Introduction
I’d be a little worried that a talk like this could end up being something like new years resolutions. Maybe you all are far more disciplined, but there’s no sense in have high hopes and good intentions and not achieving much of anything. The way to plan well for the summer is by beginning now what you hope to achieve and accomplish over the summer. And for most of us, some kind of accountability and planning is necessary.
Planning for Summer from Holy Week
As it turns out, today is Monday of Holy Week, a week in which Christians have traditionally focused prayers and meditation and worship on the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus. So I’ve grouped my exhortations around three passages thematic linked by the approaching passion and death of our Savior. But it should be pointed out that all human planning ought to always be done from the vantage of the passion and death of Jesus. And this week happily underlines that for us. Who we are is bound up with the death and resurrection of this man. How could it not affect everything for us?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
CRF: Preparing for Summer
Monday, March 29, 2010
Bread for the Crowds
The Passover meal in which Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper is really the third Eucharistic meal in the gospel of Mark. In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, and gives it his disciples to give to the crowd. In the feeding of the 4000, Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, and gives it to his disciples to give to crowd. In the upper room, Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, and gives it to his disciples. And the implication is clear. The disciples are to take this bread, this meal to the crowd. And we know from the early chapters of Acts that this is exactly what they did: they were breaking bread from house to house, and before long there were so many widows, deacons were appointed to help oversee the distribution of bread. The disciples were faithful in handing out the bread that the Lord had given to them.
Sins of Youth
Trinity is a relatively young congregation. While some of you are as ancient as the hills, the lot of you are young. You are young children, you are young men, young women, young adults, young marrieds, and young parents. This means that we as a congregation must recognize that we are tempted largely by the sins of youth. You are tempted to rebel against godly authority, and You are tempted to replace those godly authorities with pathetic substitutes like professional athletes, cutting edge authors, rock stars, political pundits, celebrities of every stripe, and all manner of foolish friends in your desperate attempts to be hip and cool and intelligent. You are tempted to excess: if one beer is good, two must be better. And if you can’t quote me a verse, you can’t make me stop. You struggle with self control and discipline. How much time do you spend on Facebook? Video games? Chatting/Texting/Whatever? You are tempted to lust for worldly power, glory, beauty, and sex.
Palm Sunday: Triumphal Entry By Night: Mk. 14:12-31
Introduction
Today we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Lent as a season is a call to follow Jesus, and the gospels make it plain that this means following Jesus to Jerusalem where He was crucified. This road to Jerusalem culminates in Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem amid acclamations and palm branches, but Mark goes on to show us a second triumphal entry. And today we consider why.
Royalty Previewed
Mark records the first entry in chapter 11 and the second entry in chapter 14. We should begin by noting that both triumphal entries are preceded by recognitions of Jesus’ royalty. In Mk. 10:46-52, Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus in Jericho. Not only does Jericho remind us of the conquest under Joshua, but Bartimaeus calls out and addresses Jesus as “Son of David” (Mk. 10:47-48). In Mk. 14:3-9, Jesus is anointed with very costly oil. Jesus says that this anointing is for his burial, but we know that the burial of Jesus is the beginning of His enthronement. Jesus alludes to the royal undertones of this action by referring to the anointing/burial as “this gospel which will be preached in the whole world” (14:9).
Monday, March 22, 2010
Taking Dominion with Nanobots
From my father in-law:
An article on eFitness Now:
"In a miraculous medical breakthrough, scientists have developed nanobots that can travel through the blood stream and attack tumors. The nanobots actually attack the cancer by performing gene therapy and turning off the cancer growing gene in the tumor."
Read the article here.
Wow. Very cool.
