Christina Rossetti: Good Friday

Scenes from the Life of Christ: Lamentation (detail). Giotto

Good Friday
By Christina Rossetti

Am I a stone and not a sheep
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon—
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

Thursday in Holy Week: Love Best Described in Poetry

And the Word was made Flesh”. Painting in the collection of Sneha Sadan, Pune

For Maundy Thursday

• • •

There are some things that can, perhaps, only be said in poetry, and perhaps this [Phil 2:5-11] is one of them.

• Tom Wright

PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

•

This is one of the most discussed theological texts in the New Testament — Philippians 2:5-11, the “Christ-hymn” that describes the “kenosis” of Jesus.

Gerald F. Hawthorne’s interpretation of Phil. 2:5-11 is one of my favorite commentary passages that I have read in biblical studies.

He first describes the near universal agreement that “vv 6-11 constitute a beautiful example of a very early hymn of the Christian church.” Scholars, however, have a number of different ideas about how the hymn might have been structured. Whatever the versification of the hymn might have been, it is clear that it has two basic parts. There are four main verbs: the first two have Jesus as the subject, the second two have God. The hymn then naturally falls into the story of (1) Jesus’ acts of humbling himself, and (2) God’s act of exalting Jesus.

Hawthorne notes that Paul himself may be the author of the hymn or it may come from another source. The striking insight that I learned many years ago from him when considering this passage is that it appears to be a meditation on an event recorded in the Gospel of John.

“…may be the result of deep meditation…on one particular event from the life of Christ as recorded in the gospel tradition — Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (John 13:3-17). Although verbal parallels between John 13:3-17 and Phil 2:6-11 are few, but nonetheless significant, the parallels in thought and in the progression of action are startling. So precise in fact are these parallels that it is difficult to consider them the result of mere coincidence.

Hawthorne uses the following diagram to portray these parallels:

This hymn, whether Paul wrote it or not, emphasizes Jesus’ act of humility using an “descent-ascent motif that is prominent in the Johannine story.”

Gerald Hawthorne also notes another important parallel between the way both John and this epistle reflect on the foot-washing story:

It is also interesting and instructive to note that the purpose of each pericope is similar. The Johannine account is an acted parable to summarize the essence of Jesus’ teaching: “Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be everybody’s slave” (Mark 10:43-44), while the Philippian text is a hymn to illustrate powerfully Paul’s teaching, which at this point is identical with that of Jesus:  humble, self-sacrificing service to one another done in love is a must for a Christian disciple who would live as a Christian disciple should (Phil 2:3-4).

Wednesday in Holy Week: Following Jesus or Drinking the Kool-Aid?

From 2008

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”….And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers* are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

• Mark 3:20-33

Most Christians aren’t like Jesus.

Should we even try to be? Isn’t that impossible?

None of us can be like Jesus perfectly, but the Gospel of the Kingdom calls Jesus’ disciples to hear his call and set the goal and direction of their lives to be like him. For a follower of Jesus, Paul’s words of “follow me as I follow Christ,” are translated simply, “follow Christ in every way possible.”

Ghandi said “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” He’s far from the only one to have made that observation, and those critics aren’t holding anyone to a standard of perfection. They are simply looking for enough congruence that the claim to be a follower of Jesus makes sense.

Christians have gotten very good at explaining why they really shouldn’t be expected to be like Christ. At various points, these explanations are true. At other points, they start sounding like winners in a competition for absurdist doublespeak.

Perhaps many Christians don’t resemble Jesus because they don’t really know what Jesus was like. Or- more likely- they assume Jesus was very much like themselves, only a bit more religious.

Getting our bearings on being like Jesus will start with something very important: discarding our assumption that our personal and collective picture of Jesus is accurate.

One of the constants in the Gospels is the misunderstanding of Jesus. The list of mistaken parties is long.

  • Herod the Great mistook Jesus for a political revolutionary.
  • The religious leaders mistook Jesus for another false Messiah.
  • Jesus’ family mistook him for a person who was “out of his mind.”
  • Nicodemus mistook Jesus for a wise teacher.
  • The rich young ruler mistook Jesus for a dispenser of tickets to heaven.
  • The woman at the well mistook Jesus for a Jewish partisan.
  • Herod Antipas mistook Jesus for John the Baptist back from the grave.
  • The people said that Jesus was a political messiah, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
  • The disciples….oh my. The disciples were certain Jesus was a political messiah/king who would bring the Kingdom through miracles, but just at the moment they were most certain of who and what Jesus was, he turned everything upside down. Only after the horror of the cross was past and the Spirit opened their minds and hearts to the truth did the disciples begin to see Jesus clearly.
  • Thomas mistook Jesus for a dead man.
  • Like the blind man in Mark 8, the disciples had partial, unclear sight that required a second touch for clarity.
  • I believe Judas misjudged Jesus. Saul the persecutor certainly did, as did Pilate and the Romans.

If you got all the people who misjudged Jesus into a room, you”d need a bigger room.

When our children were small, my son was a big fan of wrestling. Every wrestler has a “signature move” to end a match; a move that no one does exactly like they do.

When I read Mark 11 and the story of Jesus turning over the tables of the merchants and money changers, I believe Jesus’ “signature move” is turning over the tables of expectations about who he is and what it means to follow him.

