A: Why do the scribes say that Jesus is blaspheming when he forgives the paralytic's sins? Why do they say, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
M: It's true, only God can forgive sins. Thinking that we can forgive sins might make us think we were gods ourselves.
A: But at the Beautiful Gate in Acts 3, Peter says, "I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth stand up and walk." They later say to the crowds, "Men, Israelites, why are gazing as if by our own power or godliness we made him to walk." Jesus says in Mark 2, "which is easier to say to the paralytic, 'your sins are forgiven' or to say, 'stand up and walk."' This implies that both are equally difficult,indeed impossible with man. But with God all things are possible, therefore by God's power we can forgive sins.
M: Okay, but only by God's power. But there is something I still don't like in that formulation. I'm confused.
A: Yeah, me too, let's go back to the original question how come the scribes are saying that only God can forgive sins? Is this because in Torah it is God who gives the sacrifices that cover sin? In Torah the whole thrust seems to be God freeing the children of Israel first from the iron furnace of Egypt and then from their sins. At first as you read Leviticus for instance it seems like these people out in the desert are appeasing God for some reason, then it slowly dawns on you that God is providing for the forgiveness of sins; it's all him. But even in Leviticus it says, "the priest shall make atonement" for so and so's sin.
S: The question still stands then, why do the scribes who know the Bible backwards and forwards say that Jesus shouldn't say, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
A: I'm confused.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Holy Hands
The Godfather
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he writes, “I want men in every place to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger or quarreling (I Timothy 2:8). This is the same passage where Paul tells women they need not “teach” their men. That is, as both the unusual Greek verb and the entire context suggest, women need not “teach” with a frying pan! Neither by cast-iron nor by an unending stream of yelling and nagging are women to “teach” no matter how bull-headed their husbands. In the same way, men don’t need to use their fists, no matter how foolish or how deserving their opponent.. Instead of lifting up hands to hit, men now lift up holy hands to pray.
The idea of holy hands is not new. In Israel’s battle with the Amalekites when Moses lifted up his arms, the battle would turn to the Israelites. When Moses in weariness let his arms come down, the battle would favor the Amalekites. Eventually Aaron and Hur gave Moses a rock to sit on and themselves held Moses’ hands steady until sunset and the victory of the Israelites. The secret of the story is found by looking carefully at the Hebrew. When Moses would raise his hands up either his left or his right hand would touch the throne of God hovering unseen at Moses’ side. Being in touch with God means victory.
Paul remembers all of this when he writes to Timothy about holy hands. Men and women don’t need to be constantly on the offensive because we go hand in hand with God. When we pray, he’s right there.
In that same passage, Paul says that women don’t need to do their hair for five hours a day (as some of the Roman styles of the time literally required). The women of Timothy’s church can get by on say, an hour of preparation if necessary. Why? Because they are in touch with “Fairest Lord Jesus,” who gives them a beauty far beyond the neck-numbing braids and curls of Roman fashonistas. Jesus gives women a beauty both within and without, shining in all that they do and all that they are.
For both men and women, the secret is that we are in contact with the Lord, as David says “I am continually with thee; thou dost hold me by the right hand.” In other words, God has our back, so we can relax. We are in tight with a real “Godfather,” namely, God the Father. We can afford to be generous. We can afford to be long-suffering. We can afford to have largesse, after all we are soldiers of the king of kings.
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he writes, “I want men in every place to lift up holy hands in prayer without anger or quarreling (I Timothy 2:8). This is the same passage where Paul tells women they need not “teach” their men. That is, as both the unusual Greek verb and the entire context suggest, women need not “teach” with a frying pan! Neither by cast-iron nor by an unending stream of yelling and nagging are women to “teach” no matter how bull-headed their husbands. In the same way, men don’t need to use their fists, no matter how foolish or how deserving their opponent.. Instead of lifting up hands to hit, men now lift up holy hands to pray.
The idea of holy hands is not new. In Israel’s battle with the Amalekites when Moses lifted up his arms, the battle would turn to the Israelites. When Moses in weariness let his arms come down, the battle would favor the Amalekites. Eventually Aaron and Hur gave Moses a rock to sit on and themselves held Moses’ hands steady until sunset and the victory of the Israelites. The secret of the story is found by looking carefully at the Hebrew. When Moses would raise his hands up either his left or his right hand would touch the throne of God hovering unseen at Moses’ side. Being in touch with God means victory.
Paul remembers all of this when he writes to Timothy about holy hands. Men and women don’t need to be constantly on the offensive because we go hand in hand with God. When we pray, he’s right there.
In that same passage, Paul says that women don’t need to do their hair for five hours a day (as some of the Roman styles of the time literally required). The women of Timothy’s church can get by on say, an hour of preparation if necessary. Why? Because they are in touch with “Fairest Lord Jesus,” who gives them a beauty far beyond the neck-numbing braids and curls of Roman fashonistas. Jesus gives women a beauty both within and without, shining in all that they do and all that they are.
For both men and women, the secret is that we are in contact with the Lord, as David says “I am continually with thee; thou dost hold me by the right hand.” In other words, God has our back, so we can relax. We are in tight with a real “Godfather,” namely, God the Father. We can afford to be generous. We can afford to be long-suffering. We can afford to have largesse, after all we are soldiers of the king of kings.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Beauty Is Truth Article
Did you know that scientists have discovered tiny
chips of paint on the great statues of the ancient
western world? We are inclined to think of Greek and
Roman statues as bone white, unpainted, but it turns
out the statues were definitely done up in glorious
color. And now scientists and scholars have been able
to recreate the way they looked originally. In the
new show at Harvard, we see a copy of the statue of
the goddess Athena. She is dressed in bright green and
yellow. With golden hair and determined eyes she looks
strong, wise and terrifying. A bust of the Emperor
Caligula is also recreated. In color we are able to
see the look of sheer cruelty and perversion on his
petulant yet supremely regal face.
To go into any of the temples and see these statues
must have been overwhelming. The unpainted statues
were beautiful, but painted their beauty is rachetted
up several notches, they become truly awe-inspiring.
It was the Greek belief that in the faces of these
statues one could truly experience the divine. Seeing
the restored versions, I begin to see their point.
It was a painted statue that the cruel Antiochus
Epiphanes(“The Shining One”--215-164 B.C.) put into
the temple at Jerusalem. Let’s look at the situation
for a moment from the Greek point of view. To quote
Keats memorializing this belief in his poem “Ode on a
Grecian Urn”, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty-- that is
all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”
Antiochus Epiphanes probably really believed that he
was saving the Jewish nation through the sheer
loveliness of the statues of the gods. He believed he
was force for the enlightenment of the whole earth,
bringing truth and glory to benighted Israel. He
despised their lack of imagery, their silly rules for
the Sabbath and their strange belief that pork eating
was forbidden. He would show them what civilization
really meant, and so into the sanctuary he brought the
“abomination of desolation.”
Antiochus Epiphanes did not understand or accept
Israel’s critique of the whole notion of beauty as
something of supreme value. The Greeks and the Romans
believed that beauty was “where it was at.” It was
this belief in beauty that helped to cause so much
confusion in the ancient world. In Sparta for
instance, women were lovers of other women and men
with men, because marriage between a man and a woman
did not matter much. It was a low thing in fact. The
Spartans seemed to have believed that beauty
transcended any relationship between the two genders.
