We’re starting a new feature for EDN as we build up to the full schedule we hope to follow for the site. Each Thursday night Energion Publications owner Henry Neufeld offers a Bible study via YouTube. It lasts about 30 minutes, and last night he started a new series looking at Paul, the sources of his theology, and his message. These studies will now be posted each Friday morning here on the Energion Discussion Network. You will see announcements regarding this series on Henry’s personal blog, Threads from Henry’s Web.
Category: Bible
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Henry Neufeld: Perspectives on Paul Study
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Bruce Epperly: Tell me a Story – Ruth, Nehemiah, and Good News for Outsiders
by Dr. Bruce G. Epperly, pastor, professor and author of Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God, Transforming Acts: Acts of the Apostles as a 21st Century Gospel, Ruth and Esther: Women of Agency and Adventure, and more!
Ruth 1:1-18
It’s been said that God created humankind because God loves stories. Our scriptures are filled with stories, legends that tell a deeper truth than mere fact, tales that counter our prejudices and invite us to see the world from a wider perspective. No one knows exactly when the story of Ruth was first told. The heroine may not even have existed, but for many refugees and mixed race children, her story was good news, a healing balm, and the source of pride and courage. So let me tell you a story:
Hadassah’s life was good before the priests and lawmakers returned from exile in Babylon, and before the ultra-orthodox Ezra and Nehemiah took over the country. Hadassah enjoyed playing on the banks of the stream, running through the neighborhood with friends, and just being a little girl.
When the priests and lawmakers returned from Babylon, they had big ideas: life had been hard for them in exile. Their families had been the elite in Jerusalem, but in Babylon they were nobodies. They struggled to hold onto the old ways and the religion of their parents. They believed that their great-grandparents’ unfaithfulness led to the nation’s humiliation, and they returned home, vowing to never turn away from God again. They wanted to make Israel great again and that meant returning to true religion – the religion of law and ritual, grounded in purity and fidelity. They wanted to stay on God’s good side – after all, God could be violent and punitive – and in their quest for purity, they looked for someone to blame for the humiliation they’d experienced. The obvious scapegoats were those who remained in Israel, accommodated to non-Jewish culture, appropriated some of the lifestyle of the Canaanites, and even married local women, during the exile – Canaanite women, who may have accepted the God of Israel but who still observed the seasonal festivals of their parents’ religion.
At first, the return of the religious, governmental and business elite was celebrated, but then the elites – under the authority of the Persians wanted to build a wall around Jerusalem – a really big wall, with high ramparts – to separate the pure from the impure, the faithful from the infidel. They wanted to return Jerusalem to its former glory, and to make the nation great again. Nothing would stand in their way, especially the unfaithful who married outside the true religion, their infidel wives, and their mixed race children.
Hadassah’s father was blacklisted for marrying a Canaanite, and his business suffered. But, worse, he was attacked on the street by religious zealots. His faith was questioned and he was banned from worship services. Some of the neighborhood children taunted and teased Hadassah, insulted her parents, and even called her names, “half breed,” “pagan child,” and worse. The paradise of childhood became hell for Hadassah.
When Hadassah asked her father, “What’s wrong with me? Why do they call me names? What did I do wrong?” his heart was broken. And, when he and his wife had to give their children the “talk” about staying safe in the streets, their spirits almost broke.
It was a family custom at bedtime for the children to plead with their father, “Tell me a story.” And so, he told the stories of their ancestors – David, Moses, Abraham and Sarah. But, one night, in response to his children’s plea, Hadassah’s father began a new story, one that the children had never heard before – the story of a young woman named Ruth, a foreigner, who came to live in Bethlehem.
“Once upon a time,” so began father, “there was a famine in Israel, and a couple and their two sons migrated to Moab. Like other refugees, they were first treated with suspicion and fear. The locals worried that they would take away their jobs and property. But, years passed, and this little family like other refugee families, worked hard, found a place in the community, and the boys married Moabite girls. At first, there were some concerns, mixed race and mixed religion marriages are often looked down upon and seen as a threat to the purity of faith and race. But, the family fitted in and anticipated staying in Moab for the long haul.”