Read back through the Biblical examples I’ve cited. In almost every instance, it’s Jesus who overturns the tables of expectations and preconceived notions. It’s not just a discovery by a seeker. Jesus is the initiator of the big surprises. Part of what it means to be a Jesus-follower is to have your notions of religion, life and God turned upside down by the rabbi from Nazareth.

So is Jesus like today’s Christians who so easily assume they know what Jesus is all about? I’d like to suggest that the answer is “No.” Jesus isn’t like today’s Christians at all, and a large portion of our failure of Christlikeness comes down to a failure to know what Jesus was like.

Do you like grape Kool-Aid? I’ve always loved the taste of grape Kool-Aid on a hot day.

Have you ever tasted grapes? Do grapes taste grape Kool-Aid?

No, they don’t. But you could easily imagine a child who loves grape Kool-Aid eating a grape and saying “Yuck!! This doesn’t taste like grapes at all!”

The real thing has been replaced by the advertised replacement so long that there’s genuine confusion and disappointment at the taste of a real grape.

So it is with Jesus. The version of Jesus that dominates so much contemporary Christianity is the grape Kool-Aid version of a real grape. And many, many Christians have no “taste” for Jesus as we find him in scripture, especially the Gospels.

Where would the real Jesus perform his “signature” move of turning over our popular misconception of him?

Here’s just a few tentative and preliminary suggestions.

  • Jesus wasn’t building an institution or an organization, but an efficient, flexible movement with the Gospel at the center and grace as the fuel.
  • The church Jesus left in history was more a “band of brothers (and sisters)” than an organization of programs and buildings.
  • The message at the heart of all Jesus said and did was the Kingdom of God, which implicitly included himself as King and the status of all the world as rebels in need of forgiveness and surrender.
  • The movement Jesus left behind was made up of the last, the lost, the least, the losers and the recently dead. The world would never recognize this Jesus shaped collection of nobodies as successful.
  • Jesus treated women, sexual sinners and notoriously scandalous sinners with inexplicable acceptance.
  • Jesus taught the message, power and presence of the Kingdom. He did not teach how to be rich, how to improve yourself, how to be a good person or how to be successful.
  • Jesus didn’t teach principles. He taught the presence of a whole new world where God reigns and all things are made right.
  • Jesus rejected the claims of organized religion to have an exclusive franchise on God, and embodied the proof that God was in the world by his Son and through his Spirit to whomever has faith in Jesus.
  • Jesus practiced radical acceptance in a way that was dangerous, upsetting and world-changing.
  • Jesus calls all persons to follow him as disciples in the Kingdom of God. This invitation doesn’t look identical to the experiences of the apostles, but the claims and commands of Jesus to his apostles extend to all Jesus-followers anywhere.
  • God is revealed in Jesus in a unique way. What God has to show us and to say to us is there in Jesus of Nazareth. All the fullness of God lives in him, and to be united to Jesus by faith is to have the fullness of all God’s promises and blessings.
  • Jesus didn’t talk much about how to get to heaven, and certainly never gave a “gospel presentation” like today’s evangelicals. Nor did he teach that any organization of earth controlled who goes to heaven.
  • Jesus never fought the culture war.
  • Jesus was political because the Kingdom of God is here now, but he was the opposite of the political mindset of his time as expressed in various parties and sects.
  • Jesus was radically simple in his spirituality.
  • Jesus was radically simple in his worship.
  • Jesus wasn’t an advocate of family values as much as he was a cause of family division.
  • Jesus fulfills the old testament scriptures completely, and they can not be rightly understood without him as their ultimate focus.
  • The only people Jesus was ever angry at was the clergy. He called out clergy corruption and demanded honesty and integrity from those who claimed to speak for God and lead his people.
  • Jesus embraced slavery and servanthood as the primary identifiers of the leaders of his movement.
  • Jesus didn’t waste his time with religious and doctrinal debates. He always moves to the heart of the matter. Love God, Love Neighbor, Live the Kingdom.
  • Jesus expected his disciples to get it, and was frustrated when they didn’t.
  • Jesus died for being a true revolutionary, proclaiming a Kingdom whose foundations are the City of God.

Does this sound like Jesus as you’ve encountered him in evangelicalism?

That’s the sound of tables turning over.

That’s the taste of a real grape, not the Kool-Aid.

That’s why so many Christians aren’t like Jesus.

They have no idea what he was really all about.

Tuesday in Holy Week: The Abbreviated Jesus

From 2008.

The other day a strange feeling came over me.

Don’t get me wrong about what I’m about to say here. It was just a feeling. I’m not claiming any powers of discernment or certainty.

I got the distinct feeling there’s something wrong with a lot of people who say they are Jesus-followers/believers.

If you want to supply your own vocabulary, like “Aren’t saved” or “aren’t Christians,” do so at your own risk. I’m not saying that. (There’s other blogs for that game, if you are burning to know.)

No, but it was as plain as daylight to me that when I hear a lot of people talk about Jesus, I feel like I am hearing….an abbreviation.

I said abbreviation. A shortened version of the real word. You see the abbreviation, you’re supposed to know what it means. We all agree on the abbreviation.

Don’t we?

We all know what the shorthand version stands for.

Right?

Or maybe we don’t.

I’m beginning to get the feeling that when people say Jesus, I can’t trust the abbreviation.

