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1 in Faith: A Christian Bible Study |
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Scripture Readings for October 2002
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 slightly longer passage from scripture. You are encouraged 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, you are invited to go to Exegesis or to Witness.
Jesus said: "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." This passage from the gospel of John seems to reflect the practice of celebrating the Lord's Supper, even though the words are attributed to Jesus and the author of the gospel of John (unlike the other three gospel authors) does not report that Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples just before he was arrested. This is the only place in the gospels of the New Testament that refers to eating the "flesh" of Jesus and to drinking his "blood." So, we may not be surprised to read that many of his disciples were disturbed by this teaching (v. 60). A few verses later we learn that the statement by Jesus was so offensive to some of these disciples that they "drew back and no longer went around with him." (v. 66) There is nothing like this in any of the other gospels of the New Testament, so we can best understand this account as representing the witness of the author of the fourth gospel to the convictions of his Christian community. He put these words into the mouth of Jesus, because he believed that the practice of his Christian community was a witness to the word of God. Most likely, the followers of Jesus in the Jewish community of the author of the gospel of John split over the belief held by some that is expressed in this passage. Today, we read these words as emphasizing the spiritual dimension of life over the material. Christians who differ about the meaning of the Lord's Supper nonetheless agree that it is a ritual of spiritual transformation. But the spiritual life can only be lived as a material life. The line between spiritual and material should not be drawn too sharply. We are called not only to affirm our faith, in words and worship, but to witness to our faith in the world through acts of love and mercy. "God is better than a fortress in time of trouble. God recognizes those with faith, even when the flood rushes on." The book of Nahum begins with an explanation that it is an oracle concerning Nineveh and contains the vision of Nahum of Elkosh, a vision that presents the Lord as judge of all the nations and not only of Israel. The God of this witness is harsh and unrelenting, but nonetheless this kind of prophecy in the life of Israel represents an expansion of its notion of God. The God who judges Nineveh, as well as Israel, is a God who expects all nations to rule with justice and with concern for the poor. It is a significant step in the growing awareness of the people of Israel and what their covenant with God means. If God is Lord of all the nations, then all people may be urged to put their trust in God. Not only Israel, but also the enemies of Israel are called to be faithful. It is a fateful step in the life of faith that culminates, for Christians, in the faith that God, in Christ, has redeemed all humanity. Jesus said: "Have you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing and we marvel at it'?" This saying refers to Psalm 118:22. It is not clear in the psalm what the "stone" refers to, but in the gospel account it clearly means Jesus. In the gospels of Mark and Luke as well this statement follows the parable of a vineyard let out by its owner to tenants, who refuse to pay their rent and kill the son of the owner, when he comes to collect. The owner, Jesus says, will punish the tenants and let out the vineyard to others. The text clearly seems to condemn the Jews who rejected Jesus, but we need to recall that other Jews accepted Jesus as the Messiah. In fact, all the disciples of Jesus and Jesus himself were Jews, and the apostle Paul, who had the most to do with opening the church to Gentiles, was also a Jew. The parable and its concluding moral are not simply a condemnation of "the Jews." The gospel writers direct the judgment of God at those who resist the witness of the church and not against "the Jews" as a race or a people. Christians should be ashamed that the church throughout its history has understood passages such as this to justify the persecution of Jews, as though God had commissioned Christians to serve as judges over the people of the covenant. We must repent of this history and make clear that the Jews are also part of God's plan for salvation (Romans 9-11). October 4, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 "Even if I can understand all mysteries and know all things, even if I have the faith to move mountains, if I am without love I am nothing." This passage in Paul's letter to the church in Corinth is one of the most well known and beloved readings in the New Testament. It follows Paul's description of the church, as the body of Christ, and his affirmation that there are various spiritual gifts. As Paul is pleading for cooperation and order within the church of Corinth, there must have been conflicts within