It was beauty alone in either man or woman which was
to be worshipped and adored as the pathway to truth.
We can see the same viewpoint in the great Socratic
dialogue, “The Symposium” and throughout the great
writings of the ancient Western world.
Where does the Bible stand? We find that it has
something very surprising to say on this issue.
Beauty is demoted. In what must have seemed almost
inconceivable to the ancient world, to Israel what is
of prime importance is relationship between men and
women. God puts humble Adam and Eve, Jesus and his
bride the church front and center; it is Jesus who is
“the Way, the Truth and the Life” and his first order
of business is to bring truth and life to “Lady
Jerusalem” . In his suffering and death, he carries
away our sins, and makes a sad and grieving woman
(Zion) happy at last (see Isaiah 53 and 54). The
apostle Paul speaks of Jesus and his bride the church
whom he will one day present to himself “a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any other such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish”
(Ephesians 5:27).
God’s critique of the sophisticated Greeks works
itself out into everyday life. We read in Proverbs
31, “charm is a delusion and beauty is vain.” It is
the woman who knows the great goodness of the Lord
that is to be honored, not the Paris Hilton
look-alike. To the pilgrim on his way to visit the
gods and goddesses of Olympus, their images might well
have caused his knees to buckle and his breath to come
short so inspiring were they, but the Bible says these
things are vanity, dust and ashes.
It is the trustworthy woman “who sees that her
business goes well, who buys a field and plants a
vineyard out of her earnings...who reaches out her
hands to the poor” that is truly beautiful. Not to a
statue of Aphrodite does a man sing praises but rather
to his loving wife (Proverbs 31:27).
In the clash between Jerusalem and Athens, and even in
the societal clashes today God is teaching us how to
see. What is truly of value is the woman of Proverbs
31; then as now, it is the not the Playboy bunny
transfixed on glossy magazine pages, but the living
breathing woman who is to be adored and cared for, a
real non-airbrushed woman not a painted image. It is
in the love and liking between men and women that we
see a reflection of God’s glory, not in the beautiful
golden, stoney-hearted Athena.
chips of paint on the great statues of the ancient
western world? We are inclined to think of Greek and
Roman statues as bone white, unpainted, but it turns
out the statues were definitely done up in glorious
color. And now scientists and scholars have been able
to recreate the way they looked originally. In the
new show at Harvard, we see a copy of the statue of
the goddess Athena. She is dressed in bright green and
yellow. With golden hair and determined eyes she looks
strong, wise and terrifying. A bust of the Emperor
Caligula is also recreated. In color we are able to
see the look of sheer cruelty and perversion on his
petulant yet supremely regal face.
To go into any of the temples and see these statues
must have been overwhelming. The unpainted statues
were beautiful, but painted their beauty is rachetted
up several notches, they become truly awe-inspiring.
It was the Greek belief that in the faces of these
statues one could truly experience the divine. Seeing
the restored versions, I begin to see their point.
It was a painted statue that the cruel Antiochus
Epiphanes(“The Shining One”--215-164 B.C.) put into
the temple at Jerusalem. Let’s look at the situation
for a moment from the Greek point of view. To quote
Keats memorializing this belief in his poem “Ode on a
Grecian Urn”, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty-- that is
all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”
Antiochus Epiphanes probably really believed that he
was saving the Jewish nation through the sheer
loveliness of the statues of the gods. He believed he
was force for the enlightenment of the whole earth,
bringing truth and glory to benighted Israel. He
despised their lack of imagery, their silly rules for
the Sabbath and their strange belief that pork eating
was forbidden. He would show them what civilization
really meant, and so into the sanctuary he brought the
“abomination of desolation.”
Antiochus Epiphanes did not understand or accept
Israel’s critique of the whole notion of beauty as
something of supreme value. The Greeks and the Romans
believed that beauty was “where it was at.” It was
this belief in beauty that helped to cause so much
confusion in the ancient world. In Sparta for
instance, women were lovers of other women and men
with men, because marriage between a man and a woman
did not matter much. It was a low thing in fact. The
Spartans seemed to have believed that beauty
transcended any relationship between the two genders.
It was beauty alone in either man or woman which was
to be worshipped and adored as the pathway to truth.
We can see the same viewpoint in the great Socratic
dialogue, “The Symposium” and throughout the great
writings of the ancient Western world.
Where does the Bible stand? We find that it has
something very surprising to say on this issue.
Beauty is demoted. In what must have seemed almost
inconceivable to the ancient world, to Israel what is
of prime importance is relationship between men and
women. God puts humble Adam and Eve, Jesus and his
bride the church front and center; it is Jesus who is
“the Way, the Truth and the Life” and his first order
of business is to bring truth and life to “Lady
Jerusalem” . In his suffering and death, he carries
away our sins, and makes a sad and grieving woman
(Zion) happy at last (see Isaiah 53 and 54). The
apostle Paul speaks of Jesus and his bride the church
whom he will one day present to himself “a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any other such
thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish”
(Ephesians 5:27).
God’s critique of the sophisticated Greeks works
itself out into everyday life. We read in Proverbs
31, “charm is a delusion and beauty is vain.” It is
the woman who knows the great goodness of the Lord
that is to be honored, not the Paris Hilton
look-alike. To the pilgrim on his way to visit the
gods and goddesses of Olympus, their images might well
have caused his knees to buckle and his breath to come
short so inspiring were they, but the Bible says these
things are vanity, dust and ashes.
It is the trustworthy woman “who sees that her
business goes well, who buys a field and plants a
vineyard out of her earnings...who reaches out her
hands to the poor” that is truly beautiful. Not to a
statue of Aphrodite does a man sing praises but rather
to his loving wife (Proverbs 31:27).
In the clash between Jerusalem and Athens, and even in
the societal clashes today God is teaching us how to
see. What is truly of value is the woman of Proverbs
31; then as now, it is the not the Playboy bunny
transfixed on glossy magazine pages, but the living
breathing woman who is to be adored and cared for, a
real non-airbrushed woman not a painted image. It is
in the love and liking between men and women that we
see a reflection of God’s glory, not in the beautiful
golden, stoney-hearted Athena.
Thoughts on Saturday's Special Presbytery Meeting
I really am praising God; listening to Dr. Capetz'
answers and the comments upstairs helped me
tremendously in understanding this issue Biblically.
I didn't understand before Saturday WHY the apostle
Paul speaks the way he does in Romans 1 and 2. Paul
does not speak the way he does because he is
a)homophobic or b) relying on traditional Jewish
attitudes towards homosexuals but rather, he speaks
the way he does because he has met Jesus on the road
to Damascus!
On the road to Damascus, Paul meets the Lord God,
Jesus who had died on a cross. This fact, effectively
forces Paul to open the Bible to Isaiah 53, where Paul
reads about a suffering servant. But the direct
result of the sorrows of this God and man is 1) the
justification of "many" and 2) (and here's the kicker)
the happiness and freedom of Jerusalem who is pictured
as a woman. Basically we are getting an updated
version of Adam and Eve here. Turns out, Adam and Eve
are not only in Genesis but in 2nd Isaiah!
