tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72474247816489524912024-03-05T20:36:04.081-08:00children of the revolutionColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-88986180489809948032021-12-26T14:18:00.000-08:002021-12-26T14:18:04.693-08:00 Carols & Context: Silent Night<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://image3.slideserve.com/5666501/silent-night-n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="300" src="https://image3.slideserve.com/5666501/silent-night-n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>203 years
ago on Christmas Eve, the carol ‘Stille Nacht’ made its debut in St Nicolas
parish church in Oberndorf, Austria. The
lyric had been written 2 years earlier by Catholic priest Joseph Mohr, but on
Christmas Eve of 1818m he brought his poem to schoolmaster and organist Franz Xaver
Gruber and asked him to compose a tune for it.
It was to be played on guitar at that night’s mass (the church’s organ
was feared damaged by flooding). Gruber
obliged, and the rest is history.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, history is a big part of ‘Stille
Nacht’ – which would be known in English as ‘Silent Night’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It speaks of a tranquil scene, of “heavenly
peace”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mohr wrote the words in the wake
of the Napoleonic Wars (the year after their end).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His native Austria had been a major combatant
in that conflict – the Austrian Empire opposed Napoleon’s forces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is estimated that over half a million Austrians
were killed in action over these years of fighting – more than any of the other
powers involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joseph Mohr’s adulthood
had been lived in the shadow of these wars, until they finished (he was around
23 at that time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it seems to me like
Mohr might have cherished peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he
may also have been acutely aware of its fleetingness, its fragility in this word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Austria spent much of the nineteenth century
in some war or other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just shy of a century after its debut, ‘Stille
Nacht/Silent Night’ was performed in another famous context: the 1914 Christmas
truce in the First World War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story
goes that German and Allied troops emerged from their respective trenches and sang
the carol in their own languages (they also played football together).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, how poignant it must have been, to
sing of a silent night, instead of hearing gunfire every night; and how they
might have longed for heavenly peace, instead of earthly war.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The world they were living in may have seemed
a far cry from the one the angels described on the first Christmas:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on
earth peace among those whom he favours [or, peace, goodwill among people]” (Luke
2:14)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That day, that silent night in Palestine, 2000
or so years ago, was a snapshot, a glimpse, a note, of heavenly peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was delicate, and it didn’t last, but
every now and then, we can still catch glimpses like that, we can still hear
echoes of ‘Silent Night’: ringing out in juxtaposition with the shots on battlefields
and in our streets; sounding a noble countermelody to the noisy, polarized and polarizing
rhetoric in Houses and homes; and as the peaceful resolution of the discord of imperialism
and insidious ideologies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the
great problems of our age is our inability to disagree well, to hold
difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peace is possible – but it’s
gentle and easily disturbed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe that’s
why the dove is a common symbol of peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) has this
beautiful vision of a future peace – a vision so important that either God said
it twice, or two different prophets used the same quote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“[The LORD] shall judge between the
nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4; cf. Micah 4:3)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if Jesus, the “holy infant, so tender
and mild”, slept in heavenly peace because he dreamed of that day?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in his living and his dying, he showed us
the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-64249513042210117862021-12-19T08:56:00.001-08:002021-12-19T08:56:29.237-08:00Carols & Context: Away in a Manger<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twi-s3.imgix.net/devotionals/feature_image_smalls/zveisipisqiwqqaawxihnbsxzhcqivyp/AWAY-IN-A-MANGER-2800x1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="800" height="115" src="https://twi-s3.imgix.net/devotionals/feature_image_smalls/zveisipisqiwqqaawxihnbsxzhcqivyp/AWAY-IN-A-MANGER-2800x1000.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">One of the most well-known Christmas carols, ‘Away in a
Manger’ is a staple of Nativity plays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The song has been attributed to reformer Martin Luther in many carol
books, but there seems little evidence that he actually wrote it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one thing, it was only published (in
English, as ‘Away in a Manger’) in the nineteenth century, some 300 years after
the German’s death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no surviving
German version, other than translations from English.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is sometimes reckoned
that ‘Away in a Manger’ was a song that Luther wrote for his young son, but a
more likely candidate for that is ‘Von Himmel hoch…’ – almost certainly penned
by Luther, in German, and dealing with a similar theme (the opening line
translates as “From heaven above [to earth I come]”).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been
suggested that ‘Away in a Manger’ is actually entirely American, perhaps the
work of William J. Kirkpatrick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the song’s
authorship is not the only assumption worth challenging here. ‘Away in a Manger’
is frequently sung at Nativity plays, with Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, shepherds,
angels, wise men (or some combination of these) in a stable scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes sense, because that’s where you’d
find a manger, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the Bible says
that Mary laid the baby Jesus in a manger (Luke 2:7).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because “there was no place for them in the inn”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But let’s hold it there for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A more accurate rendering of that line,
however, might be ‘there was no guest room for them.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luke uses another Greek word later in his
gospel to talk about an inn (in the ‘Good Samaritan’ story, Luke 10:34) – why not
use the same word here if he means an inn?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kenneth Bailey, an expert on the Near East,
now and in New Testament times, has suggested that the manger may have been in
a house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many houses in first-century
Palestine had two parts inside – one part at ground level or slightly raised,
which served as the living area for the human inhabitants; the other, lower
part where the animals would be kept when indoors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in between would be the manger – easily accessible
for the animals, and easily replenished with fodder by the people.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bear in mind that
Joseph had to travel with Mary to his ancestral home in Bethlehem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s possible – perhaps likely – that he still
had relatives there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the Near
East, it is bad form not to open your home to travelling relations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you had no guest room in your house,
everyone would share the same living space, and a baby may well be put in the
manger – it’s warm and soft, and it’s in easy reach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, if that was the case, then the Nativity
is actually set against a backdrop of hospitality – someone opening their home to
their family (maybe not close family) in need.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hospitality is a big
deal in the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s culturally very
important in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, but it also becomes a key tenet of
the fledgling faith of the early Christians of the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus talked about hospitality quite a bit (Matthew
25:35f and Luke 14:12-14 are just 2 examples), as did Paul, who wrote or
inspired many New Testament letters to churches (cf. Romans 12:13 especially).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The early church, according to Luke’s other
book, Acts, was characterised by hospitality (cf Acts 2:45; 4:34ff).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think hospitality is so important to them
all because they could see opportunities to ‘pay it forward’ for hospitality
they had experienced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And maybe they
erred on the side of hospitality because you never really know who your guest might
be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the writer to the Hebrews
counselled:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: 2.25pt;">“Do not
neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have
entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, we seem to
live in an age (and a country?) that is more hostile than hospitable to
strangers – such as refugees and asylum seekers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need only look at fairly recent events in
the Channel, and in Parliament (see the Nationality and Borders Bill, currently
in the House of Lords).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to be
part of a country that takes the risk on welcoming the stranger, so we might entertain
angels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus was into hospitality, maybe
because he’d experienced it, starting when he was ‘Away in a Manger’.<o:p></o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-8979825375964622482021-12-11T09:01:00.000-08:002021-12-11T09:01:00.295-08:00Carols & Context: O Holy Night<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.af87954b2681e3827873af4952d0757f?rik=We9x9gbz9LxFSQ&pid=ImgRaw&r=0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.af87954b2681e3827873af4952d0757f?rik=We9x9gbz9LxFSQ&pid=ImgRaw&r=0" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">One of the
finest Christmas carols has to be ‘O Holy Night.’ It’s also one we don’t sing
or play often enough, as it’s musically quite challenging – maybe because the
tune was written by a French composer of operas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The English version of the song is hugely
popular, written by John Sullivan Dwight in 1855.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this was based on his translation of the
French ‘Minuit, Chretiens’, penned 12 years previous by Placide Cappeau.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cappeau was a French wine merchant, injured
in a freak shooting accident as a child (the compensation for which funded his
literary education).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His passion and
skill was for literature, and so he was asked by the local priest to write a
poem to mark the renovation of the church organ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He agreed, and the result was the lyric of
‘Minuit, Chretiens’, also known as ‘Cantique de Noel’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t without controversy, however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some in the Church at large discredited the
composition, and its writers: Cappeau was not particularly religious, and
(perhaps worse?) was a well-known socialist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Adolphe Adam, the composer, was not a writer of music for
ecclesiastical, but theatrical, use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
yet, Cappeau got it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may not have
been classically religious, but he understood Jesus, Christmas and the
significance of it all – perhaps better than many who were.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing I was struck by a few years ago,
having sung this song in choirs and in religious settings, was that we only
sing or hear 2 verses of ‘O Holy Night’ most of the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are 3 verses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the third verse is incredibly poignant:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Truly he taught us to love one
another,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">His law is love and his gospel is peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Chains shall he break, for the slave is our
brother,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And in his name all oppression shall cease…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This was a
popular sentiment for Dwight (who published the English version) and many of
his colleagues in the north of 1850s America – as Abolitionists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dwight was a Unitarian minister, committed to
peace and justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A century later, he
might have been persecuted as a ‘communist’, politically, and a liberal
theologically.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sometimes wonder if there’s a reason that
this verse is so often cut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it’s
too ‘political’ for Christmas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
it’s uncomfortable, reminding us of a painful past, and persistent problems
around race – and other forms of oppression, like the misogyny so rife today.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think we need this song as a whole,
with it “thrill of hope,” because “in his name all oppression shall
cease.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christmas, for me, is about love
and peace, joy and hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about
people coming together as family – a shared humanity, under the same starry
sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his birth, Jesus demonstrated
solidarity with all people, and invites us to do the same.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-75770564964693918132021-11-07T08:53:00.001-08:002021-11-07T08:53:14.515-08:00From now on<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thegreatestshowman/images/1/19/Fromnowon.png/revision/latest?cb=20180321213037" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="800" height="168" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thegreatestshowman/images/1/19/Fromnowon.png/revision/latest?cb=20180321213037" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Towards the end of <i>The Greatest Showman</i>, P T Barnum
is brought back down to earth with a bump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is embroiled in a scandal, as he is pictured being kissed by Jenny
Lind, the Swedish opera singer whose American tour Barnum has managed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when he returns home, his circus building
burns down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems like he has gone
from the top of the world, to losing almost everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he says in the song, ‘From now on’,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
drank champagne with kings and queens,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">Politicians praised my name,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">But those were someone else’s
dreams,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">The pitfalls of the man I became…”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Barnum realises that he had lost focus, he had gone off
course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so he resolves:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“From
now on, these eyes will not be blinded by the light.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">From now on, what’s waited till
tomorrow starts tonight…”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This all reminds me of a pivotal moment in Matthew’s Gospel,
in the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus was out with
his disciples once, and they had seen and heard so much from him – stories,
lessons, miracles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Jesus asks his
disciples, “Who do people say I am?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
they answer that some think he’s a new Elijah (he was a great prophet in the
Hebrew Bible, who performed miracles and challenged the powerful), or the more
recent ‘incarnation’ of Elijah, John the Baptist – Jesus’ relative and
contemporary, recently killed by Herod the Tetrarch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others were suggesting Jesus was a Jeremiah
or another great prophet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then Jesus
asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah [or, Christ], the Son of the living
God” (Matthew 16:15-16).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus blesses
Peter for this epiphany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must have
been a real mountain-top experience – Peter’s realisation, and the group also maybe
realising that Jesus is the one they’d been waiting and hoping for.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the reason I’m
reminded of this story by that song, ‘From now on’, is what comes next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Straight after that moment of clarity and
perhaps euphoria, Jesus changes the tone entirely:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">“<i>From that time on</i>, Jesus
began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering
at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on
the third day be raised…” (Matthew 16:21)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Peter’s bubble was burst, and he then went into denial, an
argument with Jesus (never a good idea): “No, this won’t happen to you!”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus responds in
the strongest possible terms, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a moment, Peter goes from being blessed by
Jesus, to being cursed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s not the
first time Jesus shooed Satan away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Quite early in Matthew’s story, Jesus said, “Away with you, Satan!” (Matthew
4:10), in response to a series of temptations he experienced while fasting in the
wilderness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These included the lure of
power, fame and fortune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that was
not the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as here (Matthew 16:24ff),
Jesus told his disciples that his way is the way of the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A way of discipline, of self-denial and sacrifice.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the disciples had
thought that Jesus was going to be king; lead an uprising to overthrow the
occupying Romans; make himself (and them) rich and famous; be a success by the ‘normal’
standards; then they had sorely misunderstood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And here, Jesus was fixing their focus – and his – on the cross, a
symbol of humility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus was setting an
example, teaching a lesson, that real life is not about what we get, but what
we give.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus lived and died not for
himself, but for the other – and the Other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus, in anguish, prayed, “… yet not what
I want, but what you want…” (Matthew 26:39).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Barnum sings, “But
when I stop and see you here, I remember who all this was for…”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word ‘Christian’
means one who is like Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a
Christian must never be primarily about one’s one good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not about success, or power, or wealth,
or health even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, many
interpretations of the Christian faith have misunderstood this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But one of the earliest Christian texts we
have is found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, where he seems to quote a
hymn of the day to make a point:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">[hymn starts here] who, though he
was in the form of God,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">but emptied himself,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">taking the form of a slave,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">being born in human likeness.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">And being found in human form,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">he humbled himself and became
obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross…” (Philippians 2:5-8)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That is the kind of culture we should see in Christianity –
the attitude of Christians and the atmosphere of churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not one that say, “me first”; “my way or the
highway”; “our rights and views should be respected and protected (above others’)”;
I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If those who take the name of Christ do not allow this mindset, of humility,
of self-denial, to permeate them, then they are not worthy of that name.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let Christians and
Christianity focus on Christ, whose cross is the template for life - from now
on.<o:p></o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-50332204417961432832021-10-08T15:10:00.001-07:002021-10-08T15:10:26.460-07:00Tightrope<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/ce/9f/b8ce9fef4b810cc635926355f26f7ade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/ce/9f/b8ce9fef4b810cc635926355f26f7ade.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span>“Some
people long for a life that is simple and planned</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Tied with a
ribbon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Some people
won’t sail the sea ‘cause they’re safer on land<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">To follow
what’s written<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">But I’d
follow you to the great unknown<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Off to a
world we call our own”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">These are
the opening lyrics of Charity Barnum’s solo, ‘Tightrope’, in <i>The Greatest
Showman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>She has signed up for a
life of adventure with her entrepreneur husband, P T Barnum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charity doesn’t know where this life will
take her, but she is open to the mystery, the journey, to see what might happen
and who she might become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And perhaps
the flipside of that is, she doesn’t want to miss out<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on this voyage of discovery.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not unlike the invitation of Jesus to
his disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, “Follow me, and
I will make you fish for people…” (Matthew 4:19).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of years later, one of those men –
Peter – said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you…” (Matthew
19:27).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s true, discipleship –
following Jesus – had cost Peter and the others virtually everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as Dallas Willard put it, the cost of “non-discipleship”
is far greater:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Non-discipleship costs abiding peace, a life
penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s
overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most
discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces
of evil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, it costs exactly that
abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring” (Willard, <i>The Spirit of the
Disciplines</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are other moments from the Jesus story
involving the disciples, and especially Peter, that speak to this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first is a really powerful story, where
the disciples had got into the boat to cross Lake Galilee one evening, while
Jesus dismissed crowds who had come out to meet him and to hear him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After sending everyone away, Jesus went to
pray on a hill, while the wind got up against the disciples’ boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus then started to walk – on the water –
toward the boat, in the middle of the lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The disciples assumed Jesus was a ghost, but he reassured them that it
was actually him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As if to test this,
Peter says, “Lord, if it’s you, command me to come to you on the water” (Matthew
14:28).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus invites him, “Come”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Peter climbs out of the boat and starts
walking on the water toward Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
then Peter notices or remembers the wind and waves around him, and he starts to
sink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He shouts, “Lord, save me!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately Jesus reaches out his hand and
catches Peter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Charity sings in her chorus, “Hand in my
hand and you promised to never let go, We’re walking a tightrope…”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In another song, the Hebrew Psalm 37, the writer
says, “though we stumble, we shall not fall headlong, for the LORD holds us by
the hand” (v.24).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the people, on
whose behalf the writer was speaking, expected to stumble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They knew there’d be bumps in the road, but
they also trusted that God was not going to let failure or disaster define them
and have the final say, because God was there to catch them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A similar image was employed in Isaiah 42:6,
in a message to the Hebrews in exile in Babylon – the result of their history
of slips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were being told about God’s
servant (which was them, in the first instance) who had a calling to bring
justice and healing and liberation to those around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we read there: “I am the LORD, I have
called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Called – like Peter was called by Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taken by the hand and kept…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter’s life was characterized by the call of
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To follow, on the shore of Galilee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now, to walk on water like his master.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story on the lake didn’t end there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus has a word with Peter when he catches
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He (famously) says, “You of little
faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This seems like a harsh rebuke, but more
literally Jesus might have said, “Mini-faith, why did you doubt?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not necessarily a put-down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could be a pet name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because Jesus called Peter and the rest to be
his disciples, meaning he expected them to become like him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they weren’t there yet – even if Peter
had just taken a big step.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another time Jesus used this term (a Greek
term he seems to have invented) was when he came down a mountain after being ‘transfigured’
(shining with the glory of God) in front of three of his disciples (including
Peter, of course).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They joined the rest
of the disciples among a commotion, as a father had brought his epileptic son
to be healed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The others had tired and
failed, so Jesus stepped in and healed the boy instantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Puzzled, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why could
we not cast it [the epilepsy] out?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
Jesus answered, “Because of your little faith…” (Matthew 17:20).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, I don’t think Jesus is criticizing them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he’s saying, ‘you’re on the right
track, but you’re not there yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
couldn’t do this today, but one day you will’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, he then tells them that if they have faith “as the mustard
seed” (I don’t think he’s necessarily talking about size here, but character of
faith – referencing his parable in Matthew 13:31-32), they “will say to this
mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be
impossible for [them]” (Matthew 17:20).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A bit of grammar here: when Jesus says, “you will say to this mountain…”,
the Greek verb is in the indicative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
not the imperative (like an order).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
more like a statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is going to
happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will do the things Jesus
does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe not yet, but one day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is what being a disciple of Jesus
means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Becoming like Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living like him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s actually the same as being a Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That name really means little Christ, or one
who is like Christ – where Christ became an alternative name for Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Christian is a mini-faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little Jesus, growing into someone like him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine passing that up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s costly to follow Jesus and to commit to
that life of growth, and all that comes with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“But it’s all an adventure that comes with a
breathtaking view, Walking a tightrope…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-53053521092745464722021-09-14T14:59:00.002-07:002021-09-14T14:59:43.019-07:00Rewrite the Stars<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9a/1e/6f/9a1e6ffdd7bdd805cfb36d0ae6de6a8b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="735" height="175" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9a/1e/6f/9a1e6ffdd7bdd805cfb36d0ae6de6a8b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>One of the motifs that runs through <i>The Greatest Showman</i>
is social status, and a caste-like system that seemed to hold sway. People are born into a certain position, and
that’s pretty much where they stay. And
different groups within this system don’t mix.