the church including disputes about the importance of different spiritual gifts. Paul asserts that "God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues." (12:28) As an apostle, Paul claims more authority (with his spiritual gifts) than those, for instance, who are speaking in tongues. Because he lists this gift as the least helpful to the life of the church, we can assume that in Corinth those who were speaking in tongues were disrupting the life of the Christian community by claiming to have the most important gift of the Spirit. Chapter 13 of this letter is introduced by Paul's statement, "I will show you a still more excellent way." (12:31) Love, Paul affirms, is the greatest gift of the Spirit. Paul is not referring to the passionate love between a man and a woman, but to the compassionate love one may have for others regardless of their gender. The apostle who teaches that Christians are to love their neighbors now offers a moving description of that love. The church, Paul says, must manifest this, if it is to be the body of Christ. "We do not know how to pray properly, but the Spirit comes to help us in our weakness and intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Paul is counseling the Christians in Rome about prayer. He reminds them not to judge prayers by their eloquence or length, as though God is impressed by the performance of the one who is praying. Christians are simply to give themselves to God in prayer, trusting that the Spirit of God will "speak" through them. This passage may remind us of the teaching about prayer attributed to Jesus in the gospel of Matthew: "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Mt. 6:7-8) Paul does not say anything about what Jesus might have taught concerning prayer, so we cannot conclude that Paul is merely paraphrasing a teaching by Jesus. It may, in fact, be that the gospel of Matthew is putting into the mouth of Jesus words about prayer that originated with Paul. We cannot know the order through which these teachings evolved. But in the life of the first century church, there is a strong tradition about praying that emphasizes openness and sincerity rather than skillful speech. It would be good today for the church to recover this tradition of prayer. Jesus said: "If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, they will certainly not lose their reward." This passage from the gospel of Matthew contains harsh language about the conflicts that may arise from joining the church. "I have come," Jesus is quoted as saying, "to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household." (10:35) The gospel of Matthew seems to be written for a Christian community that is largely Jewish, because it emphasizes teaching about the law and the fulfillment of ancient Israelite prophecy. But other Jews are opposing the church, because they do not see Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophetic teachings of their tradition. Following Jesus as the Messiah, for many of the Jewish members of this church, means conflict with their families. Yet the passage ends with a statement about persecution, and this teaching is also in the gospel of Luke, which is written for a primarily Gentile Christian community. (Lk. 12:51-53) Therefore, the teaching probably reflects a general experience within the church that confessing Christ often leads to conflict with one's family. In a culture that valued family ties more than we do today, this teaching strengthened the resolve of Christians who were being pressured by their families to stay away from the church. Recognizing that members of the church may be rejected by their families, the gospel of Matthew urges the church to care for its members like a family. Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch." "Master," Simon replied, "we have worked hard all night long without catching anything, but because you say so I will let down the nets." All the gospels in the New Testament record Jesus calling his disciples, but only the gospel of Matthew includes this story as part of the account of the ministry of Jesus. Yet, the gospel of John tells a very similar story of the risen Christ. (Jn. 21:1-19) It is possible that these two stories of the disciples hauling in a great catch of fish in the early morning are different versions of the same story. The idea that the gospel writers might have placed a story at a different place in the narrative of the ministry of Jesus reminds us that the gospels were not written as biographies, but as testimonies of faith. We see something similar with the story of the cleansing of the temple by Jesus, which in the first three gospels of the New Testament occurs when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem shortly before he is arrested but is set, in the gospel of John, at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. (See Mt. 21:12-13, Mk. 11:15-19, Lk. 19:45-46, Jn. 2:13-17.) If Jesus had cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry, as in the gospel of John, why would the other three gospels omit the story? And why would anyone be astonished when he repeated, as reported in the other three gospels, the cleansing of the temple at the end of his