Where the rubber meets the road in all of this is that
far from being an issue of relative unimportance,
right relationship, indeed, healed relationship
between men and women is at the very heart of the
Bible, hand in hand with the cross itself, not to
mention justice and mercy.
I just have to say how amazing this is; in an earlier
time I was a classics student and you know, there is
simply no other book in the world that centers on
making a woman happy and free and victorious. Oy vey,
that's for sure.
Believe me, Socrates had absolutely no idea of making
any woman happy and Sappho had no idea that a man
could ever possibly do this! There is simply no
precedent in any of the ancient writings for "this
now is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone"
Anyway, I talked to the people at the annual meeting
about all of this and they seemed pretty pleased with
it.
It was only in the car ride home on Saturday that this
all started to sink it...and there's a lot more to go.
I think we've just begun to mine all the treasures.
answers and the comments upstairs helped me
tremendously in understanding this issue Biblically.
I didn't understand before Saturday WHY the apostle
Paul speaks the way he does in Romans 1 and 2. Paul
does not speak the way he does because he is
a)homophobic or b) relying on traditional Jewish
attitudes towards homosexuals but rather, he speaks
the way he does because he has met Jesus on the road
to Damascus!
On the road to Damascus, Paul meets the Lord God,
Jesus who had died on a cross. This fact, effectively
forces Paul to open the Bible to Isaiah 53, where Paul
reads about a suffering servant. But the direct
result of the sorrows of this God and man is 1) the
justification of "many" and 2) (and here's the kicker)
the happiness and freedom of Jerusalem who is pictured
as a woman. Basically we are getting an updated
version of Adam and Eve here. Turns out, Adam and Eve
are not only in Genesis but in 2nd Isaiah!
Where the rubber meets the road in all of this is that
far from being an issue of relative unimportance,
right relationship, indeed, healed relationship
between men and women is at the very heart of the
Bible, hand in hand with the cross itself, not to
mention justice and mercy.
I just have to say how amazing this is; in an earlier
time I was a classics student and you know, there is
simply no other book in the world that centers on
making a woman happy and free and victorious. Oy vey,
that's for sure.
Believe me, Socrates had absolutely no idea of making
any woman happy and Sappho had no idea that a man
could ever possibly do this! There is simply no
precedent in any of the ancient writings for "this
now is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone"
Anyway, I talked to the people at the annual meeting
about all of this and they seemed pretty pleased with
it.
It was only in the car ride home on Saturday that this
all started to sink it...and there's a lot more to go.
I think we've just begun to mine all the treasures.
Letter to the Layman
An Appeal to My Presbytery, the Presbytery of the Twin
Cities Area
On Saturday, Professor Paul Capetz’ asserted that
affirming “chastity in singleness” (Book of Order
G-6.0106b) was tantamount to taking a vow of celibacy.
This assertion at its heart calls into question the
words of the angel Gabriel, “with God nothing will be
impossible” (Luke 1:37, RSV). As Jesus reiterated,
“with men it is impossible, but with God all things
are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
And yet, in restoring Professor Capetz as minister
member in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, we
say to the church and the world that there is at least
one thing that is impossible with God, namely,
redemption for men who desire men and women who desire
women (see Romans 1:26-27).
That “homosexual orientation” is unchangeable goes
largely unquestioned in Western society today, but God
mercifully calls into question all our
impossibilities. Romans 1 tells us that our savior,
Jesus, “the just who shall live by faith” lives in
order to save us from our enemies. (Romans 1:17). As
King David saved the ancient Israelites from the
Philistines, themselves sent as a manifestation of
God’s wrath (see Judges 2:14, Romans 1:18), so the
clear implication of Romans is that the King of Kings,
Jesus, saves us from enemies far more terrible than
the Philistines, enemies not of flesh and blood, but
the powers and principalities of this world. God’s
mercy does and must abound in his son Jesus.
Romans chapter 1 shows us the glory of just Jesus
against the black background of universal sin (all we
like sheep had gone astray). But the just Jesus is
also the justifying Jesus. Romans 1 begins with the
resurrection of the dead and this is no accident. The
resurrection of the dead is inseparable from
restoration of right relationship between men and
women (R. 1:4,17ff).
Remember the woman of the city who was “forgiven
much” and therefore “loved much” bathing Jesus’ feet
with her tears, anointing him with precious oil (Luke
7:37-50). Somewhere she had heard the word of
forgiveness and in the gospel stories we see a woman
redeemed, transformed. Jesus said of such a one,
“wherever the gospel is preached this will be told in
memory of her” (Mark 14:9). Simon the Pharisee called
this woman a sinner as her tears fell on Jesus’ feet.
One could well guess that in Simon’s view it was
impossible that this woman be anything but what she
was known to be, one whose body and soul were corrupt
But what is inconceivable and well nigh impossible
with men is more than conceivable and do-able by the
word of God. As Luther said, “the word, the word, the
word will do it.” God the father delights, “sings
with joy” over what he has done and is doing in Jesus
(Zephaniah 3:17).
But not only that, it is “these sinners” who go
first into the kingdom and in so doing provide a
shining hope for us all. For when these are saved,
those to whom salvation was accounted by church and
society an “impossibility,” then hope springs up in
our own hearts; perhaps we in the pews and pulpits
and choir lofts too can be saved from our innumerable
miseries, weaknesses, sins and burdens that have grown
to heavy for us to bear. Our heart rejoices in Jesus,
the Anointed One, anointed both by God and by the
sinner who “once was lost but now is found.” Who can
doubt that that unnamed woman is now crowned in light
at the throne of the Lord of hosts?
Beloved brothers and sisters of the Presbytery of the
Twin Cities Area, I appeal to you by the mercies of
God. Let us not be conformed to this age but
transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Amy Flack (Minister Member of the Presbytery of the
Twin Cities Area, Ellsworth and Hager City, Wisconsin)
Cities Area
On Saturday, Professor Paul Capetz’ asserted that
affirming “chastity in singleness” (Book of Order
G-6.0106b) was tantamount to taking a vow of celibacy.
This assertion at its heart calls into question the
words of the angel Gabriel, “with God nothing will be
impossible” (Luke 1:37, RSV). As Jesus reiterated,
“with men it is impossible, but with God all things
are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
And yet, in restoring Professor Capetz as minister
member in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, we
say to the church and the world that there is at least
one thing that is impossible with God, namely,
redemption for men who desire men and women who desire
women (see Romans 1:26-27).
That “homosexual orientation” is unchangeable goes
largely unquestioned in Western society today, but God
mercifully calls into question all our
impossibilities. Romans 1 tells us that our savior,
Jesus, “the just who shall live by faith” lives in
order to save us from our enemies. (Romans 1:17). As
King David saved the ancient Israelites from the
Philistines, themselves sent as a manifestation of
God’s wrath (see Judges 2:14, Romans 1:18), so the
clear implication of Romans is that the King of Kings,
Jesus, saves us from enemies far more terrible than
the Philistines, enemies not of flesh and blood, but
the powers and principalities of this world. God’s
mercy does and must abound in his son Jesus.