I’m getting the feeling that we are talking about a kind of “mini-Jesus.” A diluted, declawed, demoted savior who is a symbolic representation for a kind of anemic, watered-down, un-Biblical, culturally acceptable Jesus.

I get the feeling that if you move beyond the standard biographical paragraph, you’re going to discover that the Jesus you are hearing about has considerably less to say than Jesus as we meet him in the Gospels.

You are going to discover that he has little or nothing to do with most of the Bible, especially the Old Testament and the more demanding parts of the new.

You are going to discover that there is a remarkable resemblance between the abbreviated Jesus and the current version of political correctness. (Isn’t it unusual how Jesus takes an interest in whatever happens to be the current rage on CNN-MSNBC-CBS-FOX-USATODAY?)

I am not sure this abbreviated Jesus believes in hell.

I actually think the abbreviated Jesus doesn’t like to be bothered with issues of morality, character or behavior. He’s mostly interested in larger political and cultural issues, or your experience at your local church, or how you’re doing in your relationships.

The abbreviated Jesus has quite a bit in common with contemporary “life coaches,” talk show hosts, political apologists, faith-based advocates, teachers of “principles,” community organizers, and family values lobbyists.

The people who talk about the abbreviated Jesus don’t seem to know much about the Bible. Not at all.

But they still have a surprisingly strong opinion about the meaning of all kinds of things Jesus said and did in the Bible.

The abbreviated Jesus can convincingly seem like the real Jesus, until you look and listen closely. Then it appears that he’s lost his laptop, his luggage and his cell phone. So for right now, he is reading it all off the teleprompter.

The abbreviated Jesus doesn’t vary much from the script.

In fact- and this is what really got my attention — the abbreviated Jesus would only get crucified if there were some terrible mix-up.

The abbreviated Jesus is Jesus without the Biblical context, Jesus without church history, Jesus without Jesus theology, Jesus without costly discipleship, Jesus without offensive teaching or mysterious parables. The abbreviated Jesus is so easily explained, so comprehensible and user-friendly that anyone can follow him, even without instructions.

In millions of cases, the abbreviated Jesus is Jesus without the church. He is Jesus who lets you pick your friends, pick your community and pick your comfortable seat. He is OK with whatever your plans are for the weekend. He is not making demands on your time. (He is a major spokesperson for unplugging the fourth commandment.) He is not making any demands on your money that don’t follow your emotions. (He wants you to feel personally fulfilled about whatever you choose to support.)

The abbreviated Jesus seems to always need one more book to really get down to what he actually means.

He has a lot of preachers who understand him, and a lot of churches where his way of doing things has become very popular.

Aside from abortion and gay marriage, the abbreviated Jesus is pretty happy in America. There’s so much for his friends to do and enjoy!

I don’t trust the abbreviated Jesus.

Sometimes, he has been in my house, my head, my heart and my preaching. And I don’t like him.

He is flat. Empty. Easy. Moldable.

He is not full of the Holy Spirit. He is full of us.

Frankly, he seems to be full of….well…..there are words here that my daddy used, which I’m not supposed to use on this blog. If you don’t know what they are, write me. Or ask a farmer who knows the real Jesus.

I am announcing that I’m afraid of the abbreviated Jesus and his followers. I am afraid of his “church,” his books and his kind of “discipleship.”

I am uninviting him from my life and my interactions with other Christians.

I want to know Jesus. The untamed, old school, offensive, mysterious, demanding, awe-inspiring, transformational, life altering, crucified, risen, ascended, revolutionary Jesus.

Spell it out: He is the creator. The mediator. The fulfiller and establisher of the law. His the passover lamb. He is the head of the church. He is the heart and key to Holy Scripture. He is the meal on the table. He is life in the living water. He pours out the Holy Spirit. He is the rider on the white horse. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the eternal God.

He doesn’t need my explanations, endorsements or euphemisms. He isn’t reading my note cards and nodding. He doesn’t tolerate my sin. He’s the life of God for the sin of the world. He’s righteousness, sanctification and holiness. He’s the Kingdom bringer, the executor of judgment, the one who is worthy to open the scroll and read the books. He’s the light of heaven and the conqueror of hell, death, sin and the grave.

He’s the one in whom all history, poetry, story and theology come together into the great I AM. He’s the mystery and the Word that reveals God to all persons. He’s the Gospel itself, the meaning of every message and the open door of God’s mercy.

You cannot abbreviate him.

You fall at his feet and worship. You get up and follow. You die and he raises you on the last day.

That’s Jesus, and I’ve got a feeling a lot of people really don’t have a clue.

Monday in Holy Week 2018: The Jesus Disconnect

Scenes from the Life of Christ: Entry into Jerusalem. Giotto

Note from CM: Back in 2009, Michael Spencer some posts exploring what he called, “The Jesus Disconnect.” Here is an edited version of the first post in that series. In my experience, one reason people fail to enter in to a deep appreciation of Holy Week and miss its full significance is that they have failed to see the connection of Jesus’ passion with his ministry. Michael noted this disconnect many times, and here is an example of that.

• • •

Nothing has impressed me more in my last few years of writing, reading and discussion than the disconnect the average Christian believer feels from the ministry of Jesus, specifically his miracles, exorcisms, teachings, training of disciples and encounters with individuals as described in the first half of the Gospels.