When father paused, the children begged, “Tell us more. What happened to this family? Did they have children like us?” Father closed his eyes to let his imagination roam and then continued. “Well, times can get tough, and the men died before their wives could have children, and the women were left alone. One named Orpah went back to her parents, but the other Ruth was attached to her mother-in-law Naomi. She had no home to go back to, having been disowned for marrying a Hebrew, and she knew that a woman alone would not survive. Together they would make it. Times were better in Bethlehem now and besides Naomi owned a plot of land, and so they journeyed, two women walking in heat and chill, till they made it back to Bethlehem.”
“Naomi was home, but now Ruth was the stranger. Now she was the foreigner, the one with the accent, who still had trouble speaking the local language; an unmarried woman, she was a threat to others seeking husbands and she was also at risk from predatory males. Some welcomed her, but others turned away. ‘She’s not one of us. Go back where you came from. Don’t’ steal our men or our land from us.’” Others invoked the prejudice, ‘You know the Moabites, they live by another code; they sacrifice babies, and their women, well….’”
Father paused, and the kids implored, “Please, please, more, more.” “Well, Ruth went to work in the fields, picking up the leftovers, and Boaz noticed her. She was smart, strong, and beautiful, and they courted each other, fell in love, and the rest is history – or is it herstory?”
“God blessed them. They had a family, and Ruth’s great grandson was the great King David.”
“That’s all you’ll get tonight,” father concluded. But, that was enough for Hadassah. She saw herself in that young woman Ruth – a survivor, strong, able to outlast the persecutors; she realized that she was smart and talented regardless of what bullies and wall builders said. She also saw her mother, a Canaanite – looked down upon by the righteous ones with their dreams of ethnic purity, but not letting their hate and judgment get the best of her as day by day, she fashioned a loving home. Maybe, her father was like Boaz, Ruth’s Jewish husband, dealing with the prejudice of others, but not letting that hate destroy his family. He was proud of his Canaanite wife, and despite social and religious pressures, he would never divorce his wife, as some had done.
Hadassah went to sleep dreaming of David, the great King, from a mixed race and an interfaith marriage, just like her. “Maybe I am good enough. My birth is blessing and not a curse. Like Ruth, I will outlast the bullies. God blessed another foreign woman, God is blessing my mother and father, and God will bless me. I will be faithful, proud of my heritage, and like Ruth, I’m going to make a difference by just being myself.” And so she did!
A sermon preached by Bruce Epperly in a joint service of South Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, and the Craigville Tabernacle Community, August 28, 2016.
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Doris H. Murdoch: The Mount of Temptation
by Doris H. Murdoch, teacher and author of Testify: By the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony and Constructing Your Testimony
We read about the Mount of Temptation in the books of Matthew (4:1-11), Mark (1:12-13), and Luke (4:1-13). After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the Judean desert wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It is believed that Jesus fasted for forty days in a cave on the Mount of Temptation, also called Mount Quarantal. The Mount of Temptation overlooks the oldest city in the world (10,000 years), the lowest point in the world (1300 feet below sea level), and the city of palms, the city of Jericho. Jericho is located in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. The summit of the Mount of Temptation is seven miles northwest of Jericho. From the summit, one has a panoramic view of the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley and the mountains of Moab and Gilead. The Jesus Cave, the place of fasting and meditation, is located within the parameters of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation, which is about halfway up the mountain. At one time, the only way up the mountain was via a walking path, but today the monastery and Jesus Cave can be reached via a cable car.