Romans chapter 1 shows us the glory of just Jesus
against the black background of universal sin (all we
like sheep had gone astray). But the just Jesus is
also the justifying Jesus. Romans 1 begins with the
resurrection of the dead and this is no accident. The
resurrection of the dead is inseparable from
restoration of right relationship between men and
women (R. 1:4,17ff).
Remember the woman of the city who was “forgiven
much” and therefore “loved much” bathing Jesus’ feet
with her tears, anointing him with precious oil (Luke
7:37-50). Somewhere she had heard the word of
forgiveness and in the gospel stories we see a woman
redeemed, transformed. Jesus said of such a one,
“wherever the gospel is preached this will be told in
memory of her” (Mark 14:9). Simon the Pharisee called
this woman a sinner as her tears fell on Jesus’ feet.
One could well guess that in Simon’s view it was
impossible that this woman be anything but what she
was known to be, one whose body and soul were corrupt
But what is inconceivable and well nigh impossible
with men is more than conceivable and do-able by the
word of God. As Luther said, “the word, the word, the
word will do it.” God the father delights, “sings
with joy” over what he has done and is doing in Jesus
(Zephaniah 3:17).
But not only that, it is “these sinners” who go
first into the kingdom and in so doing provide a
shining hope for us all. For when these are saved,
those to whom salvation was accounted by church and
society an “impossibility,” then hope springs up in
our own hearts; perhaps we in the pews and pulpits
and choir lofts too can be saved from our innumerable
miseries, weaknesses, sins and burdens that have grown
to heavy for us to bear. Our heart rejoices in Jesus,
the Anointed One, anointed both by God and by the
sinner who “once was lost but now is found.” Who can
doubt that that unnamed woman is now crowned in light
at the throne of the Lord of hosts?
Beloved brothers and sisters of the Presbytery of the
Twin Cities Area, I appeal to you by the mercies of
God. Let us not be conformed to this age but
transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Amy Flack (Minister Member of the Presbytery of the
Twin Cities Area, Ellsworth and Hager City, Wisconsin)
Friday, September 28, 2007
Well, anyway
Prayers
My prayers for instance
poor impoverished
simple things
sometimes that’s how my prayers are
not enough.
But there is a hope that sets all to right
For there is a God who hears
A prayer can be simple or complex
sound or silly
but what unites them all
Is that “amazing grace” our Father in heaven hears
and helps
our inarticulate whispers
our fumblings and mumblings
and our silly, not enough prayers
become in heaven
things of glory
perfume rising before the Lord
Sometimes there is no prayer
we cannot speak a single word
our tears have gone too deep
our hearts are like a frozen sea
black and bleak
but know that it’s those who cannot pray
that Jesus came to save
when silence is a shackle
and despair wells within
the Holy Spirit intercedes for us
with sighs too deep for words
And God hears
God hears the soundless cry
of those whose spirit is broken
“Blessed are the poor in spirit
“Blessed are those who mourn”
Oh yes, yes, my friend, the promise is for you
for you the comfort, the very kingdom of heaven come
down
And when in our pilgrimage
the way seems long
the answer far away
know that in the darkness
our Lord leads the way
and soon the kingdom coming
will dawn a glorious day
“Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death
I shall fear no evil
for thy rod and thy staff
they comfort me...”
My prayers for instance
poor impoverished
simple things
sometimes that’s how my prayers are
not enough.
But there is a hope that sets all to right
For there is a God who hears
A prayer can be simple or complex
sound or silly
but what unites them all
Is that “amazing grace” our Father in heaven hears
and helps
our inarticulate whispers
our fumblings and mumblings
and our silly, not enough prayers
become in heaven
things of glory
perfume rising before the Lord
Sometimes there is no prayer
we cannot speak a single word
our tears have gone too deep
our hearts are like a frozen sea
black and bleak
but know that it’s those who cannot pray
that Jesus came to save
when silence is a shackle
and despair wells within
the Holy Spirit intercedes for us
with sighs too deep for words
And God hears
God hears the soundless cry
of those whose spirit is broken
“Blessed are the poor in spirit
“Blessed are those who mourn”
Oh yes, yes, my friend, the promise is for you
for you the comfort, the very kingdom of heaven come
down
And when in our pilgrimage
the way seems long
the answer far away
know that in the darkness
our Lord leads the way
and soon the kingdom coming
will dawn a glorious day
“Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death
I shall fear no evil
for thy rod and thy staff
they comfort me...”
Friday, August 31, 2007
A Pink Cadillac--Jesus Didn't Have One
In the gospel of Mark, chapter 6, Jesus comes home. For eight years I lived in Avon, South Dakota; the hometown of Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern. In fact, he was born only a few houses down from where I lived. When Avon’s centennial celebration rolled around, I was thrilled to see McGovern leading the parade; sitting in an open convertible he smiled and waved as we cheered him from the sidewalks. It was very much a happy homecoming. Jesus’ homecoming to Nazareth is happy too, but the crowd almost immediately begins to question, “ Where did this man get all this? What might works are wrought by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not also his sisters here with us?” And we read shortly thereafter, “they took offense at him.” It looks as if Jesus’ triumphant homecoming has gone south. What should have been a cheering section has turned into a disgruntled mob.
Let’s try to see it from the perspective of the Nazarenes, by putting the situation in a modern day context. My hometown is Chicago. The great basketball player Michael Jordan is an abiding presence in that city. He and his friends and family still live in and frequent the area. But what if Michael Jordan’s mother was seen driving 1988 Toyota Camry, frequenting Penney’s and mowing her own grass? What would happen then? People would get suspicious. They would start to whisper, “Couldn’t MJ get his mom something better than a used Camry? Why is she still shopping at the Dollar? Hmmph...I guess MJ can’t be all that,” they would conclude. It’s a reasonable analysis, the same sort of analysis that is going on in Nazareth. “If Jesus is all that, a miracle worker and such, how come Mary his mom is still going to the well every morning with the other women? How can this man be so great since his brothers, James, Joses, Judas and Simon are still just working joes like us? Hmmph...” But the hometown crowd has forgotten one thing. Mary is not driving around in a pink cadillac because Jesus is the suffering servant. You see, God has decided, in his good pleasure and in his mercy to heal the world. How? He will heal death with death, he will heal our burdens by burdening his son, he will heal our wounds from sin by allowing his son to be wounded This is the REAL plan of salvation. Jesus can’t give his mom a pink caddy or the first century equivalent because he is the man of sorrows, meek and lowly. Jesus’ glory is not a gold Rolls Royce or bling for his friends and family but a wooden cross and the death of a criminal. The hometown crowd has the wrong idea and they are hostile toward Jesus, but Jesus’ glory is to take away our wrong ideas and to reconcile us to the Lord, while we are yet grumbling, hostile and hateful to the Lord of love, by whose stripes and in whose humility we are healed and lifted on high.
