jacob the reality of the name and experience of God, and it was Fear. This is a father’s lesson to his son that the son never forgot, that God is Fear. This literal fear is what seems to lie at the bedrock of this story that comes to define faithfulness. I ask you to consider these earliest traditions of our faith as we think about Lent. It seems more plausible that our human perceptions of God have changed over the millennia rather than that God has changed so fundamentally. The religious experience was once driven by fear of God. God was the unknown and the powerful, and these were terrifying forces to the ancient mind. God could be passed on with words of wisdom to a son as simply Fear. I will leave it to each of us to consider, but what does it mean to the idea of God as Fear when God in Jesus takes on Himself the fear that is the cross? The once terrifying God behind Abraham’s sacrifice of “your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love” is now the Son of God sacrificed on the cross and no one holds death’s hand back. Isn’t this the complete reversal of God as Fear? Isn’t Lent an invitation to wonder and marvel at God as love? If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. The cross changed Jesus, and thus God?Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for February 26th: Genesis 21:1-7; Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; and Hebrews 1:8-12. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Names are important in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis 21:1, God’s name is Yahweh. Some versions of the Bible, such as my New Revised Standard Version, insert The Lord in the place of the name Yahweh so you may not see Yahweh printed at 21:1. The reason for this is that in the Jewish tradition the name of God shares the holiness of God and must never be treated casually, even by accident. For this reason, when the name of God is found in the text, it is not spoken. Rather, the title The Lord is inserted piously in its place. Whether the name Yahweh appears in your biblical text or not, it is there. It has meaning. Its presence, however, is premature in that the name Yahweh is not revealed until Moses approaches the burning bush at Exodus 3:14. There, the name is explained as “‘I am who I am.’” God is described as the essence of being, of existence itself. Even though this explanation comes a full book later in the Bible, it is used already at Genesis 21:1. In today’s story of Isaac’s birth, it is Yahweh, the one who is being and who shares existence, who allows for 90-year-old Sarah to give birth to her first born. Before getting to that, let’s talk about the names Abraham and Sarah. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham as they enter into covenant. The former name means “exalted ancestor” and the latter “ancestor of a multitude.” In honour of this same covenant, God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah. Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose name is changed by God. The former name means “my princess” and the latter “princess to all.” Both signify the divine promise that they will be the ancestors of a great multitude. The name of Isaac is interesting in that its source story changes. Isaac means “he laughs.” In Genesis 17:17, Abraham fell on his face and laughed at God’s promise that he will have a son at the age of 100. Sarah laughs as well at 18:12 since she is 90. When Yahweh hears the laughter, it is definitely understood as laughing at God’s promise. Sarah grows scared and denies laughter, but Yahweh says, “‘Oh yes, you laughed.’” (18:15) All of this changes in today’s Genesis passage as Yahweh’s promise is fulfilled with Isaac’s birth: “Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’” (21:6) Names have a profound significance in the Hebrew Bible. If you have the inclination, look at the footnotes throughout Genesis of what the names of God mean (14:19; 16:13; 17:1;21:33; 28:3; 32:30; 33:20; et al.). The names are attempts to convey the ongoing interactions of the eternal God in history and with people. As Abraham’s, Sarah’s and Isaac’s names reflect who they are, God’s names represent the changing relationships of faith. These name changes reflect the Hebrew Bible’s openness to change as part of the divine nature. The Bible and especially Christian theology struggle with this idea (Mostly because Christian theology used Greek philosophy as its guide.). In today’s passage from Hebrews, for instance, we read, “But you are the same …” That “you” is the glorified Jesus. Unchanging eternity is a concept meant to honour God, but how can the life, death and resurrection of Jesus not change Jesus, and thus God? An unchanging God seems to be a disengaged God, but Jesus is God’s lived rejection of such a possibility. Does the holiness of God require an eternal stasis or does Jesus’ life ask us to think otherwise? Does Jesus’ cross insist that we not only look at it from our perspective, but also from that of God’s? The cross should change us. Did it change God too? If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.sneucc.org/lectionary. |
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