In 2 Cor 12:2-10 St. Paul writes of "a certain person," i.e., himself, who was "caught up in Paradise...." and received revelations of "surpassing excellence." Then God gave him a thorn in the flesh lest he boast of such revelations. Also, presumably lest his personal charm be the reason people believed his Gospel.
I also thank God for gifts of unutterable delights that are impossible to put into words. I'm so lucky. Today in church when I heard this passage I thought maybe that is why I feel so thorny.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Woman of Faith
The Canaanite Woman of Mt 15:21-28 (also known as the Syro-Phoenician woman of Mk 7:24-30) shows faith in action. And what does that faith look like?
Persistence. The disciples ask Jesus to get rid of her: "she keeps crying after them" -- and then even Jesus can't get rid of her.
He tries: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she persists.
He tries again: "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." Phoo!
She persists again: "Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
And thereby I sometimes think accomplishes the salvation of the Gentiles!
I used to worry that faced with the objections, I would never be able to come up with something so clever. Then I realized it's history. She did it. She answered for us. Just as he did it. He died for us.
Once and for all.
Persistence. The disciples ask Jesus to get rid of her: "she keeps crying after them" -- and then even Jesus can't get rid of her.
He tries: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she persists.
He tries again: "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." Phoo!
She persists again: "Yes, Lord, but even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
And thereby I sometimes think accomplishes the salvation of the Gentiles!
I used to worry that faced with the objections, I would never be able to come up with something so clever. Then I realized it's history. She did it. She answered for us. Just as he did it. He died for us.
Once and for all.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Anointed LIstener: The Real Ending of Mark
The Gospel of Mark is sometimes called a passion narrative with a prologue. Well, it also has an epilogue.
The ending of Mk 16:8 shows three women fleeing the empty tomb, terrified. "They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."
Well, obviously somebody talked because we know the story! Mark's epilogue gives us a list of Resurrection appearances and a brief account of the beginning Church: First to Mary Magdalene, who at first was not believed;* a couple walking in the country; a reprimand to doubting disciples (later conflated by John into Thomas), the power of Pentecost and Ascension (Mk 16:9-20).
The Evangelist Apostle Paul includes such a list as the tradition handed to him: "I delivered to you...what I also received...he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve... to more than five hundred brethren at one time" Paul adds his own epilogue, ending with "Last of all....he appeared also to me" (I Cor 15:3-8).
A charming alternative epilogue to Mark, footnoted in my RSV, says, "But they [the women of v. 8] reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."
The ending of Mk 16:8 shows three women fleeing the empty tomb, terrified. "They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."
Well, obviously somebody talked because we know the story! Mark's epilogue gives us a list of Resurrection appearances and a brief account of the beginning Church: First to Mary Magdalene, who at first was not believed;* a couple walking in the country; a reprimand to doubting disciples (later conflated by John into Thomas), the power of Pentecost and Ascension (Mk 16:9-20).
The Evangelist Apostle Paul includes such a list as the tradition handed to him: "I delivered to you...what I also received...he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve... to more than five hundred brethren at one time" Paul adds his own epilogue, ending with "Last of all....he appeared also to me" (I Cor 15:3-8).
A charming alternative epilogue to Mark, footnoted in my RSV, says, "But they [the women of v. 8] reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."
But Mark's final redactors left in the fear, clearly separating the fleeing non-witnessing from the proclamation that went out and got handed down to you and me. Maybe including the fear makes us realize that an encounter with the Risen Lord is scary, especially because Jesus' appearance includes a charge to proclaim him.
You don't get to meet Jesus and then go back to what you were doing before. 'Oh yes I saw the Christ today, now where was I?" No. The Emmaus travelers were heading away from Jerusalem UNTIL. Peter was fishing UNTIL. Saul was rushing to kill Christians in Damascus UNTIL.
Whatever you were doing before, when you have that awesome encounter, you have to spread the Good News. You have to write your own epilogue. And like the evangelist, you have to publish at some point even though the story is never-ending.
So: do not preach that Mark's "real ending" is verse 8. It just isn't true. Mark really ends in power and proclamation. The "real Ending" is still being written. We must live out our own epilogue, Jesus' sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.