After forty days of fasting, Jesus was hungry. The Bible tells us that the tempter or devil came to Jesus and said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Jesus responds with, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ ” (Deuteronomy 8:3) Jesus was human like us; He hungered after forty days of fasting. Man’s body must be replenished after fasting. Jesus, unlike humans, was sinless; He faced temptation and did not give in. When faced with temptation, do you find strength in Jesus and the Word of God? Do you try not to give in or be disobedient of God and His commands? Are you striving to be Christ-like?
In the second temptation, the devil took Jesus to the Holy City of Jerusalem an-d had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. The devil said, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’ and ‘On their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ” (Psalm 91:11-12) Jesus responds with, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:16) Here the devil tempts Jesus with possessions, power and pride. We all like sporty cars or trucks, stylish clothing, beautiful homes, new technological gadgets, and the material world goes on and on! For a wealthy person or a person with leadership skills or gifts, it is a very strong temptation to get caught up in the devil’s schemes of power and possessions. Do you struggle to be strong in the Lord and allow Him to guide your acquisitions? Do you seek God’s will in how these things are used? Ask yourself, “Am I using these things to serve and glorify God?”
Lastly, the devil takes Jesus to another mountain and said, “All these things (kingdoms of the world) I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Jesus responds with, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ” (Deuteronomy 6:13, 10:20) The devil left Jesus and the angels came to Jesus and ministered to Him. Here, we see Jesus tempted by the devil, promising Jesus the world that was not even within his power. The devil was trying to distort the worldview for Jesus with world control that was not focused on God’s plan for mankind. Jesus kept His focus on God’s purpose for coming to earth as a man. He knew He was here to accomplish the journey to the cross. He was here “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
As you recall, Eve was tempted by the devil, a real, fallen angel! The devil was thrown from Heaven because of his desires for power and his pride in that he was as great as God. Satan, the devil, is always around when there are people trying to follow and obey God. Just think, if Jesus would have given in to the devil, he would have failed in His assigned mission on earth, to die on the cross for our sins and to give us the opportunity to have eternal life. If the devil seems to be very active in your life, he may be trying to block God’s purposes for you and others around you. Daily, hour by hour, minute by minute, put your eyes on Jesus. Keep your focus on the journey that God has planned for you and allow God’s will to become your will. Is your victory in Jesus?
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William P. Tuck: What Makes You Angry?
by William Powell Tuck, retired parish pastor, professor, and author of Lord, I Keep Getting a Busy Signal: Reaching for a Better Spiritual Connection, The Church Under the Cross, A Positive Word for Christian Lamenting: Funeral Homilies, and more!
Too many times in life we are angry for wrong or minor reasons. But sometimes there are times that we should be angry. Not to be angry at some times or in certain situations is a sin. If you and I can be surrounded by poverty, disease, hunger, sexual abuse, racism, crime and other abuses and not be angry enough to want to change these conditions, then something is wrong with us. This anger is not over some personal or petty concern but about someone else’s needs. This kind of anger can express love and genuine concern.The Church cannot be silent in the face of world problems but has a responsibility and a commission to be the transforming element within the world. The Church is to be the salt, the light, the leaven to change mankind. A newspaper columnist once remarked after a group in his community had a cleanup of crime in his city: “Any group of honest men, when they get mad enough, can drive out crime and make an awful lot of trouble for the criminals.” Anger is appropriate at this kind of behavior!
Some voices are saying that the Church has become too tame and comfortable to challenge the evils of our society. If the Church, however, can recapture its birthright, it will sense the creative and redemptive power with its body. As T. S. Eliot wrote, “In the juvenescence of the year, comes Christ the Tiger.” From this Christ the Church, his body, receives the explosive power to turn the world upside down. A tamed, comfortable Church will not change the world but a Church which has seen “Christ the Tiger” can. May the prayer of E. Stanley Jones become your prayer and mine. “O Christ of the whip and the flashing eye, give us an inward hurt at the wrong done to others, but save us from personal resentments, for they destroy us. Amen.”