Posting Security Guards on the Coast of Florida to ward off the Hurricanes
One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is the tower Babel. I love that story for a number of reasons, but one of them is for how amusing it is. All the nations gathered together in one speech, all proud and excited, planning to build a great city with a tower stretching into heaven. It’s huge, it’s gigantic, it’s worldwide, it’s corporate, it’s got fancy letter head, and all the networks are covering this project. The suits and ties are all there, along with the PhDs and the politicians and the rock stars and scientists. All the talk shows are talking, all the best sellers are musing on this city, this tower, this amazing project. And then the line comes, in subtle Mosaic sarcasm: “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.” And the Lord squinted down at the little red spot on the side walk of the universe, hmm…. He thought, what’s that little pile of ants milling so excitedly about? And the Lord came down to see what all the fuss was about. And while the Tower of Babel project was off to a good start, the text continues to emphasize the fact that God had to go down and see it, go down and scatter them. The Lord of the Universe goes down and gently confuses all the chatter, scatters them, and sends them off in confusion, cute little, pesky people.
Talking to a Corpse
In Ezekiel 37, the Lord brings the prophet to a valley full of old, dry bones, and asks Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And Ezekiel says that only the Lord knows, and the Lord commands Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones, to speak to them in the name of the Lord, and to tell them that they will live, that breath will enter them, that sinews will come upon them and flesh will once again cover them, and they will live and know that Yahweh is God. And Ezekiel proceeds to prophecy to the bones and there is a great rattling, and the bones come together, and breath comes into them, and they stand up and they are alive, and they are an exceedingly great army.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Job as Christ
When Job prays for his three accusers in the epilogue, he is a Christ figure praying, 'Father, forgive them...'
Genre and Interpretation in Job
Many critics have denied the essential unity of the book of Job, relegating the prologue and epilogue to an early myth, co-opted by a later poet-sage stretching the folk tale into an epic dialogue, with an Elihu scribe and perhaps a Wisdom scribe adding their two and three cents at various stages in the compilation of the final product of the book we now called Job.
A number of recent scholars have pointed out how unhelpful this redaction criticism really is. At the end of the day this get-out-your-scissors approach to exegesis leaves us with a pile of disconnected scraps which seems to be an elaborate evasion of responsibility on the part of interpreters. Who's to say what Job means when we're dealing with so many fragments, authors, editors, etc.?
The Crown of Suffering
As many have pointed out, suffering has a way of stripping away the extra things, the non-essentials. But it is the suffering, the pain, the loss that defines what those extra things are: family, cars, clothing, health, even food and drink become extras in so far as we endure their absence. The loss of them and pain have a way of narrowing priorities, clearing and clarifying the mind, values, relationships.
But Christian suffering does not reject the world. It does not refuse material possessions. Righteous suffering does not come to resent the extras. On the contrary, the extras become what they always were: grace. They are gifts, undeserved gifts. And they are glories. The child of God who emerges from the fray, emerges by grace, in grace, upheld and sustained by grace. The believer emerges with his or her face glowing. And who cares what Moses was wearing?
Job and the Sheep
Gustavo Gutierrez in his book On Job suggests that the maturation story in Job is in part an elaborate instance of what Jesus says is the case in Matthew 25 in the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Entering into the suffering of the weak brings individuals face to face with Christ. Christ is the one who is clothed, fed, and befriended. Service, suffering, and struggling is the path to encountering Jesus. And as the parable insists, this can be a surprising, unexpected conclusion -- the sheep wonder when they served Christ and the goats wonder when they didn't.
Gutierrez says this is a gloss on 1 Corinthians 13, where love of others is a mirror in which we see Christ dimly, and love is the excellent way toward the end of seeing Jesus face to face.
In Job, it is his suffering, the accusations, the loss which lead him to encounter Yahweh in the whirlwind. The darkness of death, pain, and accusations is how we see now "dimly," but this gives way to a conference with Yahweh, face to face.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sweet Rest
Throughout Leviticus 1-7, after a sacrifice is offered it ascends in smoke into the presence of God where it is a "sweet aroma" to the Lord. The word for "aroma" or "smell" is the word NICHOACH which is not far from the word NOACH which is the word for the name "Noah." We know the words are related simply by meaning. Noah's name means "rest" and the word here means "pleasant" or "soothing." We could say that the smell of the sacrifice brings "rest" to Yahweh. The sacrifice brings Sabbath to the conflict of sin and rebellion between God and man.