Whether the division and positioning is gender-based, wealth- or class-based,
ability-based or race-based, people were put in their place and expected to
stay put.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve seen a bit of
that in ‘This is me’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The track ‘Rewrite
the Stars’ is a variation on the theme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is a duet by Philip Carlyle (Zac Efron) and Anne Wheeler (Zendaya).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These “star-cross’d lovers” come from quite
different social locations, from contrasting worlds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carlyle is from an upper-crust, wealthy
family, an actor in serious productions (at least, he had been).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wheeler was one half of an acrobatic act with
her brother, a star turn in P T Barnum’s show – an oddity, because she was
black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her place was fixed – no matter
how talented or clever or anything else – society had assigned her a lowly
place, as though it was written in the stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Carlyle had much to lose in doing so, but he at least could choose to
cross the many social boundaries between them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The song ‘Rewrite
the Stars’ comes from a desire to smash the social structures, to break the
barriers to belonging, envisaging an environment that can include everyone equally.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bafflingly (to me anyway)
this was absolutely scandalous at that time (and this time?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, I think Jesus courted such
controversy with a central value in his presentation of the kingdom of heaven –
God’s will, on earth as is it in heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If we read the New Testament treatment of Jesus’ life in the Gospels, we
find someone who consistently crossed cultural and ‘class’ chasms as though
they weren’t there – perhaps because, where he came from, they weren’t…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m only going to
pick out a few examples here, as virtually every page of Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John shows Jesus in this mood and mode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’ve already looked at some of his attitudes and behaviours with women –
including foreign women, who ‘counted double’ in that culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another serious taboo was leprosy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Lepers’ were fairly common in Jesus’ day, it
seems, although ‘leprosy’ was something of a catch-all term for a variety of
skin conditions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the old Levitical
law, provision was made for the management of outbreaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In confirmed cases, the priest could send the
leper outside of ‘the camp’ (into isolation) for a set time, to be reviewed and
eventually re-integrated into society, ideally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, by the first century, it seems that a lot of lepers were sent
away and left there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, in
Luke 17, on his way into a village, Jesus meets ten lepers at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sounds like a ‘leper colony’ – similar to
what we see in the film <i>Ben Hur</i>, set in the same time period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The incident I want to look at here, though,
is perhaps the most striking and controversial encounter between Jesus and a
leper because it’s the first one.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is ‘on tour’,
doing his stuff, healing and teaching, when a leper comes and kneels in front
of him, begging, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2; Luke
5:12).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus reaches out to the man,
touches him, and says, “I do choose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be made
clean.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And immediately the leprosy is gone
(Matthew 8:3; Luke 5:13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the man
could be re-integrated into his community; perhaps get some work; worship and
learn at the synagogue; enjoy family life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But what I love about this story is that Jesus touched him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get the sense that Jesus didn’t need to
touch the leper to heal him, as we can see in other healings that he only needs
to say the word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he breaks a barrier
by touching the man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He includes him as
a human being, while most people had excluded him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus rewrote the stars.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Matthew’s gospel,
the very next thing we read about is a Roman centurion coming to Jesus to
appeal for the healing of his young servant, lying at home paralysed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently without a moment’s hesitation,
Jesus says, “I will come and cure him” (Matthew 8:7).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the centurion stops him, saying, “Lord, I
am not worthy to have you come under my roof…” Why would a Roman centurion say
this to a Jewish man – whose land mighty Rome occupies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps firstly because the centurion is a
Gentile (non-Jew), and Jesus the Jew was ‘not allowed’ to enter such a person’s
house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s probably the real
reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another potentially
controversial characteristic here may be that this centurion might have been
gay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Greek word used for “servant”
in this story is “pais”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This word can
mean servant, although as a slave, he might have been more correctly termed ‘doulos’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A ‘pais’ can also mean a young boy, and sometimes
described a young male lover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect
Jesus would have been aware of all this about the centurion.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The centurion
explains his compromise, that Jesus need “only speak the word” and the servant
will be healed, because as a centurion (a commander of a hundred soldiers), he
knows about authority, and about his words making things happen.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is so impressed
by this man’s grasp of God’s kingdom – that it’s a reality where what God (Jesus,
in this case) says, happens (on earth as it is in heaven) – that he publicly
commends his faith, telling his followers:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">“Truly I tell you, in no one in
Israel have I found such faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell
you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown
into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…” (Matthew
8:10-12)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That sounds like a rewriting of stars to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The “heirs” lose their inheritance because
they fail to ‘grasp’ it, when others do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So those who ‘don’t fit’, who don’t belong, get it, while those ‘born
into it’ are cast out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus made a very similar
point in an exchange with chief priests and elders at the temple, saying:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">“Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors
and sinners are going into the kingdom of heaven ahead of you…” (Matthew 21:31)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had pretty much
enacted this fairly early in his ministry, when he called a tax-collector named
Matthew to follow him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew did, straight
away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems that Matthew may have invited
Jesus, along with some of his (now ex-) colleagues, to dinner because after
that, Jesus and his disciples are at a dinner where a number of tax-collectors
and “sinners” attend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pharisees “saw
this” and said to the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors
and sinners” (Matthew 9:11).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
answered for himself: “Those are well have no need of a physician, but those
who are sick…”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Pharisees couldn’t
understand why Jesus would hang out with those sorts of people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tax-collectors were known cheats, extorting
people out of more than they owed in tax, as well as being collaborators with
the occupying force (Pharisees had a nationalist streak, among everything else).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sinners – these people, the Pharisees
thought, were preventing God’s kingdom from materialising, because they just
wouldn’t fall into line with the(ir) rules (that’s what they thought “Thy will
be done, thy kingdom come” was about).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
Jesus rewrote the rules.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And rewrote the
stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These people got Jesus and what
he was about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These were his people.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final example I
want to mention came from a discussion among Jesus’ disciples as to who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In answer
to their question, Jesus “called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly
I tell you, unless you change and become like children you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whoever becomes
humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven…’” (Matthew 18:2-4).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The visuals of this
scene are helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imagine the normal
set-up of disciples with their teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They’re probably sitting or kneeling on the ground, at Jesus’ feet – who
might also be seated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then comes the
child, who seems to be standing, and as such is towering over them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is greatest in this picture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The child, head and shoulders above the rest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contrast this with
the normal perception of such a child in that world – a “little child” (the
Greek word is a diminutive form, suggesting possibly under seven years old).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this age, they were not contributing to
society, and there was every chance they might not live to adulthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were almost seen as expendable, and probably
not as a full person in their own right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But here, Jesus turns all that on its head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He rewrites the stars.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While these examples
may have been plucked out, they are not isolated incidents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the contrary, they are consistent with the
general tenor of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – and Luke’s
follow-up volume, Acts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the main
contributor to the New Testament, Paul, agrees with much of the sentiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was wildly inclusive, particularly of Gentiles/foreigners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also – controversially – addressed
children in his letters, before addressing their parents (Ephesians 6:1-4;
Colossians 3:20-21).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He addressed wives before
their husbands (Ephesians 5:22ff; Colossians 3:18-19).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He addressed slaves before their masters (Ephesians
6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-4:1).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In even
addressing these groups, Paul was being revolutionary – he was dignifying them
with choice and agency, to behave in the way he suggests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But by speaking to them <i>first</i>, before
their supposed superiors, he was challenging the structures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was, in a sense, rewriting the stars.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is a central
pillar of the Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is good news
because it releases people from the structures that hold us – slaves and masters,
women and men, children and parents, those like us and those not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The good news is: Jesus rewrites the stars.<o:p></o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-38816589546330759172021-08-28T13:48:00.000-07:002021-08-28T13:48:08.890-07:00This is me<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thegreatestshowman/images/7/7d/This_Is_Me.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20171016024211" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="768" height="166" src="https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/thegreatestshowman/images/7/7d/This_Is_Me.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20171016024211" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Many
musicals – most, even – have an anthem, one song that really takes hold of audiences,
often becoming synonymous with the show or movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d say ‘This is me’ is that song for <i>The Greatest
Showman.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The story
goes that, before the film had had received the greenlight for production, this
song was performed in a workshop in front of studio executives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keala Settle – who carries the song – had never
performed it, and was rather reserved at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Telling the story of the song, she grew into the performance, and the rest
is history.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘This is me’
is a song about refusing to be ashamed, about standing up and standing out in spite
of rejection and marginalization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
sung in the film by Settle’s character, bearded lady Lettie Lutz, and the other
‘Oddities’, at a time when their difference and rejection from the well-to-do
in society is at its sharpest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a
song of defiance, and of owning and taking pride in one’s own identity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For me, one
of the reasons why the New Testament’s Gospels are called that is because they
are good news stories – that’s what Gospel means, it’s an old English word for
good news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many tales of
people in the shadows, on the underside of history and in the margins of society,
stepping out in boldness to meet Jesus or because they’ve met him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to mention a few.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The first is
a woman in a crowd who had the audacity to interrupt someone else’s miracle to
get one of their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus had been
summoned by Jairus, an official at the local synagogue, whose daughter lay
dying at home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the way, Jesus was swamped
by crowds, as usual, but he stopped when he felt someone touch him and
apparently draw some power out of him!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was a woman who had been stricken with bleeding for twelve years –
basically, she had a constant period for twelve years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only would this have been unpleasant and
(I daresay) exhausting for her, it also meant she was basically an outcast, as
menstruation was an uncleanness in Jewish society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this woman thought to herself, ‘If I
could just touch him, or even just the edge of his cloak, I’ll be healed.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s what she did, and that’s what
happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So she came clean, owned
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus said,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Daughter, your faith has made you well” (Mark
5:34)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Fun fact:
this is the only person in the gospels that Jesus calls ‘daughter’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Also, notice
that Jesus credits her faith, and not his power, as the prime mover here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To borrow from a book title (which in turn
borrows from a quote), “She believed she could, so she did.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Another
story features a woman in the region of Tyre and Sidon (modern Lebanon), whose daughter
was very sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This woman is called a
Canaanite by Matthew, and a Syrophoenician by Mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both are making the same point – she was a Gentile
(non-Jew) and a ‘foreigner’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus and
his disciples were passing through that region, and the woman came out to call
on Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David” (that’s a pretty Jewish term for
a non-Jew to be using) “my daughter is tormented by a demon” (Matthew 15:22).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus didn’t answer, but the disciples
complained to Jesus, that he should get rid of her because, in their words, “she
keeps shouting after us”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The arrogance of
these young men!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all, treating
this woman as just an annoyance, secondly, she wasn’t shouting after ‘us’ (ie,
them) – she wasn’t interested in them, only in Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But their attitude was probably normal for
young Jewish men toward a Gentile woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s a Jewish daily prayer (read by men, the women say a different
one for reasons that will be obvious) that says,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Blessed are you, O LORD our God, King of the
Universe, for not having made me a Gentile… a slave … [or] a woman” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So it’s no
wonder these men treated this woman with such disdain – she was 2 out of the 3
items on that list.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">There’s clearly,
then, a bit of racism and sexism on their part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But controversially, Jesus said some things too – things that could seem
racist as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he finally breaks his
silence, firstly he speaks about an exclusivist, exceptionalistic vision – that
he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if Jesus didn’t believe this, it could
reinforce negative ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Then, when
this woman <i>kneels before</i> Jesus, saying, “Lord, help me,” Jesus answers:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“It is not fair to take the children’s food and
throw it to the dogs”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Talk about
kicking someone when they’re down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
implies that she is a dog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My theory on
this is that Jesus is testing his disciples, challenging and subverting their
perceptions by using popular terms and ideas but exposing their error, a sort
of reductio ad absurdum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s exactly
what happened here, as the woman takes it in defiance:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Jesus praised
her, “Woman, great is your faith!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let it
be done for you as you wish.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And her
daughter was healed right away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">On another occasion,
Jesus was a guest at the home of a Pharisee called Simon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Pharisees were a group among Jews who prided
themselves on their zealous observance of the written and oral Jewish law – there
was perhaps an elitism about the, and they certainly seemed to look down on
those who were less strict in their adherence to the commandments.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While they were at the table together, a notorious
woman of the town burst in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it’s
not stated explicitly, it’s clear that this woman was a prostitute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She stood by Jesus’ feet and wept on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She washed his feet with her tears, and dried
them with her hair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then she started kissing
his feet, and she opened a jar of ointment she had with her (a tool of the
trade) and anointed Jesus’ feet with it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Simon was scandalized,
saying to himself, ‘If Jesus were a prophet, he’d know what kind of woman this
is touching him – that she is a sinner.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In response, Jesus pointed out that the woman, and not Simon, had
treated him like a guest of honour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She showed
great love because she had experienced great compassion from Jesus – she heard
and saw the love of God in him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simon,
on the other hand, demonstrated his own sense of entitlement by failing to
extend even common courtesy to Jesus, such as having a servant wash his
feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once again, Jesus praised the
woman, saying, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I’m struck
in that story by just how little attention the woman paid to Simon the Pharisee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tried to shame her, but it seemed to just
wash over her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She knew who she was, and
she accepted God’s love as seen in Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Finally, in
a perfect picture of the patriarchy at play, early one morning, writes John,
Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem, and a bunch of people came and listened
to him as he taught them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
interrupted by the scribes and Pharisees bringing “a woman who had been caught
in adultery, and making her stand before all of them…” (John 8:3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In depictions of this famous scene, the woman
is often cast down to the ground, clinging to Jesus’ feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the words here tell us that she was made
to stand, in front of everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like she
was on trial, and to shame her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These
men brought the charge to Jesus:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act
of adultery…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Funny, I
always thought it takes two to tango.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Surely they must have also caught a man in the act of adultery – where is
he?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently he got away with it, and
the woman got the blame and is thrown under the bus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Twas ever thus – remember the Garden of Eden?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">So the lynch
mob wanted to test Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
interpretation of the Law said she should be stoned (to death).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what, they asked, would Jesus do?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Jesus bent
down and wrote with his finger on the ground” (John 8:6).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s pause for a moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Review the scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not the woman who is on the ground, but
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The woman stands tall with Jesus
kneeling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find that a powerful
image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that, in fact, why Jesus knelt
down – to reframe the situation, and elevate the woman?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Much has
been made of what Jesus wrote on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some ancient versions of the text add later the detail that it was “the
sins of each of them”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knows?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At any rate, they kept on at him, so he got
back up on his feet and issued a challenge:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the
first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">He got back
to his writing on the ground, and the words started to sink in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One by one, oldest first, those men went
away, until “Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He straightened up and asked her, “Where are
they?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Has no one condemned you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">She replied,
“No one, sir.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus said, “Neither do
I condemn you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go your way, and from now
on do not sin again.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to me like
Jesus put it back to her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gave her
the authority over her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one
condemns you – that’s up to you now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
could walk tall, free, unashamed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You may
have noticed that all these stories centre on women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not a coincidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Women needed good news in those days, as they’d
had a bad press for… ever, actually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
story had been written by men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
gave them, and all of us for that matter, the chance to set the record
straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To tell our side of the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To stand up tall, and to show the world, “This
is me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-75075503957607540452021-08-10T13:55:00.000-07:002021-08-10T13:55:10.299-07:00Never Enough<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.y68R3LNUeVv72wEenZsSLQHaDt?pid=ImgDet&rs=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="474" height="200" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.y68R3LNUeVv72wEenZsSLQHaDt?pid=ImgDet&rs=1" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the story arcs in <i>The Greatest
Showman</i> centres on the song ‘Never Enough’ by Swedish opera sensation Jenny
Lind (played by Rebecca Ferguson with a vocal from Loren Allred).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>P T Barnum persuades Lind – who has already
dominated Europe’s venues – to tour America with him as her manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole thing turns out to be a costly
distraction for Barnum (and Lind, to an extent), and that is essentially what
the anthem is about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one of its composers,
Justin Paul, has said: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“ ‘Never, never, never enough’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt like you could imagine someone in a
castle trying to count all of their riches and it still doesn’t add up to
enough,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s kind of that moment where
somebody isn’t really satisfied…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s something we see (and perhaps experience)
all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People want more, the next
thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow, it’s never enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a story of Jesus addressing this kind
of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A wealthy young man came to
Jesus once and asked him what good deed he needed to do to have eternal
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The term “eternal life” in the
Gospels literally means ‘life of the age,’ or ‘age-life’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘The age’ is another term for God’s
kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s not so much focused on
living forever in heaven when we die, but living a different kind of life, both
now and forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, this young
man was asking how to get on board with God’s kingdom, with what God is
doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Jesus reminds him about
keeping the Jewish commandments, namely:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; text-indent: 2.25pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“You shall not murder; You shall not
commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour
your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew
19:18-19)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young man says he’s kept these since he
was a kid, and asks if there’s anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Side note – interesting that he is still looking for more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like he knows he’s not there yet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus tells him that if he wants to go ‘all
in’ for this life, he should sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the
poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, says Jesus, the man would
have “treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21) and could come and follow him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(It’s not the only time Jesus spoke of
treasure in heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also mentioned it
in the Sermon on the Mount, telling people to store up treasure in heaven,
rather than perishable treasure on earth [Matthew 6:19-20].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point was, “where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also” [Matthew 6:21].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In other words, re-assess your values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t fixate on ‘stuff’, but focus on God’s ways.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That rich young man walked away, because he
had a lot of possessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was sad,
but he apparently wasn’t ready to shift his values.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a way, perhaps he may not have needed to