Let’s try to see it from the perspective of the Nazarenes, by putting the situation in a modern day context. My hometown is Chicago. The great basketball player Michael Jordan is an abiding presence in that city. He and his friends and family still live in and frequent the area. But what if Michael Jordan’s mother was seen driving 1988 Toyota Camry, frequenting Penney’s and mowing her own grass? What would happen then? People would get suspicious. They would start to whisper, “Couldn’t MJ get his mom something better than a used Camry? Why is she still shopping at the Dollar? Hmmph...I guess MJ can’t be all that,” they would conclude. It’s a reasonable analysis, the same sort of analysis that is going on in Nazareth. “If Jesus is all that, a miracle worker and such, how come Mary his mom is still going to the well every morning with the other women? How can this man be so great since his brothers, James, Joses, Judas and Simon are still just working joes like us? Hmmph...” But the hometown crowd has forgotten one thing. Mary is not driving around in a pink cadillac because Jesus is the suffering servant. You see, God has decided, in his good pleasure and in his mercy to heal the world. How? He will heal death with death, he will heal our burdens by burdening his son, he will heal our wounds from sin by allowing his son to be wounded This is the REAL plan of salvation. Jesus can’t give his mom a pink caddy or the first century equivalent because he is the man of sorrows, meek and lowly. Jesus’ glory is not a gold Rolls Royce or bling for his friends and family but a wooden cross and the death of a criminal. The hometown crowd has the wrong idea and they are hostile toward Jesus, but Jesus’ glory is to take away our wrong ideas and to reconcile us to the Lord, while we are yet grumbling, hostile and hateful to the Lord of love, by whose stripes and in whose humility we are healed and lifted on high.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Big Words--"Justification by Grace"
What do we mean by the words, “righteousness” and
“justice?” Sometimes we use these words but what do
they really mean? Their definitions in, say,
Webster’s Dictionary are also hard to understand. But
what if we look for their definitions in the Bible?
Now, certainly we can’t page through it as we would
Webster’s and expect a definition and yet, I think the
true meaning of “righteousness,” “justice,” and
“salvation” are perhaps ONLY found in the Bible.
There the answer to “What is justice?” is simple and
direct. Justice, righteousness, is the Exodus. God
told the children of Israel, “Stand still and you will
see salvation...and those enemies behind you, you’ll
never see them again. Things were bad for Israel at
this point. The Jewish people have faced so many
sorrows and horrors but the Exodus was different.
Israel was not just facing a massacre, not just a war,
but total annihilation. Had the Egyptians in their
chariots been able to overtake them that would have
been the end of Israel forever. All were gathered
together on the banks of the Red Sea, none had been
left behind in Egypt. When the Israelites look behind
them they saw correctly not the death of a portion of
Israel, however large, but the wiping away of Israel
from the face of the earth. At a Passover meal the
family and guests do not say, “Thank you Lord for
saving those other people, way back when” but rather
“Thank you Lord for saving me, for saving us.”
Because quite literally there would be no feast, no
guests were it not for God’s actions at the Red Sea.
And these actions, as we learn from the Bible are
justice, are righteousness, salvation. If we want to
know the definition of that rather long word,
“righteousness” now we know where to look. It’s when
Moses stretched out his hand and the sea parted and
the children of Israel walked through on dry ground.
The chariots followed after but the Lord told Moses to
stretch out his staff again and the waters closed over
those Egyptians. When Israel, standing on the bluffs,
saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians, they believed in
God and in his servant Moses. All of the above,
that’s righteousness.
In this same way we can understand “justification by
grace." When Jesus died on that cross on Golgotha,
he makes a “way out of no way,” an exodus for you and
me, one by one we are being freed, and one by one,
seeing this salvation we believe in God and in his
servant Jesus. All of the above, that’s justification
by grace! Simply put, justification is the Exodus,
the Exodus through Jesus. God makes a way out of no
way by dying and rising for the sake of the world.
The waters have parted and our enemies are kaput.
“Justification by grace” seems like something hard to
understand, and we can’t depend on Webster’s for the
definition, but if we look to the Bible story the
meaning is opened to us. “Justification by
grace”--God carrying out his plan from the beginning,
to bring the world, “the nations that sat in darkness”
to the table of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that all
might be heirs, children of our Father in heaven.
“justice?” Sometimes we use these words but what do
they really mean? Their definitions in, say,
Webster’s Dictionary are also hard to understand. But
what if we look for their definitions in the Bible?
Now, certainly we can’t page through it as we would
Webster’s and expect a definition and yet, I think the
true meaning of “righteousness,” “justice,” and
“salvation” are perhaps ONLY found in the Bible.
There the answer to “What is justice?” is simple and
direct. Justice, righteousness, is the Exodus. God
told the children of Israel, “Stand still and you will
see salvation...and those enemies behind you, you’ll
never see them again. Things were bad for Israel at
this point. The Jewish people have faced so many
sorrows and horrors but the Exodus was different.
Israel was not just facing a massacre, not just a war,
but total annihilation. Had the Egyptians in their
chariots been able to overtake them that would have
been the end of Israel forever. All were gathered
together on the banks of the Red Sea, none had been
left behind in Egypt. When the Israelites look behind
them they saw correctly not the death of a portion of
Israel, however large, but the wiping away of Israel
from the face of the earth. At a Passover meal the
family and guests do not say, “Thank you Lord for
saving those other people, way back when” but rather
“Thank you Lord for saving me, for saving us.”
Because quite literally there would be no feast, no
guests were it not for God’s actions at the Red Sea.
And these actions, as we learn from the Bible are
justice, are righteousness, salvation. If we want to
know the definition of that rather long word,
“righteousness” now we know where to look. It’s when
Moses stretched out his hand and the sea parted and
the children of Israel walked through on dry ground.
The chariots followed after but the Lord told Moses to
stretch out his staff again and the waters closed over
those Egyptians. When Israel, standing on the bluffs,
saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians, they believed in
God and in his servant Moses. All of the above,
that’s righteousness.
In this same way we can understand “justification by
grace." When Jesus died on that cross on Golgotha,
he makes a “way out of no way,” an exodus for you and
me, one by one we are being freed, and one by one,
seeing this salvation we believe in God and in his
servant Jesus. All of the above, that’s justification
by grace! Simply put, justification is the Exodus,
the Exodus through Jesus. God makes a way out of no
way by dying and rising for the sake of the world.
The waters have parted and our enemies are kaput.
“Justification by grace” seems like something hard to
understand, and we can’t depend on Webster’s for the
definition, but if we look to the Bible story the
meaning is opened to us. “Justification by
grace”--God carrying out his plan from the beginning,
to bring the world, “the nations that sat in darkness”
to the table of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that all
might be heirs, children of our Father in heaven.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Lessons from Joseph
A few years ago I got a chance to see a school
production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat. I remember really enjoying it and saying
to myself “How wonderful!” It was also food for
thought. For the first time I asked, “Why did Joseph
pretend not to know his brothers? Why did Joseph
accuse his brothers of being spies? Was it just to be
mean and vindictive? Did Joseph hate his brothers?”