What's neat is that the book of Leviticus ends with several chapters dwelling on the Sabbaths of Israel (Lev. 23, 25-27). The book begins describing the rituals of making peace with Yahweh, the sacrifices that ascend to give rest to the Lord. And the book ends with instructions for how Israel is to live in this rest and peace. They are to be Sabbath keepers and Sabbath givers. As they have been forgiven, they are to be forgivers.
All Ends of Earth Remembering Him
A number of prophecies regarding Christ’s crucifixion are from Psalm 22. The Psalm opens with the piercing lament, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Ps. 22:1-2) The jeers of the passersby are found here too: “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!’ from verse 8. The accusations and taunts of soldiers and priests are well described in the imagery of bulls and lions and dogs surrounding Him, raging at Him in verses 12-13, 16. The Psalmist says that they have pierced his hands and feet, and divided his garments among them and cast lots for his clothing (22:17-18). Then at verse 21, the psalmist says, ‘You have answered me.’ And, He says, “I will declare Your name to My brethren, in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.’ And He begins calling upon Israel to fear the Lord and worship Him. And finally he turns to the rest of the world, and declares: “All ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the Kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship…” (22:27-29) And if David could sing this nearly a full millennium before Christ, how much more should we be able to sing this two millennia after Christ, even in our trials and pain? Jesus was the forsaken one, the surrounded one, the pierced one, and God has answered Him. He was answered in the resurrection with power and glory, and ever since the Church has taken up David’s song declaring the Name of Jesus to our brothers, to our families, and to the ends of the earth. And Jesus was not forsaken, surrounded, and pierced in order to give God a fighting chance. Jesus was forsaken, surrounded, and pierced so that the Kingdom might be His, so that all the ends of the world would remember and turn to Him, so that all the families of the nations would worship Him. And here we are eating and worshipping before the Lord just as David sung in the darkness of the Old Covenant three thousand years ago. As we lift this bread and wine, and declare to one another the name of the Lord, the name of Jesus, the name of our King, we do so because Jesus is the conquering King, the King who has reigned and will reigned until even those who have gone down into the dust cannot help but come out of their graves and bow before the Majesty. So come and worship, come and eat, come and declare His Name.
Wouldn't Rather Be Anywhere Else
You are gathered here now in the presence of God to worship the God of heaven and earth. You are gathered with your families, with your children in obedience to this God who spoke the stars and trees and oceans into existence. You are here to bow before the King of the universe, to confess that there is no other god in heaven or on earth or under the earth. You are here to confess that you are fallen, that you have sinned and not followed your King faithfully, and you are in this place to hear Him tell you that your sins are forgiven. For in the fullness of time, this God burst into our world in human flesh. This God walked among us the Lord of all and yet as the servant of all. This God came to His own, for His own, and was rejected by His own. But this was all in the plan, the plan from before the world’s foundation, the plan to seek and to save the lost. And so in God’s infinite wisdom, He came and suffered in human flesh for the sins of the world. And when Jesus was stapled to that Roman cross, the sins of the world were laid upon Him, the old world of death and sin and misery was laid upon Him, and when Jesus cried out in anguish, He cried out with your sins, your failures, your hurts, your pain upon Him, and when Jesus was forsaken by the Father, He was forsaken for you. And when Jesus died, your sins and the whole world of sin and death all died with Him. And in that instant, the old world came crashing down, and a new world began to be born as the Spirit rushed out with creative power once again. And in that moment the whole world began to see with that first centurion that ‘truly, this was the Son of God.’ And that is why we are here. We with countless millions of others who have been cleansed by the blood of the lamb, with countless millions down through the ages, with all the angels in heaven, are here to proclaim that God is all wise, that He is all Good, that He is King, the crucified King and worthy of all praise, all honor, all glory. And that is why we come, week after week, to hail our King, to bow before our King, to worship our King. And for us and for our children, we would not rather be anywhere else.
Wedding Homily: CJ & Lisa
The first church began in the Garden of Eden. The first church began on the sixth day of the history of the world. The first church, the first gathering of worshipers of the God of heaven had a membership role of two people. The first covenant of marriage was simultaneously the first membership covenant of the first church in the history of the world.
Think about it: the first sermon was preached by Adam when he broke into poetry and song at the sight of his beautiful bride, newly fashioned for him.