____________________________________
*Lot of unbelief at the time of these encounters; like, "Do you think we found this easy to swallow? But we SAW him! We TOUCHED him! We ATE with him!"
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Two Goats: Leviticus 16
We find the holiness of liturgy established in the desert--along with the fearsomeness of the Holy, which must be approached verrry carefully. Along with the special garments the High Priest and the people make certain prescribed offerings for sin, which survive in their essense and spirit to this time, in the holiest of Jewish holy days, Yom Kippur.
Three and more millenia ago, the Day of Atonement began in blood, with the sacrifice of a bull.
Then two goats were brought forward to have hands laid on by the priest. One offered to the Lord was sacrificed and the blood also used.
The other goat, by casting of lots,* was dedicated "to Azazel." In Leviticus 16:20-34, and"The goat shall bear their iniquities upon him to solitary land"--i.e., it bears the people's sins into the wilderness.
Who is Azazel? The basic meaning is "sent away." The scapegoat is called the "goat of departure." In the days of the Second Temple, the goat was actually pushed over a cliff so as to prevent its wandering back into the herd. (Was a red thread tied to its horns a way to identify it in earlier times in case it did?) Because of the cliff thing, post-biblical teachers wanted to say Azazel meant "strong mountain" from which the goat was cast. And of course even later than that, closer to medieval times, hints appeared of some kind of jinn or devil and maybe even the leader of a pack of fallen angels. But the original meaning shows that this scapegoat was the one that was "sent away."
Cyril of Alexandria sees the scapegoat as a foretype of Christ. I do recall an occasion where people wanted to throw him over a cliff. After his baptism Jesus had been driven into the wilderness by the Spirit.
The thing I love the most about this passage is that it prescribes the keeping of this feast each year on the tenth day of the seventh month; and so it will be celebrated this coming fall on September 26th.
*****************************
*urim and thummin, the holy dice in the priest's bib--and to be found on the Yale seal of all places.
Three and more millenia ago, the Day of Atonement began in blood, with the sacrifice of a bull.
Then two goats were brought forward to have hands laid on by the priest. One offered to the Lord was sacrificed and the blood also used.
The other goat, by casting of lots,* was dedicated "to Azazel." In Leviticus 16:20-34, and"The goat shall bear their iniquities upon him to solitary land"--i.e., it bears the people's sins into the wilderness.
Who is Azazel? The basic meaning is "sent away." The scapegoat is called the "goat of departure." In the days of the Second Temple, the goat was actually pushed over a cliff so as to prevent its wandering back into the herd. (Was a red thread tied to its horns a way to identify it in earlier times in case it did?) Because of the cliff thing, post-biblical teachers wanted to say Azazel meant "strong mountain" from which the goat was cast. And of course even later than that, closer to medieval times, hints appeared of some kind of jinn or devil and maybe even the leader of a pack of fallen angels. But the original meaning shows that this scapegoat was the one that was "sent away."
Cyril of Alexandria sees the scapegoat as a foretype of Christ. I do recall an occasion where people wanted to throw him over a cliff. After his baptism Jesus had been driven into the wilderness by the Spirit.
The thing I love the most about this passage is that it prescribes the keeping of this feast each year on the tenth day of the seventh month; and so it will be celebrated this coming fall on September 26th.
*****************************
*urim and thummin, the holy dice in the priest's bib--and to be found on the Yale seal of all places.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Maundy Thursday
On this fine dampish spring blessed day our Lord gave us the Eucharist. He washed our feet and we didn't understand what he was doing to us.He gave the New Commandment: Love One Another, as he himself loved us to the end.
I can close my eyes and feel myself gathered to him while he prays over us. The chronic and acute sins are subsumed in the Great Prayer, that we all may be one.
We can only faintly sense the glory of this day; the giftedness of the Sacrament; the majesty of this divine human who sanctifies our humanity, and the absolute personal intention of Jesus' prayer. He did all this for us. That means me. That means you.
How can one love enough to break through this prison of sin?
I can close my eyes and feel myself gathered to him while he prays over us. The chronic and acute sins are subsumed in the Great Prayer, that we all may be one.