actually get rid of everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe he
only needed to be able to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notice, the commandments they talked about
were from the Ten Commandments (plus the neighbourly one).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They come from the last six Commandments – which
govern human relations with each other (the first four are concerned with human
relations with God).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Jesus missed the
last one: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house… [or other property]” (Exodus
20:17).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus knew this man’s weak spot
was ‘covetousness’: a pursuit of possessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And it was a distraction for him, it was holding him back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed like he valued things more than
people, or God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Jesus tells his disciples that it’s hard
for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gives the famous image, that it’s easier
for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s been a lot of debate about that
phrase (incidentally, it appears in both Jewish and Muslim texts as well).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people say that Jesus was talking about
a real place called the Needle Gate, a tiny door in the wall of Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A camel could only squeeze through it, they
say, if its saddle bags were removed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
a strong image, but apparently there’s no evidence of such a place.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another theory is that the Greek of the New
Testament has been written down wrongly, and that it’s a cable, and not a camel
(the words have only one letter difference in Greek).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would mean the image is of a thick rope
passing through the eye of a needle – which would obviously be impossible
because of its size.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the most popular interpretation is
that Jesus is simply using hyperbole – a figure of speech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A camel, of course, can’t fit through the eye
of a needle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And nor can someone so
distracted focus fully on God’s kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focus versus distraction is a bit of a theme
in the New Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul – who may
have written up to half of it in the form of his letters to young churches –
spoke of trading his old value system for the sake of “knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord” (another way of speaking about God’s kingdom?), for whom he sacrificed
literally everything (Philippians 3:7-8).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mysterious writer to the Hebrews made a
related point:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“… let us lay aside every weight and the sin that
clings so closely [or, that easily distracts], and let us run with perseverance
the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of
our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross…”
(Hebrews 12:1-2)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s focus, and not being distracted by
other stuff – good, bad or indifferent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And on the last point there, the cross, Jesus also told his followers once:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“If any want to become my followers, let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those who want to save their life will
lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For what will it profit them if they gain the
whole world but forfeit their life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
what can they give in return for their life?” (Matthew 16:24-26)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the whole world is ‘Never Enough’ to fill
the void of longing for life as it can be, for this age-life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To find that life, we need to focus and not
be distracted, aligning our values with those of Jesus and the kingdom of
heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we value we put our heart
and soul into.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we value what God
values, somehow that will be enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-29017984993931139102021-07-27T13:52:00.002-07:002021-07-28T00:42:19.831-07:00The Other Side<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.thegryphon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/hero_Greatest-Showman-2017.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="800" height="166" src="https://www.thegryphon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/hero_Greatest-Showman-2017.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The song, ‘The Other
Side’, in the movie <i>The Greatest Showman</i> shows P T Barnum trying to
persuade actor and wealthy socialite Philip Carlyle to join him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carlyle’s involvement would not only be an endorsement
of Barnum’s entertainment enterprise, but also a way to make it financially
viable too, by offering Carlyle a stake in it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a hard sell,
but eventually Carlyle is won over – perhaps by the prospect of a different
kind of life (on “the other side”) – less secure, less respectable, but much
more alive and free.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about buy-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about getting someone to believe in what
Barnum is doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s an important
aspect of faith – perhaps obviously, as faith is about belief in something at
some level or other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Christian
faith (and no doubt others) requires buy-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It demands a commitment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often
that is confused or conflated with paid-up membership of a particular congregation
or denominational structure, and the doctrines and values they espouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes buy-in and belief in these contexts
is reduced to saying a certain prayer or certain prayers, agreeing with a few
precepts, or adhering to certain micro-ethical standards.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s
something much more fundamental about belief and buy-in with Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an active belief, that is lived out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It manifests in a life that looks a bit like
Jesus, because the believer has committed to following Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By that I mean they take seriously the kinds
of things Jesus said and did, and seek to embed all of this in their own life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s not about ‘brand loyalty’ to a particular
faith tradition or a specific sect within it; it’s about living in response to
the reality of the rule of God, as Jesus announced and enacted.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is why Jesus
called disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A disciple was a bit
like an apprentice, or a ‘mentee’ to a mentor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The whole idea is that the disciple learns from the master, to think
like they do and act like they do, to take on their teaching, and live the way
they do.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In both Matthew’s
and Mark’s accounts of the Gospel – the story of the good news of Jesus – we read
about Jesus summoning four young fishermen on the shore of Lake Galilee: “Follow
me,” he said (Matthew 4:19; Mark 1:17).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Follow: that is what a disciple does, they follow in their master’s
footsteps – literally walking very closely behind him on the road to hear
everything he said and watch his every mannerism and movement.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third gospel,
Luke, doesn’t tell that story. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead,
we read there of one of those Galilean fishermen, Simon Peter, being won over
by Jesus in this way: Jesus was teaching crowds by that same lake, and he got
into Simon’s boat so he could address them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It created a stage facing the banked shore, like a theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the show was over, when Jesus had finished
talking to the crowds, he told Simon Peter to put the boat into the deep water
and let the nets down for a catch. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simon
says, “Master, we’ve worked all night long but have caught nothing,” before
adding, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nets are put down, and are filled with so
many fish that Simon has to call his colleagues in the other boat to help haul
it in.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is pretty
similar to a story in John’s gospel, which is told right at the end of the
Jesus story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And on that occasion, Jesus
isn’t in the boat, but on the shore – although the disciples in the boat don’t recognise
him at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He calls out to ask them
if they’ve caught any fish, to which they answer ‘no’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Jesus instructs them to cast the nets to
the right side (that is, ‘the other side’) of the boat and they’ll find
some.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which they do…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in Luke’s earlier
episode, Simon is overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He kneels at
Jesus’ feet, saying “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8).
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus reassures Simon: “Don’t be afraid;
from now on you will be catching people.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In some versions of the Matthew and Mark equivalent, we read the phrase,
“I will make you fishers of men,” when Jesus calls those first, fishermen followers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that image
makes a lot more sense if we look at it from the fish’s point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re a fish, you live in the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s your world, your experience, your
reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may not have any concept of
something other, something different, something beyond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But above the water is all this other stuff,
another world alongside yours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when
you’re pulled from the water, drawn up, you glimpse ‘the other side’: a bigger
reality, a different kind of world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ok,
it’s not great for the fish at this point, but the idea is there: disciples of
Jesus are alive to this other reality, partly beyond our understanding and experience,
yet somehow present and almost tangible – “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew
4:17).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in living it, and in thought,
word and deed, inviting others to embrace and experience it, they (we?) are
catching people – drawing them into this new understanding and way of
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it’s not a preoccupation with the
hereafter, but a new perspective on the here and now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is what Jesus invites his disciples to:
the other side.<o:p></o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-51929110818006518282021-07-13T13:15:00.001-07:002021-07-13T13:15:51.517-07:00Come Alive<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4c/f8/60/4cf860a19f448f6eb428090a6e36aae0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="736" height="400" src="https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4c/f8/60/4cf860a19f448f6eb428090a6e36aae0.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p> Like many good
movies (and some not so good ones, no doubt), <i>The Greatest Showman</i> has a ‘how the band got together’
montage. The song ‘Come alive’ provides
the soundtrack to P T Barnum gathering his group of ‘curiosities’ and unusual
performers. Barnum recruits various
people from the margins and shadows of his society, offering them the chance to
see themselves and the world differently, and challenge the perceptions of
others. It was, simply, an invitation to
come alive.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Gospel of
John, Jesus coins a famous phrase, that he came to bring ‘life in all its
fullness’ (John 10:10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In actual fact,
the verse in its entirety contrasts Jesus – the good shepherd who lays down his
life for his sheep – with the religious leaders of the day – “the thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
how can we tell if a religious leader or community reflects Jesus?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe by their fruit – do they bring life, or
do they steal and kill and destroy?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And what might ‘life
in all its fullness’ look like anyway?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jesus had been
on the scene for a bit, he’d started to turn heads and set tongues going, so
much so that people started to wonder if he was the Messiah figure they’d been
expecting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among these was John the
Baptist, a relative of Jesus, and what we might call an affiliate – they
preached a similar message about God’s kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So John sent some of his own disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one
they’d been expecting, or if they should wait for someone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The writer of Luke’s Gospel then summarises
what Jesus has been doing: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">“Jesus had just then cured many
people of diseases, plagues and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who
were blind” (Luke 7:21)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s exactly
what’s been going on in the preceding chapters of Luke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make it even more explicit, Jesus answers
them:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;">“Go and tell John what you have
seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought
to them…” (Luke 7:22)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These were understood (or could be, at least) as signs of
God’s kingdom, of a restoration, a righting of wrongs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hebrew texts like Isaiah 35 and 61 spoke of
exactly these things happening.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In demonstrating and
enacting God’s kingdom, Jesus brought people to life – in some cases,
literally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He removed barriers to
inclusion and participation – sometimes by healing ailments, sometimes by
simply challenging social boundaries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jesus went to the margins and partied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He sat at the table with people many would have shunned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus did and still does invite and invest in
the ‘unlikely’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are in a
place where people are not coming fully alive, then maybe it’s time to find a
space where people can and do come fully alive – somewhere that Jesus is,
because it doesn’t sound like he’s where you are now.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus “came that
they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10) -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>where we can find ourselves “dreaming with
our eyes wide open… Come alive.”<o:p></o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-45122408101455338242021-06-29T12:30:00.002-07:002021-06-29T12:30:57.341-07:00 A Million Dreams<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.etsystatic.com/17673212/r/il/d931c0/1513050238/il_794xN.1513050238_71o0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="619" height="320" src="https://i.etsystatic.com/17673212/r/il/d931c0/1513050238/il_794xN.1513050238_71o0.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /> I think my favourite song from <i>The Greatest Showman</i> is probably ‘A Million Dreams’. It’s sung by the young PT Barnum, and then
the adult one. I find it such a poignant
and powerful song, full of meaning.
People who know me well may recognise why this song in particular speaks
to me: I’m a dreamer. I readily identify
with the sentiment of the chorus:<p></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">“Every night I lie in bed, the
brightest colours fill my head,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">A million dreams are keeping me
awake.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">I think of what the world could
be, a vision of the one I see,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">A million dreams is all it’s
gonna take – <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">A million dreams for the world we’re
gonna make…”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m especially struck by that second part, about what the
world could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s my story, this is
my song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like the famous saying by
George Bernard Shaw, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I dream things that never were; and I
say, ‘Why not?’”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the song ‘A Million
Dreams’, young Barnum is open to the possibility that people will call him
crazy, and say he’s lost his mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
echoes of Jesus and his story are loud and clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People said Jesus had “gone out of his mind”
(Mark 3:21) – his own family, no less – in view of his attracting large crowds who
wanted their lives and their world to be better, so they came to Jesus for
healing, and to hear his incredible teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stories of a better world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pictures of how life can be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact,
in Mark’s story of Jesus, immediately after that incident of Jesus being insulted
by his relatives, he launches into a set of stories about God’s kingdom (Mark
4:1-34 – it’s paralleled in Matthew’s account, mostly in chapter 13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These parables, as they are called, paint a
radically inclusive, gently influential way of life, an alternative reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the reality that comes about when the
life presented by Jesus in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (and modelled by Jesus) is
taken seriously and actually lived (or at least aimed at).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To many (probably
most) people, it all sounds crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Loving
enemies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not getting angry at people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turning the other cheek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not worrying about… well, anything, really –
but trusting in God’s providence of the necessities of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not judging others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Treating people the way you’d hope to be treated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Generally making choices that promote life
and not death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it is crazy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A pipe dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it’s Jesus’ dream, of what the world could be.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A million dreams is
all it’s gonna take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A million dreams for
the world we’re gonna make.”<o:p></o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-48860867704254093592021-06-16T15:09:00.001-07:002021-06-16T15:09:42.157-07:00“Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for…”<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/73/24/9f/73249f878bf4d4080cbf48c438f4a07d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/73/24/9f/73249f878bf4d4080cbf48c438f4a07d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> The first line
of the movie <i>The Greatest Showman</i>, and its opening number ‘The Greatest
Show’, has ring master P T Barnum announce: “Ladies and gents, this is the
moment you’ve waited for…” It heralds
something new, exciting, different. A
longed-for experience now becoming reality.
For Barnum in the film, it’s the start of his circus show, where he will
challenge perceptions by introducing and showcasing the wonderful, unusual and
unexpected performers in his troupe.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In various
fields and disciplines, from classical and modern rhetoric, to science, and
Christian theology, there’s a term for this ‘moment you’ve waited for’
phenomenon: kairos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a Greek word, and
it means something like ‘timely’ or ‘the opportune moment’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word occurs notably in the New Testament’s
Gospel of Mark (1:15), when Jesus goes public with his message and ministry,
saying, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The time [<i>kairos</i>] is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God has come near [or, is at hand]; repent and believe in the good
news.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In other
words, it’s like Jesus was saying, “Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve
waited for.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">‘Kairos’
could describe a breakthrough, a lightbulb moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When ancient Greek thinker Archimedes got in
the bath and discovered displacement, and shouted ‘Eureka!’ (so the story goes),
that was a ‘kairos moment’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Theologian
Paul Tillich spoke of kairos moments, the highest example of these being the ‘conversion
experience’, by which is usually meant the spiritual change resulting from
encounter with Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it could mean
any transformative experience, any moment where we learn, re-assess, discover
something profound and new – or old for that matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kairos can happen for anyone, anywhere, anytime.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The kairos
Jesus spoke of was his announcement of the availability and reality of the kingdom
of God – a reality that reflects the rule of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, any time the kingdom of God ‘comes
near’, any time it’s close, perceptible, tangible – that’s a kairos
moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So maybe it’s all those
lightbulb moments and red-letter days and tiny or large victories.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Matthew’s
Gospel has an equivalent to Mark’s ‘inauguration speech’ by Jesus (Mark 1:15,
above).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in Matthew 4:17 –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near’.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">It’s worth noting
that Matthew tells us about Jesus relocating at this point from Nazareth to
Capernaum, “in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Matthew 4:13).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is important for Matthew because it
means Jesus is ‘fulfilling’ the words of the prophet Isaiah:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road
by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the people
who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region
and shadow of death<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.0pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>light
has dawned” (Matthew 4:15-16).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Matthew is quoting
from Isaiah 9:1-2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That passage goes on
to talk about the people rejoicing like at harvest time (a big moment in an
agrarian society), because their oppression is over, the threat of violence and
war is gone, as God’s special representative is establishing a kingdom of justice
and peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">When Jesus
pronounced the blessings known as ‘the Beatitudes’, he said “Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The moment these people have been waiting for
is justice – that’s probably a more Jewish understanding of the word translated
‘righteousness’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justice is their kairos
moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may mean they are desperate
to receive justice because it has been denied them, or it could mean people who
are fighting and campaigning for justice for others – either way, they are waiting
for and seeking justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And each
glimpse of it is a little kairos moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Every time
light shines in the darkness; every time peace and joy increase; every time a yoke,
a chain, of oppression is broken; every time justice is established and upheld –
that’s a kairos moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isn’t that the
moment you’ve waited for?<o:p></o:p></span></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-45269742635080449722021-06-04T14:28:00.005-07:002021-06-04T14:33:38.229-07:00The Greatest Show – Introduction<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rd8bf918c9b93adf597c09bf95ffe62c5?rik=FxWEsPj6s4NkRA&riu=http%3a%2f%2fmusicphotolife.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2018%2f02%2fgreatest-showman.jpg&ehk=gN4kg8Fc7N%2fMu26KhVJrxz76ujgFVhba%2fwehudh54gQ%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="196" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rd8bf918c9b93adf597c09bf95ffe62c5?rik=FxWEsPj6s4NkRA&riu=http%3a%2f%2fmusicphotolife.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2018%2f02%2fgreatest-showman.jpg&ehk=gN4kg8Fc7N%2fMu26KhVJrxz76ujgFVhba%2fwehudh54gQ%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw" width="373" /></a></div><br /> Ok, cards on the table: I quite like
musicals. I love the Wizard of Oz, and I
really quite like The Greatest Showman. For
those who are less familiar with the latter, it is a highly stylized interpretation
of the life of P T Barnum, who is credited with inventing the modern circus (he
did a lot of other stuff too). In the
film, Barnum recruits people who are very much on the outside of society – ‘curiosities’
– and invites them to display their uniqueness to the world. I saw the film at a time in my life when I
was dealing with a lot of stuff, in my own life, and in a world where prejudice
and oppression seemed rife. This movie
reminded me of the Good News. That’s a
technical term in Christian circles, sometimes called ‘the Gospel’, which is
its Old English version. What is the
Gospel, or the Good News?<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the New Testament (the Christian addition
to the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament), there are 4 books called Gospels (Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tell the
story of the life of Jesus – well, the 3 years before his death at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found echoes of that story in the narrative
(and perhaps especially in the soundtrack) of The Greatest Showman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want to explore this over my next few blog
posts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may have heard the expression, ‘good show’,
or ‘jolly good show, chaps’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
signifies approval, like ‘well done’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
think the Gospel could be called The Greatest Show on a similar basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It represents the best news the world could
ever receive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as well as being
transformative, it is also performative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has ‘actors’, in
the sense of people who participate and make it happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gospel is never a slogan, a statement, a
theory, a doctrine, an abstract belief… It is lived out in real life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus painted it in his stories, which were brought
to life in his actions and attitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
lived the good news of God’s kingdom – a counter-reality to the dominant
structures and cultures.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably the first Gospel to be written was
Mark’s version.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the shortest, it’s
punchy and draws you in, with lots of little details to make it real, like you’re
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark’s Gospel is quite political –
written for Christians in Rome in the mid-first century – in the belly of the
beast of a vast empire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in this
context that Mark begins:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The
beginning of the good news [gospel] of Jesus Christ…” (Mark 1:1)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The term used for ‘good news’ is a word that
was sometimes used by the Romans to bring tidings of a general’s victory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, Mark uses lots of Roman imperial
language and imagery in his Gospel – especially around the Easter story, where
the Crucifixion narrative is a mock imperial coronation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark is, of course, turning everything on its
head, subverting the dominant order, with Good News of a different kingdom, which
invites us to join in the Greatest Show.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><br />Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-61278420818158174162021-05-13T14:13:00.001-07:002021-05-13T14:13:36.238-07:00The Last Word<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rfbf7724a1e05d12fd5a8fef55515546e?rik=JZDjxbEMd0bmCg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fof.communityofjesus.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2fAscensionFresco.jpg&ehk=Fu9yF7Rz4Pc5x4r326%2fsXmL5qlki9ZUUJc99WmK8h7E%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="735" height="249" src="https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rfbf7724a1e05d12fd5a8fef55515546e?rik=JZDjxbEMd0bmCg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fof.communityofjesus.org%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2fAscensionFresco.jpg&ehk=Fu9yF7Rz4Pc5x4r326%2fsXmL5qlki9ZUUJc99WmK8h7E%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw" width="400" /></a></div><br /> You’ve possibly heard of a woman called Jackie Weaver. She was the star of a viral video of a
virtual meeting of Handforth Parish Council, in Cheshire. Ms Weaver was famously told, “You have no
authority here,” by the Council’s chairman.