The first kiss of peace was also simultaneously a kiss of love.
This works in the other direction as well: the first church fight was also a marriage squabble.
The first worship war ended in the murder of a brother.
The first church was also the first family, the first marriage.
And this is why Paul quotes Genesis: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” And then he immediately says: this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Paul recalls the creation of Adam and Eve and sees Christ and the Church, joined into one body, one flesh.
Paul reads Genesis and immediately sees the body of Christ, one flesh, all mysterious.
Of course haunting the early chapters of Genesis is the first sin, the first act of church discipline, the first curses hurled into the world from the mouth of God. And Genesis says that God “drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (3:24)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Joseph and the Gospel
It's no secret that the story of Joseph in Genesis is one of the earliest and most thorough previews of Christ, but the parallels really are striking.
From the son of the Father who is sent to the brothers who mistreat him and "kill" him to the exaltation/resurrection as the Lord of the land, bestowing life-giving bread on the nations, the basic contours of the gospel are all there. Joseph dies for his brothers and family and ultimately the whole world in order to give them life in the great famine. And in the "resurrection" of Joseph and his ascension to the right hand of Pharaoh, the best land in Egypt is bestowed upon Israel. The ascension of Joseph means that he pours out life and grace and gifts on his people.
This morning in morning prayer we read specifically about the revelation of Joseph to his brothers and their return to their father. While the roles and types shift through the story, the brothers' initial disbelief matches the disciples with Christ very well. Similarly, Jacob plays the part of Thomas upon hearing the news that "he is alive." But when the tokens and gifts of Joseph are shown to him, he believes.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Two Angels and the Presence
My children point out that there were two angels guarding the entrance of the Garden when Adam and Eve were exiled from the presence of God. And there were two angels over the Ark of the covenant and woven into the curtains guarding the presence of God in the tabernacle and temple. And then at the resurrection there are two angels sitting in the empty tomb and two angels appear at the ascension announcing that Jesus will come again.
A couple of thoughts: The two angels in the empty tomb means that the "presence of God" is now fully localized in Jesus. The veil was torn at the crucifixion, and access to God is granted in Jesus. The angels are sitting in an empty tomb. They are no longer guarding the presence of God. The Ark has become an empty tomb. 'He is risen; He is not here,' they say. Where is Jesus? Where is the Presence? He's in the garden, and Mary will mistake Him for the gardener-Adam.
Then when they reappear at the ascension, it's the same message. Why do you stand here, staring up into the sky? Notice that they still aren't guarding the presence of God. Adam has returned to the garden. Jesus is in the presence of the Father, and He will send His Spirit to the disciples. The two angels do not guard the presence; now they announce to the disciples that Jesus is in the Presence and that He will come again.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Touchstone
The good folks over at Touchstone have published an article in the latest issue that I wrote with Peter Leithart. You have to get the hardcopy to read it, but at least now you know. And are you surprised? It's more on the book of Job.
Sacrificial Catechism: Yahweh's Unpresentable Parts
Mary Douglas suggests that the bodies of sacrificial animals correspond symbolically to the tabernacle topography and layout. On her reading, the entrails and genitals correspond to the Most Holy Place, the middle section of the animal with the fat and kidneys comes next corresponding to the sanctuary, followed by the head and meat sections for food which correspond to the outer court.
One obvious question that rises from this reading, which Douglas recognizes, is whether this is not too vulgar. Specifically: why align entrails and genitals with the Most Holy Place, the place of highest esteem and honor?
Douglas has several answers of her own to this question, but off the cuff, one possible parallel to this reading would be found in 1 Corinthians 12.
Could Paul have been working with something like this in mind when he wrote: "And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty..." (1 Cor. 12:23) Maybe so.