For many Christians, their view of Jesus is much like the movie Passion of the Christ. The story of Jesus begins with the suffering of Jesus, with the ministry of Jesus fading anonymously into the background, appearing occasionally in a few moralistic or sentimentally devotional flashbacks.

This disconnect leaves me with the feeling that many Jesus-followers are almost cynical regarding the relevance of the ministry of Jesus for anything other than preaching “lessons” from the example of Jesus. The actual significance of this major portion of scripture seems to be confusing to many Christians.

The disconnection from the ministry of Jesus takes several different forms.

1. At times, it is a stated preference for Jesus as presented in the Pauline epistles. This preference can be modest, defensive or hostile. In its more extreme forms, the person wanting to serious consider the place of the ministry of Jesus in an overall approach to Christianity may be accused of denying the Gospel, or of replacing a Gospel of justification with a Gospel of “the Kingdom.”

2. The disconnect may be a belief that the ministry of Jesus actually is an inspiration to liberal, socialistic misunderstandings and abuses of the Gospel.

3. The disconnect may grow out of a belief that the church Jesus founded and its current ministry in the world is the goal toward which all of Jesus’ words and actions pointed. To take Jesus’ ministry seriously is to wrongly emphasize the “seed” stage over the more mature “plant” or “tree.”

4. Others who are disconnected from the ministry of Jesus simply do not know what to do with the example, teachings and significance of Jesus’ ministry today. They are frequently quick to state that we don’t follow Jesus’ teaching literally and have no real need to do so.

5. Most evangelicals are operating off an outline of the Gospel that gives no real significance to the ministry of Jesus. Jesus death and resurrection have significance in personal evangelism, but the ministry of Jesus does not, so this part of the Biblical presentation of Jesus is easy to disconnect.

There may be other reasons for this disconnect from the ministry of Jesus, but these seem to me to be the primary responses that I hear, read and observe.

These are the questions that catch my interest as I think about “The Jesus Disconnect”:

  • First, how do we view the ministry of Jesus in an overall consideration of Jesus?
  • Second, how does the ministry of Jesus participate in the Gospel and all that the Gospel does?
  • Third, how can we access the ministry of Jesus in a Jesus shaped Christian life?
  • Finally, what are the implications for evangelicals of recovering the entirety of Jesus as presented in the scripture?

Palm/Passion Sunday 2018: Naked and Ashamed

The Taking of Christ. Caravaggio

Sermon: Palm/Passion Sunday 2018
Naked and Ashamed

Mark 14: 43-52

Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.

But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.’ All of them deserted him and fled.

A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

• • •

The Lord be with you.

This Sunday is traditionally celebrated in one of two ways: either remembering the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week, or in remembering his suffering and crucifixion, the climactic events of the week. Often a long passage is read, either by the pastor or by readers from the congregation, telling the entire story of how Jesus came to be arrested, tried, and condemned to die on the cross.

Today I would like us to think about one small part of that passion story, because I think it summarizes well what we have been considering throughout Lent.

During this Lenten season, I have been following the traditional view — that John Mark, the author of this Gospel — was associated closely with the Apostle Peter, and that his Gospel reflects Peter’s point of view. Peter, of course, was identified with the church in Rome, and it is said that Peter died in Rome as a martyr under the Emperor Nero during a particularly intense period of persecution. Commenters think that the Gospel of Mark may have been written as a pastoral Gospel, designed to strengthen and sustain the Christians in Rome who were going through that persecution.

In our first Lenten sermon, we noted that Mark often adds small details that reflect that pastoral purpose, that would have been comforting and strengthening to the Roman believers. For example, in the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, Mark includes the detail that Jesus was among the wild beasts and that God’s angels ministered to him. For Christians who may well have thought they might have to face the lions in the Roman Coliseum, this small detail would have reminded them that they were following their Savior and that God would take care of them in their severe test as well.

Today, we will see another detail in the story of the Garden of Gethsemane. Let me introduce it this way. The famous film director Alfred Hitchcock used to do something rather fun in each of his films. In almost every one of them, Hitchcock did a cameo appearance. He would often show up in a scene as a member of a crowd, or as someone in the background. Sometimes he was just passing by, but his brief appearances often brought a bit of humor to the film.

For example, in the 1969 movie Topaz, Hitchcock appears in a scene at LaGuardia International Airport in New York. He is shown seated in a wheelchair, being pushed by a nurse under a sign showing the way to the gates. Then, as if a miracle happened, he stands up from the wheelchair, greets another man and then walks off to the right. It has nothing to do with the film’s story, but it’s an intriguing and entertaining little detail that brings a bit of whimsy to it.

Many commentators have thought that John Mark, the author of this Gospel, inserted himself into the story that takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was arrested. In the text we read this morning, we saw how Judas led the soldiers to Jesus and betrayed him with a kiss. We then read of his disciple who drew his sword and swung it at the soldiers, cutting off his ear. Then it says that all the disciples fled into the night, abandoning Jesus.

This is another example of the theme of discipleship failure in the Gospel of Mark. They are continually portrayed throughout the story as struggling with understanding Jesus, with living out the message of the cross he was teaching them, and with remaining steadfast in times of stress and tension. Now, at Jesus’ greatest moment of need, they run away and leave him.

Then Mark adds this detail: “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.” Tradition has it that this young man was John Mark himself, the author of the Gospel of Mark. This is his cameo. But there is nothing funny or whimsical about it. He includes himself among those who abandoned Jesus that night.