Religious history rings with those – who care enough to be angry at the right time. Moses was angry at the enslavement of the children of Israel in Egypt. Elijah was angry at the prophets of Baal and the idolatry which they practiced in Israel. John the Baptist was angry at the distortion of religion by the Jewish leaders. Jesus was angry with the abuse of those who charged worshippers large prices for their sacrificial animals. Paul was angry at those who wanted to confine the gospel to the Jews. Luther was angry at the corruption in the established church. John Wesley was angry at the practice of religion in the Church of England. There are times when anger needs to be directed toward particular situations or problems, if we are to find a solution.
Several years ago the Chrysler Corporation former Chairman, Lee Iacocca, addressed the graduating class at the University of Michigan. Time Magazine reported his address in its June 20, 1983 issue. Among other things he told the students that day, he made the following observations: “I want you to get mad about the current state of affairs. I want you to get so mad that you kick your elders in their figurative posteriors and move America off dead center. Our nation was born when 56 patriots got mad enough to sign the Declaration of Independence. We put a man on the moon because Sputnik made us mad at being No. 2 in space. Getting mad in a constructive way is good for the soul — and for the country.” There are constructive ways where anger can be beneficial. We need to discover those areas and ways.
One of my favorite heroes from the Civil War is Robert E. Lee. After the Civil War, Lee was in Lexington, Virginia, where he had gone to be president of a small college called Washington University. One day he was sitting on his porch in his rocking chair with his crutches by his side. Some men from the Louisiana Lottery came to see him and offered him a proposition. Lee couldn’t believe what they had said, so he asked them to repeat it. They said that they didn’t want anything from him except to use his name. In using his name, they told him that they would make him rich. Lee stood up in his chair and thundered: “Gentlemen, I lost my home in the war. I lost my fortune in the war. I lost everything in the war except my name. My name is not for sale, and if you fellows don’t get out of here I’ll break this crutch over your heads.”
Sometimes anger needs to be directed in a positive way. The apostle Paul has said, “Be angry and sin not.” Phillips has translated that verse, “Never go to bed angry–don’t give the devil that sort of foothold.” Paul wrote in the latter part of this same chapter the following words: “Have done with spite and passion, all angry shouting and cursing, and bad feeling of every kind. Be generous to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32). What makes you angry? There should be some things that do. But on other occasions, you need to keep your anger under control. We are measured by what makes us angry.
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Edward W. H. Vick: Authority and Orthodoxy
by Edward W.H. Vick, retired professor and author of Philosophy for Believers, Creation: The Christian Doctrine, From Inspiration to Understanding: Reading the Bible Seriously and Faithfully and more!
The explanation of authority might sound like this.(1) God has called and appointed the elders as custodians of the truth. God has ordained the leaders of the community and given to the group (committee, council) special guidance. This person , this group, those with these gifts, are given a special status so that their decisions, their pronouncements have authority i.e. are to be accepted as the true expression of doctrine. That means that it becomes the orthodox teaching of the particular community. When that acceptance takes place the teaching assumes a kind of fixity. The group may not originate the teaching, but endorse it, sometimes in face of alternatives, indeed sometimes because of the threat of what is considered to be heresy!
(2) God has granted certain gifts to one particular person to enable that person to function as teacher, leader or prophet.
It is to be noted that the existence of writings held to be authoritative may be taken for granted, may be presupposed. In that case the person or persons having authority will be expected to provide correct interpretations of such writings. Their interpretations will be taken as normative.
Illustrations can readily be found of binding authority, sometimes virtual infallibility, for such interpretations: for (1) Church councils, e.g. Nicaea, Chalcedon, framers of the Westminster Confession and of the Thirty-nine Articles, contemporary doctrinal committees,
For (2) also examples can readily be provided for outstanding individuals, e.g. Luther, Calvin, modern ‘prophets’.
In every case the authority of the proposed teaching depends upon acceptance within the particular community of the status of the proposing group or person. That is often assumed, taken without question. But the believer should understand the situation and look for a justifying explanation to make clear why such status is granted. However, before it can be explained, it has to be recognised.