To prove how wrong he was, Jackie Weaver – as host – promptly removed
him from the Zoom call.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms Weaver was
facilitating the meeting of the dysfunctional group on behalf of Cheshire
Association of Local Councils.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
chairman, Mr Brian Tolver, may not have recognised Weaver’s authority, but she
certainly had it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps this was an
authority that transcended the normal structures of the group.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With today marking
the Christian Feast of the Ascension, I wanted to round out my musings on
Matthew’s version of Easter and the events afterwards, by turning to the final
words Jesus delivers in that Gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
remaining disciples had gathered, as per his instructions, on a hill in
Galilee:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And Jesus came and said to them, ’All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given to me…” (Matthew 28:18)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus had been crucified because people refused to recognise
his authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, after his resurrection,
Jesus tells his followers about his authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It had been commented on before – at the end of the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew chapters 5-7, also on a hill in Galilee), Matthew reports that “the
crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">authority</i>, and not as their scribes” (Matthew
7:28, 29, emphasis added).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a
sense here of Jesus actually knowing the stuff he teaches, and not just
regurgitating someone else’s teachings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What we have here, at the end of Matthew, is the vindication
of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given – by whom?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The witness of Hebrew scripture and thought says
that only God could give that authority, because it belongs to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some examples: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your
God, the earth with all that is in it” (Deuteronomy 10:14); <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The heavens are yours [ie God], the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it – you have founded them” (Psalm 89:11)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These are just two of many verses that make it clear: heaven
and earth belong to God.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So this authority is devolved, it’s given, by God
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is in opposition to the
dominant views that say Rome or Caesar has all authority (even though that
seemed to be the case) or that the priests and teachers of the law, and “their
scribes”, were the custodians of authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jesus subverts that, by asserting this transcendent authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite appearances to the contrary, the
final authority lies with God, and has been given to Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is inextricably linked with the idea of Messiah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Daniel 7:13-14, there’s a vision of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“one like a human
being [or, son of man, Jesus’ favourite self-designation]… And he came to the
Ancient One… To him was given dominion [in the Greek version, it’s the same
word as Matthew uses for authority] and glory and kingship, that all peoples,
nations and languages should serve him…”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This became a pretty solid picture of a Messianic king.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Matthew suggests that Jesus fits the bill.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Remember when Jesus started out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Way back in Matthew 4:17, his message was
clear and simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near [or, is at
hand].”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, an alternative
reality is close, you can reach out and touch it almost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the person of Jesus, there was a visible,
tangible manifestation of this reality – that God really is in charge, and that
God really will do things God’s way.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is important because the first word of the so-called
Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 is “therefore”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that always refers to what was
immediately previous: ‘in light of what we have just said…’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, bearing in mind that all authority in
heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, bearing in mind that God’s heavenly
kingdom – the rule of truth and peace and hope and love and justice and faith –
is present among us in its greatest emissary – so what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about it, what next?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Well, the next line, the commission itself, is what I would
term, ‘the phrase that launched a thousand ships.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been responsible for almost any ‘missionary’
endeavour that has ever been undertaken by the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The line is, “Go… and make disciples of all
nations…” (Matthew 28:19).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most Western
empires, the entire colonial project, were built on this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was used as a rationale for powerful people(s)
to “make disciples” of all nations – subjugating them, enslaving them, converting
them by force often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, on so many
levels, this missed the point.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Firstly, from a purely linguistic perspective, it’s a
misinterpretation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is one actual
verb in the sentence, in the Greek.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
it’s not ‘go’ or ‘baptise’ or ‘teach’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each of these words are actually participles in the original, and some carry
that in the English (“baptising”, “teaching”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The only verb is ‘to disciple’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
the command.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disciples were not being told to go
anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sense of it is more like, ‘going’,
or ‘as you go [about your life, for example]’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The verb and command is ’disciple’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Greek, the verb is actually the same whether it’s being a
disciple or making a disciple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it
could be an instruction to ‘be disciples’ or to ‘make disciples’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is a disciple anyway?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a learner (Latin <i>discere</i> = to
learn).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The idea and the term was already in use
among Jews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A rabbi, a teacher, would
have disciples who would follow him around, just as Jesus’ disciples followed
him, learning from their master, so that they could eventually be like him and
pass on his teachings.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, here Jesus instructs his disciples to make disciples –
or simply to be disciples – as they go about their living, among all the people(s),
cultures, etc, they find themselves in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The word that’s translated “nations” is a very strong word, that Jewish
hearers or readers (if they knew Greek) would recognise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>Ethnoi</i>” was the word for Gentiles, or
the nations – basically, this was the whole world of non-Jewish people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Greek word – from which we get the
term ‘ethnicity’ – actually has to do with a group of people connected by
custom or culture (the way we do things round here).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This kind of makes me think that disciples of Jesus maybe
shouldn’t put limits or boundaries on who they mix with, and on who can be a disciple
of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People of all customs, cultures
and colours can be disciples of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All sexes and sexualities and gender identities and ages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All demographics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can be invited into this radical,
alternative lifestyle that recognised the sovereignty of God and goodness, and
lives in response to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could this
even include people of other traditions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think it could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s review
some of the radical inclusion of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were women in his group, and one of them, Mary (Martha’s sister)
even takes the position of a disciple in Luke 10:39, sitting at his feet and
listening – that’s what disciples do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
Acts 8, an Ethiopian eunuch is baptised as a believer, after they ask the
question, “What is to stop me?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just to
be clear, this was a black, African, Gentile, castrate (sexually ambiguous),
and a slave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there was nothing to stop
this person being baptised.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That brings me to my next point: “baptising them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sounds very formulaic, like something we’d
actually hear in church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This phrase was used by early Christians in
the ritual of baptism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a very early
text (mid-late first century perhaps) known as <i>The Didache</i>, there is
instruction on baptism: “immerse in running water, ‘In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The preference was for cold, running water, but if not available (it was
Palestine after all), then warm would do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And as a last resort, water could be sprinkled on the head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, <i>the Didache</i> may been written
for the same audience as Matthew: late first century Christians in the Syrian
hills?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Baptism, then, is about immersion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word literally means to dip or immerse (Greek
<i>baptizo</i>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Trinitarian formula
is interesting to me, partly because Jesus doesn’t really talk about the
Trinity in Matthew, but especially interesting when we take into account that
the preposition ‘in’ could also mean ‘into’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So it could be about immersion into the mystery of God as Trinity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Hebrew thought, someone’s name was their essential
character.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My own experience of baptism speaks to this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing especially magical or even spiritual
about it – no doves or voices from heaven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was in a large inflatable paddling pool with cold water and 2 good
friends, one on either side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at the
appointed moment, they dipped me into the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a strange moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt completely at their mercy – hoping they
would lift me back out!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that is what
true community is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is opening
ourselves up to the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mutuality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the Trinity – sharing of personality,
giving and receiving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a vulnerability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once again, this is a key aspect of being disciples:
sharing of lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at Jesus – he was
rarely alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something about Jesus generated
community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And disciples of Jesus seek
to do the same – to create spaces where we can all experience something of God
in and as community.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Disciples follow their master’s lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do as the master said and did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they also look to pass on the teachings
of their master.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this is a lost
element in much of Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
spend a lot of time celebrating ‘what Jesus has done for us’ (i.e. his death on
the cross, and sometimes his resurrection), but fail to take seriously what
Jesus said, and we have a good collection of his sayings – especially in Matthew
where Jesus is presented as a teacher as much as anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To paraphrase C S Lewis, it’s always Easter but
never, well, any other time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually
think Jesus did expect his followers, then and now, to obey his teachings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To try to live the way he taught and lived,
to embody the kind of life and world he spoke of.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It's reminiscent (perhaps unsurprisingly) of the book of
Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its name means ‘second law’ because it is a
recapitulation of the law (Torah) already laid out in Exodus and Leviticus –
with a different angle and from a different time (possibly written down earlier!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s almost a refrain running through the
book, to observe the entire commandment of God that Moses has commanded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, says Deuteronomy, is the way to life –
the way of life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The alternative – disobedience,
failure to keep the law – would result in death and disaster and exile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we are faced with the same choice by
Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can follow his teachings –
actually take seriously his words and his vision for life – and find life, or
we can pay little or not attention to those words and find ourselves in a kind of
exile, in patterns of destruction – of the self, of others and of
creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disciples learn, and disciples
teach – they pass it on.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A final thought, to tie it all up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ascension is not unique to Jesus, or to
Christian tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, there
are stories of people ascending bodily to heaven in the bible, and traditions
outside the canon around people within it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a prime example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prophet Elijah’s story, in the books of Kings,
concludes with his ascent in a whirlwind, and passing his mantle to his disciple
Elisha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The patriarch Enoch in Genesis
disappears – it’s unclear, but there’s a sense that he was ‘taken up’ alive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Other faiths have similar stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Muhammad is said to have ascended into heaven
at site of the Dome of the Rock, although he returned and eventually died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are stories of Hindu kings entering
heaven in their human bodies as well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The tradition of Jesus’ Ascension is recorded in Mark and in
Luke-Acts (2 volumes by the same New Testament author), but not actually in
Matthew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scene is set for Jesus to
rise on the clouds, from the top of this mountain, but he doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus doesn’t leave, he doesn’t go anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His final words in Matthew: “And remember, I
am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The absence of Ascension here underscores the
message, “I am with you”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus stood on
a hill in Galilee – near where Matthew’s community found themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus never left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could meet him in the story Matthew had
written down for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could meet
him in community, in one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So can
we.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Above all, we can
meet Jesus as we follow him – as disciples who disciple in daily stuff, living
as though Jesus really is in charge, as though all authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite how
things may appear, and no matter who recognises his authority, Jesus has the
last word.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-48516861258186181792021-04-26T14:25:00.001-07:002021-04-26T14:25:26.292-07:00Between Two WorldsThere's a term that has gained some currency in Christianity, that likely came
from Celtic mysticism: 'thin places'. The idea is probably quite ancient, but
the term perhaps more recent. it speaks of a place or a situation where you
experience the here and now, at the same time as perceiving something of the
'other world', the 'eternal'. Like being between two worlds. There are certain
places on earth that are renowned for this - whether areas of outstanding
natural beauty, religious sites, or somewhere else. <div>It's something akin, perhaps, to the mountaintop experience - literal or metaphorical. There's an
incomparable aliveness that comes with the achievement of reaching a pinnacle, a
peak, a milestone. But part of this entails the contrasting experience of the
valley, of coming back down to earth. </div><div>After the drama of Easter, Matthew's
gospel draws to a close with a mountaintop experience. The remaining disciples
of Jesus go to the mountain in Galilee to which he had directed them (this is in
Matthew 28:16-17). There's no definite identification of this mountain. Some
people think it might have been Mount Tabor, the site of Jesus' transfiguration
- where he appeared to shine with the glory of God in the presence of three of
his disciples (and Moses and Elijah, who dropped by, Matthew 17:1-8). Some think
it could be the hill near Capernaum where Jesus delivered the 'Sermon on the
Mount' (recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7). It doesn't really matter which
mountain it is. What's more important for Matthew and his audience is that it <i>is </i>a mountain - that's where a lot of thin places have been. And so much of the story of God and Israel had high points on high points. God reveals the Divine Name to Moses and launches the Exodus (Exodus 3). Later, on the same mountain, God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses. Elijah, the great prophet, also met with God on a mountain, shortly after demonstrating God's superiority over Baal on another mountain. The temple in Jerusalem was built atop Mount Zion - the place that was to represent the meeting of earth and heaven.</div><div>Also important was that this was a mountain in Galilee - it could be the very place that Matthew's community found themselves, or nearby, possibly in Syrian hills. And so, at this hilltop location, not too far from or dissimilar to where they are, they read of Jesus appearing to his followers. And those followers displayed two reactions. First, they worshipped him.</div><div>Worship is one of the main contexts you might hear about thin places among Christians today. In acts of worship - sung, spoken, symbolic acts of worship - people sometimes find themselves in thin places.</div><div>What the term 'worship' literally denotes here is kneeling and kissing the feet. Like one might do before a great monarch, or before a liberator, or as one might do in desperation, when pleading. I wonder, then, if the disciples were literally kneeling before their risen Master - in desperation, or relief, or awe - perhaps a combination of overwhelming emotions.</div><div>Worshipping Jesus was not really something his disciples had done before this in Matthew's gospel. Others had, occasionally, and mostly foreigners (like the wise men), lepers, and women (also foreign, Matthew 15:25). It's rarely good Jewish men. The only other time in Matthew that the disciples actually worshipped Jesus is in the middle of the book, in chapter 14. There, Jesus gets into their boat in the middle of Lake Galilee - having walked to them on the water, in a fierce storm, which subsided as soon as he joined them on board.</div><div>The second response Matthew reports is that "some doubted". What we don't know is, did they all worship, but some were doubting at the same time? Was this an either/or thing - you were Team Worship or Team Doubt? I'm more inclined to go with the former, that those who doubted had mixed feelings. And the reason I think that is that the word literally means 'to double-think', to vacillate between two positions. It's like being in two minds about something.</div><div>And who could blame them for that? What a mixed-up turn of events they'd experienced. One minute, everyone loved Jesus (well, not exactly everyone), the next they all want him dead; the next, he <i>is</i> dead; the next, he's <i>not</i> dead... And now, here he is. And there were all his stories about how God sees things, and the miracles that proved it, and their own successes and failures as his students. Yeah, it's no wonder some doubted, even amid the worship.</div><div>It's the same combo we find on that day when Jesus had walked on water. Peter raised his head above the parapet and asked Jesus to call him out of the boat. So Jesus called him, and Peter climbed out and started to walk on the water, to his Master and like his Master. What a moment that must have been for Peter. But then reality sinks in, and sinks Peter, when he remembers he's on a lake, in a fierce storm, and he's not in the boat. As soon as he starts sinking, Jesus pulls him up - physically and figuratively, saying, "Why did you doubt?" And then comes the worship part.</div><div>Maybe worship and doubt go together. After all, if doubt is about holding together two disparate realities, trying to reconcile two positions, then that probably is a part of true worship, and it certainly speaks of thin places - where our experience, the world as we know it, meets with a reality we can't fully make sense of.</div><div>And in a sense, that's what was happening for Matthew's community too. They were Jews, but were finding themselves at odds with their compatriots and their convictions up to that point. They were finding their story now centred around Jesus, it came together in him. Matthew's gospel is a re-imagining of the Jewish story, filtered through and focused on the person of Jesus. Jesus was not only the ideal Israel - God's people as though they'd done everything right - but, somehow, he was also... God, as they were now worshipping him.</div><div>It may well have been an awkward space to be in. It's what we call a liminal space - on the boundary, between two worlds. They were no longer truly what they had been - although it would always remain a part of them. But neither were they fully 'there' yet; they didn't even know where 'there' was, or what they would end up being.</div><div>I get the sense that a lot of us can relate to this. Whether it's to do with world or regional events - such as COVID, and the new normal/old normal/different normal - or in a faith context, where perhaps we've come to a point where we don't feel fully part of the tradition we've known, or the community we've been in. Perhaps we've started to question some of the things we were once certain of, or that others are. Maybe you are on a journey that others around you aren't on, and are not prepared for.</div><div>Doubt, of course, is not the opposite of faith - certainty is. Doubt admits questions, welcomes diversity of opinion. Doubt is open, and without openness, we can't imagine, and step out into new possibilities.</div><div>So, if this resonates with you, step out. Join us. There's plenty of (liminal) space. And Jesus.</div>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-53938705783171184052021-04-19T14:10:00.002-07:002021-04-19T14:17:12.971-07:00“Who hath believed our report?”The above quote is from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) book of Isaiah (53:1). It comes in a passage often referred to as the Suffering Servant Song. This speaks of God’s servant bringing hope and transformation in surprising ways – including an account of the servant’s abuse, unjust treatment and general experience of trauma.