ministry? The gospels are witnesses to faith in Christ and not journalistic reports of the travels, teachings and activities of Jesus. Jesus may or may not have helped his disciples haul in a great catch of fish, but the story makes it clear that he helped his disciples become leaders of the church and, as the gospel of Luke says, "fishers of men." (Lk. 5:10) The story not only demonstrates the power of Jesus, but authenticates the authority of the disciples in the life of the church. "Watch over those who are entrusted to you, not simply as a duty but willingly and with gladness of heart, according to God's will." This letter is attributed to the apostle Peter, but it is written in excellent Greek and thus in its present form, at least, reflects the hand of a Greek-speaking Jewish church leader, even if the ideas go back to Peter. The passage at the beginning of the fifth chapter concerns the care of members of the church. The letter urges that this not be merely a matter of duty, but be undertaken with "gladness of heart." If members of the church are entrusted to their leaders, then it is their duty to care for them. But the author of this letter knows that duty alone will not sustain the life of the church. Our care for one another must reflect our sense of the care that God has for us. Then, doing our duty will be an expression of gratitude to God. "Just as each of us has one body with many parts, and the parts do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, who are many, form one body, and each of us belongs to all the others." Paul's image of the church as the body of Christ implies that there are different roles within the church, but that all these are helpful for the functioning of the whole church. It seems clear that Paul created this metaphor to help settle conflicts within the church. There were arguments about the gifts of the Spirit that had to do with who had greater authority within the faith community. Paul's assertion that all the parts of the body are subject to the head, which is Christ, is a way of trying to quell the discord. We often think of the early church as unified and harmonious and all the problems that have beset the church throughout history as a corruption of this first, perfect community. Paul's letters, however, reveal how much conflict there was in the first churches. The disciples in the church in Jerusalem, for instance, were Aramaic speaking Galileans who were not influenced by Greek culture and language. Therefore, their church was much more closely tied to the Jewish tradition. Christian communities in Greek cities, however, were led by Jewish and Gentile Christians that spoke Greek, and in these places the church was far less "Jewish." Moreover, there were conflicts about speaking in tongues, and there were differences in the teachings of the various apostles that divided the church. As we read the Christian Bible today, we should not try to hide these differences, for they help us see that faith in Christ does not guarantee agreement on Christian beliefs. On that day, it will be said: "Look, this is our God; we put our hope in him and he saved us. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." The first part of the prophecy attributed to Isaiah (chapters 1-39) proclaims the judgment of God upon his people, Israel, at the hands of their enemies, because the Israelites have been unfaithful and have broken the covenant with God. The second part of Isaiah (chapters 40-66), which is often called second Isaiah because of its differences with the first part, not only reaffirms the restoration of Israel but presents a vision of God's suffering servant, who will bring about not only the restoration of Israel but a new relationship among all the nations of the earth. There are common threads, of course, between the two parts of Isaiah, and this passage is clearly a link between vision of judgment and the promise of restoration. The prophet calls the people of Israel to renew their faith in God, to look to him despite their suffering, and to hope in his salvation. Faith is easy when life is good, but our hope is put to the test when the future looks bleak. At the time the first part of Isaiah was written, the future was unclear but the signs were ominous. The prophet called on the people to trust in God despite their fears and even to rejoice in the One who is the source of salvation. Can we, in our very different time, heed these words? "The LORD rescued me from enemies who were stronger than I am and set me in the open." This hymn of praise placed in the mouth of King David a little before 1000 BCE says that the LORD delivered David because the LORD "delighted" in David. At this point in the story God does not love his chosen people, but is more than interested in them. The LORD rescues David, perhaps, in order to keep a good story going. When the people of Israel continue to be unfaithful, God comes close to killing them off. But that would end God's story as well as Israel, because God is creating this story through what happens to Israel. If the story of God's chosen people comes to an end, the story of God will come to an end. The New Testament, may be seen as a new chapter in the story, and