John Mark lived in Jerusalem, and many think the Last Supper was held in his home. If this young man in the garden was him, he was a person of means, for it says he was dressed in linen garments, which were fine clothes. But it also says he was dressed only in linen garments, which indicates that he had dressed hastily and ran out to Gethsemane to see what was going on. When he realized the danger of the moment, Mark got in a tussle with some soldiers, who ripped off his garments, but were unable to capture him.

This description reminds us of Adam and Eve, who became ashamed of their nakedness and had to exit another garden long ago. The way Mark words this anecdote is also reminiscent of a verse from the prophet Amos, who said that at a time of great trouble in Israel, “…those who are stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked on that day…”

Unlike Alfred Hitchcock’s cameos in his movies, in which he often tried to get his audience to smile and be entertained, Mark’s cameo here in the Gospel is anything but humorous. Rather, it’s a confession. It’s an admission. It’s a self-incriminating detail in which he includes himself among all those who fled and abandoned Jesus that night. In fact, it’s worse, for Mark not only fled, but did so naked and ashamed.

It’s as though Mark is saying here, “Look, all through this story of Jesus I’ve been telling you about his disciples and their struggles. I have shown you how they’ve failed and fallen short many, many times. And on this night, they did it again. When Jesus was arrested, they vanished into the night, running for their lives. But,” Mark says, “I want to tell you something else. I was there too. And I didn’t do any better. I blew it too. I ran away too. I failed as Jesus’ disciple that night in Gethsemane just like everyone else.”

Because Mark did this, because he included himself in this story, perhaps that gives us encouragement to do the same. Let’s imagine ourselves there. What would we have done in Gethsemane? Would we have proclaimed our loyalty to Jesus as loudly and confidently as the disciples did? Would we have fallen asleep as Jesus prayed? Would we have panicked and pulled out our swords? Would we have run off into the darkness? Would we have fled, naked and ashamed like the young man in the linen garments?

Many of Mark’s readers, who were facing the fierce persecution of Rome, likely asked those same questions of themselves too as they read this story. What if they should fail Jesus?

At this point in the story, it all looks pretty hopeless, doesn’t it? Tell you what. Let’s walk through Holy Week together and see what happens, okay?

The Saturday Monks Brunch: March 24, 2018

FIRST WEEKEND OF SPRING EDITION

It’s Spring! Well, sort of. Here’s what our friend Randy Thompson had hanging around his place in New Hampshire as spring began this year. Follow the link to check out more beautiful pictures from the woods and mountains. Thankfully, the big nor’easter that they were anticipating didn’t materialize, but it’s safe to say that they’ll be enjoying a robust ski business in New England for some time to come.

Here in central Indiana, we’re expecting 4-8 inches of snow today. And this will be our second punch in a week. That was exactly how spring greeted us when it arrived the other day. Here’s a shot from my backyard in late afternoon on the first day of spring.

Welcome to this most unpredictable of seasons. Today we’ll do our best to give you something interesting to think and talk about while we all wait for warmer and greener days to come.

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES

At more than 800 sites around the United States and the world, students will be marching today for stronger gun laws. Here’s a map of the U.S. sites:

Here is the movement’s mission statement:

Not one more. We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives.

March For Our Lives is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar. In the tragic wake of the seventeen lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now.

On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington, DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority. The collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard.

School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues. No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country.

Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard.

Stand with us on March 24. Refuse to allow one more needless death.

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES!

A FEW RECENT REDDIT “SHOWER THOUGHTS”

Reddit has an entire “Shower Thoughts” subreddit dedicated to “the miniature epiphanies you have that highlight the oddities within the familiar.” Here are a few recent ones:

If the Earth was flat, why haven’t the cats pushed everything off by now?

Teenagers drink alcohol to feel like older adults. Adults drink alcohol to feel like teenagers again.

A candle is a pet fire.

It’s water under the bridge because you are over it.

Cavemen, from birth to death, never had to know what it felt like to hold a pee in for an uncomfortable amount of time.

At age 30, you’ve spent a month having birthdays

Good Morning is a greeting but Good Night is a farewell even if you see a person for the first time at night.

Soy sauce is just normal sauce introducing itself in Spanish.

To stop a piece of paper from folding you put it in a folder.

It would be nice if before going to bed, life asked us if we want to save progress.

SPACE AMAZINGNESS! FARMER STYLE!


THE LAST MALE NORTHERN WHITE RHINO

“I feel as if we have neglected our duty as stewards of creation and should have done more for this species.” So said Rev. Charles Odira, a Roman Catholic conservationist priest from Kenya, speaking about the death of 45-year-old rhino named Sudan who was euthanized March 19 after suffering an infection and serious complications due to his advanced age.

Two northern white rhinos now remain: Najin, Sudan’s daughter, and Fatu, his granddaughter. Both of them live at the same conservancy where Sudan lived and died. In 1960 there were about 2,000 northern white rhinos, but since then, war, loss of habitat, and poaching of rhino horns decimated the population.

Conservationists hope to save the northern white rhino from extinction by extracting Najin and Fatu’s eggs; fertilizing them in vitro with banked sperm; and then implanting the embryos in surrogate southern white rhino females.

#CHURCHTOO

Two big developments in the evangelical megachurch world this week regarding the growing movement to include church communities in the #METOO movement against sexual harassment and abuse.