That text is commonly linked with the Easter story. And on this point – “Who hath believed our report?” – it connects directly with a part of the story that we read only in Matthew’s version of events. In Matthew (Mt) 28:11-15, we read about the report of the guards who had been stationed at the tomb of Jesus. When the earth shook and the angel rolled the stone away, the guards had trembled and became “like dead men”, frozen by fear. Now, they returned to the city to report to the chief priests what had happened. And the chief priests got together with the elders and concocted a counter-story. They paid the guards handsomely to spread the alternative version, that Jesus’ disciples had gone to the tomb by night and stolen his body – while the guards were sleeping. Because this was likely to come back on the guards for sleeping on the job, the chief priests assure them they’ll satisfy the governor. We’ll circle back to this.
I want to look at the final verse of the story, verse 15:
“So they took the money and did as they were directed, And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.”
At the time of Matthew’s writing, “this day” may have been around 50 or so years after the event. But it does appear that there were Jewish alternative biographies of Jesus that were possibly written down in the forms we now have, perhaps in the 15th century. A text known as Sefer Toledot Yeshu (Book of the History of Jesus)can be traced to around that time. There are possible references to some of its content or traditions in works from the 9th century, and even in the Babylonian Talmud of c.600AD. These traditions will have been oral in the first instance, and quite possibly trace their origins all the way back to Matthew’s late 1st century, or earlier – perhaps to this episode itself.
The broad points that Toledot Yeshu and other similar texts, like Maaseh Yeshu (The Episode of Jesus), cover are the illegitimacy of Jesus’ birth; his exceptional intelligence; his miraculous (or magical) works; his death (in disgrace); and explanations of what happened to his body (it was moved by Sages and then hidden by a gardener, to prevent Jesus’ followers taking his body out of the tomb). Some versions of this story are fierce in their derision and denunciation of Jesus, effectively saying, “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy…”
There has been debate about how kosher such stories have been , and whether or not they were rabbinic (ie, endorsed or even perpetuated by the rabbis). The manuscripts that we currently have probably coincide with a time when Jews in Europe were suffering persecution, on account of the argument that ‘they’ had killed Jesus.
However, the point here is not that Jews hated Jesus (some might have), because Matthew’s audience were very likely Jewish themselves – ‘Christian’ Jews, exiled from the mainstream, but still Jews. I believe, rather, that the issue is with the powerful. The villains of the piece in Matthew 28:11-15 are the chief priests and the elders. This is one of a long line of examples of powerful, privileged men paying to perpetuate lies and silence the truth, in order to protect themselves and their positions. They did not want this story out there. They would stop at nothing to invalidate the experience, the testimony, of those first followers of Jesus. So they literally added insult to injury.
It’s the same old story. I see echoes here of the Me Too movement. Powerful men thought they could ‘get away with it’. Super-injunctions and Non-Disclosure Agreements are today’s equivalent of paying off those guards. So many powerful and privileged men have abused their status, abused others (especially women), and used their often immense resources to prevent the truth coming out, or to discredit the victims, or make them think no one will believe them – “Who hath believed our report?” They try to control the narrative, often by propagating a counter-narrative. This is basically the idea of alt-facts.
But it doesn’t need to be that way. Me Too and more recently, Everyone’s Invited, demonstrate that reports sometimes are believed. Harvey Weinstein, in the end, didn’t get away with it. Donald Trump failed to secure a second term in office.
What I find comforting about this is, most of us have never heard of Toledot Yeshu before. But we’ve heard the gospel account of Jesus. They weren’t silenced, those first followers, the witnesses. They spoke out. It’s a fine tradition in Christianity – speaking the truth, standing up for the truth. Sharing testimony, one’s own experience. I pray that the church, and all who call themselves followers of Jesus, will always be open to hear and validate the experience of those who suffer – and will never protect the corrupt at their expense.
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-89869442897216819642021-04-06T14:19:00.000-07:002021-04-06T14:19:23.069-07:00Lo! Jesus meets us - Matthew's Easter Sunday<p>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the finest Easter hymns – and certainly the most
triumphant – surely must be ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thine is
the glory’.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The words were penned by
Swiss minister Edmund Budry, and translated into English, from their original
French, by Richard Hoyle almost a century ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But the tune to which that fine lyric was set is older still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is often referred to as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maccabeus</i>, because it is a movement from
George Frederic Handel’s oratorio, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judas
Maccabaeus.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just in case you don’t know much about Judas Maccabaeus (the
person, not the oratorio), he was the main leader of what came to be known as
the Maccabean Revolt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It happened in
Palestine during the Second Century BC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Jewish land had been occupied by Greek King Alexander the Great of
Macedonia, who died suddenly (and young) in 323 BC, leaving a monumentally vast
kingdom around the Mediterranean, with no heir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So his generals fought it out, and two dynasties were formed: the
Seleucids and the Ptolemies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Palestine
changed hands between their rival empires, but ultimately came under Seleucid
control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things came to a head during
the reign of Antiochus IV, who apparently incited the Jews to revolt – after
the invasion of Greek (Hellenistic) culture, the final straw was forced worship
of Zeus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(There is a belief among
scholars that Antiochus merely intervened in a Jewish civil war, between the
Hellenized Jews in Jerusalem, and the traditionalists in the country.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In any event, there was certainly a sense of oppression in
some quarters, of displacement, of lost or damaged identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A sort of exile, even within one’s own land.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In those days of unrest and conflict, the traditions around
the figure of Daniel were popularised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The stories of Daniel and other heroic Hebrews in exile in Babylon (in
the Fifth Century BC) became emblematic of the struggle of the Maccabees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s thought that the book of Daniel was
written or at least heavily edited around that time (the mid-160s BC).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s all
that got to do with Easter?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Maccabeus, remember?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thine is the glory…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In Matthew’s account of Easter Sunday, we read about a
single angel “in bright raiment” rolling the stone away: “His appearance was
like lightning and his clothing white as snow” (Matthew 28:3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John – recounts the Easter story slightly differently, for their own
reasons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was interested in why Matthew
wrote it this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I looked into
references to lightning, and found something pretty similar in Daniel chapter
10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, Daniel has an angelic vision,
and the angel’s “face [was] like lightning” (Daniel 10:6).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That angel wore linen, but it was a very
particular Hebrew word for linen, that denotes white linen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It kind of sounds like Matthew wants people
to link Easter Sunday with Daniel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There’s more: in both cases, there’s trembling or fear among
others present (the companions in Daniel 10:7; the guards in Matthew 28:4); the
angel says “Don’t be afraid” (Daniel 10:12; Matthew 28:5 – ok, they usually say
that…); there’s also something about the efficacy of words – Daniel’s words had
been heard, prompting the visitation (Daniel 10:12), and Jesus was raised “as
he said” (Matthew 28:6).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A further connection between the 2 narratives lies slightly
outside the immediate texts, and has to do with wider resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Matthew 27, at the moment of Jesus’ death,
we read that “many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After his resurrection, they came out of the
tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:52, 53).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compare this with the end of Daniel’s vision,
which comes in Daniel 12: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake…” (Daniel 12:2).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why, though, would Matthew be so interested in Daniel?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it has to do with Matthew’s audience
and context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This gospel was probably
written toward the end of the First Century AD, and probably for a group of
Jewish Christians living either in Syria (adjacent to Palestine) or in
Galilee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were possibly displaced,
in a sort of exile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if not geographically
exiled, they were probably in a state of flux – by this point, relations
between the early Jewish Christians and ‘mainstream’ Jews were strained to say
the least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So there people may have been
looking for ways to be faithful to both their past and their present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trying to forge a new identity, not getting
rid of their roots, but translating that for their new reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Into this context, Matthew’s angel announces that the risen
Jesus is going ahead into Galilee (not staying in Jerusalem, but going to
perhaps the very place they found themselves, or nearby).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s presence in the person of Jesus is a
key theme in Matthew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gospel is
virtually bookended with this promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the opening chapter, the impending birth of Jesus is linked with the
sign of Emmanuel from Isaiah: “…’and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means,
‘God is with us’” (Matthew 1:23; cf Isaiah 7:14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The closing line is Jesus’ promise, “And
remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What’s particularly interesting in Matthew’s Easter is the
phrase, “there you will see him/me [that is, Jesus]” (Matthew 28:7, 10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has a sense of discovering, meeting, encountering
Jesus, out there, in Galilee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not in
Jerusalem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And not at the tomb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in the place where they live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where life happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is where we, like them, meet Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our daily struggles and interactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our working stuff out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jesus pushes and breaks boundaries, he doesn’t maintain and enforce
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easter is, of course, about
triumph – over adversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And about
hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s also about this promise
of God’s presence symbolised in Jesus, whose resurrection and ongoing presence
show a breaking of barriers – barriers of place, of culture, or
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus’ resurrection is the
dawn of a new era, of new possibilities for new kinds of community – and a new
humanity, where you don’t have to fit in, and it’s ok to be on the margins,
because there you will see him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If, like me, you feel isolated from your faith tradition,
your religious roots, or whatever (whether physically or by ‘not fitting in’),
you’re not alone in that, and you’re not the first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew’s Gospel was written for people like
us – trying to connect where we’ve been with where we are, seeking and finding
new ways to live the old story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></p><p>
</p>Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-51521180066536810572020-01-04T12:18:00.001-08:002020-01-04T12:18:32.642-08:00Rise up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqDRkFHjeUPkeuBQ38OlmqJH3AzARmRCWqNR8LEf8nzZRWuPKQGQpKFFENWqFvrL1Bhgkmw88vXnX_XP1D87yF4fbHHd_jr_iIatdeQ3MAwn4AmuaJBEHGPhNhU1o6Go8e2edWkE-Yc-v/s1600/image.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="600" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqDRkFHjeUPkeuBQ38OlmqJH3AzARmRCWqNR8LEf8nzZRWuPKQGQpKFFENWqFvrL1Bhgkmw88vXnX_XP1D87yF4fbHHd_jr_iIatdeQ3MAwn4AmuaJBEHGPhNhU1o6Go8e2edWkE-Yc-v/s320/image.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1550448728"></span><span id="goog_1550448729"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Graffiti is always a political act,” writes Zack
Gingrich-Gaylord, “whether overtly or accidentally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The very nature of vandalism requires some
kind of confrontation between a disruptive actor and established structures of
the status quo.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes on to say: “A
pithy piece of political graffiti by Banksy observes that ‘society gets the
[kind of] vandalism it deserves.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
other words, graffiti is a sort of canary in the coal mine of social health…”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my favourite
pieces of this art form – attributed variously to Banksy himself, and to the
Australian Meek – depicts a homeless men sitting against the brick wall,
begging cup in front of him, and holding a sign that reads, “Keep your coins –
I want change”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my mind, this
work links to a biblical story of a beggar in a doorway, pleading for
alms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story is told in the New
Testament book of Acts, but when I was a kid, I learned the story through the
medium of song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It went like this:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peter and John went to pray.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They met a lame man on the way.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He asked for alms and held out his palms,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And this is what Peter did say:<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Silver and gold have I none,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But such as I have give I you;<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the name of Jesus Christ<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Of Nazareth, rise up and walk.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He went walking and leaping and praising God,<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Walking and leaping and praising God.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the name of Jesus Christ<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll refer to the
full text from Acts 3:1-10 shortly, for some details, but most of the important
stuff is contained in this good, old-fashioned Sunday-school chorus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, those songs were our bible as young
kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those and flannel-graph.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just some
observations about songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have a
way of connecting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They communicate and
pass on stories or truths in ways that connect with us (maybe something to do
with the senses and synapses in our brains).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They also unite people – around a cause, in cases like a national anthem
or sporting chant, a battle cry or a protest shout.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as it goes, I
want to argue that this whole story is revolutionary, is about protest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about an uprising that subverts or
overturns the status quo and the prevailing systems and structures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s about change from the ground up
(literally and metaphorically), a real grassroots movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at Peter’s command to the lame man:
“Rise up…” (This is where it’s good to have that old song, and the older
English translations of the Bible on which it was based, like the King James
Version).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you think I’m
stretching it a bit here, let’s read around that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’re told in Acts 3:2 that the man (who was
lame from birth) would be laid at the temple gate daily to beg for alms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of points here: almsgiving was an
established and expected part of Jewish life; and, it was ‘working’ for this
man, otherwise he wouldn’t still be there, coming back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’d be either dead or begging elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when Peter and
John came that way, they knew they had to do something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What though?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They didn’t have silver or gold to give him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I wonder, if they had, would they have
given it to him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or whether they
recognised that this man didn’t need coins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He needed change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A total
transformation of his status, his situation, and the system at play around
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Peter’s words, the playing
field is suddenly levelled, so this man could now join in, going inside the
temple (for the first time, I presume) and finally enjoying self-determination
, mobility (physical and potentially social), agency and ability to contribute.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Particularly
powerful is Acts 3:7, where Peter “took him by the right hand and raised him
up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter literally gave him a hand up, not a
handout (to borrow the tagline from The Big Issue).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter didn’t carry the man, he just gave him a
lift, a kickstart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man suddenly
found his feet, and used them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christians sometimes
talk about being a voice for the voiceless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But maybe it’s better to help the ‘voiceless’ find their own voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stand with them, echo their cries by all
means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we need to show most of all,
though, is not ‘charity’, but solidarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not paternalism, but ‘fraternity’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Revolution has long
been a feature of Judeo-Christian tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Hundreds of years before Jesus and his radical movement, the great
writing prophets of the Hebrew scriptures called for social justice, for
levelling of playing fields and upsetting of apple carts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this incident in Acts 3 takes me back to
something Isaiah had said (Isaiah 35).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Speaking of the return of the redeemed to Zion (i.e. the exiled people
of Israel-Judah coming home to Jerusalem), he says: “Strengthen the weak hands
and make firm the feeble knees” (35:3).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s in the same territory as feet and ankles being made strong, isn’t
it (Acts 3:7)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Isaiah goes on: “then the
lame shall leap like a deer [walking and leaping?]” (35:6)…. “And the ransomed
of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing” (35:10; cf “and he
entered the temple with them… praising God”, Acts 3:8).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This episode in Acts is a demonstration that
God is ending the exile, that God’s kingdom is becoming manifest in the
world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by definition, that means revolution:
an overthrowing of the established and prevailing order.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s not kid
ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus was partial to a bit of
protest and revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember when
Jesus entered the temple, a few weeks before this incident, on Palm
Sunday?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He ruffled feathers and turned
the tables on those who were profiting from a corrupt status quo (doves and
pigeons were the offering of the poor at the temple, and this had become a
market, capitalising on them).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That act of defiance
was a precursor to Jesus’ greatest moment of resistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It came a few days later, as he was
brutalised, de-humanised and crucified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And, despite living a life of love and goodness, Jesus refused to resist
that great evil and injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead,
he absorbed it, and in so doing, he rose above and against the inhumanity of it
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, his death was
reported in all 3 Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to have occurred at
3 in the afternoon, the ninth hour of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that’s also the time of day that this story in Acts takes place
(3:1), at the hour of prayer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time is significant
in this story, actually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First of all,
there’s the double use of the Greek word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hora</i>
(‘hour’) in verse 1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there’s a
repetition of the related word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">horaios </i>(translated
‘beautiful’ in vv 2 & 10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
relates to the temple gate called Beautiful, which many scholars have tried to
identify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not referred to by that
name in any other extant texts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has
been linked with a large gate used by many pilgrims – which would be an ideal
location for a beggar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I am
much more interested in the name, not the whereabouts, of this gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s called ‘Beautiful’, but the Greek word
literally means ‘apt’ or ‘timely’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
that is really fitting in this story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
talk about a window of opportunity, and in a similar way, I think this was a
gate of timeliness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Greek word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">horaios</i> occurs in the LXX (Septuagint,
the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament) in Isaiah 52:7, which
says: “How <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beautiful</i> on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace…” How timely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How fitting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They’re a sight for sore eyes, we might say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now is the time for Peter, for the
beggar, for God, for the people around.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The great rabbi
Hillel the Elder has been attributed with the saying, “If not you, who?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If not now, when?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s probably a misquote, but this Hillel had
some influence on Jesus – perhaps not directly, as he died when Jesus was a
boy, but his teachings were spread by his ‘school’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether Hillel said it or not, it’s still
very stirring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a call to action.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add to that another
call: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk…” This is a
call to revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The call to disrupt
the established order is a divine call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Peter invokes the name of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And it works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems to me that
Jesus is about change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus wants
change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wants us to rise up and turn
the tables, subvert the system in favour of the kingdom – or (as Brian McLaren
has called it) the revolution – of God…<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-88970904921568354812019-07-04T02:44:00.000-07:002019-07-04T02:48:58.780-07:00Oppression: a historyThe other day, I was reading the opening chapter of the Old Testament book of Exodus. I've read it before, but as so often happens, something jumped out at me that previously never had. Of course I knew the story was about slavery and deliverance. But the way the story is told is a real study of the roots and development of oppression.<br />
It sets the scene by telling us about a people group (the Israelites, the family of Jacob) who had migrated from famine-stricken Canaan to prudent Egypt (who had stored grain during the boom years for the bust years). Incidentally, the brains behind that Egyptian plan had been Jacob's son Joseph, who'd been sold to an Egyptian as a slave, and had been fast-tracked to Grand Vizier. But now, in a different generation, all the original cast have gone, and the Israelites have been fruitful and multiplied in Egypt. So the new Pharaoh decides that they are too numerous, and something needs to be done about them. The story goes that,<br />
