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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study |
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Scripture Readings for June 2003
If you would like to receive these daily scripture readings by email, click email list service. These short readings from the Christian Bible are read daily at community prayer in Taizé, an ecumenical and international Christian community in France. The Bible reference indicates a longer passage from scripture. You are invited to read the longer passage in the morning before you begin your daily activities, and then to ponder the reading, in silence and prayer, as it comes to mind during the day. For a brief explanation of how I am reading the Christian Bible, please go to Exegesis or to Witness.
In the gospel of Mark, Jesus sends out his disciples, saying: "Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation." The earliest manuscripts of the gospel of Mark 16 end with verse 8, which reports that the women who discovered the empty tomb ran away in fear and without telling anyone what they saw. In this version of the gospel there is no report of a resurrection appearance by Jesus to his disciples. So, it seems likely that an editor added verses 9-20 to Mark 16 in order to strengthen its witness to the resurrection. In this commissioning of the disciples Jesus describes signs that will be given to those who believe. These include the following: "they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up deadly serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." (vs. 17-18) The tradition of snake handling in the church comes from taking this passage literally. More important, of course, is the good news of God's forgiving love and the healing that comes through faith and forgiveness. In a vision, Isaiah heard the voice of the LORD say, "Whom shall I send?" And Isaiah answered, "Here I am, send me." The young prophet has a vision of LORD seated on a throne with six-winged seraphs flying above the throne calling, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." (vs. 2-4) Despairing, the prophet cries, "I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips." And then a seraph flies to him with a live coal in his hand and, touching the prophet's mouth, says, "Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." (vs. 5-6) Now, when the LORD calls for someone to send, the prophet answers, "Here I am; send me!" (v. 8) It is hard to imagine what Isaiah must have felt when he became clear about his calling. But notice in this story that his first reaction to being in God's presence is to confess his sin and unworthiness. That ought to be how we come before the LORD - humbly and with contrition for the evil we have done and the good we have left undone. Then we may experience, as Isaiah did, the forgiving love of God. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: "Some think that by using many words in their prayer, they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask." This is the passage from scripture teaching the Lord's Prayer. In the middle of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his disciples how to pray. First, he cautions them against being verbose. God knows what is in their minds and hearts, so there is really no need to put our thoughts and feelings into words. Then, Jesus teaches the disciples the Lord's Prayer. The Catholic version of this prayer more accurately records the teaching from the gospel of Matthew, because it ends with the phrase, "But deliver us from evil," (Mt. 6:13b) which concludes the prayer in the gospel. The remainder of the prayer that Protestants pray is not in the New Testament, but is a concluding phrase added by the early church. The Lord's Prayer is recorded in the gospel of Luke, but with slightly different words: "Father, hallowed by your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial." (Lk. 11:2-4) This prayer omits the references to heaven and the phrase "your will be done" after "your kingdom come." We can't know the precise words Jesus taught his disciples, but the key elements of the prayer are in both versions: calling on God as Father, hallowing God's name, requesting food and forgiveness, making a commitment to forgive, and asking for help to avoid temptation. In the gospel of John, Jesus prays to God for his disciples: "Keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one as we are one." This prayer is only recorded in the gospel of John. It comes just before Jesus enters the Garden of Gethsemane and is arrested. Jesus prays that the Father will be with his disciples, as the Father has been with him. This is a powerful prayer, which many have read throughout the ages as strengthening the witness of the church. The plea of Jesus is that the disciples of Jesus may be one with God, in the same way that Jesus was one with God. What does this mean? Jesus was separate from God; he prays to God and refers to God as Father. Yet, Jesus says the disciples may be one with God while they live, as he has been. The claim that God may be known in human life is audacious and not to be taken for granted. This remains a great mystery. I am confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the day of Christ Jesus comes. This letter was written by Paul and Timothy, "servants of Christ Jesus," to "all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi." (v. 1) It begins with Paul's familiar salutation, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (v. 2) Grace is a Greek concept, and peace is the Hebrew word "Shalom." Together these two words represent a joining of Greek and Jewish understandings that enabled Greek-speaking Jews, like Paul, to organize churches in Roman cities that include both Gentiles and Jews. Paul seems to believe the return of Christ Jesus is immanent, and this expectation is certainly written into the gospels as well. Two millennia later, we may wonder how to understand the delay in the Lord's coming. Were the first Christians mistaken? Or, was the Lord among them in their weakness and longing? Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. Instead, repay with a blessing, for to this you were called. This letter of instruction is written "To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia." (1:1) Members of churches in these areas are encouraged to live moral lives, to be sympathetic to one another, to be compassionate and humble. They are also charged to respond to evil with a blessing, for this is their Christian calling. The letter does not refer to a teaching by Jesus to add weight to the author's words, but instead quotes from Psalm 34:12-16. "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." (3:10-12) The letter recommends Jewish faith to Christians! May Christians today have ears to hear. You are my lamp, LORD; you light up my darkness. This psalm contains images of the LORD as protector, defender, and savior. The psalmist calls in distress, and the LORD becomes angry. "Smoke rose from his nostrils, consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew, he soared on the wings of the wind . . .. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them." (vs. 8-10, 14) If this language were taken literally, it would be impossible to call on God as Father. For the image here is of a great beast that rides forth to avenge his favored people by killing their enemies with fire and lightning. Instead, let us remember from the psalm the image of God as a lamp that dispels our darkness. This, too, is a figurative affirmation, as all language about God is metaphorical. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says in a parable: "Some, like seeds sown in good soil, listen to the Word of God, accept it, and bear much fruit." The parable of the sower is very familiar. A man sows seeds, but not all of these fall on fertile soil. What does not, may spring up but will not flourish. Only seeds sown on fertile soil will take root and bear fruit. In the gospel presentation of this parable Jesus explains what it means in detail to his disciples. The seed is the word of God. It will only flourish and bear fruit in the hearts of men and women who have faith. In Matthew 13:3-23 this parable is told in a very similar fashion, but the gospel writer quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 in full whereas the account in the gospel of Mark paraphrases these two verses. In Luke 8:4-18 the account is closer to the version of the story in the gospel of Mark with even a shorter paraphrase of the verses from Isaiah. The different references to Isaiah in these three gospel versions of the same story are more likely the choices made by the authors of the gospels, rather than different memories by disciples of the words spoken by Jesus. God says: "I am the Beginning and the End. I shall give water from the well of life freely to anyone who is thirsty." This is the end of the vision presented in the Revelation to John. The first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and a new heaven and earth have appeared. The new Jerusalem has descended from heaven, and God has come to dwell in this holy city with the chosen people. A voice from the throne of God says, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (v. 4) What are we to make of this scene and these words? Must we understand this as a literal description of the end of the world? Or, may we see this vision as a figurative description of the faith of the church that God is the Creator and Redeemer of life for all those who respond in faith? Much has been written about the symbolism of the Revelation to John, but most is speculative and beside the point. The last book of the New Testament affirms that God will not abandon creation, but will bring all those with faith into a redeemed life. This is the hope and prayer of the church. June 10, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 In each person the Holy Spirit manifests action for the good of all. Paul is writing to encourage the Christians in Corinth to stop quarreling. He explains that there are different gifts of the Spirit: "There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord." (v. 4) He urges the Corinthians to recognize that each member of the congregation has a contribution to make for the good of the whole church and that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. The issue isn't whose gift is best, but using the various gifts for the good of all. Can we help Christians feel that they are making an important contribution to the life of their community, no matter how small that contribution may be? Can we contribute to the church in a way that helps others contribute for the good of all? The gospel of John reports that the Risen Christ breathed upon his disciples and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven." The key to understanding this passage is verse 29: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to have faith." The passage records that Jesus appeared to his disciples after his death and gave them the Holy Spirit. One of the disciples, Thomas, was not present and did not believe what the others told him, but Jesus appeared to them again and then Thomas, too, was convinced of the resurrection. It is extraordinary that this story of two appearances to the disciples is not told in the other gospels of the New Testament. How could any gospel author omit such a powerful testimony! This particular story in the gospel of John is probably a literary embellishment of the author. It strongly makes the point that those who have faith without firsthand experience of the risen Lord are blessed. Moreover, the passage verifies that the disciples of Jesus receive his blessing and the Holy Spirit to enable them to carry on the ministry of proclaiming God's forgiveness of sins, for those who repent. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me. God has sent me to announce good news to the afflicted, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed." In the gospel of Luke, Jesus begins his ministry by reading from Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth and then announcing that the prophecy is being fulfilled in him. The text he reads from Isaiah refers to the Jubilee, when the Israelites are to forgive the debts of their neighbors. The Jubilee commandment is part of the law reported in Deuteronomy, but the proclamation in Isaiah comes in that part of the prophetic message that concerns the coming Day of the Lord and the end of time. Only in the gospel of Luke do we find this story of Jesus reading from Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth. Whether or not the events actually took place as the gospel presents them, the story conveys the idea that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jubilee hope proclaimed by Isaiah as the beginning of the time of "the Lord's favor." (v. 19) The LORD says: "I am coming to gather the people of every nation and language, and they will see my glory." This verse announces the new work that the LORD will do. It involves creating "new heavens and the new earth" and gathering all the nations to the holy mountain of Jerusalem, where not only the Israelites will serve the LORD but also the Gentiles. This vision in the Hebrew Bible helped Jewish and Gentile members of the early church understand that the will of God was bringing them together into a new community of faith. Today Jews read these words of Isaiah as a promise not yet realized, because the heavens and the earth have not been remade. However, Christians read these words as a prediction of the beginning of the church in Jerusalem and its spread throughout all the nations. Christians ought not to dismiss the Jewish interpretation, because the advance of the church has often been accompanied by Christian brutality against Jews. With all humility, gentleness and patience, bear with one another in love. Take every care to maintain the unity of the Spirit by the bond of peace." Paul's central conceern is the unity of the church. This must mean that disunity was a problem in the early churches, otherwise there would have been no reason for Paul to spend so much effort in promoting unity. In this passage Paul identifies unity in the church with the present of the Spirit. "There is one body and one Spirit," he writes, "just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." (vs. 4-6) But how is this fragile unity to be maintained? Paul counsels humility and patience, and bearing with one another in love. This is not merely a matter of sorting out problems, and it is certainly not standing in judgment of one another. The problems of the church cannot be resolved merely by taking a vote, or by pointing out the failings of others. The bonds within the church require instead gentleness and bearing with one another. Can we apply that advice to our own churches? What would this mean for us today? Blessed are they who put their trust in the LORD. Such a person is like a tree planted by the water. In a year of drought it is untroubled and never ceases to bear fruit. For desert peoples there is no more powerful image than water. And a tree beside water that can survive drought and even continue to bear fruit is one of nature's greatest wonders. The prophet returns to this image, as the author of Psalm 1 did, to encourage the people of Israel. Those who trust in God, Jeremiah says like the ancient psalmist, will live and be fruitful. Can we enter into this affirmation of hope? We may live where rain is plentiful and where trees that bear fruit are commonplace. But can we identify with the barren deserts of the Middle East and then imagine a green tree shimmering in the harsh sunlight, beside a flowing stream, and bearing succulent fruit? This is the hope that Jeremiah promises all who trust in the LORD. June 16, Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 God is utterly impartial. God never shows partiality to the detriment of the poor, but listens to the prayer of the one who is wronged. Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach, is in the scriptures that were read by Paul and the other Greek-speaking apostles, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint. For that reason, it was included in the first canon of the early church. The Protestant reformers of the 16th century, however, omitted Sirach and several other books, which are known today as the Apocrypha, from the Old Testament, because the official Hebrew canon established near the end of the first century also excluded these books. This is why Protestant and Catholic Bibles are not the same. The Catholic Bible includes in the Old Testament all the books of the Septuagint, but the Protestant Bible does not contain the books of the Apocrypha. Those who affirm that the Christian Bible is the literal or inerrant or infallible word of God urge us to embrace the Protestant Bible, as the only correct scripture for the church, and some go so far as to argue that only the King James Version of the Bible is authentic. This position, however, leads to the conclusion that Paul and the other first apostles of the Greek-speaking churches were reading false scriptures. It makes more sense to see the Christian Bible as an historical expression of faith within the development of the church. Various sections of the church have read slightly different forms of the Christian Bible. But have they not been inspired to be faithful by the scriptures they have read? And regardless of the particular version of the Bible they were reading, have not millions of Christians heard the good news of the gospel? Your God is with you. God will quiet you with his love and dance with joy for you. The author of this book traces his ancestry back to King Hezekiah and dates his ministry in the reign of Josiah in Judah (640-609 BCE). He criticizes corrupt practices and religious perversions in the kingdom, and he sees the threat from the north of Judah as God's judgment upon the people for their sin. This passage at the end of Zephaniah promises the restoration of Israel, after the time of their suffering and judgment. Rejoice, the prophet says, "O Israel...The Lord has taken away the judgments against you...