in this sense the church is the newly chosen people of God. Now, however, the image of God is Christ, who is God for us but also a man for all seasons. "By faith, Abraham answered God's call and set out for the land he was to inherit. And he set out without knowing where he was going." This letter was traditionally attributed to Paul, but it is unlike his other letters and does not name Paul as the author. The letter does, however, emphasize "faith" in a way that reminds the reader of Paul, so perhaps it was written by a church leader who was familiar with Paul's writings. As is true in Paul's letters, Abraham is presented as the great man of faith, because he obeyed God. Hebrews also tells us that Sarah "by faith" was able to conceive a child in her old age. Thus, the old patriarch and his wife were to found a line through Isaac and then their grandson Jacob that became the people of Israel in covenant with God. Paul argues that the descendants of Abraham, by faith, are now all those who are faithful to Christ, because Christ is the fulfillment of the law of the covenant. Hebrews takes up that argument with Jews, who might be tempted to think that the new covenant in Christ has not replaced the old covenant received by Moses on behalf of the people of Israel. Hebrews was written for Jewish Christians, thus its name, but it continues to speak to us today, when we hesitate to respond to God's call. Paul writes: "Draw your strength from the grace which is in Christ Jesus." Paul is instructing Timothy about his role in providing leadership for the church. Rather than focus only on details, however, he emphasizes that Timothy must trust in the grace of God that they have known in Christ Jesus. Timothy is not merely to rely on his own wits or sincerity of heart, but to turn to God in faith in order to succeed in his ministry. This seems obvious, but it is hard to do. We are constantly putting our best foot forward, trying hard to appear in control and self-assured, masking our doubts and projecting a sense of confidence that we may not have. Can we go forward boldly, and yet rely on the grace of God and not on our own sense of what the outcome should be? What would it mean to live our faith this way? Can we really open ourselves to the will of God? James writes: "Those who listen to the word of God but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like." This letter is attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, who became the first bishop of the church in Jerusalem. The letter is written in Greek, and it is very unlikely that the brother of Jesus was educated in Greek, thus the letter reflects the hand of a Greek-speaking Jewish leader of the church. But it may well communicate the teaching of James the Just, as he was known in the early church, for James was concerned with living the word of God and not simply with confessing it. The letter of James is a good corrective to the letters of Paul, because Paul is so concerned to open the church to Gentiles that he emphasizes faith that seems not to require good works. But the letter of James is a minor voice in the New Testament, which is nearly drowned out by the arguments of Paul in his many letters. Recovering the letter of James today means recognizing the conflict among the apostles in churches of the first and second century and renewing our concern for living the faith and not merely confessing Christian beliefs. The gospel of Matthew is also written to correct the excessive emphasis in the letters of Paul on faith rather than good works, for there Jesus teaches that many call him "Lord, Lord," but fail to do the will of the Father. (Mt. 7:21-23) Preaching requires practice. Faith without works is merely belief, and belief alone is not saving. October 15, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 "May God fulfill every good purpose of yours by his power and complete all that you have been doing by faith." Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica reveals that he is writing a Gentile Christian community, because he commends them for having turned "from idols to serve a living and true God." (1 Th. 1:9) These two letters to the Thessalonians are concerned primarily with maintaining faith in the face of persecution and suffering, as they wait for the coming Day of the Lord and the raising of the dead. Therefore, Paul begins his second letter with a descriptive warning of the "righteous judgment" that God will unleash, "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." (v. 8) The punishment of those who are unworthy, Paul says, will be eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord. This is Paul's stick, his threat to motivate the Christians in Thessalonica to be faithful. Then he prays that God will make them all worthy of their calling to be witnesses to the gospel and that God will complete what they, in faith, have begun. Is this "the word of the Lord?" Or, are these simply the words of Paul. Most likely there has been some backsliding in the church at Thessalonica, and Paul is trying to be sure that it is checked. Will God consign to eternal damnation those who fail to do his will? For centuries this has been the teaching of the