<br />
<span class="text Exod-1-9" id="en-NRSVA-1542" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. </span><span class="text Exod-1-10" id="en-NRSVA-1543" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’" (Exodus 1:9-10)</span><span class="text Exod-1-11" id="en-NRSVA-1544" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><br />
<span class="text Exod-1-10" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
There are a lot of hauntingly familiar notes to this. I wonder whether Pharaoh said this stuff to his people at a rally? Whipping them into a frenzy, stirring up a wave of anti-Israelite feeling with his racist rhetoric? What really struck me about this speech, though, was the way he so expertly de-humanises the Israelites. He is afraid of them becoming too powerful, but doesn't respect them as being able to overthrow Egypt themselves. They might join Egypt's enemies, he says. And there's classic 'them' and 'us' language as well. The Israelites are 'them,' they are different, inferior, other. Egypt has problems, and these problems are laid by Pharaoh at the door of the Israelites, the others among them. In this story, the Israelites are a people group that has arisen, or arrived, and has never (been) integrated into society. At least, that's Pharaoh's angle on it.<br />
How often do we see this stuff? How common has this pattern been in human history? A 'dominant' people group vilifies an 'easy target', and then builds systems to oppress them. I can think of some examples, like Africans, Jews, indigenous peoples (in the Americas and the Atipodes), homosexuals, those with disabilities, women, religious minorities, the poorest in most societies. So often such groups have been scapegoated for political or economic crises not of their making. In many cases, people have been de-humanised, ghettoised, even experimented upon (it's well-known that the Nazis conducted experiments in the concentration camps; I've also heard that black people were treated similarly in Victorian times). Slavery is built upon the notion that the other, the slave, is not fully human, not equal to their masters. Ethnic cleansing is another deadly fruit of this kind of thinking.<br />
Today, I see elites, politically and even more so economically, building systems and sructures that protect their own privilege by the organised oppression of the many.<br />
Another observation on this stuff is that it's often classed as 'phobia' of some kind or another, such as 'xenophobia', or 'homophobia', or 'Islamophobia'. This has a connotation of hatred (of the other, the homosexual, or Islam, in the examples I've mentioned). But that hatred is born of fear. Phobia means fear. If someone has a phobia of spiders, they don't start a campaign against them. They usually run screaming. However, phobias can be overcome. And often, they are overcome by learning, by experience and understanding, by replacing ignorance with education. A friend of mine recently told me how she was scared of dogs when she was little. Then the family got a dog. She wasn't scared anymore, and now she has a dog which is helping my kids deal with their uncertainty around canines.<br />
In the New Testament letter called 1 John, the writer, an experienced member of the early Christian community, briefly talks about fear. Writing in Greek, he or she uses the word <i>phobos</i>, meaning fear, the root of phobia. But the emphasis isn't on fear, it's on the antidote:<br />
<br />
<span class="text 1John-4-18 psuedo-selection" id="en-NRSVA-30604" style="border: 1px dotted rgb(0 , 0 , 0); box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="text 1John-4-19" id="en-NRSVA-30605" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">19 </span>We love</span><span class="text 1John-4-19" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>because he first loved us. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="text 1John-4-20" id="en-NRSVA-30606" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">20 </span>Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters,</span><span class="text 1John-4-20" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="text 1John-4-21" id="en-NRSVA-30607" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="versenum" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">21 </span>The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters</span><span class="text 1John-4-21" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>also." (1 John 4:18-21)</span><br />
<span class="text 1John-4-21" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
Love casts out fear. If we have love, which comes from God, perfect love from an experience of the loving God, we can't hate others. The more we are full of love, the less room there is for fear and hate. I guess the Exodus image and idea works in many dimensions. It's not just the slaves who are set free by the end of slavery. It's the 'masters' too. It's not just the hated and oppressed who are released; it's the haters and the oppressors. Set free by love. Set free to love.<br />
Then we can recognise that, despite our differences (and we are all different), there is no them and us. There's just us.<br />
<br />
<br />Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-43671051544237384262018-09-03T13:14:00.001-07:002018-09-03T13:14:37.246-07:00Postscript: Tradition - it's in our blood<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Tradition</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In The Salvation Army, the word tradition is often bandied about. I have, at times, been accused of being an un-traditional Salvationist, largely, I understand, on the basis of my not especially liking brass bands. I suspect other superficial aspects of Salvation Army worship and culture may have been included here also. But I have to say, some of my favourite Christian songs are what might be termed good, old-fashioned Army anthems, like “Storm the forts of darkness,” and “On we march”, and almost anything penned by Generals </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Orsborn</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> or </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Gowans</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Anyway, I bring all this up because I believe that what many Salvationists think of as our traditions are not as </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">traditional as they think. Our traditions, our heritage, going way back to our origins, have more to do with attitudes, character, </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">outlook</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">. The “charisms of the Founders”</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> are more traditional than bands and songsters and uniforms.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And in this respect, I believe I am a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist. I believe our finest traditions have to do with our constituents. Our movement was for the little people, with the little people, and by the little people. I want to issue a challenge here, that we retain, or perhaps recover, that central element of our heritage. You could say that it is our DNA.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Bloodline</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">And DNA, bloodlines, heritage, are so important in the overall biblical narrative. Salvation history revolves around one particular lineage. Jesus of Nazareth, the gospel writers are keen to point out, is descended from King David. In this way, he fulfils the role as the Messianic Son of David. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is acknowledged as the Son of David on a number of occasions. Let’s take a brief survey:</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 72px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">• </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">By “the crowds” in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:9). The term “the crowds” may be an </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">equivalent to the Am Ha-</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">aretz</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">, the ‘people of the land’, treated with contempt in Jewish writings such as the Talmud and the Mishnah. Their biggest fault appears to be a lack of attention to ritual cleanliness</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">. If “the crowds” does refer to such people, these would be very much outcast, the little people.</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 72px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">• </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">By the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:22. We’ve already discussed her story, but to recap, she was a foreigner, outside the people of Israel, and by rights, less familiar with the title and its significance.</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 72px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">• </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">By children, again on Palm Sunday, in the temple (Matthew 21:15). This angered the chief priests and scribes, but Jesus simply directed them to Psalm 8:2, that well-known verse, “Out of the mouths of babes…”</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 72px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: Symbol; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">• </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">By blind men, more than once (Matthew 9:27; 20:30-31). These men could not see, but they recognised Jesus’ heritage better than most. Need I say more?</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 18px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Quite a surprising bunch of people.</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">The uneducated, the alien, the disabled.</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> These were the ones who saw Jesus as the Son of David. Rarely is the title used of Jesus by anyone else. But for these people, the Messiah would be the Son of David. It seems to me that this was how they </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">understood the Messiah. Not only </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">was</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> David Israel’s greatest king, and the man after God’s own heart. A vital link between David and Jesus is seen in his relationship with the little people. In 1 Samuel 22:1-2, we read of David, fleeing King Saul, and taking up residence at the cave of </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Adullam</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">. And here, the distressed, the debtors and the discontented came to him in their hundreds, “and he became captain over them.” This was David’s army. These were his people.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Later, when David had finally taken the throne, he also embraced Mephibosheth, the disabled son of Jonathan. 2 Samuel </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">chapter</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> 9, which reports that story, ends by telling us that Mephibosheth “always ate at the king’s table…” David sent for the man, and had table fellowship with him from that time forward.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">The distressed, the debtors, the discontented, the disabled.</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> These were David’s people. A man after God’s own heart, true enough.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Heritage</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">And so, similar groups of people call out to </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Jesus,</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> “have mercy on us, Son of David!” They recognise the family resemblance in him. They see that his heritage, from </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">David, is compassion toward the marginalised. So Jesus’ solidarity with the little people is not a new thing. It was his heritage, a family tradition. He was simply reviving that tradition.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> As Salvationists, our solidarity with the little people is </span><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">likewise our heritage. Once again, The Salvation Army was raised up by God to be not only for the little people or even with the little people, but by the little people. It was inclusive, because other places were not. We all sat at the table together. Let it be so now, and always.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><br /></span></div>
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-23164178431503420182018-08-28T14:53:00.000-07:002018-08-28T14:53:20.005-07:00Chapter 13 - Sit down<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Sit down</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">I am quite partial to James. I don’t mean the New Testament book (well, that too), I mean the Manchester band. They were carried along on the wave of the Madchester music scene, and it was in 1991 that they had probably their biggest and most famous hit, </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Sit down</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">, on its re-release. This song features the chorus, </span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Oh, sit down, oh, sit down, oh, sit down,</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Sit down next to me.</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Sit down, down, down, down, down</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In sympathy.</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> It’s kind of an invitation to anyone who feels a bit like they do, to sit down with them. That’s literally what the chorus means, actually. Sympathy is ‘fellow-feeling’, shared experience or understanding or commitment. Think of derivatives of that word: sympathetic, when someone is understanding of another’s situation; sympathiser, someone who supports another’s position or cause.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> A similar word to sympathy is ‘solidarity’. This word is perhaps most associated with the Trade Union movement, thanks in part at least to Ralph Chaplin’s 1915 lyric </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Solidarity Forever</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">, which became an anthem of the Industrial Workers of the World. Trade Unions are a good example of solidarity. A group of people in similar positions stands together for their rights, or against exploitation. Solidarity, like sympathy, is about sitting or standing together, often for or against something. It is based on the acceptance that, ‘we’re all in the same boat’, and that we must unite against injustice of some kind.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> I would like to propose that solidarity is the way forward. Solidarity with the little people. This, perhaps above all else, is what Jesus modelled. Let’s ignore for a moment the </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">miracles and words of Jesus (not something I usually recommend!), and look simply at with whom he sat.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus was criticised for socialising with tax collectors, prostitutes and ‘sinners’. His audiences were often ‘the crowds’, which may carry a similar sense to the term ‘people of the land,’ who came in the last couple of centuries of Second Temple Judaism to be viewed (by the educated and the religious elite) as simple, ignorant peasants, not fully capable of understanding or performing God’s law. Yet, it may have been such people whom Jesus made sit down, to share a meal-for-one that kept giving. Jesus had one of history’s biggest picnics with the little people. And this was quite significant. Table fellowship was an important social indicator. People were defined, in many ways, by whom they shared the table with.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus regularly ate with poor people, uneducated people, morally dubious people, socially outcast people…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Taking seats</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Of course, Jesus didn’t just eat with the lower classes. He was</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">also, at least occasionally, the dinner guest of Pharisees and scribes. And on one such occasion (reported in Luke 14), Jesus watched with interest as the guests took their </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">places at the table. It seems they were trying to sit in the most ‘important’ seats possible. Jesus then tells a parable about a wedding banquet.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> If you’ve ever planned a wedding meal, the table plan is one of the most fraught elements of the entire wedding. Who sits with whom? And is this table near enough to the top for so-and-so, but they can’t sit higher than that person… It’s a minefield. It’s funny how where people sit on social occasions becomes such a big deal.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And so Jesus tells the guests at this dinner that they shouldn’t seek the place of honour at a wedding banquet, in case someone “more distinguished than you” has been invited, and the host has to ask you to give them your seat, leaving you to take the walk of shame to the bottom. Instead, Jesus says, take the lowest place at the start, then the host might say, “Friend, move up higher”. The point Jesus is making is that, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This last line is used a lot by Jesus in the gospels. The idea of some sort of reversal, a social re-ordering (some might say revolution), seems important, and not just in the gospels, but in the prophetic tradition too. Actually, maybe in the whole Judeo-Christian tradition. The prophet </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Zephaniah (3:11-13) speaks of God removing the “proudly exultant ones”, and arrogance, from his holy mountain, and leaving in their place, “a people humble and lowly”. Look at Psalm 146, particularly verses 7-9, and while you’re there, Psalm 147:6. David’s song of thanksgiving in 2 Samuel 22, recapitulated in Psalm 18, features the line: “You deliver a humble people,” (2 Samuel 22:28; Psalm 18:27), continuing, “…but your eyes are upon the haughty to bring them down” (2 Samuel 22:28), or, “you bring down the haughty eyes” (Psalm 18:27). </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Hannah’s prayer, in 1 Samuel chapter 2 has a lot of echoes in Psalm 113, especially 1 Samuel 2:8 and Psalm 113:7-8. The former of those texts says this:</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">He raises up the poor from the dust; </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">he lifts the needy from the ash heap,</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">To make them sit with princes</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> and inherit a seat of honour…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> That’s exactly what Jesus is talking about with the host of the wedding banquet. So Jesus is not coming out with some new-fangled idea. In fact, his parable here (Luke 14:8-11) is really a midrash on Proverbs 25:6-7, which say:</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 36px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">or stand in the place of the great;</span></div>
<div class="s12" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 39px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here’,</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> than to be put lower in the presence</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> of a noble.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> (Proverbs, especially chapter 25, provides a lot of material for Jesus, as it goes.)</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> After this midrashic parable, Jesus then turns to his host and says that when giving a dinner, he should not invite friends or family or well-off neighbours, because they might invite him in return, and he would be repaid. Instead, he should invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind”, and thus he will be blessed, because these people can’t repay him, and he will receive his reward “at the resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:12-14).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In the first place, this sounds a bit ungrateful from Jesus. But apart from that, Jesus takes us toward the kind of ‘social inclusion’ that characterises God’s kingdom, where meals are shared between all kinds of people, from all social classes, all abilities, all ages, all genders, all races, and so on. And not just meals. Life.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus invites us all to look outside of our families, and our social groups, and to move in wider circles, to include others, especially the little people.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Provision = Division?</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But before we take this just to mean we should run a feeding programme, open a foodbank, or such like (all commendable and, sadly, useful initiatives in places, sometimes), let’s step back and remember that Jesus was only reported to have fed people once or twice. But he ate with people a lot more. Jesus spent much of his time sitting down with people. Sharing with them, often over a meal. Investing in them. Listening to them. Talking to them. And this is, in general, a better approach than simply feeding people, for a few reasons.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Firstly, feeding (or meeting specific needs through service provision) can keep a division between we who provide and they who receive. The benefactor and the beneficiary remain where they are. In fact, this can replace one form of dependency with another, or worse, can replace one form of oppression with another. When our interactions with the little people keep us superior to them, and them inferior to </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">us, we perpetuate the social stratification that God opposes (as we have seen above).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Secondly, and related to this, is the danger that social action can, in practice, hinder social justice. An example of this is the tendency for politicians (local or central) to attend the opening of foodbanks. This betrays a tacit agreement between all parties that it’s ok to have foodbanks, because they meet the need of hungry people – often made hungry because of government policy. Thus, the temptation is for well-meaning people to focus resources on feeding people, rather than diverting some of these resources toward campaigning for social justice, by challenging the systems which create the need for foodbanks in the first place, and calling politicians to account.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> However, there is a third strand to this cord. Alongside social action and social justice is social inclusion. In simple terms, these three roughly equate to doing something to people; doing something for people; and doing something with people. Sometimes all of these approaches are needed. But the most important, in terms of God’s mission in the world, the most Christlike, of the three, is the last. It is only through including people, on equal terms, that we fully live out the gospel.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This is solidarity. Getting alongside people, the little people. Listening to them. Learning from them. Not simply saying, “Let me help”, but “Let’s share life together…”</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Don’t do something, just sit there</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">An example from my own experience may help to demonstrate this. When circumstances forced the closure of a soup kitchen, a predecessor of mine decided to redirect the donations of short-date food to the local hostel, run by a housing association. This opened a door for him to become a sort of chaplain to the hostel, dropping in every two weeks or so. Shortly after I succeeded him, circumstances forced a re-think of the food drop to the hostel. The responsibility for this was passed to a couple of other churches in town (the donations eventually dried up). However, I continued the chaplaincy, and in fact this became more fruitful, as (apart from some milk and cake left over from another activity), I was taking nothing with me. I was no longer someone who was going there to do something to the men and women who found themselves there (ie. feed them); I was there primarily, solely even, as someone who just wanted to listen, to talk, to learn from them, to share with them. They made me tea, not the other </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">way round. And some people – staff and service users alike – were drawn a little closer to God, and felt more valued.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">… But for the grace of God…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">As noted above, the concept of social inclusion (for want of a better term) is Christlike. The apostle Paul quoted what is thought to be an early Christian hymn, in writing to the Philippian church that their attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ,</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">who, though he was in the form of God,</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">did not regard equality with God</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">as something to be exploited,</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">but emptied himself,</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">taking the form of a slave,</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">being born in human likeness.</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">And being found in human form,</span></div>