As I returned to the Biblical story, I found the
answer to be a resounding “no.” Joseph loved his
brothers, witness his tears and what he does for them
all in the end. Neither was Joseph cruel and
vindictive. Rather, Joseph was showing his brothers
their sin. When Joseph accuses them of being spies,
not hearing their pleas for mercy or their
protestations of innocence, he is revealing their
transgression against the young Joseph. Just as
Joseph cried and pleaded from the pit into which his
brothers had thrown him, so now his brothers' pleas
are not heard. The eleven realize all of this from the
first, saying to one another as they are being
threatened by the incognito Joseph, “We are truly
guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the
anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would
not hear, therefore this distress has come upon us.”
Even when Joseph threatens to take away Benjamin, this
too serves a purpose. The eleven brothers understand
for the first time what it meant to their father Jacob
when Joseph was taken away, the grief they have loaded
on their papa’s aged head.
This is a good lesson for us. God like Joseph
sometimes brings us to grief in order to show us our
sin. For instance, sometimes in church when I hear
the beautiful music or when I am preparing a sermon, I
realize how good God is and how merciful and at that
moment I feel sorry and grieved. I feel sorry for my
sourness and selfishness and self-pity. This is
because at that moment I know that unlike me, God is
loving and selfless, giving his only begotten son for
our sakes and I want to be better. You see, church is
not just a place to come to feel content about
ourselves. Rather church is a place where God strikes
to the heart, convicting us of our sin. It is true
that the Lord loves us and is faithful to us while we
are yet sinners. God loves sinners, so much so that he
sent his only son. And yet, he does not allow us to
remain in our sin. He is the Great Physician,
sometimes cutting and grieving us to the heart in
order to rid us of the cancer of our iniquity. Thank
God that he does not just let us alone. Rather, Jesus,
like Joseph, is our dear brother and he loves us and
shows us the truth, giving us wholeness and peace.
production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat. I remember really enjoying it and saying
to myself “How wonderful!” It was also food for
thought. For the first time I asked, “Why did Joseph
pretend not to know his brothers? Why did Joseph
accuse his brothers of being spies? Was it just to be
mean and vindictive? Did Joseph hate his brothers?”
As I returned to the Biblical story, I found the
answer to be a resounding “no.” Joseph loved his
brothers, witness his tears and what he does for them
all in the end. Neither was Joseph cruel and
vindictive. Rather, Joseph was showing his brothers
their sin. When Joseph accuses them of being spies,
not hearing their pleas for mercy or their
protestations of innocence, he is revealing their
transgression against the young Joseph. Just as
Joseph cried and pleaded from the pit into which his
brothers had thrown him, so now his brothers' pleas
are not heard. The eleven realize all of this from the
first, saying to one another as they are being
threatened by the incognito Joseph, “We are truly
guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the
anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would
not hear, therefore this distress has come upon us.”
Even when Joseph threatens to take away Benjamin, this
too serves a purpose. The eleven brothers understand
for the first time what it meant to their father Jacob
when Joseph was taken away, the grief they have loaded
on their papa’s aged head.
This is a good lesson for us. God like Joseph
sometimes brings us to grief in order to show us our
sin. For instance, sometimes in church when I hear
the beautiful music or when I am preparing a sermon, I
realize how good God is and how merciful and at that
moment I feel sorry and grieved. I feel sorry for my
sourness and selfishness and self-pity. This is
because at that moment I know that unlike me, God is
loving and selfless, giving his only begotten son for
our sakes and I want to be better. You see, church is
not just a place to come to feel content about
ourselves. Rather church is a place where God strikes
to the heart, convicting us of our sin. It is true
that the Lord loves us and is faithful to us while we
are yet sinners. God loves sinners, so much so that he
sent his only son. And yet, he does not allow us to
remain in our sin. He is the Great Physician,
sometimes cutting and grieving us to the heart in
order to rid us of the cancer of our iniquity. Thank
God that he does not just let us alone. Rather, Jesus,
like Joseph, is our dear brother and he loves us and
shows us the truth, giving us wholeness and peace.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Some Little Poems
The Red Sea
The Lord led Israel out to the Sea
He wanted those slaves to be happy and free.
The Israelites were scared, they thought they were stuck!
But the Egyptians instead, got stuck in the muck.
The Israelites were saved! They stood on the shore!
But the cruel Egyptians were no more!
And then in God and Moses they were believin'
Because of the wonders their eyes were seein'
Jonah
Jonah was mad 'cause God was so kind
"God would forgive those Ninevites?" "Was he blind?!"
So out on the sea Jonah set sail at once
"No! I won't prophesy"
"I'm no dunce!"
But our good Lord had other plans
A storm was brewin' to beat the band
And the prophet Jonah was thrown into the sea!
He sat in the belly of the whale
days, one two and three!
And when he got out,Jonah was sent
To warn the Ninevites, they had to repent.
And the Ninevites did, both great and small.
And Jonah learned something about God's love for us all.
The Call
Fishermen, fishing on the sea
But Jesus said, Follow me!
When they heard his voice, they followed him then
He would make them fishers of men.
Jesus Rules the Sea
The waves of the sea crashed up and down
The great storm made a horrible sound!
The disciples were scared,"We're going to die!"
And to Jesus asleep, they did fly.
And Jesus awoke and heard their plea
They didn't know: God rules the sea!
Then Jesus stilled the storm, made the wind cease.
And all around was perfect peace.
Jesus, Our Friend
Jesus came down to the seaside that night
And helped the disciples in their plight
No fish they had caught, they were lost indeed
Silently they prayed, "Help us, please!"
And Jesus came and stood on the shore
"Cast in your net, you'll find fish galore!"
He gave them breakfast there on the sand
And told them all about his good plans.
That all the world might be happy and free
It all started there, on sea of Galilee
God's Throne
God's throne sits on a crystalline sea
He watches over us all, for he loves you and me.
The Lord led Israel out to the Sea
He wanted those slaves to be happy and free.
The Israelites were scared, they thought they were stuck!
But the Egyptians instead, got stuck in the muck.
The Israelites were saved! They stood on the shore!
But the cruel Egyptians were no more!
And then in God and Moses they were believin'
Because of the wonders their eyes were seein'
Jonah
Jonah was mad 'cause God was so kind
"God would forgive those Ninevites?" "Was he blind?!"
So out on the sea Jonah set sail at once
"No! I won't prophesy"
"I'm no dunce!"
But our good Lord had other plans
A storm was brewin' to beat the band
And the prophet Jonah was thrown into the sea!
He sat in the belly of the whale
days, one two and three!
And when he got out,Jonah was sent
To warn the Ninevites, they had to repent.
And the Ninevites did, both great and small.
And Jonah learned something about God's love for us all.
The Call
Fishermen, fishing on the sea
But Jesus said, Follow me!
When they heard his voice, they followed him then
He would make them fishers of men.
Jesus Rules the Sea
The waves of the sea crashed up and down
The great storm made a horrible sound!
The disciples were scared,"We're going to die!"
And to Jesus asleep, they did fly.
And Jesus awoke and heard their plea
They didn't know: God rules the sea!
Then Jesus stilled the storm, made the wind cease.
And all around was perfect peace.
Jesus, Our Friend
Jesus came down to the seaside that night
And helped the disciples in their plight
No fish they had caught, they were lost indeed
Silently they prayed, "Help us, please!"
And Jesus came and stood on the shore
"Cast in your net, you'll find fish galore!"