We can only faintly sense the glory of this day; the giftedness of the Sacrament; the majesty of this divine human who sanctifies our humanity, and the absolute personal intention of Jesus' prayer. He did all this for us. That means me. That means you.
How can one love enough to break through this prison of sin?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
A True Story (John 8:2-11)
Jesus got up early that morning and started teaching in the Temple. While he is sitting there teaching away, some devious men haul in a woman "caught in adultery" and place her "in the midst" of all the people who had gathered to hear Jesus speak (v. 2). The connivers ask Jesus, "What do you say about her?"
After doodling in the dust, Jesus answers that the one without sin be the first to throw a stone. Well... they asked! Hearing this, everyone goes away "beginning with the eldest" (I love that part).
Even the people gathered to hear Jesus presumably have drifted away from the scene. But the woman stays.
Jesus, the one without sin, is the only one who does have the right to judge the woman. She must understand that, otherwise why not go away with the others? In what Raymond Brown, that wonderful scholar, describes as a delicate balance, Jesus (after more doodling) looks up and asks her, "Has no one condemned you?... Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." That is, the sinless one, the true judge, shows mercy to the sinner without condoning her sin, and he calls her to change her life.
The early Church did not like this story, and it was included in Scripture very late. My old Greek professor, Eugene Goetchius, pointed out that the principle of lectio difficile supports the genuineness of the story. The early Church found the story hard to read because they were encouraging virtue. The first writers wanted to leave this woman out of the Bible. But the story just would not go away.
Finally, the community believed this Gospel and put it in, some in Luke and some in John.
True story: The true judge has freed an adulterous sinner, not only from her punishment but from the sin itself; and she loves him always.
After doodling in the dust, Jesus answers that the one without sin be the first to throw a stone. Well... they asked! Hearing this, everyone goes away "beginning with the eldest" (I love that part).
Even the people gathered to hear Jesus presumably have drifted away from the scene. But the woman stays.
Jesus, the one without sin, is the only one who does have the right to judge the woman. She must understand that, otherwise why not go away with the others? In what Raymond Brown, that wonderful scholar, describes as a delicate balance, Jesus (after more doodling) looks up and asks her, "Has no one condemned you?... Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." That is, the sinless one, the true judge, shows mercy to the sinner without condoning her sin, and he calls her to change her life.
The early Church did not like this story, and it was included in Scripture very late. My old Greek professor, Eugene Goetchius, pointed out that the principle of lectio difficile supports the genuineness of the story. The early Church found the story hard to read because they were encouraging virtue. The first writers wanted to leave this woman out of the Bible. But the story just would not go away.
Finally, the community believed this Gospel and put it in, some in Luke and some in John.
True story: The true judge has freed an adulterous sinner, not only from her punishment but from the sin itself; and she loves him always.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Catholic Attack
Reading Merton has led to what my soul mate used to call a "Catholic attack." In a selection from The Seven Storey Mountain he recounts his first visit to a Catholic church where the assistant preached on the divine and human natures of Christ. I can not imagine hearing that kind of preaching in my parish today. Merton says the attraction to Catholicism as "They know what they believe..." With the piskies (as said soul mate used to call us; he was a cradle one) it's more like, Come as you are and stay as you are, whatever!!
In the return to a few minutes of sitting still before morning prayer, tears come up and it takes me a while to realize what they are about: a yearning for true doctine!
Then read about Abraham and Isaac (contemplating Sarah's feelings); the writer of the letter to the Hebrews' lovely paragraph about Moses' faith ("He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt...."); and Jesus' teaching on eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
Then remembered when experiencing an attack of any kind, turn to the Lord. Tell God all about it.
Hopefully I can make the women's retreat the end of March.
In the return to a few minutes of sitting still before morning prayer, tears come up and it takes me a while to realize what they are about: a yearning for true doctine!
Then read about Abraham and Isaac (contemplating Sarah's feelings); the writer of the letter to the Hebrews' lovely paragraph about Moses' faith ("He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt...."); and Jesus' teaching on eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
Then remembered when experiencing an attack of any kind, turn to the Lord. Tell God all about it.