The Cup of the Kingdom
“They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, he would not drink. Then they crucified Him…” (Mt. 27:34)
We should recall that running up to this scene Jesus has described His own sufferings and death as a “cup” that He will drink. Back in chapter 20, Jesus asked James and John if they were able to drink the cup that He was about to drink (20:22). In chapter 26, when He instituted the Lord’s Supper at Passover, He gave the disciples the cup which He said was His blood shed (26:27-28). And then later in chapter 26, Jesus prayed to the Father that the cup might be taken from Him, but that if He had to drink it, He would submit to the will of the Father. So as Jesus refuses to drink the cup of sour wine mingled with gall, He is simultaneously accepting that cup of suffering which He has been speaking about all along. He was probably offered the sour wine as an anesthetic to help deaden some of the pain of crucifixion, but the cup that He was to drink required that He accept the pain. And so He does. He refuses one cup in order to drink the other. But what’s also interesting is that there is another string of uses of the word “drink.” At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, he records Jesus admonishing His disciples not worry about what they will eat or drink or wear because their heavenly Father will provide for all their needs (6:25-32). Then toward the end, in chapter 25, in the parable of the sheep and the goats in the kingdom, the emphasis is on giving Jesus food and drink and clothing through ministering to the “least of these my brethren” (Mt. 25:35-46). These passages describe what life in the Kingdom is to be like. In the Kingdom, we are not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear because we are expected to care for another, bearing one another’s burdens such that even the least among us are fed and clothed. But in the passion narrative, we see Jesus fulfilling this Kingdom life in shocking ways. He prays to his heavenly Father, and a cup to drink is provided. He calls out to His heavenly Father and He has clothing, even a scarlet robe. In the life of the Kingdom, the Father provides, but the Father provides a cup and clothing that is not painless. In fact, the point in Jesus’ decline of one cup in preference for the other, is an acceptance of pain, an endurance of suffering over the cup that might mask the pain. So what is this cup that we drink? This cup is the cup of suffering and death and blood, the cup of the cross. But this cross is not a dead-end; this cup of the cross is the cup that we drink in the Kingdom, assuring us that we need not worry about food or drink or clothing. This is the cup that we share with one another, even the least of these. And this cup is our glory, our crown, our joy, our hope.
The Son of God Goes Forth to War
As we continue to meditate on the sufferings and death of Jesus for our sins and for our salvation this season of Lent, one of the striking lessons that we need impressed over and over again is how the humility, weakness, and sufferings of Christ are His enthronement, coronation, and glory. Jesus is crowned with thorns and mocked as a delusional King, but God has spun the story of history, insisting by the power of the Spirit that His glory and power were evident in that moment. In the weakness of mockery and scorn, God was piling up the sins of the world unto His Son in order that He might be all in all, in order that all things might be reconciled in heaven and on earth in Him. In other words, God was revealing real kingship, real power, real authority in the suffering and death of Jesus. And He did this by taking our enemies, our sins, our failures, all that keeps us from peace and joy, and He made war on them all by taking them into His own body on the cross. And this is why we cannot doubt or be shy about the gospel. Jesus is King, and it should not come as a surprise that His Kingdom is coming and growing in much the same it was established. It was established in what looked like its disestablishment. Our King was crowned in what looked like His ruin. Our King was hailed in what sounded and looked like mockery and scorn. Our King destroyed all of our enemies in what looked like His destruction. Why would we be surprised to look back and see the same story throughout history in the great conquest of the world by our King? And this means that there is not anything in your life which is too ugly, too horrible, too shameful, too embarrassing that God cannot or will not transfigure into glory. We serve the God who is free and unbounded, the Sovereign God who rules all things, and His power is made especially obvious in our weakness. The Son of God goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain, His blood-red banner streams afar, who follows in His train?
Friday, March 05, 2010
When Jesus Began to Return
Speaking of the sufferings and death of Jesus and their centrality in the reconciliation of all things in God, Barth mentions in passing that included within this revelation is the resurrection which is the "commencement of His return." Easter was the beginning of the great return of Jesus. The Second Coming began in the resurrection of Jesus and will be completed at the consummation of all things.
Jesus "coming back" from the dead was the greater return. His final, physical return is not nearly so dramatic in one sense. All of human history since Easter occurs in the light of that great return from the dead.
Barth on the Freedom of Job
Barth says that the story of Job is all about (surprise) freedom.