[and] has turned away your enemies." (v. 15a) We live in a very different time, yet we yearn to know God will be with us despite our sin. This is the promise of the gospel and the word that must be made flesh in the life of the church. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus risen from the dead appears to his disciples and says: "Go, make disciples of all nations. And surely I am with you always, to the end of time." This is from the "Great Commission," as it is known in the life of the church. Jesus meets with his disciples in Galilee, confirms the authority God has given him, and commands them to go out into the world to make disciples of all nations. The gospel of Luke does not report this meeting of Jesus with his disciples in Galilee, but has Jesus appear to his disciples around Jerusalem. And in the Acts of the Apostles, which is a sequel to the gospel of Luke written by the same author, we read that Jesus ordered his disciples "not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father." (Acts 1:4) These are two different versions of how the church began. In the gospel of Matthew it begins in Galilee with the Great Commission. In the gospel of Luke the disciples stay in Jerusalem and then experience the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2). Both accounts cannot be factually true, because in the Luke-Acts story the disciples do not leave Jerusalem whereas in the gospel of Matthew they return to Galilee. But the stories agree that the risen Christ commissions the disciples to begin the church. The New Testament is not history, but a proclamation of the good news of the gospel. The LORD says: "Your salvation is in returning and rest, your strength lies in calm and trust." This single verse comes in the middle of a passage where the Israelites hope to be victorious over other peoples. And who can blame them? They want to escape the suffering and indignity of being a conquered people. Out of its original context, the teaching seems obvious and unsurprising. It is only when we recall the history of Israel and the suffering of the Israelites and their descendents, the Jews, that we begin to ponder the real meaning of this verse. If we were in real danger, if we were threatened with the loss of our national independence, if we were faced with slavery and worse, would we be able to affirm that our strength lies in calm and in trust? That is the challenge of faith. Though you have not seen Christ Jesus, you love him. Still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious it cannot be described. This letter was written for a church facing persecution. The author acknowledges the suffering of the followers of Christ but affirms the resurrection of Jesus, which follows his suffering and death. The letter promises that those who are faithful will be saved: "you are receiving the outcome of your faith," the author writes, "the salvation of your souls." (v. 9) It is hard for us to appreciate the context in which the New Testament was written. Christians were facing persecution, churches were divided, and leading apostles were promoting different versions of the gospel. Letters that encourage the members of a church to be patient and even to rejoice in their suffering, because it will lead to their glorious resurrection with Jesus, are miraculous acts of faith in a very difficult time. We ought to be humbled by the faith and hope of the first and second century Christians. The gospel of John reports that seeing many of his disciples turn away, Jesus says to the Twelve, "What about you, do you want to go away too?" Peter answers, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life." Why are many of the disciples leaving Jesus? Because he has said: "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (v. 53) We find this statement by Jesus only in the gospel of John. It comes in an argument with "the Jews," the name used by the author of the gospel for the antagonists of Jesus. But the statement by Jesus not only offends "the Jews" but also offends many of Jesus' disciples, who are, of course, Jewish, as was Jesus. The story in the gospel of John distinguishes the disciples from other Jews, who reject the teachings of Jesus. This very likely reflects the experience of the community for which the gospel was written. There is anger in this gospel against some in the Jewish community, who are called "the Jews." This anger is evidence that the author and his group of Jewish believers in Jesus have been rejected by other Jewish friends, perhaps even by their families. In this passage the author of the gospel, speaking for his Greek-speaking community of Jewish Christians, identifies Jesus as the source of eternal life. The gospel of John affirms that in Jesus we may discern "the way, the truth and the life." (Jn. 14:6) The gospel of Mark reports that during the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them, saying: "Take this; this is my body." The gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke all record that Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples the night he was arrested in Jerusalem. The gospel of John, however, reports that Jesus is arrested the night before Passover (Jn. 18:28). Both these accounts of the night Jesus was arrested cannot be factually true. In Mark's account of this last night with his disciples, Jesus blesses the bread, breaks it, and gives it to