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Bruce Epperly: Philippians and Facebook Etiquette for Christians
by Dr. Bruce G. Epperly, pastor, professor and author of Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God, Finding God in Suffering: A Journey with Job, Transforming Acts: Acts of the Apostles as a 21st Century Gospel, Ruth and Esther: Women of Agency and Adventure, and more!
A number of years ago, I wrote a piece in which I asserted that Facebook provides an opportunity for people to affirm the holiness of everyday. Now, in this election year, I have a different perspective. Yes, I still believe that Facebook reflects the moment by moment wonder of living and our gratitude for life itself in its quotidian activities. As such, Facebook can contribute to our spiritual growth and our empathy with others’ spiritual journeys. It can create community and renew friendships.
But, Facebook has become over the past year a place of venom, insult, and impoliteness in which people regularly post responses with words they would never say in face to face encounters. In the past few months, I have had someone drop the F-bomb on my wall in response to my affirmation of President Obama and another person refer to me as ignorant when my position differed from his. I have found that you can even talk about the weather and receive a contrary response. I have been insulted by the left for being too moderate and the right for being too progressive. I have received disparaging remarks from Clinton, Sanders, and Trump supporters, all of whom have questioned my good faith. Moreover I see the commandment not to bear false witness routinely violated by persons who would otherwise claim to be honest followers of Jesus. Lies about political figures or distortions of facts are routinely posted by otherwise decent people, sometimes just a few minutes after leaving church.
I believe that the words of Philippians 4:4-9 provide good counsel for Facebook users who claim to be followers of Jesus. First, Philippians counsels “let your gentleness be known to everyone.” This is surely good spiritual counsel for Facebook users: When you post, it is appropriate to answer a few fundamental questions: Does your post have an irenic spirit? Do you respond in terms of policy, beliefs, and issues, and not in terms of personality? Do you assume that your position is limited – that’s the reality of perspective and sin – and not absolutely right? Do your posts evidence respect for those with whom you dialogue, formerly known as the “loyal opposition.”
Philippians tell us to be gentle even when you disagree. Are you adding joy to the world, as Paul counsels, or do your posts create alienation between people?
Paul also says, “whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” In other words, live affirmatively and speak affirmatively. In the political realm, focus on the positives of your candidate’s position and not the negatives of the other candidate. Don’t post news items without checking for their accuracy. While I don’t post news items often, I always go to factcheck.org, polifact.com or snopes.com before posting something about whose veracity about I’m uncertain. While these sites aren’t perfect, they are generally free of bias and give positive and negative evaluations of both conservative and liberal candidates.
Philippians reminds us to look for the best in others and try to understand contrasting positions before challenging them. Other persons may be just as sure of their position as you are sure of your own. Further, people of differing viewpoints also love their nation and seek the highest good for our country. Try to avoid name calling even if it is tempting to say “Lyin’ Donald Trump” or “Crooked Hillary Clinton.”
Don’t claim expertise where you have none. I tend to use terms these days such as “I have a contrasting position” or “I believe otherwise” or “we will have to disagree on this” rather than any sort of invective. After all, I could be wrong and in the spirit of Niebuhr, I need to look for the truth in my neighbor’s falsehood and the falsehood in my own truth. All perspectives are limited, finite, and prone to self-interest. Moreover, sin infects even our highest motives.
Finally, ask yourself the following questions before posting or responding: Is this true or accurate? Is it healing? Will it only add fuel to the fire of polarization? Does it glorify God and contribute to a “more perfect union”?
We need to follow our better angels, as Lincoln counseled, and this applies to Facebook, the election, and every aspect of our lives. Above all, let us who claim to be Christians be persons who are instruments of peace, following the pathway of Jesus, and leaning not to our own perspective but following God’s greater vision, so that we might be healthy activists and hospitable in our disagreements, and claim our vocation as God’s healing partners in our troubled world.