"Freedom is not caprice. The relationship [between Yahweh and Job] could not be other than it is. The intercourse could not take a different course. yet there can be no question of any necessity of the relationship or ineluctability of the intercourse. For it is all grounded in and fashioned by free electing and disposing on the part of God and equally free obedience on that of Job."
Barth asks, "How does Yahweh come to be the Partner of the man of Uz in the drama of this history? He obviously is this with great seriousness and intensity. He manifestly could not be otherwise. By why is He? ... [the story] is one long demonstration of the boundless confidence which He has set in him and the fidelity which he has plainly sworn to him. But it is not, as the false and lying theology of the three friends presupposes and maintains, a moral or juridical law which is secretly above Him. Along the lines of His unchangeable fidelity, it is His self-determined and to that extent free and royal conduct." (CD IV.3.1, 386-387)
Blessing and Cursing
Carol Newsom again on the prose prologue in Job: along with most commentators, she puzzles over the euphemistic use of the word "bless" to mean "curse," running through the text. In fact the word "curse" doesn't even occur in the prologue of Job. The word for curse is always the word ordinarily used to mean "bless."
This is particularly striking since the central argument/contention in the introduction has to do with whether Job will "curse" God if all the "blessings" are taken away. Likewise, Job offers sacrifices for his children who may have "sinned and cursed God in their hearts" (1:5). This insinuates a kind of ambiguity in both directions: is "cursing" an absolute evil/rejection of YHWH? And pushing in the opposite direction, are all of God's material "blessings" absolutely good?
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Karl Barth and Carl Jung on Job
Heather den Houting has an essay on her blog from a couple of years ago comparing Karl Barth and Carl Jung on the book of Job.
She summarizes Jung's take on the book of Job as follows:
• In the Book of Job the nature of Yahweh is disclosed as “an antimony – a totality of inner opposites;”
• “Job realises God’s inner antinomy, and in the light of this realisation his knowledge attains a divine numinosity;”
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Strength in Weakness
Mark Horne points out in his commentary, that in Mark's gospel there is a "sandwich story" running in chapter 15. Beginning with the Roman soldiers mocking Jesus, sarcastically mocking Him as "King of the Jews" and ending with the Roman Centurion acclaiming in all seriousness, "Truly, this was the Son of God." In addition to Romans on either side of this episode, it's necessary to remember that the title "Son of God" means king. That was the title Augustus Caesar had given himself, and the same title functions throughout the Old Testament with thick royal overtones.
In both instances the Romans evaluate Jesus on the basis of His weakness. In the first scene the Romans are mocking Jesus because He is being led away to crucifixion. In the latter scene, the centurion acclaims Jesus as King, seeing Him dead on the cross. Both see a man in weakness, and yet both conclude vastly different things.
At the center there are three groups of people likewise mocking like the first Roman soldiers. But it is not until Jesus dies and the veil is torn in two that the Roman centurion sees the truth. The death of Jesus finally reveals the Most Holy Place; Jesus is revealed to be truly who He said He was.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
God Chews on Israel
Mary Douglas points out that there is a "sly 'inclusio'" in Leviticus 11 where the passage begins with the general description of clean animals which includes the characteristic of "chewing the cud" (Lev. 11:3). The word for "chewing the cud" means to go up or ascend, and while the word is repeated several times throughout the chapter with regard to chewing the cud, the conclusion is in 11:45 where God says: "For I am the Lord your god who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God." The word for "brings you up" is the same word for chewing the cud. Israel is the "cud" that God is "bringing up" and chewing on. (Leviticus as Literature, 49)
Man: Homo Adorans
"To name a thing, in other words, is to bless God for it and in it. And in the Bible to bless God is not a "religious" or a "cultic" act, but the very way of life. God blessed the world, blessed man, blessed the seventh day (that is, time), and this means that He filled all that exists with His love and goodness, made all this "very good." So the only natural (and not "supernatural") reaction of man, to whom God gave this blessed and sanctified world, is to bless God in return, to thank Him, to see the world as God sees it and -- in this act of gratitude and adoration -- to know, name and possess the world... "Home sapiens," "homo faber" ... yes, but, first of all, "homo adorans." The first, the basic definition of man is that he is the priest. He stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and offering it to God -- and by filling the world with this eucharist, he transforms his life, the one that he receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with Him. The world was created as the "matter," the material of one all-embracing eucharist, and man was created as the priest of this cosmic sacrament."
- Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World, 15.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Stories that Create Children
Newsom explores the genre of the prose introduction of Job and settles on a "didactic tale," drawing off of elements of fairytale as well as prophetic/parabolic tales.
She interacts with Susan Suleiman's work Authoritarian Fiction, who notes that didactic literature "infantilizes the reader." Newsom explains: "The subject position that didactic narratives offer the reader of whatever age is that of a child."
The genre of fairy tale, parable, or didactic tale as Newsom calls it revels in security and reassurance, a simple and unified vision of the world and morality, and all from the an authoritative voice.
While Jesus is clearly playing with some of these expectations in His parables, it is nevertheless striking to note how in this sense the genre of Jesus' stories assumes and even creates a child audience. If parables have at least on the surface a "paternal" voice, then Jesus is the Word of the Father for the children of Israel. Or in other words, the parables are children's stories only appreciated and loved by those who have "become children" for the Kingdom. Or yet another angle: These stories of Jesus are one of the effective ways that Jesus calls into being and creates a childish people. Listening to the stories of Jesus in faith is the way to become children who may enter the Kingdom. Parables are stories that create children.
Quarreling Genres
Carol Newsom, drawing off of Bahktin's polyphonic textual analysis, suggests that the differing genres in Job, particularly the prose bookends versus the dialogues in the center, are as much part of the story as the story itself.
Not only is there an argument between the friends and Job, or between Job and God, but there's even a "quarrel" resident in the genres. The "monologic" introduction presents a unified, ordered view of God, Job, and the universe, an ordered but deeply flawed view. Chapter 3 bursts out as a stark contrast to that vision, as Job unleashes his curses.
Newsom notes that this contrast is deeply embedded in the genre. A straight-forward prose cannot adequately account for differing perspectives and convictions, it leans in the favor one perspective, one truth. But a dialogue has the ability to give utterance to what might otherwise be "unspeakable." Job literally cannot curse in the prose and remains silent, but in the dialogue, he bursts out, voicing his pain and frustration.
Why Pastors Should Wear White Robes
I was reading the beginning of Acts to the family tonight, and I was asking my kids questions about the text, as is my custom. It says that as Jesus was lifted up into the air from the disciples, two men in bright white robes stood among them. And I asked my son, 'who do you think those men were?'
Without missing a beat, he said, 'pastors.'
Covered by the Blood or Guilty of the Blood
“Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you… For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread…” (1 Cor. 11:2, 23)
Here, Paul praises the Corinthians and reminds them of the traditions that he has delivered to them, and these traditions are those which the Lord Jesus began, the central one being the Lord’s Supper. The word for tradition literally means something like ‘hand down’ or ‘deliver.’ A tradition is that which is handed down from Father to Son, from generation to generation. A tradition is kept when it is delivered successfully to the next generation. In the case of the Lord’s Supper, Paul has delivered not only a way of celebrating a meal, but he has previously explained that this cup which we bless is the communion in the blood of Jesus and this bread which we break is the communion in the body of Christ. Jesus Himself had said that unless we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood we will not have life within us. When Paul handed down this meal, when he delivered this tradition to the Church in Corinth, he was delivering Jesus to the Corinthians. And this is why Paul is so concerned for their abuse of the table. Fighting and getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper was not just impolite or rude, it would make someone guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27).
The Military Industrial Complex in Your Heart
In our sermon text for this morning, Matthew notes that the Jews handed Jesus over because of envy. If envy can drive a mob to crucify a just man, we should not underestimate envy’s power in our own hearts, nor underestimate the underlying violence resident in the sin of envy. Jesus said that if you hate your brother in your heart, you have murdered him. James has this in mind when he asks, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” (Js. 4:1-2) James says that wars and fights come from lusts, desires, and covetousness. And it’s easy to spot envy in other people; people like to point out greed and lust for power in big targets like national governments, corporations, big businesses, and influential leaders, and these sins of course do grow up into big wars and fights.
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