First, Andy Savage, teaching pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, TN, who has been in the news since it came to light that he abused a student in his youth ministry earlier in his career, resigned. He stepped down after a leave of absence and lengthy investigation by Scott Fredricks, a Fort Worth lawyer whose specialties include assisting churches with child-abuse investigations.

Perhaps Savage and the church are starting to get it. In a letter to the church, the pastor said, “Your passionate opinions on this important matter have truly helped me to gain perspective that I simply could not have achieved on my own. I have come to understand Jules’ vantage point better, and to appreciate the courage it took for her to speak up.” And the church leadership admitted “that it was defensive rather than empathetic in its initial reaction to Ms. Jules Woodson’s communication concerning the abuse she experienced.”

While Jules cried out for justice, I carelessly turned the topic to my own story of moral change, as if getting my own life in order should help to make up for what she went through and continues to go through.

Meanwhile, in what could be an even more far-reaching bombshell in evangelicalism, the Chicago Tribune reports on an investigation regarding inappropriate behavior by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church. Christianity Today has also reported on the story.

What makes the accusations against Hybels most troubling is that a number of them involve or have been alleged by some of his closest friends and colleagues at Willow, including Nancy Beach, Leanne Mellado, Vonda Dyer, and John and Nancy Ortberg.

For his part, Hybels adamantly denies any wrongdoing whatsoever: “This has been a calculated and continual attack on our elders and on me for four long years. It’s time that gets identified. I want to speak to all the people around the country that have been misled … for the past four years and tell them in my voice, in as strong a voice as you’ll allow me to tell it, that the charges against me are false. There still to this day is not evidence of misconduct on my part.”

A FEW PERSPECTIVES I SAW THIS WEEK…

QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

Why is Toys R Us going away?

What group is  more than twice as likely to blame a person’s poverty on lack of effort?

 Is stoning the shooter the answer?

 Why did Russian Protestants vote for Putin?

Where are your favorite news organizations on the Media Bias Chart?

MUSIC OF THE WEEK…

Wonderful songwriting and performance by Amanda Shires and her husband, Jason Isbell.

Live into the “What” not the “Why”

When someone is drowning, the only thing worse than failing to throw them a life preserver is handing them a reason.

• Kate Bowler

• • •

Live into the “What” not the “Why”

Religious people (me, for example) are really good at focusing on the “whys” of life. Pastors and theologians, in particular, make this their specialty. We think it is our duty to explain the mysteries of God, life, and the universal code of justice. We imagine that the people in our congregations and communities are filled with questions about these and other transcendent matters, eager to get the right answers so that their minds and souls can rest at ease in the midst of life’s ups and downs.

Not so much.

At least in my experience, we religious types (especially leaders, teachers, and passionate Bible study types) seem to be the only ones who really care about such things on any regular basis. Most of the rest of the human race simply goes about the business of living.

Oh sure, there are occasions, especially in painful and overwhelming seasons — what Walter Brueggemann calls the times of “disorientation” — when most people might feel the cry “Why?” rise up and explode from their mouths. But even then, the questions they ask, like Why? How long? Where are you, God? Why me? How much more can I take? and protestations like This isn’t fair! are usually exclamations of pain and panic rather than intellectual queries.

We’ve made the point here many, many times that people in such circumstances aren’t looking so much for answers as for reassurance. They want comforting company. They long to feel the “thereness” of someone who cares, who is with them and will not abandon them, who will not freak out but be a calming presence and a sure guide through the storm. They long to feel safe and secure. Having little or no control over their situation, they want a sturdy anchor to hold on to so they won’t be washed away in the rushing waters that threaten to overwhelm them.

Words, explanations, arguments, apologetics, analysis, etc. — these are most certainly not the tools of ministry to reach for to support such people. And you know what? Most of the time, I’ve found they don’t really want those things either. Even if they present themselves as serious about wanting explanations, when you start to give one, I’ve noticed that people tend to tune out, recognizing right away that the “comforter” is just throwing bits of paper into a whirlwind.

Friend, they already know you don’t have the answer! If anything, they are testing you to see whether you are smart enough to know that too. Then, maybe they might trust you.

But most ministerial training keeps on giving pastoral leaders books instead of bread to feed the hungry. Especially in the biblicist evangelical world, in post-evangelical streams such as neo-Calvinism and neo-Puritanism, and in any tradition that places prime value on doctrine and rational “answers” as a main approach to religious practice, we continue to produce miserable counselors who focus on the “whys” of life and encourage people to live into the why.

As a hospice clinician, I have come to appreciate a different way. We live into the “what” of life, what we’ve been talking about this week as the “thisness” of life. We simply deal with what is before us. Discussing theoretical speculations and solving transcendental puzzles rarely enters into the work. No, we sit face to face with people and try to ease their pain. Period.

It’s as simple and as complicated as that. It can be hard enough at times figuring out what the “what” is that is causing distress. If we were tasked with going beyond that to figure out the “whys” and “wherefores” too, we’d waste a lot of precious time that could be devoted to genuinely supporting those we serve.

The work of supporting others and providing comfort is always more about the “what” than the “why.”