<div class="s10" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> he humbled himself</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">and became obedient to the point of death—</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">even death on a cross.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus crossed the largest social divide in the universe. Although he was God, he didn’t let it go to his head. He was prepared to lay it all on the line – status, reputation, safety, his own life – and live with us and like us.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> If Jesus could do it, why can’t we? I mean, Jesus literally had it all to lose. He really was someone. He really did have a reputation to protect. He really was above us.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> There’s a saying that really winds me up: ‘There but for the grace of God go I’. We use it to mean, ‘that poor person I see before me could just as easily be me, except that (for some unknown reason) God’s grace has spared me from their fate’. But why would God’s grace choose me over them? In fact, is it not the case that God’s grace is at least as much in evidence in the life of that other, as in mine? That person lives with his or her condition – of poverty, of pain, of illness – even in very dignified ways. And I simply condescend, patronise: ‘There but for the grace of God, go I…’ Maybe we should, rather, realise that God’s grace can free us from such a superiority complex, and say, instead, ‘Here, but for the grace of God, go they…’ Such people as ‘they’ are often humble, not exalting themselves.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And as long as we keep these unhelpful distinctions, these social groupings, we are always in danger of paternalism. By this, I mean that our service provision is all about us, the experts, fixing the other. Paternalism is the enemy of solidarity, the enemy of genuine inclusion. Paternalism prevents people from truly standing shoulder to shoulder, from truly sitting down next to one another, from truly kneeling side by side.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In the quote from Philippians, above, we read that Jesus was “found in human form”. Jesus became one of us. He looked like any other man. There was nothing that made him different, except that He was God. But to look at Him, He was ‘just one of the guys’.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Another story from my own experience. One of the best models of feeding programme I have seen was run by a local housing charity, working among the homeless and vulnerably housed. It happened once a week, in a local church, at lunchtime. It entailed a three-course meal for a pound (first time free of charge). What I love about this model is that it adds value to the whole thing by charging for the meal. That means it is not free, it is not a handout. Those who eat are investing something in it, they became stakeholders. But at a pound, it is accessible to almost anyone, as anyone can get hold of a pound.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Also, this programme included a monthly ‘thrift store’. This part was free, and allowed people to go into the next room and look at a small stall of donated clothing, and some household goods, and take what they wanted.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The charity also encouraged ‘service users’ to become ‘service providers’ by volunteering. A number of the regulars became volunteers at the programme.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> For a period of time, I regularly attended this meal, usually only eating the soup and bread course (which was free, although I always paid the pound). I went to sit with the other people there, to listen, to chat. I got to know quite a few of the regulars. I always wore some form of Salvation Army branded clothing (never full uniform). But once, a volunteer from the thrift stall came into the dining area, and went round the tables telling the guys about the stall. She came to the table where I was sitting with two or three others. And, looking me straight in the eye, with a sincere and sympathetic face, she told me to come through and help myself…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> For a second, I was torn. I almost wanted to say, ‘Sorry, you’ve made a mistake, I’m not one of these guys…’ Then I realised how that might sound to my friends.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> So I smiled and said, ‘Thanks’. And she moved on.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And then I realised that, regardless how it might have sounded to my friends, it would have been wrong to say I wasn’t one of those guys. I was having lunch with them, I was getting to know them. In some way, I was one of them. And my ‘blending in’ was, in some way, Christlike. That is what we must become: indistinguishable from the little people, because we are with them, and they are with us, until, ultimately, we are all one – there is no them or us.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> There’s a famous quote from Oscar Wilde, that, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” We must recognise that we are all in the gutter. We must realise this Biblical solidarity. And then, all together, we can look at the stars.</span></div>
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-34987690135077431922018-08-20T13:28:00.001-07:002018-08-20T13:28:16.166-07:00Chapter 12 - The Word on the street<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Nowhere to lay his head</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In chapter 8 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has just given a large body of teaching (commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount) to an even larger crowd, and has performed a series of healing miracles. Still surrounded by crowds, Jesus decides to cross Lake Galilee, from his native Galilee to the Decapolis region. Before getting away, though, a scribe approaches and says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go” (Matthew 8:19).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Scribes, as the name suggests, wrote things. In particular, they wrote copies of Torah, the Jewish law, so that it could be available to more Jews, in synagogues usually. These people were devoted to Torah, and would often attach </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">themselves to a teacher, whose memory – and interpretation – of Torah would resource and inform the scribing. And so, this particular scribe having seen, and especially heard Jesus, now wants to be his disciple. He wants to attach himself to Jesus the teacher.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And he has made a formal approach too. First, he calls Jesus ‘teacher’ (or ‘rabbi’). Second, he is interested in where Jesus is going, because he wants to go with him, to stay with him, live with him. That’s how it worked. A rabbi’s disciples followed everywhere. They were live-in students. Look at the example in John 1:38, where Andrew and another prospective disciple ask Jesus, “Rabbi... where are you staying?” This was because they essentially wanted to move in with him.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">And to this scribe, also seeking to move in with Jesus, he replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). This exchange is often taken as a test of the scribe’s resolve or commitment, and an illustration of the cost of discipleship to Jesus. This is not a comfortable, easy or even prestigious lifestyle. In fact, it seems many or even most rabbis were not wealthy, and had to eke out a meagre living in trades such as carpentry, as Jesus may have, at least at some point; the great rabbi Hillel worked as a day labourer</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">. This was not a glamourous career.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> A further angle to consider from this episode is that discipleship is a journey, and that following Jesus has no end point – in this life, anyway. There is no time at which Jesus will say to his disciple – as other rabbis would – ‘I have taught you all I know; you are on your own now.’ Discipleship to Jesus is constant and continuous.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But, illustrations aside, there is a literal meaning here to Jesus’ words, and it is often glossed over: it is possible that Jesus really did have nowhere to lay his head. At least at some stages in his life, Jesus was homeless, of no fixed abode.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">No crib</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">The tradition tells us that the first of these stages was at the beginning of Jesus’ (earthly) life. Jesus was born homeless. Of course, this was not the actual beginning. We recognise Jesus Christ as the pre-existent Word, who was with God and who was God, in the beginning (John 1:1). And Paul, perhaps quoting an early Christian hymn, charts Christ’s journey from the height of Godhead to the depths of a poor, frail, human existence. He lost everything.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Something I think most people fail to appreciate about homelessness is the stress, the mental health impact it can have. Think of it: someone may have had their own home, a family, a job; any of the things many of us take for granted. And, sometimes very suddenly, they lost everything. What a shock to the system.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Yet, the Incarnation demonstrates a solidarity, an identification with this experience of great and traumatic loss: of status; of safety and security; of wealth and power; even of identity and the sense of close connection to family.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> At Christmas, we sing of the poverty into which Jesus was born: “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed…”</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">. Luke’s account of the story supplies the image of the holy family in a stable, and the baby in the manger, because “there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). The inn mentioned here is not the same kind of establishment Jesus talks about in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:34). In fact, at Christmas, it may not be an inn of any sort. The text may refer, instead, to the absence of a guestroom. Kenneth E. Bailey has described the kind of building that may be in question here: a common single-storey, open plan house, with living accommodation at one end, and a lower part at the other end occupied by the family’s animals, like sheep, cattle, a donkey, perhaps. In </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">between would have been a feeding trough, the manger, in easy reach for the family to replenish, and for the animals to feed from. It may be that Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem – his ancestral home – and were taken in by some distant relation who would not see them on the street, but had no guestroom to offer. Thus, in cramped conditions, when the baby was born, he was placed in the manger, with its soft, warm fodder as bedding.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Whatever the case, whether we read the traditional stable because there was no room at the inn, or the perhaps more accurate lack of guestroom at a domestic property, Jesus was born homeless, according to Luke. Far from his family home, in uncomfortable conditions.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Flight of the Liberator</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">And Jesus may have gone even further from home. In a tradition preserved only in Matthew’s gospel, we read of the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt. Joseph has been warned in a dream to take the infant Jesus and Mary to Egypt because Herod seeks to kill the child (Matthew 2:13-15).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> There are notable parallels with the infancy narrative of Moses in Exodus chapters 1 and 2. Both Jesus and Moses </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">are in danger of death as babies – borne out by the infanticide recorded in Matthew 2:16 and Exodus 1:15-22. Both are hidden until the danger has abated. And both become great liberators of God’s people. Yet, how fragile, how delicately balanced it had all been.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The parallels were surely not lost on Matthew. In fact, since he is the only Evangelist to relay this episode, it is possible that its truth lies not primarily in its historicity, but rather in the power of the image of Jesus as a new, and greater, Moses.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Of course, the Moses story, the Exodus event, is only occasioned by the flight of another family to Egypt: the children of Israel, Jacob and sons, who faced starvation in Canaan.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In Jesus and in the Israelites, we see refugees. These were people whose lives were in danger in their own land, so they sought refuge in another country. And this is the story of so many today. It is difficult for us in the West to appreciate the gravity of their situation. Millions have had to flee their land, their homes, because to remain risks violence, imprisonment or death.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Let’s remember, then, that Jesus might have more in common with the refugee than with those who choose to welcome the refugee – or not, as the case may be. And </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">let’s remember too, that just as Moses’ or Jesus’ infant mortality could have had catastrophic consequences for history, we may never know the saving impact refugees may have. How many doctors have fled violence and oppression in their homeland, and saved lives in our NHS? And who knows what wonderful prospects may lie ahead of a child who arrives on our shores, fleeing a deadly fate?</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The world is saved and transformed because Jesus was welcomed as a refugee.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Sofa surfing</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">And so we return to the adult Jesus, with nowhere to lay his head. It seems his attitude and practice toward accommodation was quite relaxed. We can gather that his lifestyle was that of an itinerant teacher, who went to a lot of people’s houses for dinner. It also appears that he was a lodger with some, especially with some of the women with whom he associated. Mary and Martha took him in (Luke 10:38), and we see at his death a congregation of women who may also have given Jesus board for the night (Matthew 27:55-56).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus seems to have been what today we might call a ‘sofa surfer’ – moving from one friend’s couch to another, as he </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">has no place of his own. On the positive side, this shows the kindness of friends to one in need. On the down side, it can put a strain on relations, the needy friend can outstay his or her welcome, or drain already scarce resources in the household. Perhaps worst of all, though, in today’s Britain sofa surfers are not always classed as homeless by local authorities – meaning that statistics for homelessness may be skewed, and individuals may not qualify for the help they need – because they ostensibly have a roof over their head, precarious though it may be. This is perhaps ‘vulnerably housed’ at its most vulnerable.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But Jesus identifies with the sofa surfers too. He appears to have lived that life to an extent, and he also commended it to his disciples. When sending out the Twelve on their ‘field training’, he told them firstly to travel light (Matthew 10:9-10), and then to find someone worthy to stay with in whichever town they enter (Matthew 10:11).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> On the other side of this coin, the writer to the Hebrews encouraged his readers to “show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). Perhaps there is here a reference to Lot’s hospitality toward two angels visiting Sodom, in Genesis 19. And Sodom’s greatest sin was apparently their lack of hospitality (in fact, the opposite of hospitality) to God’s messengers, and thus an </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">unreceptiveness to his message. This would certainly make more sense of Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:15, that towns who fail to welcome the disciples are in for a worse fate than Sodom and Gomorrah.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Hospitality is important to Jesus. In particular, hospitality to the most vulnerable. Perhaps he lived the way he did to create opportunities for others to practice hospitality.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Fasting in the wilderness</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Maybe Jesus also chose the nomadic path as a discipline, to free himself from attachment to material things, like a house. In our culture, home ownership seems to be a benchmark. Yet Jesus may never have owned, perhaps not even rented, a home.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And we can see this discipline of detachment being exercised at the start of Jesus’ public life. He took himself out – or, the Holy Spirit did – to the wilderness, the desert. Here, he spent forty days, fasting. The period of forty days, or years, is significant. It is seen as a suitable period of preparation or a number for completeness. It is also, though, the number of years the people of Israel spent in the wilderness.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus’ exchanges with Satan (Matthew 4:1-11) reflect that story. The three scriptural rebuttals Jesus uses clarify the connection with the desert wanderings of God’s people Israel. Each verse quoted is from Deuteronomy. Let’s take them briefly, one at a time, in reverse order.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The third verse is Deuteronomy 6:13, and is about covenant faithfulness, about loyalty and devotion to God, alone. It’s about single-mindedness, focus. And sometimes that is best achieved by stripping away all the trappings of our way of life. Again, the writer to the Hebrews exhorts us to “lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles… looking to Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1-2). This is a laying down not just of sin – we know sin is bad, and should be laid down, right? But the ‘weights’ are not sin. This is talking about laying down other things, that may be distracting our gaze from Jesus, hindering us in “the race”. And some of these weights – or burdens, we might call them – are very innocuous. We may even say they are good. Yet, even good things can sometimes get in the way. Maybe we need to simplify, de-clutter, unplug. To fast.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The second verse Jesus quotes has to do with testing God. This time, Jesus has not quoted the full verse, Deuteronomy 6:16, but just a part of it. The original says, “Do not put the LORD your God to test, </span><span class="s10" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">as you tested him at Massah</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">” </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">(emphasis mine, highlighting the ‘missing’ text). This should immediately prompt us to ask, ‘What or where is Massah? What is the text talking about?’ The verse refers to an incident recorded in Exodus 17:1-7. Not long after their departure from Egypt, the people are without water in the desert. They begin to quarrel with Moses, demanding water. Moses asks them why they quarrel with him, and why they test the LORD. Then God tells Moses to go on ahead of the them, and to strike a rock at Horeb with his staff, and water will come out of the rock for the people to drink. And that is what happens. So the place gets the name ‘Massah’, which means ‘test’, and ‘Meribah’, which means ‘quarrel’. All this came about because of a question: Is God with us, or not? There was a deep thirst, a dryness, and just physical. There was a spiritual longing too, a sense of abandonment, of desolation.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In the middle ages, some of the saints experienced something similar. John of the Cross called it the dark night of the soul. And he found that the answer was not to question God’s presence or goodness, but rather to throw oneself into the darkness, and trust God to catch us. And this trust opens a wellspring of God’s love into the soul. Once again, though, both material and spiritual desolation are stepping stones on the path to this rock of consolation.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And finally, the first verse Jesus uses is from Deuteronomy 8:3. It has to do with hunger and bread. And the reference is to God teaching his wandering people humility and dependence on him, through his commanding manna – their daily bread – to appear for them. The point is, it’s not the bread that sustains them; it’s the God who provides it. His grace and love created us, and sustains us. This is all grace. It is God’s goodness.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Fasting is not a rejection of God’s good provision, as we might be tempted to think. Rather, fasting enables us to adjust our focus from the gift to the Giver, and to seek God first, rather than his provision. We learn more of God and his goodness.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This discipline also helps us to learn that enough really is enough. So much poverty and want in our world is the result of wealth and greed. A key lesson for me, from the story of the manna, is that each person or household gathered what they needed, and it was enough. There was a daily provision from God of enough for everyone, and they each took what they needed. I believe God has always worked this way. He gives us our daily bread. He provides enough for all his children. But it’s up to us to share it. To take and use only what we need. In our consumer society, we are programmed to take what we want. And this results </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">in a lot of waste, a surplus for some, and a dearth for others.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> On the issue of homelessness, the increase of larger and less affordable housing only exacerbates the problem, as some simply cannot get a house. There is neither the space, the housing stock, nor the political will it seems, to house those who can’t afford to buy or even rent a home.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Fasting in the wilderness today may mean a radical re-think of: our consumer choices; our use or leisure time; where and how we live; the amount of waste we generate and what happens to it.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> As God once asked his people:</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px; padding-left: 36px;"></span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">“</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Is not this the fast that I choose:</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> to loose the bonds of injustice,</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> to undo the thongs of the yoke,</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">to let the oppressed go free,</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> and to break every yoke?</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> and bring the homeless poor into your house;</span></div>
<div class="s11" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">when you see the naked, to cover them,</span></div>
<div class="s12" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">and not to hide yourself from your own kin?</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">” </span></div>
<div class="s13" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px; margin-left: 180px; text-indent: 36px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">(Isaiah 58:6-7)</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This kind of fasting, this voluntary poverty, also gives us the opportunity to understand and to identify with, in some small way, the experience of the poor, the vulnerably housed, the hungry and the homeless. In this, we can be a little closer to Jesus. And the world becomes a bit closer to heaven. Closer to home.</span></div>
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-62701001597235057782018-08-14T13:10:00.003-07:002018-08-14T13:10:59.493-07:00Chapter 11 - "It's everyone's job to make sure I'm ok"<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Awareness</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">I grew up in a town less than twenty miles away from Dunblane. And yet, I don’t think I had ever heard of Andy Murray’s home town, until one horrific day in March 1996. I was 12, a year or two into high school. And we had never known anything like what happened that day, so close to home.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> On 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton walked into Dunblane Primary School, armed with four handguns, and opened fire on a class of five and six year old children in the school gym hall. One teacher and sixteen children were killed, and as many more were injured in the massacre. The shooting ended when the gunman turned his revolver on himself.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This was the worst mass shooting ever in the UK. And it is made all the worse by the nature of the attack. This was a merciless attack on innocent children.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In the wake of the massacre, there was a sea change in attitudes, and policies, about child protection. Children are vulnerable, but also extremely valuable to God.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">The greatest</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In Matthew 18:1-5, we read the disciples of Jesus asking him who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus answers them by getting a child to stand among them, and he says, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes a humble place – becoming like this child – is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven…” I think there’s a couple of things to think about here. In the first place, I think the disciples are confused. They’re not thinking in God’s way, in the kingdom way. They ask a question about the kingdom, but they don’t understand it. They seem to think that it has a pecking order, that it’s a competition for status within God’s kingdom… But Jesus puts them straight, by showing them a child, who wouldn’t have had a lot of status in their world. And so Jesus says, be like this child, accept a humble place, don’t get ideas above your station – in fact, don’t worry about status at all. Then you’ll be the greatest. That’s how God’s kingdom works: the last are first, the humble are lifted up. I’ll never forget my former boss Alan Burns, when he conducted the dedication of our daughter, talking about this story. And he illustrated very graphically what happened. The disciples would sit on the ground, around their master. So they’d be low. And then Jesus has the child stand among them. Stand. So this child is suddenly above them. This little, insignificant figure is towering over them. They look up to the child. That says all they need to know. Who’s the greatest here? The child is head and shoulders above them…</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The way to get ahead in kingdom life is to be humble, to come as children before God.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In fact, the child image shows us so much about how we should live in God’s kingdom: we are to live as children of our heavenly Father, dependent on Him, obedient to Him.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But then Jesus says something really amazing: He says that, “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Why is this amazing? Well, it says that Jesus identifies Himself with children. He says if we welcome a child, we welcome Him.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Later on, in Matthew 25, Jesus says that whatever we do for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick or the prisoner, we do it for Him.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus identifies with the little ones, the ones the world would call the ‘least’. He’s in their corner. And so, the child is important to Jesus. Every child is important to Jesus. And if every child is important to Jesus, every child must be important to us.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Causing harm</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In Matthew 18, and from verse 6, Jesus talks about the little ones, particularly the little ones who believe in him. So, who does he mean, who are these little ones who believe in him? Well, by the context, little ones might mean children. Or it might mean those who are humble, like children. Literally, it means ‘the least’. It means those of low status. This would include children, but I think it’s wider than that. I think Jesus is talking about all those of low status, those seen as the least in the world: the children, the vulnerable, the marginalised, the poor, the voiceless…</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And when Jesus talks about these little ones who believe in him, does he mean those who come to church every Sunday? Perhaps. Does he mean those who have made a decision and prayed a prayer to follow Him? Maybe. But it might also mean those who are seeking him, those who are trusting in him, who are looking to him to help them. And that could be a wider group – especially since some of these people don’t even know that it’s Jesus they’re looking for…</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> So Jesus says that anyone who causes one of these little ones to stumble, or to sin, anyone who offends one of these little ones – well, there’ll be trouble. It’s a big mistake, this really winds Jesus up. You see, what he’s really talking about here is people hurting the little ones. If anyone causes any hurt to one of these little ones, it’s really bad news.