churches, but the Vatican recently clarified that hell was a "state of being apart from God" rather than a place where the dead are tormented. And many Protestant churches preach a salvation by the grace of God that embraces even those who resist it. The love of Jesus for sinners revealed in the New Testament gospels has long suggested that God's love will redeem even the most recalcitrant sinner. Thus, the church need not preach, with Paul, the vengeance of God, but may instead proclaim God's forgiveness. "Let your heart remain constant in the adoration of God; for there is a future and your hope will not come to nothing." Proverbs is full of practical wisdom and encouragement. What would it mean to live in constant adoration of God? This need not require withdrawing from the world, but instead may mean plunging fully into its ambiguous life. After all, this seems to be the way Jesus is depicted in the gospel accounts. He lived in a special relationship with his Father, but he healed and taught and lived among his people. He especially nurtured relationships with many of those, who were condemned by his peers for being sinners. He didn't shun this morally ambiguous situation, which is the way life in the world often is, but rather tried to redeem their lives by loving them and challenging them to aspire to the life of faith, hope and love. When we feel down and discouraged, can we then be constant in our adoration of God? That would be the real test of our faith. Can we rejoice in God when we feel alone and abandoned? Sing a hymn, say a prayer of praise, and let the ancient words of faith work within you. This is not magic but practical advice. Those who turn to God will find peace. So, pray without ceasing by living faithfully. October 17, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica: "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul is writing with Silvanus (who is also known by the name of Silas) and Timothy, his co-workers in reaching out to Gentiles, to the church in Thessalonica. Paul begins by giving thanks for the Christians in Thessalonica and by reminding them that they are constantly remembered in the prayers of the apostles. Paul emphasizes that God has chosen the Christians in Thessalonica and that their faith is strengthened by God's love for them. This love, the apostle says, will nurture in them the faith, hope and love that are the primary manifestations of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Gentile Christians in Thessalonica are suffering persecution, because they no longer worship the idols of their city and empire. Paul urges them to be steadfast in their faith, and to find hope in the coming day of the Lord, "when the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words." (1 Th. 4:16-18) Many Christians today read these words literally as the word of the Lord, but others believe that these images reflect a first century view of heaven and earth rather than a divine revelation. Christians agree, however, with Paul's affirmation that "neither death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) Jesus sent out his disciples saying: "Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there and say, 'The kingdom of God is very near you.'" Jesus appoints seventy disciples and sends them out with instructions not to carry a purse, bag or sandals. They are to go among the poor, as poor, and to rely solely on the grace of God and the hospitality of those who receive them. In the gospel of Mark's account, when Jesus sends out his disciples, he tells them to take a staff and "to wear sandals." (Mk. 6:9) It is a small contradiction, but at least one of the accounts must be wrong (they might both be wrong). Either Jesus told his disciples to wear sandals, or not to wear sandals, or he said nothing about wearing sandals. It appears that the author of the gospel of Luke is using the gospel of Mark in writing his own gospel story, because much of the gospel of Mark is in the gospel of Luke. If, however, this is true, the author of the gospel of Luke sometimes omits portions of the gospel of Mark and at other times edits the account in the gospel of Mark. Why would he do that? We cannot know. Perhaps, in the case of the sandals, as an educated urban Gentile Christian, the author of the gospel of Luke thought that it was unseemly for the disciples of Jesus to travel bare-footed through Galilee, or that the city-dwelling and sophisticated Christians for whom he was writing his gospel might have this opinion. How could the author of one gospel change the words of another, even words attributed to Jesus? Probably the author of the gospel of Luke did not believe that the gospel of Mark contained, at least in every instance, the exact words of Jesus. We need to recall that the New Testament did not exist when the gospel of Luke was written. The author had the gospel of Mark and other materials, which he used in fashioning his story. He likely assumed that the author of the gospel of Mark had similarly fashioned a gospel story from various materials. Neither author was writing history or biography. Each was preaching the gospel by writing an account of the ministry and teaching of Jesus. I said: "Here I am, I have come, and as it is written, I desire to do your will, my God. Your law is deep within my heart." This is a psalm affirming the "steadfast love" and the "faithfulness" of God. The psalmist says that God does not require burnt offerings, but only that we do the will of God that is written on our hearts. Christians reading this psalm today will not understand the reference to the "law" to mean the Torah, or the Jewish law, but that would be the way Jews have always understood this psalm. Thus, it was probably the way that Jesus and the early Jewish Christians also read the psalm. The law of God is not simply a book of rules, but is part of the intimate relationship that God has with those who seek to be faithful. Our Creator and Redeemer is as close as the yearning in our hearts to live with greater faith, hope and love. Jesus said: "I did not come to judge the world, but to save it." In this passage the Jesus of the gospel of John affirms that his words have come from God and are God's commandment offering eternal life. Jesus affirms that he has not spoken on his own authority, but with the authority of God. It is, of course, a Christian doctrine that Jesus IS the word of God, but one may nonetheless distinguish the words attributed to Jesus by a gospel author from the living word of God, which is the message of the entire Christian Bible. Although the specific words used by Jesus in this account in the gospel of John are not corroborated by the other gospels in the New Testament, we may conclude that the emphasis on salvation rather than judgment IS the word of God because this "good news" is the overwhelming witness of the Christian Bible. There are, of course, many passages about judgment in the New Testament, and certainly Christians since the first century have actively judged others in the name of God as well as offered them the good news of salvation. For many Christians the ideas of salvation and judgment go together, because salvation is a kind of judgment finding one worthy. Those found unworthy, therefore, are not saved. But the affirmation of the church is that none of us are worthy of salvation. The good news of salvation is not about judgment but about the grace of God. Paul writes: "You did not receive a spirit which makes you a slave to fear again; you received the spirit of adoption by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" In this letter to the church in Rome Paul argues that they are "sons of God," because they are "led by the Spirit of God." (v. 14) Paul uses the Aramaic word "Abba" for Father, which has a very intimate meaning like "Papa" or "Daddy." In the gospel accounts Jesus also uses this word for God, so that kind of intimate relationship with God seems to be at the heart of the first century Christian tradition. Paul uses this image to assert that Christians have nothing to fear, as children of God, for they are "heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." (v. 17) But Paul reminds the Christians in Rome that they must suffer with Christ in order "to be glorified with him." (v. 17) The promise of the church is that God will not abandon us, because he did not abandon Christ but raised him from the dead. "He who did not share his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?" (v. 33) Paul encourages the Christians in Rome to remain faithful despite their suffering, and we might well take these words to heart today. Our hope, as Paul affirms, is that nothing "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rm. 8:39) The LORD says to his servant: "I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and shape you. I will make you a light to the nations." Jews have understood Israel to be the servant, who will be a light to the nations. The prophecy of Isaiah was read as part of the promise of God to restore Israel from captivity in Babylon in order to create a new world order with Israel as an example for all the other nations. This is an audacious claim, of course, but God seems to discover in love for Israel not only the capacity to forgive this special people for their transgressions but also a concern for all the other peoples of the world. This is, we need to be reminded, the God who has never before been very concerned about nations other than Israel and who has put to the sword all those peoples who seemed to stand in the way of the glory of the chosen people. The church read this passage as a prediction of the coming of Jesus. In the gospel of Luke the aged Simeon, who sees Joseph and Mary with their baby Jesus in the temple, proclaims that this passage of scripture is being fulfilled in his sight. (Lk. 2:32) This is a good example of how the church interpreted the scriptures of the Jews as allegory, which means the church did not understand these scriptures in terms of their literal or most obvious meaning but discerned a hidden meaning or, we might say, a future meaning that was not yet understood. This kind of reading is evident in both the writings of Paul and the gospels of the New Testament. Paul writes: "We should not try to please ourselves, but consider what is good for our neighbors and so build up community." In the gospel that Paul preached