Now I’m not stupid. I realize that ministers and spiritual teachers are in a different setting, and it is their job to maintain and nourish certain traditions within covenantal communities. Those traditions have been developed over time to help explain some of the “whys.” Part of a minister’s kerygmatic and catechetical duty is to encourage people to embrace those as means of grace and strength in the various seasons and circumstances of life.

Fine. I am not arguing for a contentless religion of mere human compassion.

But even within a tradition, I’ve found that, in the end, for me, my “whys” are assuaged by a few relatively simple things: the liturgy and sensory comfort of sacred spaces and rituals, a few precious reassurances from scripture, hymns, and wise sayings, feeling the texture of my prayer beads and hearing the psalms prayed. Things like these provide more than enough satisfaction for the “whys” and other laments that pour from my soul.

And you want to give me a lecture on the sovereignty of God?

Instead, I’m going to need you to look at me in my time of distress and say, “What can I do to let you know you’re not alone? that you are loved and safe and cared for? that you can be at peace?”

When I’m in that situation and need you, don’t try to engage me in some conversation about “why.”

Live into the “what” and love me.

Miracles and Science, Part 3 by Ard Louis

Miracles and Science, Part 3 by Ard Louis

We are continuing our reflections on Miracles and Science based on a series of blog posts by Ard Louis of BioLogos.  The blog posts can be found on the BioLogos web site archives here.   The blog posts are based on a scholarly essay Louis did for BioLogos in 2007 which can be found here .

Commenting on last week’s post, frequent commenter Stephen said, “The real philosophical problem is not ‘what is science’ but ‘what is a miracle?’”  So  in this post, Ard Louis takes a shot at answering that question.  He notes that in modern English, the word “miracle” has taken on a lot of different meanings.  So first he examines the Bible’s use of the word.

The New Testament predominantly uses three words for miracle:

  • teras: a wonder
  • dunamis: an act of power
  • semeion: a sign

In Acts 2:22 it has all three usages:

Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles (dunamis), wonders (teras) and signs (semeion), which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.

Louis then states:

The word teras (wonder) is almost always used together with one of the other words, emphasizing that the main point of biblical miracles is not to merely elicit amazement but rather to serve a higher theological purpose. For this reason, biblical miracles cannot be understood outside of the theological context within which they occur. They are not anomalous events. This principle provides a key to the proper assessment of their validity.

Louis then notes that the biblical authors often did not make a sharp distinction between the “works of God” and what we moderns now call the “works of nature”.  For example, in Psalm 104:10, the psalmist says, “He makes springs pour water into the ravines, it flows between the mountains.”  The first part of the verse seems to refer to God’s direct action while the second part of the verse seems to refer to the natural course of water flow.  In fact, the whole Psalm fluidly switches back and forth between each view.

The New Testament is even more explicit:  “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).  And: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:17).  The idea here is that everything is held together by God’s Word, and if He stopped holding it together it would fly apart, or cease to exist.  The Bible easily switches perspectives depending on whether it is emphasizing the regular behavior of natural phenomena, or their origin in God’s providential sustenance.  That led Augustine to say, “Nature is what God does” (Literal Commentary on Genesis, c AD 391). I don’t believe (nor does Louis) that Augustine was meaning some kind of pantheism.  God and nature are not the same thing.  The opposite error is the Enlightenment notion of some intrinsic causal power to the laws of nature.  The late Stephen Hawking was a big proponent of this notion, nevertheless, it is essentially deism and not Christian theism.

Louis then points out that Christian thinkers throughout the Middle Ages wrestled with the questions of miracles and God’s action in the world.  From that wrestling the following ideas emerged:

  1. If the regularities of nature are a manifestation of the sustenance of God then one would expect them to be trustworthy and consistent, rather than capricious.
  2. The regular behavior of nature could be viewed as the “customs of the Creator” as it were.
  3. Christians glorify God by studying these “laws of nature.”

I have heard numerous historians of science argue that such realizations helped pave the way for the rise of modern science. As the Enlightenment dawned and modern science developed there was increasingly a move away from “God-of-the-gaps” type arguments.

One of the most famous exchanges where God-of-the-gaps was challenged is the exchange between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Sir Isaac Newton over the discovery that the orbits of the planets did not appear to be stable when calculated over long periods of time.  Newton proposed that the solar system needed occasional “reformation” or tinkering by God.  Leibniz’s famous objection was:

“…if God had to remedy the defects of His creation, this was surely to demean his craftsmanship.” (John Hedley Brooke, Science and Religion, CUP, Cambridge (1991), p147.)

In other words, the regular sustaining activity of God, as evidenced by natural laws, should be sufficient to explain the regular behavior of the solar system, without the need for additional ad-hoc interventions.

Leibniz also emphasized the theological nature of miracles:

And I hold, that when God works miracles, he does not do it in order to supply the wants of nature, but those of grace. Whoever thinks otherwise, must needs have a very mean notion of the wisdom and power of God. (Leibniz, as quoted by C. Brown, Miracles and the Critical Mind, (Paternoster, Exeter, 1984), p 75.)

Louis then notes that a more modern version of Leibniz’s general objection can be found in a famous statement by Charles Coulson, the first Oxford professor of Theoretical Chemistry who wrote:

“When we come to the scientifically unknown, our correct policy is not to rejoice because we have found God; it is to become better scientists.” [Charles Coulson, Christianity in an Age of Science, 25th Riddell Memorial Lecture Series, Oxford University Press, Oxford, (1953).]