his disciples. Then he gives thanks for the wine and tells his disciples, ""This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." This passage seems to reflect the celebration of the Lord's Supper (or Communion or the Eucharist). Remember that the gospel is being written after the letters of Paul, after the church has existed for a generation. Is this a memory of an event in the life of Jesus? Or, is this an account of the sacrament in the life of the church, which is being read back into the life of Jesus? It seems likely that there was a Passover meal eaten by Jesus with his disciples, but the ritual of the Lord's Supper may not be much earlier than Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, which includes a reference to what are now known as "the words of institution" for the sacrament. (1 Cor. 11:23-26) Paul says that these words came "from the Lord." (v. 23) Given that Paul had talked with the disciples of Jesus, it is likely that he would have heard the story of the final night with Jesus from Peter or one of the other disciples who was present. But Paul explicitly does not identify a disciple as the source of this material. Instead, he suggests that the risen Christ has commanded the sacrament. Leave behind your sadness and put on for ever the beauty of God's glory. For the LORD will guide you in joy, with the mercy and saving justice that come from him. The book of Baruch is in the Apocrypha, material that is not in Protestant Bibles but is included in Roman Catholic Bibles. The reason for this is history. The early church spoke Greek and read as its scripture the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. In the fourth century, when the church decided on the present composition of the Christian Bible, the Old Testament contained the books in the Septuagint. Christian leaders were aware that not all of the books of the Septuagint had been included in the authorized version of the Hebrew scriptures, that was assembled by a council of rabbis at the end of the first century CE. But they believe that the books read as scripture by Paul and other Christians in the first three centuries of the life of the church should be included in the Old Testament. In the 16th century, however, Protestant reformers who translated the Christian Bible kept in the Old Testament only the books that the rabbis had approved. Baruch is attributed to the scribe of Jeremiah, the prophet, who wrote at the beginning of the 6th century BCE. The book is set during the Babylonian exile, but the style and language of the book suggests it has more than one author and may have been put into its final form as late as the first century BCE. The fifth chapter glorifies Israel and predicts its return from captivity in Babylon. "For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up, to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God." (v. 7) This is, of course, a reference to Isaiah 42:16-17, a text well-known to those who have enjoyed Handel's "Messiah." John the Baptist prepared the coming of Jesus by proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the whole people. This excerpt from a sermon by Paul is reported in Acts, when Paul was said to be in a synagogue in Pisidia. The sermon summarizes the history of Israel and then affirms that John the Baptist was not only proclaiming a baptism of repentance, but also pointed to Jesus as the Messiah. Later in Acts Paul encounters Apollos who is familiar with the teachings of Jesus but knows only the baptism of John. (Acts 18:25) This suggests that after the death of John the Baptist his followers did not simply attach themselves to Jesus, but formed an independent ministry lasting well into the time of Paul's writings. The gospels and Acts resolve the problem of two ministries by presenting John the Baptist as preceding and recognizing Jesus, as the Christ. John preached repentance and baptized those who did repent as a sign of God's forgiveness. The sacrament of baptism in the church originates with John, although the church gave it a new meaning. This was an important point for Paul to make in a synagogue of Greek-speaking Jews, and clearly some Jews were convinced because the church Paul created and nurtured included Greek-speaking Gentiles and Jews. The gospel of Mark reports that when Jesus had calmed the storm on the sea, the disciples were overcome with awe and said: "Who can this be? Even the wind and sea obey him." The story of Jesus calming the waters of the Sea of Galilee during a storm is recorded in almost identical versions in the first three gospels of the New Testament. The story not only reveals the power of Jesus but also the lack of faith of his disciples. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? (Mk. 4:40) In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" (Mt. 8:26) In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, "Where is your faith?" (Lk. 25) Of course, these are English translations of the Greek texts, which are very similar. In "The Complete Gospels" edited by Robert J. Miller, the translations of the Greek texts emphasize that faith is trust. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says to his disciples, "Why are you so cowardly? You still don't trust, do you?" In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, "Why are you so cowardly? Don't you trust me at all?" And in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, "Where is your trust?" The Greek word in these passages is "pistis," which means faith in the sense of trust. It does not mean belief. In the first three gospels the disciples are portrayed as believing that Jesus is the Christ, but not having much faith. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says: "Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge and you will not be judged." This teaching by Jesus is reported in both the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke. It is probably most familiar as, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged," or "Judge not, lest you be judged." (Mt. 7:1) It is part of a body of teachings found only in these two gospels. The gospel of Matthew presents most of these as the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7). In the gospel of Luke these teachings are partly collected in what is sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain (Lk. 6:17-40), because Jesus comes down from a mountain and then stands "on a level place" to teach a great crowd of people. We can see that this teaching is presented in two different contexts in the New Testament. In the gospel of Matthew, it is given to the disciples of Jesus in a setting that reminds the Jewish reader of the story of Moses receiving the law on Mount Sinai. In the gospel of Luke, the teaching is given to a multitude, which includes not only the disciples and people from Jerusalem but also people from Tyre and Sidon, cities with predominantly non-Jewish inhabitants. The author of the gospel of Matthew is writing for a largely Jewish Christian audience and stresses that Jesus is the fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. The author of the gospel of Luke wants to emphasize that these teachings of Jesus are universal and intended for Gentiles as well as Jews. Let yourselves be made new in the attitude of your minds and be clothed with the new self, which is created to be like God in justice and in holiness of the truth. Some of the early manuscripts do not refer to Ephesus, so this may have been a letter written to be circulated among Gentile churches. It is attributed to Paul, but differs sufficiently from his other letters in style and content that it may have been written by one of Paul's associates. The letter tells Christians that they are not to live as pagans, but are to be new persons in Christ. What would this mean? The letter indicates that those who are alive in Christ speak the truth to their neighbors, do not steal, do not speak falsely, and are kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving. Being a new person in Christ does not mean simply believing certain things about Jesus and God, but is a transformation of one's life that is manifested in ethical and spiritual conduct. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says to his disciples: "Who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves: The one at table, surely? Yet I am among you as the one who serves." This teaching is also recorded in the gospels of Mark and Matthew. In the gospel of Mark the sons of Zebedee, James and John, have asked to sit on the right and left hand of Jesus, when he comes in his glory. (Mk. 10:35-45) In the gospel of Matthew, the mother of James and John asks this privilege for her sons. (Mt. 20:20-28) In the gospel of Luke, however, we are told only that a dispute arose among the disciples "as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest." (Lk. 22:24) We cannot be sure what really happened. The account in the gospel of Mark is probably the earliest, but this does not mean it is factually more correct. The gospel of Mark is critical overall of the disciples, and this may be a story to strengthen that impression. The author of the gospel of Matthew generally softens the criticism of the disciples in the gospel of Mark by modifying the material in his gospel version, and this may be why the author of the gospel of Matthew attributed the request to the mother of James and John. The author of the gospel of Luke, by simply referring to a dispute among the disciples, gives the context for the teaching without blaming anyone in particular. In the gospel of Matthew, Peter says to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replies, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by any human, but by my Father in heaven." This passage in the gospel of Matthew has been cited by Christians to prove that Jesus identified Peter as the successor of Jesus and the first bishop of the church. The statement by Jesus to Peter, however, is only reported in the gospel of Matthew. The gospels of Mark (Mk. 8:27-33) and Luke (Lk. 9:18-22) record the conversation that Jesus has with his disciples about his identity and Peter's answer to Jesus' question, but in these two accounts Jesus does not say anything to Peter. It is most likely, therefore, that the author of the gospel of Matthew added the comment by Jesus to the story told by the gospel of Mark. We cannot know whether this was a story he heard, or whether he constructed the statement and attributed it to Jesus. We do know from Paul's letter to the Galatians and the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15, for e.g.) that James, the brother of Jesus, and not Peter was the head of the church in Jerusalem. The gospel of Matthew, however, presents the point of view that came to dominate the history of the church, which remembers Peter as the one chosen by Jesus to be his successor. May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may you be rooted and established in love, so that knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. This is part of a prayer that is included in the letter to the Ephesians. Christ is not understood as a king, but as a mysterious presence that can dwell within our hearts. This love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, can fill us with the spirit and fullness of God. This is Paul's mystical faith in Christ, a faith shaped by his experience of the risen Lord.Can we open our hearts to Christ? This is not the same as having certain beliefs about Jesus and God,. Can we be open to the arousal of our souls, to a movement of our hearts that reflects the forgiving love of God? This is the way to repentance, to a sense of forgiveness and acceptance, and to an experience of peace.
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