He gave them breakfast there on the sand
And told them all about his good plans.
That all the world might be happy and free
It all started there, on sea of Galilee
God's Throne
God's throne sits on a crystalline sea
He watches over us all, for he loves you and me.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Matthew 28: Some Doubted
It is no great concern to us that some of the disciples doubted when they saw the resurrected Jesus on that mountain in Galilee. And yet it is of great concern when people outside the church doubt or disbelieve. That's what's called a double standard, and a damnable one! Somehow it's okay for the "in group" to disbelieve, but those on the outs "will die and go to hell!" No, rather, it's serious, and a great sin, no, the symptom of THE GREATEST sin, when we disbelieve or doubt, whether we are seminary students or people who have never lives darkened a church door. But notice, is the wrath of the Lord on those who disbelieve? Does the ground give way underneath them? No, not because their sins and troubles and diseases are not great, but because God is so good.
When Jacob disbelieved that his son Joseph was alive, what did God do? Did God, rain down fire and brimstone on the despairing, faithless Jacob, Jacob whose life was filled with hard knocks, wanderings and travails, but who was also not a blameless man, but a trader "with false balances," a trickster and in his faithlessness and lack of confidence, even a thief in his youth? The answer is no. Instead, God overwhelms Jacob's despair and faithlessness. When Jacob heard Joseph's message, the words that Joseph meant especially for his longsuffering father, when Jacob saw the rich caravan that Joseph had sent for him, Jacob's spirit revived and he says, "It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive; I will go and see him before I die."
In other words, we must not say, "those who disbelieve or doubt will go to hell." That's like saying in the moment before his spirits revived "Jacob will die in despair not knowing the grace of God who brings his beloved son back to him." It is, at the very least, short-sighted. We CAN say, quoting Revelation 21 that there will be none of the "cowardly, the faithless, the polluted etc.," in the New Jerusalem. But we cannot say, "those who disbelieve will go to hell" Why? because we do not know what the next movement by God will be. God is free to overwhelm the despairing and hopeless with good news. God is both willing and able to overwhelm all faithlessness, just as did with Jacob, just as he did with the doubting disciples. Not even death can limit the power of God. The gates of hell crumple before Jesus. Therefore, let's leave it up to God's mercy and goodness, not presuming to know the mind of the Lord, remembering that his thoughts and plans are very different from our own, giving thanks for the gift of belief, that sure sight, but also remembering that even "when we are faithless God is faithful, for he cannot deny himself."
When Jacob disbelieved that his son Joseph was alive, what did God do? Did God, rain down fire and brimstone on the despairing, faithless Jacob, Jacob whose life was filled with hard knocks, wanderings and travails, but who was also not a blameless man, but a trader "with false balances," a trickster and in his faithlessness and lack of confidence, even a thief in his youth? The answer is no. Instead, God overwhelms Jacob's despair and faithlessness. When Jacob heard Joseph's message, the words that Joseph meant especially for his longsuffering father, when Jacob saw the rich caravan that Joseph had sent for him, Jacob's spirit revived and he says, "It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive; I will go and see him before I die."
In other words, we must not say, "those who disbelieve or doubt will go to hell." That's like saying in the moment before his spirits revived "Jacob will die in despair not knowing the grace of God who brings his beloved son back to him." It is, at the very least, short-sighted. We CAN say, quoting Revelation 21 that there will be none of the "cowardly, the faithless, the polluted etc.," in the New Jerusalem. But we cannot say, "those who disbelieve will go to hell" Why? because we do not know what the next movement by God will be. God is free to overwhelm the despairing and hopeless with good news. God is both willing and able to overwhelm all faithlessness, just as did with Jacob, just as he did with the doubting disciples. Not even death can limit the power of God. The gates of hell crumple before Jesus. Therefore, let's leave it up to God's mercy and goodness, not presuming to know the mind of the Lord, remembering that his thoughts and plans are very different from our own, giving thanks for the gift of belief, that sure sight, but also remembering that even "when we are faithless God is faithful, for he cannot deny himself."
Matthew 9:9 No Puppets
Jesus says to Matthew the tax collector, "Follow me." Is Matthew a sort of puppet? Jesus pulling the strings and Matthew rising and following him? I asked myself about light at the very beginning. Is light a kind of puppet, God flips the switch and voila? My father pointed out to me that this question becomes clearer when we consider the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. We must ask ourselves, is Jesus, as pictured by Isaiah in the above mentioned chapter, a puppet? The answer is no, of course. Isaiah does not want to get across to us that Jesus is a marionette jerked around on strings. Instead the picture we get is one of freedom. Just before Jesus commands Matthew "Follow me," he says to the paralytic, "Rise and walk." The Bible is not presenting a picture of the paralytic as a puppet but rather as a healed man, freed, in fact, from his long infirmity. In the same way, Matthew is now a free man when he rises to follow Jesus. It may be that light is made free when God commands it.
The usual idea about freedom is that free will is the ability to say, yes or no. Bonhoeffer contradicts this when he says that our freedom is only found in obedience to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Our imprisonment and slavery is found in disobedience to God. Like Barth who corrected Rousseau's "I think therefore I am" by saying "I am thought on by God, therefore I am," Bonhoeffer corrects and tempers our philosophy of freedom.
Our ideas about freedom, like every other philosophy, are tempered, guided and turned on their heads by the Bible.
The usual idea about freedom is that free will is the ability to say, yes or no. Bonhoeffer contradicts this when he says that our freedom is only found in obedience to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Our imprisonment and slavery is found in disobedience to God. Like Barth who corrected Rousseau's "I think therefore I am" by saying "I am thought on by God, therefore I am," Bonhoeffer corrects and tempers our philosophy of freedom.
Our ideas about freedom, like every other philosophy, are tempered, guided and turned on their heads by the Bible.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Little Hint on the Parable of the Vineyard
Notice in Matthew's parable of the vineyard that the householder calls one of the grumbling workers "Friend." The Lord of the vineyard is serious about that and it is the key to understanding the whole parable. In other words, the grumbling workers who have borne the heat and the burden of the day have MISUNDERSTOOD their position. They are not merely outsiders, hired workers only concerned about their pay, they are insiders and friends. They have forgotten or missed the fact that the householder has been worker right alongside of them and that his concerns are theirs, his riches, theirs, his soul, one with their own.
Lack of Compassion?
Morris Adler writes that although "Noah was a righteous man" who deserves to be in the circle of the great, "there was a fatal flaw in Noah and he did not become the father of a new religion, a new faith, and a new community. He lacked compassion...nowhere did Noah show a feeling of sadness and pathos that an entire generation was to be lost, and the world destroyed."
It occurs to me that I have heard this thought, or one like it, elsewhere. There is a tradition to mourn over the Egyptians who perished in the Red Sea. The Bible itself has no such thought.
Personally, I don't mourn over the Egyptians. Why? Good question! I notice that God has enemies throughout the scriptures. In the beginning, the darkness was separated from the light. God saw the light was good but the darkness is not called "good." With God where there is a yes, there is always a no. God says yes to light and no to darkness, he makes his judgment. He said no to the Egyptians, he said no to the people of Noah's day. Through this "no" the children of Israel were saved and I am not sorry about that. By extension, Noah was saved from his generation by the "no" of God. To say that I mourn for the Egyptians or for those of Noah's generation is to forsake God's yes to life.