Hopefully I can make the women's retreat the end of March.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Anointed Listener: Did Jesus Know He was Messiah?
The quesion, "Did Jesus know he was the Messiah?" is not a new one.
In fact, I wrote a paper about it 52 years ago at Wellesley. It only got a B+ with a comment from professor that I had read the scholars thoroughly and he now suggested I read the actual Scriptures.
And so I have done so and now answer out of that reading.
To ask the question of self-awareness means to put oneself into Jesus' consciousness as well as to undertake decisions about one's relationship to the early Church that produced the Gospels.
For according to the Gospels, Jesus certainly understood his mission. "I am he," revealed to the Samaritan woman; and "I am the Way the Truth and the Life," and "I am the Resurrection and the Life" revealed to Martha of Bethany. "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you," Jesus comments to Peter when he confesses, "Thou art the Christ." Jesus' answer to the question from John the Baptist, "Are you the one we are to expect or are we to look for another" referred to the deeds signifying the coming of the Kingdom. According to the New Testament, Jesus was a prophet and more than a prophet, a Son of David whom David calls Lord. How then, can the New Testament witness think Jesus less self-aware than Jeremiah, Amos, and John the Baptist (who did not deny he was not the Christ)?! And of course the great Revelation at Jesus' baptism resonates on the Mount of the Transfiguration and at the Cross.
We do find conflicting traditions of Jesus' always being aware of his Sonship (such as Luke and the overall high Christology in John) versus growing into his mission--the desert experience after his great revelation at his baptism; and the wonderful argument with the Cyro-Phoenician woman where she calls him into wider awareness.
The current modern attempt (going back to 19th century) to get back to historical Jesus brushes off most of his sayings and doings as not really Jesus. We then find a humble Nazarene teacher speaking humble Nazarene things. Then the church blew him and his mission out of proportion according to this line of reasoning.
I can understand that folks want to do that. Obviously we all like the disciples misunderstand that gentle and lowly of heart one who spoke with authority and cleansed the Temple. But facile introduction of this particular question invites you to assume we can throw out the witnesses. The question of Jesus' self-awareness is thus an overintellecutalizing distraction that doesn't even stand up intellectually. It puts one into a position of non-humility of non-building up. It will confuse the children of all ages.
If we, the Church, are to realize our own identity in this Redeemer, if we are to call him Lord, I think we have to re-pent, i.e., re-think, and believe the Gospel.
In fact, I wrote a paper about it 52 years ago at Wellesley. It only got a B+ with a comment from professor that I had read the scholars thoroughly and he now suggested I read the actual Scriptures.
And so I have done so and now answer out of that reading.
To ask the question of self-awareness means to put oneself into Jesus' consciousness as well as to undertake decisions about one's relationship to the early Church that produced the Gospels.
For according to the Gospels, Jesus certainly understood his mission. "I am he," revealed to the Samaritan woman; and "I am the Way the Truth and the Life," and "I am the Resurrection and the Life" revealed to Martha of Bethany. "Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you," Jesus comments to Peter when he confesses, "Thou art the Christ." Jesus' answer to the question from John the Baptist, "Are you the one we are to expect or are we to look for another" referred to the deeds signifying the coming of the Kingdom. According to the New Testament, Jesus was a prophet and more than a prophet, a Son of David whom David calls Lord. How then, can the New Testament witness think Jesus less self-aware than Jeremiah, Amos, and John the Baptist (who did not deny he was not the Christ)?! And of course the great Revelation at Jesus' baptism resonates on the Mount of the Transfiguration and at the Cross.
We do find conflicting traditions of Jesus' always being aware of his Sonship (such as Luke and the overall high Christology in John) versus growing into his mission--the desert experience after his great revelation at his baptism; and the wonderful argument with the Cyro-Phoenician woman where she calls him into wider awareness.
The current modern attempt (going back to 19th century) to get back to historical Jesus brushes off most of his sayings and doings as not really Jesus. We then find a humble Nazarene teacher speaking humble Nazarene things. Then the church blew him and his mission out of proportion according to this line of reasoning.