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And hurting the little ones – the children, the vulnerable, the poor, the voiceless – can take many forms. There’s physical violence and abuse – things that are done; as well as verbal abuse – things that are said; there’s neglect – things that are not done, needs that are not met. And of course, we might think of spiritual abuse, which is perhaps the most obvious reference here – where one might damage the spiritual well-being of the ‘little one’, might cause something to come between the little one and God.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus has very stern words against those who might cause any hurt to any of these little ones, especially those who might have come to him for refuge…</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And we might think, “This is a church, full of good, Christian people…” But sometimes we can cause hurt quite accidentally and unknowingly.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Wandering sheep</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In Matthew 18:10, Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” When Jesus says, do not despise, he’s really saying don’t look down on these guys, don’t have a low opinion of them. These little ones, whether children, or vulnerable people, or poor people – whoever the world sees as lowly, as the ‘least’ – we’ve not to think of them that way. Instead, we are to be humble ourselves. Because we’re all little ones. We’re all vulnerable in one way or another. We’re all God’s children.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And then Jesus tells the story of a lost sheep, a wandering sheep. If someone’s got a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, won’t he leave the ninety-nine in safety, and go after the lost one? Imagine the parent in the supermarket with their child, and they turn round, and the child’s gone missing… I think that’s the kind of story Jesus is telling here, this wandering sheep is like the child who’s gotten lost.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And of course, there’s all these other sheep, who are safe. So, Jesus says, the owner of the sheep can go and find this lost one, in the knowledge that the others are all safe. I wonder if part of that safety comes from their being together. They can look out for each other, keep each other safe, but the one out there on its own needs more care and attention…</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> So, again, there’s a sense that Jesus is talking about someone who’s been one of us – a follower of Jesus – who’s lost their way a bit, and needs finding again. But, if we go back to what Jesus said earlier: “whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me”, then we’re reminded that Jesus identifies with the ‘least’, the last, the lost. And, our Father in heaven is not willing that any one of these little ones should perish, or should be lost. God wants all his children home.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> If Jesus is bringing the lost sheep home (in whatever form they take), and rejoicing about it, let’s join in! Let’s welcome the lost sheep, let’s keep them safe, let’s allow them to enjoy life to the full.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Suffer the little children</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In Matthew 19:13 and 14, we read of the disciples telling people off for bringing children to Jesus. But Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Children, like everyone else, matter to Jesus. And we have a responsibility to make sure that they can enjoy worshipping God freely, that they can enjoy healthy relationships with God, with other children and adults, and to make sure they are safe.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In my previous life, before becoming a Salvation Army officer, I worked in a special needs school. And I’ll never forget the child protection training we received there. The thing that stuck the most was, we were told about a little girl, perhaps five years old, who was asked, “Whose job is it to make sure you’re OK?” She replied, “It’s everyone’s job to make sure I’m OK.”</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> She was right. And I think Jesus says to us, it’s everyone’s job to make sure each person, the youngest to the oldest, regardless of status, is OK. There’s a proverb, perhaps African, that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” In other words, all children, and for that matter, all people, are formed by their environment, by their community. What kind of community are we, for shaping people? What kind of children, or adults, are formed in our community?</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Perhaps we have to look at our lives, under the light of the Holy Spirit, and ask if we are hindering anyone, or causing anyone to stumble or be hurt. Do we hold attitudes that are not like Jesus. Are our actions unlike Jesus? Do we need to ask God, and allow Him, to change us?</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> I think God made children on purpose. I think childhood is a vital stage in our development. Children must be allowed to be children – to enjoy, experience and express their childhood in healthy, natural ways – otherwise, they’re missing out on a key stage of development.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Perhaps, though, this all speaks to us as followers of Jesus too. If we’re not developing naturally as Christians, we’re not going to grow into healthy, mature Christ-likeness. And perhaps that means we have to ask questions – to allow ourselves and be allowed to ask questions, to help us to grapple with our faith, to own our faith.</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> I think Jesus, in this whole passage is saying, first, that we have to come to Him as children, and second, we have to welcome and safeguard and look after little ones – whoever they may be…</span></div>
<div class="s7" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span class="s10" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span class="s10" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"><br /></span></div>
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-14377343381541669652018-08-08T12:49:00.001-07:002018-08-08T12:49:24.552-07:00Chapter 10 - The Elephant in the Closet<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Issue</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Ok. So there is, in our day, a big issue which causes division and exclusion, especially in the church, it must be said. And no book on Jesus and the little people can overlook this. It’s an elephant in the room (or, in the closet, might be better). It’s the issue of homosexuality, and the area of gender identity.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> I call it an issue – we all call it that. But this is not about issues, it’s about individuals. We must not see a problem, but people. New Testament scholar Scot McKnight, in his excellent book on biblical interpretation, </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">The Blue Parakeet</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">, points out </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">that biblical interpretations</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> – and that is what all readings of scripture are – can be challenged </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">when confronted by new ‘data’, which may render a particular position untenable. Often, the new ‘data’ are people. And our encounters with people may make us rethink our views and values. This is not about abandoning long-held, sound doctrine, but about finding a way to embrace a new situation, while remaining faithful to God. That often means stepping back from a particular article of faith, a particular line of text, and looking at the bigger picture, of our faith, the gospel, God and his kingdom…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But this particular area of life seems to be fraught with difficulty. The first obstacle for those trying to work out a theological position based on Jesus in the gospels is that there is no obstacle. There is no anything. Homosexuality and gender identity are not mentioned in the gospels.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In part, this is because homosexuality hadn’t been ‘invented’ yet. By this, I mean that the term was not coined until the nineteenth century</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">, when it was popularised by psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his important 1886 work, </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Psychopathia</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Sexualis</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Until this point, it is fair to say that homosexuality was largely seen in terms of deviant (and criminal) behaviour. But serious study and science had now entered the fray, and started to level the playing field. It came to be understood, albeit slowly, that attraction to someone of the same sex </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">may be a biological phenomenon, and not just misbehaviour or bad morals. Of course, I expect that there is no final word on this matter, but some will argue for greater or lesser involvement of social and cultural factors here too, the old nature/nurture debate. In any case, the real breakthrough at this point was that homosexuality was now a thing. There was, and is, still a long way to go in understanding sexuality, especially non-heterosexuality, but I think this was a major turning point.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Anyway, in Jesus’ day, clearly this level of understanding did not exist. And so, it seems that homosexuality was understood in terms of behaviour, not as a way of being human. The notion of two people of the same sex forming a true, faithful, loving partnership, or a marriage, was too much to take, even in our own UK until recently.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> So, understandably, then, we have no record of Jesus saying anything about homosexuality. Some will point to other biblical texts which may have some bearing on same-sex relations, it seems. The immediate difficulties here come with context, and theology. First of all, the Leviticus texts on the subject of male-male sex</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> do not actually read like proscriptions of consensual sex between two adults. They read more like proscriptions of male rape (such as conquerors might commit against the vanquished), or the use of male prostitutes (such as might have been common </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">in the worship of gods in the Ancient Near East). We can, of course, take these texts at face value – although, famously, we rarely do that with the rest of Leviticus…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> The New Testament may also have a couple of references to same-sex relations, but opinion on their meaning is split.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> What we do find in the gospels is what Jesus says about sex, sexuality and marriage.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Lust, says Jesus, is just as bad as the act of adultery. I think much of what Jesus says in that part of the sermon on the mount has to do with the dignity and humanity of others (for instance, anger or insults toward another is the same as murdering them). If one lusts after another, this can dehumanise or objectify the other. And Jesus presents a high view of humanity, made in the image of God. So, Jesus advises it would be better to pluck out an offending eye than to continue lusting and face the consequences. This is (I hope!) symbolic language, to the effect that we should cut this out at the source. In any case, Jesus seems to suggest here that sexual desire should be reserved and expressed in the secure and loving confines of marriage.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Perhaps most telling, and well-worn by many who defend the traditional view of marriage, are Jesus’ words on marriage (or divorce, depending on your outlook) in Matthew 19:3-9. Here, Jesus indeed affirms the view of </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">marriage as between one man and one woman. It should be noted, of course, that this was not the unanimous witness of scripture. Some of the heroes of the faith had polygamous relationships. Anyway, the text in question is occasioned by some </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Pharisees </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">confronting Jesus </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">on the question of divorce. First of all, the question comes in a context where marriage belongs to the man. The man holds all the power in the society and in the marriage. The woman has no marital rights. Therefore, they ask </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Jesus,</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” There appears to have been a culture of divorce, men casting off their wives when they felt like a change. Thus, Jesus replies, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’…” Notice Jesus’ use of “at the beginning” – taking us straight away to the creation story of Genesis 1 – emphasised by his use of Genesis 1:27c. Why quote that snippet? </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">To undermine the dominant assumptions of gender roles.</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Jesus was (shockingly) pointing out that females were cr</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">eated equal to males - di</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">fferent</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> but equal</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">. Jesus, then, is firstly affirming the status of women as equal to men, fully human, worthy of dignity and respect. He then continues by quoting Genesis 2:24, about the man and the woman becoming one flesh, adding that “what God has joined together, let no one separate”. Interestingly, Jesus says ‘what’ not ‘whom’, further reinforcing the marriage bond. Jesus holds up </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">marriage as a communion that reflects the nature of God, who as Trinity is a perfect mutuality, a complete sharing and intermingling of life. This, indeed, is the ideal of marriage.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">However, note that the verses Jesus quotes are pre-Fall. </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">This is from a world where God’s ideal is reality, without the disruption to God’s order that sin brings. Sin, however, necessitated the Mosaic concession to divorce the Pharisees talk about. </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"></span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Hence, Jesus points out that divorce was introduced because of hard hearts, “but at the beginning it was not so”. Again, Jesus roots the argument in God’s created order. Therefore, it seems that God intended life-long loving, committed, faithful marriage between a man and a woman as His ideal. Divorce most probably breaks God’s heart, but not as much as loveless marriage, or abuse, or oppression. Thus, sometimes it is better to divorce than remain married. To extend Jesus’ logic here, could there not also be room to allow for marital union between people of the same sex, if they intend a life-long, loving, committed, faithful relationship?</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Would this not be preferable to a sham marriage to someone of the opposite sex, or to a life of celibacy to which someone is not called?</span><span style="line-height: 21.600000381469727px;"> </span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Of course, this is extrapolating, conjecture. But what is clear from this text is that it is not a silver bullet against homosexuality, but an affirmation of loving, respectful </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">marriage, as opposed to male oppression and degrading of women.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> So, Jesus never taught explicitly – and probably not even implicitly – about homosexuality. But did he meet someone in a same-sex relationship? There is one incident in the gospels which may give some insight here. A Roman centurion once came to Jesus to ask him to heal his sick servant. We know that the servant is male (Matthew 8:7). We can see that the centurion is concerned about this servant, as he seeks Jesus’ help. What is also worth noting is that he does not call the servant a slave, which is what he was. The Greek word used is </span><span class="s10" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #552200; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15.600000381469727px;">πα</span><span class="s10" style="background-color: #fdfeff; color: #552200; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15.600000381469727px;">ῖς</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">(</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">pais</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">), which can mean boy or servant. Luke’s account of this incident records the centurion’s high esteem of the servant (Luke 7:2). It is documented that Roman officers were not permitted to marry, and some would take male lovers. It is possible, in fact, that the Greek word </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">pais</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> could carry this connotation. And Luke is no stranger to the euphemism. His note that the servant was “valued highly” could also be a reference to the centurion’s love for the servant. This might also explain his extremely generous disposition toward the Jews in building their synagogue (Luke 7:5).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This is of course supposition, but there are grounds for such a reading of this passage.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> What is clear, though, is that Jesus was prepared to help. Without even </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">so</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> much as a ‘Go now, and leave your life of sin…’ He used that line with others. But no such challenge here. </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">In fact, quite the opposite.</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> He holds this centurion up as a model of faith (not because of his relationship – if there is one – but neither holding it against him).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> If this hypothesis is correct, then Jesus was not against loving, same-sex relationships. And he praised and welcomed and encouraged the faith of this man, without judgement, without reserve, without censure.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> If Jesus could do it, why can’t we?</span></div>
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7247424781648952491.post-13703383029505729652018-08-05T00:35:00.000-07:002018-08-05T00:35:18.107-07:00Chapter 9 - Women! Know your place!<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Sisters are doing it for themselves</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Disney’s 2013 movie </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Frozen</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> was exceptional in many ways. Not only was it a great film, with an unforgettable soundtrack (seriously, I defy you to forget those songs), this was also one of the House of Mouse’s highest grossing movies ever (</span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">still holds that record, adjusted for inflation). However, what is most remarkable about this motion picture is that the heroes of this Disney Princess movie, that mainstay of the corporation, are all women. The heroes are heroines. All the men in the film are in supporting roles, as either antagonists or sidekicks, of the more bumbling variety I </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">would even suggest. In </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Frozen,</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> a film about two royal sisters, these sisters are doing it for themselves.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> This signalled a departure from the faithful and fruitful formula of the damsel in distress who embarks on a journey of self-discovery, often inadvertently, before ultimately being rescued by her Prince, often throwing true love’s kiss into the bargain. She is helpless, powerless, passive, an object.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">But not in </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Frozen.</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In </span><span class="s9" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Frozen</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">, that spell is broken. The women help themselves. They make their own way. They are valid and powerful, they contribute.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Behind every good man…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">This is what women did for Jesus. In Luke 8:1-3, we read of Jesus and his disciples on their travels, and part of the entourage is a group of women, some of whom were women of some means, and they resourced Jesus’ mission and ministry. They contributed. They used their connections or wealth to support Jesus and the disciples. In a sense, they were the breadwinners in this group. The men had all given up their jobs, their means of income, and had to rely on the generosity of others, like these women. </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Some offered money, or food. Some offered shelter, like Martha (Luke 10:38).</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Of course, Mary Magdalene is included in this group, and she is defined here by what Jesus did for her. However, this is different to the way women have often been defined by or in relation to men. It is not necessary that a woman’s identity be found in ‘her man’. In this case, Mary is defined as having been powerfully changed by Jesus. And this is how anyone could be defined. My identity comes from Jesus and his transforming work in my life. Mary, then, is not who she is because of a man. In fact, her story is one of liberation, as a woman who has been used by men, as a prostitute, but has now been set free by Jesus, and not just a man.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> And now, Mary contributes, with these other women, to Jesus’ work. They made it possible.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">Our Mother, who art in heaven…</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">Jesus had a refreshing respect for women. Not only did he admit them to his social circle, even allowing them to resource and support him; he also appreciated traditionally feminine roles and characteristics. Jesus looked in love at the holy city of Jerusalem, longing to gather ‘her’ children </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">as a hen gathers her chicks (Matthew 23:37). Jesus had no qualms about owning this female image. In fact, God did something similar in Isaiah 49:15, to compare or contrast his care for his people with a nursing mother’s for her baby.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Maternal love is a good image of divine love, and so Jesus is not afraid to cast women as the God figure in some of his parables. For example, in his kingdom parables of Matthew 13, Jesus says the “kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened” (13:33). Note that the yeast (representing the kingdom) is mixed by a woman (God, to whom the kingdom belongs and who alone can bring it into the world). It could be argued that this image would only work with a woman in that cultural context. A further thought occurs, with the detail of three measures of flour. The proportions in Jesus’ parable here are exactly the same as those in Genesis 18:6. There, Abraham instructs Sarah to make cakes for the mysterious three visitors (often assumed to be God and two angels, or God as Trinity). The occasion of the visit is for God’s message about Sarah’s impending pregnancy with Isaac, the child of the promise. This is a key moment in salvation history. And so, perhaps Jesus uses the image expecting his audience to think of that incident with Sarah.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> In any case, the woman is undoubtedly the main character of Jesus’ parable, whether as Sarah, or an image of God. This is often overlooked. The gender-transcendence of God is further supported by the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15. The female protagonist here is unmistakably a figure for God. The idea of God as a woman is probably controversial in the church, where the male God strengthens the male-dominated status quo.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s6" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">A woman’s place</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s7" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"> </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">It is a sad fact that women have been, at best, second class citizens for the majority of Christian history. But I get the sense that this was never how it should have been. A famous story from Luke’s Gospel is crucial in this connection. Jesus was welcomed into the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha, the elder sister, spends the whole time fussing, cooking, cleaning, </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">making</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> sure that everything is just right for their guest. And she grows increasingly frustrated that her sister Mary is just sitting there, listening to Jesus. Some might say that Martha is doing women’s work, that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, at home, behind the scenes, looking after the men, who get on with the real work.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But look again at what’s really going on here. Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying…” (Luke 10:39). She sat at Jesus’ feet. That’s another way of saying she was a disciple. In Luke’s other volume, Acts, he records Paul using the same language of his own education as a student, a disciple, of the great rabbi Gamaliel. And now, Mary learns at the feet of the great rabbi Jesus. She is his disciple.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> Some may say that Martha was doing women’s </span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">work, that</span><span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;">a woman’s place is in the kitchen. But Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better part and it won’t be taken from her (10:42). A woman’s place, says Jesus, is at his feet.</span></div>
<div class="s2" style="font-size: 18px; line-height: 21.600000381469727px;">
<span class="s8" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.799999237060547px;"> But, although the text ends here, the story doesn’t. A disciple was training to be a rabbi. They were being shaped to carry on the teachings, the work, of their master. That’s what the Twelve were doing, and what they did. It’s what all disciples of Jesus are called to do: to follow Him, to learn from Him, and be shaped by Him, to become like Him; and, to carry on His teaching, and His work, among others. Jesus’ call to discipleship is a call to mission and ministry. And Jesus says women are included in this too. A woman’s place is in any of the ministries to which they are called and for which they are gifted, in His service, by His Spirit.</span></div>
Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250580546339719062noreply@blogger.com0