there was a freedom from the constraints of the law that some Christians took as permission to do whatever they wanted. So, Paul is writing the church in Rome to counsel that the spirit of Christ, which liberates Jews and Gentiles from the rules and regulations of the Jewish law, is not to be understood as license but rather as a calling to do whatever is best for the community of the faithful. The Orthodox and Catholic churches have perhaps resisted the dangers of individualistic faith better than the Protestant churches, for the Protestant Reformation was so clearly an affirmation of individual conscience against corporate discipline that excesses were bound to arise. Paul must be read not only as the defender of freedom, but also as the advocate of community. The church cannot survive without the voluntary renunciation by its members of individualistic tendencies that undermine the self-discipline necessary for Christian community. Jesus said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar: Love your neighbor as yourself." This is one of the most familiar passages in the New Testament. The gospel of Matthew records that when Jesus is asked by a Pharisee to identify the greatest commandment in the Jewish law, he quotes two commandments: the first from Deuteronomy 6:5 and the second from Numbers 19:18. In the account of this same incident in the gospel of Luke it is a lawyer who puts the question to Jesus, and in the gospel of Luke Jesus asks the lawyer how he understands the law and the lawyer quotes the same two commandments. Are these different memories of the same event? More likely, the gospel of Matthew emphasizes the authority of Jesus as teacher and interpreter of the Jewish law, whereas the gospel of Luke is happy to allow the Jewish lawyer to interpret his own law because it presenting the story of Jesus to a largely Gentile community. When the church chose to include both the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke in the New Testament, it might have edited one or the other to make these stories consistent. But the church chose not to alter the gospel accounts that had come to be understood by various Christian communities as authentic witnesses to the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ. Instead, it ignored factual inconsistencies among the gospels and included them all, as they were, in the New Testament. Clearly, the church was not primarily concerned with presenting an account of "the facts" as would be the case today, but sought to present a compilation of the faith testimonies that had served to build the church. October 25, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Paul writes: "Live in joyfulness. Encourage one another. Be of one mind and live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." Paul concludes his second letter to the church in Corinth with these words. This is the heart of the gospel message. If we live with joy and in peace with one another, the God of love and peace will be with us. That is the mystery of the kingdom of God. God's ruling presence is not obvious, and the grace of God does not prevent suffering, injustice and death. But the love of God can bring us peace in the face of calamity. Paul adds, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." The word "grace" comes from the Greek, and the word "peace" comes from the Hebrew. Paul is bringing these two cultures and languages of hope and aspiration together, as he helps to create the church among Greek-speaking Jews and Gentiles living in the cities of the Roman Empire. We might understand Paul's success in this regard as artistic genius, but Paul believed he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. And this is the confession of the church. Jeremiah said: "The word of the LORD has brought insult and derision upon me. And so I said to myself, 'I shall not think about him, I shall no longer speak in his name.' But there seemed to be a burning fire in my heart, which I could not contain." The prophetic call often drove men to do what they would rather not have done. This is certainly true for Jeremiah. Speaking the word of God in his own time led to his imprisonment and to attacks on him by his fellow Israelites. He would much rather have given it up, but he could not. Few of us will know a call like Jeremiah's or find ourselves in danger because of our Christian faith. Nonetheless, we may come to a time when the word of God will burn like a fire within our hearts, smoldering and not dying, no matter how much we might wish it were otherwise. If that should happen, then we will know our calling. And we must speak. "Turn to God who will forgive freely. For, thus says the LORD, my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways." The prophet counsels his people to turn to God for forgiveness. That is hard, because they have broken their covenant with God and for that disobedience severe punishment is to be expected. This was what Moses said, when he invited the Israelites to accept the covenant of God. But here Isaiah says that God's ways may be surprising. In other words, God might not simply punish Israel for its sin, but might seek to redeem the people. God might forgive