Coulson was the one who popularized the term, “God-of-the-gaps”.  This has represented my long-standing problem with Old Earth Creationists and Discovery-Institute-type Intelligent Design proponents.  Sure, God could have used a series of miracles that are above the natural laws of the universe to create life on this planet.  It’s an especially tempting argument to make at the level of abiogenesis.  How did organic molecules organize themselves into living beings, and why, if it was so predisposed to have happened, can we not easily replicate the process.  Jumbo jets, tornados, and junkyards… But, like Leibniz, I have a theological problem with God as “divine tinkerer”.  I believe it “demean(s) his craftsmanship” and lessens his glory as Creator.  It portrays him as a demiurge rather than the God Almighty who is “upholding all things by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3 KJV)  I suppose YMMV.

Louis then proposes to divide miracles into two categories.  Type (i) are examples of providential timing while type (ii) are those that can only be viewed as directly violating physical cause-effect relationships.  As an example of type (i) he cites Israel crossing the Jordan into the promised land (Joshua 3:15,16).  Louis says:

Crossing the Jordan

Colin Humphreys, Cambridge professor of material science, has studied this miracle in great detail [Colin Humphreys, The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist’s Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories, (Harper Collins, San Francisco, 2003).] and notes that the text supplies a number of unusual clues, including the fact that the water was blocked up a great distance away at a particular town. He has identified this with a location where the Jordan has been known to temporarily dam up when strong earthquakes cause mudslides (most recently in 1927). For many scientists, the fact that God is working through natural processes makes the miracle more palatable…

Of course, this doesn’t take away from the fact that there was remarkable timing involved. Perhaps the attraction of this description comes in part because there is a direct corollary with the very common experience of “providential timing” of events, which believers attribute to God’s working. [One could argue that God must nevertheless employ divine action to set up the conditions necessary for a type (i) miracle to occur at the right time. In that sense both kinds of miracles may involve violations of normal physical cause-effect relations, but in type (i) this is more hidden. Note that I am not arguing that miracles break ultimate cause-effect relationships. Within a divine economy, they may make perfect causal sense. Language like “violation of physical cause-effect” reflects our limited access to the mind of God.]

Of course the ultimate example of a type (ii) miracle is the resurrection of Jesus.  Here Louis asserts that science can be used (in part) to help rule out a type (i) miracle.  For example, in John 19:34 we read: “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.” Louis says:

Modern medicine suggests that this is clear evidence that the pericardium, a membrane around the heart, was pierced, confirming that he was in fact dead. The more we know about the processes of decay that set in after death, the less likely it appears that Jesus could have risen from the dead by any natural means. Rather, science strengthens the case that if Jesus did indeed rise from the dead, the event must have occurred through a direct injection of supernatural power into the web of cause and effect that undergirds our physical world – it was a type (ii) miracle.

I like the point he then makes that almost every great Christian thinker in history has emphasized the fact that miracles must be understood within the context of a theological purpose, then one could invert that argument and say that it is not surprising that the central event in history would be miraculous.  That has a beautiful symmetry within the tapestry of life that I find very emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart: Contemplative Photography (4)

First Day of Spring 2018 (click for larger image)

Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart
Contemplative Photography, part four

After some time away, we return today to the insights of Christine Valters Paintner, author of Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice, as she helps us learn how photography can become a contemplative practice, helping us “see” in different ways.

Chapter 3, “The Dance of Light and Shadow,” reminds us of the most basic element of photography — light and its interplay with shadows and darkness. “In photography,” she writes, “both light and shadow are required to make an image, and so the medium invites us to consider ways to integrate both of these gifts in our own lives and contemplations.”

And so Paintner is inviting in this chapter to consider the light that God has given us — the gifts, strengths, insights, and blessings that brighten our lives — as well as the “shadow side” that each of us has, which is often hidden from our awareness and difficult for us to acknowledge and appreciate.

Contemplating your shadow is a tender process. It has remained hidden to us for a reason, perhaps someone shamed us as a child for being too loud or someone judged us for being too expressive. Through the creative process we begin to invite back in all the rejected parts of ourselves. Rather than rejecting darkness as somehow evil, the shadow invites us to integrate it to come to a place of greater wholeness. We would do well to remember again how essential shadow is to the art of photography, in making a meaningful image, rather than one that is washed out by too much light.

In this regard, Paintner references the Japanese tradition of wabi-sabi. One article describes the concept like this:

Emerging in the 15th century as a reaction to the prevailing aesthetic of lavishness, ornamentation, and rich materials, wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in earthiness, of revering authenticity above all…

Wabi-sabi reminds us that we are all transient beings on this planet—that our bodies, as well as the material world around us, are in the process of returning to dust. Nature’s cycles of growth, decay, and erosion are embodied in frayed edges, rust, liver spots. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace both the glory and the melancholy found in these marks of passing time.

Today’s picture, though not technically an exploration of light and shadow, does deal with “both the glory and melancholy found in these marks of passing time.” On the first day of spring, one looks forward to a season of renewed warmth and fecundity. Yet spring constantly frustrates us with its inconstancy. The chill and blowing snow seem to mock us.

However, this is the “thisness” of life. Warmth and chill. Shadow and brightness. The seasonal cycles. The unexpected turn. The peace and restlessness in my heart — at the same time.

See it all. See it as it is. Capture it. Live into it.