The people of Noah's day are considered in the new testament to be the worst of all sinners but Peter tells us that Jesus went preached to them to these "spirits in prison." We are also reminded that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Lord and his church.
Jesus weeps over the dead Lazarus but it is not said that he weeps over the people destroyed in the flood. But this isn't to say that there is no resurrection of the dead, this is not to say that there is no repentance and turning even in hell itself. But there is always a no, where there is a yes. Not everyone will be saved when Jesus comes again, Hell will not be empty. We know that there will be several denizens of the lake of fire, the devil, the beast and the false prophet. But will the Egyptians be in that lake, will even Noah's generation be there?
It occurs to me that I have heard this thought, or one like it, elsewhere. There is a tradition to mourn over the Egyptians who perished in the Red Sea. The Bible itself has no such thought.
Personally, I don't mourn over the Egyptians. Why? Good question! I notice that God has enemies throughout the scriptures. In the beginning, the darkness was separated from the light. God saw the light was good but the darkness is not called "good." With God where there is a yes, there is always a no. God says yes to light and no to darkness, he makes his judgment. He said no to the Egyptians, he said no to the people of Noah's day. Through this "no" the children of Israel were saved and I am not sorry about that. By extension, Noah was saved from his generation by the "no" of God. To say that I mourn for the Egyptians or for those of Noah's generation is to forsake God's yes to life.
The people of Noah's day are considered in the new testament to be the worst of all sinners but Peter tells us that Jesus went preached to them to these "spirits in prison." We are also reminded that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Lord and his church.
Jesus weeps over the dead Lazarus but it is not said that he weeps over the people destroyed in the flood. But this isn't to say that there is no resurrection of the dead, this is not to say that there is no repentance and turning even in hell itself. But there is always a no, where there is a yes. Not everyone will be saved when Jesus comes again, Hell will not be empty. We know that there will be several denizens of the lake of fire, the devil, the beast and the false prophet. But will the Egyptians be in that lake, will even Noah's generation be there?
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Not a Patriarchy, a Noaharchy
My dad commented to me a few days ago that the Bible is not a patriarchy. Indeed we see by Genesis chapter 10, that all the patriarchs have been killed off. Noah and his sons and his sons wives remain, but not because God has befriended a father, but because God had one friend in all the earth, that was Noah. What do we call this thing? Aonerighteousmaninthewholeeartharchy? Do we call it a God'sonefriendarchy? Onelonelyguyarchy? Onelittlefamilyarchy?
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Genesis 9: Maybe Noah Needed A Drink!
In Elie Wiesel's book, Sages and Dreamers (p.33). Wiesel seems to suggest that Noah "haunted by his memories...escapes into drink and sleep." It may be my imagination but Wiesel seems to have some sympathy for this. As do I. We are told that majority opinion of the rabbis is that Noah errred in planting the vineyard, drinking the wine, getting drunk and all that. I wonder if Proverbs is commenting then in favor of the minority opinion: "Give strong drink to the hapless and wine to the embittered. Let them drink and forget their poverty and put their troubles out of mind." If a man comes to me from the battlefield, straight from the bowels of hell, I hope that I would have decency to pour him a stiff drink if need be. Elie Wiesel knows something about that kind of hell. An army chaplain needs not only food on hand but a private bottle of whiskey for emergencies; to my mind, an hour's rest--sweet nothingness, to the trembling soldier still in the depths of the nightmare is not to much to ask.
Genesis 6: Noah and Moses
Elie Wiesel, in his book "Sages and Dreamers" sums it up this way, with the flood, God was "starting all over, another draft." God preserves Noah and his family but abandons the rest of creation to the flood. It's interesting to me then that the children of Israel refuse to be abandoned, they cry out to God, they put off all their jewelry in mourning, they plead...and...their cause is upheld by the Lord. They are original squeaky wheel that gets the grease. Israel had sinned. God, who seems to have had it up to here with them, proposes that a glorious angel will lead them to the Promised Land...instead of him. He's had enough. The people respond with a might outcry; ice cream is no substitute for true love and an angel, however glorious, is no substitute for God.
Something has changed between Noah and Moses, and the Bible wants to let us in on it. Not only will Israel not be abandoned by God, they don't even have to accept a beautiful substitute. God's faithfulness seems to be coming into sharper and sharper focus, its glory is growing. We will see the glory of his faithfulness and love most in his son, Jesus Anointed, whom he sends because he refuses to abandon the world ("God so loved the world"). Nor will he send a substitute ("God saw that there was no man...he himself brought the victory." Is. 59:16), instead "the word became flesh and tented among us."
Something has changed between Noah and Moses, and the Bible wants to let us in on it. Not only will Israel not be abandoned by God, they don't even have to accept a beautiful substitute. God's faithfulness seems to be coming into sharper and sharper focus, its glory is growing. We will see the glory of his faithfulness and love most in his son, Jesus Anointed, whom he sends because he refuses to abandon the world ("God so loved the world"). Nor will he send a substitute ("God saw that there was no man...he himself brought the victory." Is. 59:16), instead "the word became flesh and tented among us."
Genesis 5: Cursed Soil
Elie Wiesel notes in his book, "Sages and Dreamers(p. 20) that in Noah's time (ten generations from Adam) the ground is still under a curse. Wiesel correctly observes that this, by all rights, should not be; the sons are not to be punished for the sins of the fathers. In Romans chapter 5 Paul also observes much the same thing, "nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses." Paul is saying that death reigned in these days in order that the generations from Adam to Noah might be wakened from the dead by Jesus Anointed. Death did not reign because of "original sin" or any notion of sin being passed on like a disease down from Adam. Rather, death reigned (prior to the law) in order that death might be thoroughly overcome by grace. This thought is not unprecedented. Consider Micah 5 and the rabbinical commentary on its first few verses (The Jewish Study Bible:Jewish Publication Society, p.1213). The jist is that great hardship ("birthpangs") precede the Messiah. Some of the rabbis preferred not to see the Messiah because of the hardships that would that would come before the advent of the Anointed One.
The death that reigned from Adam to Moses are part of these birthpangs.
Sin is not an inescapable, inevitable disease to Paul but an inexplicable fact that has plagued the generations.
The death that reigned from Adam to Moses are part of these birthpangs.
Sin is not an inescapable, inevitable disease to Paul but an inexplicable fact that has plagued the generations.
Genesis 6: Chamas
Why does the Bible leave the sin of the people shrouded in mystery? We know they are guilty of "chamas," lawlessness or violence, but what are there particular sins. And yet we know from the New Testament, that the people of Noah's time were the worst of the worst.
It's interesting that neither are the sins of Canaanites catalogued. We have reports here and there of child sacrifice and prostitution but no detailed analysis. Is it possible that the Bible does not want to introduce such horrors to its pages?
It's interesting that neither are the sins of Canaanites catalogued. We have reports here and there of child sacrifice and prostitution but no detailed analysis. Is it possible that the Bible does not want to introduce such horrors to its pages?
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