them, so that they will be motivated to repent of their sin. This sense of the forgiveness of the God, which the prophet knows requires God to overlook or set aside previous threats, becomes a central theme in the New Testament. Jesus is the act of God that manifests God's forgiveness. When the church proclaims that Jesus is the atonement for human sin, this is not another way that God is punishing the people of the covenant, but a way that God is suffers (in Jesus) the punishment that was promised earlier in the story for disobedience. October 28, 2 Corinthians 1:18-24 Paul explained his ministry, saying: "We do not want to be masters of your faith, but fellow workers with you for your joy." As Paul begins his second letter to the church at Corinth, he says that he, Silvanus (called Silas elsewhere) and Timothy have not been preaching a vacillating gospel. "All the promises of God," Paul says, "find their Yes in him (Jesus Christ)." (v. 20) But Paul says that he avoided coming to Corinth earlier in order to spare them. It seems he is critical of their beliefs and their practice. Later in this letter Paul asks whether or not the three apostles need once again letters of recommendation. (3:1) Clearly, there is a dispute in the church of Corinth, and leaders of one faction are unhappy with the teachings of Paul. Paul says, therefore, that he and his fellow apostles do not seek to tell the Corinthians what they should do, but with only to work with them for the sake of the gospel. Later Paul denounces the false apostles that seek to undermine his authority, and because he defends his own Jewish roots and teaching we can suppose that those with whom he is contending for control over the church in Corinth are Jewish Christians. It is likely that this is another instance of Paul's conflict with the Jewish Christian leadership in Jerusalem over whether or not restrictions of the Jewish law are to be imposed on Gentile converts in the church. Seeing this conflict in the early church, we ought not to be surprised by differences of belief and practice in the churches of our own time. Can we, as Paul suggests here, present ourselves as "fellow workers" in faith, even when we disagree with other Christian leaders about what Christ asks of us? "Bless the LORD, my soul; let all that is in me bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, my soul; forget none of his good deeds." The psalmist prays that his soul might bless the LORD and that he will not forget the good deeds of God. It is easy, of course, to forget. It often appears that God has forgotten about the world, because injustice and suffering is unrelenting. Yet, the faith of the psalmist is that the Lord has not abandoned us. So, the psalmist calls us to "hang onto" the promises of the LORD by continuing to bless God's holy name, no matter what. God may be listening for our prayers. God may be hoping to hear from us. God may be waiting for a sign that we have not lost our faith. Therefore, do not forget to bless the LORD, for this is what it means to be faithful. Jesus said: "You are the light of the world. Let your light shine in people's sight, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." This passage comes from what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. We find the theme of light also in the gospel of John, and Luke 2:32 records the passage from Isaiah about the servant of God who is to be a light for the Gentiles (or the nations). In the New Testament Jesus is understood as the fulfillment of the hope that is expressed in the scriptures of the Jews. He is the servant of God, but he has not come only to serve the people of Israel. He has come as God's servant to serve the whole world. This is Christian faith. The church affirms that the life of the Jesus was given for the world, and not just for those who are Jews or Christians. Jesus is the servant of God, who is completing the purpose of God to bring all peoples into a new covenant. Here, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is reported to teach that those who follow him, in order to participate in his mission, should let their light shine, as he has let his light shine, so others will praise God. We are called to serve others for God's sake, not to gain credit among our neighbors. All that we do should be for the glory of God. Jesus said: "The greatest among you will be your servant." This passage makes it clear that preaching the gospel without practicing it is worthless. Our words matter very little without deeds that live up to them. Jesus chastises religious leaders, who tell others what to do but fail to set a good example in their own lives. They are, he says, hypocrites. The gospel is a call to serve. Surely, we often fail to live up to this call to serve others, because we want to be recognized for our good works and good ideas. Can we do all that we do in the church for the glory of God? Can we confess that our abilities are the gifts of God's grace and not merely our own achievements? Can we live out the joyous faith of Christian witness without seeking for ourselves recognition and rewards? That is our calling, as Christians. |
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