I can understand that folks want to do that. Obviously we all like the disciples misunderstand that gentle and lowly of heart one who spoke with authority and cleansed the Temple. But facile introduction of this particular question invites you to assume we can throw out the witnesses. The question of Jesus' self-awareness is thus an overintellecutalizing distraction that doesn't even stand up intellectually. It puts one into a position of non-humility of non-building up. It will confuse the children of all ages.
If we, the Church, are to realize our own identity in this Redeemer, if we are to call him Lord, I think we have to re-pent, i.e., re-think, and believe the Gospel.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Living Water
"Everyone who drinks of this wqater will thirst again." John Chapter 4
Cool, cool water on a hot day. Our human Lord is weary. Resting at Jacob's well, he begins his divine revelation by asking the lone woman drawing to give him a drink. She denies him and misunderstands him but keeps talking to him (Clearly he is harmless and she knows how to take care of herself.) Woman has no social position to keep up and so has left behind the necessary hyposcrisies. Perhaps having broken the social taboo against living in sin with a man she can more easily cross the boundary against conversing with a Jew.
Of course Jesus didn't save his Messiah-ship for outcasts only. His friend Martha whom he loved snd who fulfilled every duty of the home would confess him as the Christ (chapter 11). Today, though, at the well, this Samaritan woman received a spirit so powerful from the one who revealed himself to her ("the one who is standing before you, I am he") that she ignited the spirit of an entire town. "Come and see 'a man who told me all that I ever did; could this be the Christ?"
For yes, the Samaritans expected the Christ. Samaritans broke off from the Jews in--what?--the 7th or 8th century BCE and stayed with the 5 books of Torah. But prophets did arise among them, we have learned, called Ta'ebs, who prepared theirSamaritan hearts for Christ. One day our Bible group studied this passage by role playing, and I got to play her, the woman at the well. As the people came out and the disciples re-gathered, I rested quietly on the wall of the well and felt how my heart had been ploughed and softened to receive the Messiah.
And likewise the town! Their hearts were prepared by their prophets, and so they believed her, this outcast woman, enough to troup out to see for themselves. What what did they encounter?
............................. (we will have to see for ourselves..... until we also say):
"We no longer believe because of your word but have seen for ourselves he is the Savior of the World."
So the beloved community begins--the community that produced this incredible Gospel from the spring of water they received from the Christ, the living water of the Spirit that is welling up to eternal life.
Cool, cool water on a hot day. Our human Lord is weary. Resting at Jacob's well, he begins his divine revelation by asking the lone woman drawing to give him a drink. She denies him and misunderstands him but keeps talking to him (Clearly he is harmless and she knows how to take care of herself.) Woman has no social position to keep up and so has left behind the necessary hyposcrisies. Perhaps having broken the social taboo against living in sin with a man she can more easily cross the boundary against conversing with a Jew.
Of course Jesus didn't save his Messiah-ship for outcasts only. His friend Martha whom he loved snd who fulfilled every duty of the home would confess him as the Christ (chapter 11). Today, though, at the well, this Samaritan woman received a spirit so powerful from the one who revealed himself to her ("the one who is standing before you, I am he") that she ignited the spirit of an entire town. "Come and see 'a man who told me all that I ever did; could this be the Christ?"
For yes, the Samaritans expected the Christ. Samaritans broke off from the Jews in--what?--the 7th or 8th century BCE and stayed with the 5 books of Torah. But prophets did arise among them, we have learned, called Ta'ebs, who prepared theirSamaritan hearts for Christ. One day our Bible group studied this passage by role playing, and I got to play her, the woman at the well. As the people came out and the disciples re-gathered, I rested quietly on the wall of the well and felt how my heart had been ploughed and softened to receive the Messiah.
And likewise the town! Their hearts were prepared by their prophets, and so they believed her, this outcast woman, enough to troup out to see for themselves. What what did they encounter?
............................. (we will have to see for ourselves..... until we also say):
"We no longer believe because of your word but have seen for ourselves he is the Savior of the World."
So the beloved community begins--the community that produced this incredible Gospel from the spring of water they received from the Christ, the living water of the Spirit that is welling up to eternal life.
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