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Herold Weiss: Why are you afraid?
by Dr. Herold Weiss, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN and author of Meditations on According to John, Meditations on the Letters of Paul, Creation in Scripture, and Finding my Way in Christianity: Recollections of a Journey
As spectators of the current campaigns for the presidency of the United States, we have been regaled with abundant evidence of the power of fear. Whether the fear politicians appeal to is that provoked by news of uncalled for violence, that of immigrants who are considered dangerous by some, that of judges who will not decide the way some think they should, that of economic conditions that will take away the wealth of some or prevent others from creating wealth for themselves, or that of the possibility that this or that unqualified candidate will become president, it is clear that the contenders in this race understand that fear is quite capable of stifling reason.
Both candidates to the presidency of this country are also emphasizing that their opponent cannot be trusted, while contending that they, of course, are most worthy of the trust of all voters. Thus, the presidential election is in a very real sense an election to be decided on the basis of whom do you trust to take away your fears. This question needs to be answered not just at the time of voting for a president but frequently in the lives of those confronted by the call of Christ.
According to the apostle Paul, Christians are those who live their lives in terms of the faith Jesus had when facing death. Jesus did not face crucifixion thinking that it was just a performance that would provide justification for pardoning sinners. He faced death as a human being who trusted, had faith in God. On that basis Paul invites all human beings to be crucified with Christ and then live in the faith of Jesus. That is, Christians are those who participate in the faith Jesus displayed when facing death and are then faithful to what God has promised to do for the faithful because they live in Christ.
It is a common misunderstanding to think that the enemy of faith is doubt, but that is not at all the case when faith is understood correctly. Doubt may be considered the enemy of faith only when faith is reduced to a mental exercise. As activities in the mind, faith and doubt are always in dialogue. Mental agreement to a proposition without the consideration of arguments for or against is not worth much. It may turn out to be a prejudice, an illusion, or just a misconception. In the mind, all propositions must be able to stand against doubt. All propositions must be examined critically; otherwise, they are just naive personal opinions or intuitions. Doubt is the essential companion of faith in the mind.
Faith, however, is not just something that happens in the mind, even if it also involves the mind. Faith is something that is validated by a way of being. Faith is the demonstration of one’s certainty of God’s promise by a way of living. Paul certainly addresses the mind and argues extensively for his understanding of the Gospel and for the authenticity of his apostleship. His strongest admonitions, however, are directed at what his converts are doing or consider doing. Their error is to judge or despise others, to settle internal disputes by taking fellow Christians to court, to wish to be circumcised, to make of the Lord’s Supper a personal meal, to visit prostitutes, to practice “abnormal” sex, etc. He tells his converts that “their manner of life must be worthy of the Gospel” (Philippians 1:27).
For Paul the Gospel is power, power to live faithful to the promise of God. All the faithful join the father of the young man with a dumb spirit who asked Jesus, “If you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.” To his request, Jesus answered, “All things are possible to him who believes.” The father then cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:22-24). That is the human condition of all believers. In the mind, faith and doubt are in dialectical tension.
The faith that justifies, as Paul insists, is lodged in the heart, the core of being, and produces obedience (Romans 6:17; 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 7:37; 2 Corinthians 9:7). The enemy of that kind of faith is fear. Fear is what prevents the power of the Gospel to determine conduct. Fear prevents reason from functioning and empowers the emotions to rule over the heart. Fear makes one think that the manner of life empowered by the Gospel is going to bring about dire consequences on one’s security in the world. Faith is the power that can put away fear from the heart.
In the New Testament, when an angel intervenes in someone’s life, he greets the human addressee with the words, “Fear not” (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:13, 30, 50; 2:10; Acts 27:24). When Jesus came to the disciples walking on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm, and the disciples thought a ghost was approaching, Jesus greeted then saying, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear” (Mark 6:50; Matthew 14: 27; John 6:20). The admonition not to succumb to fear is preceded by the affirmation “It is I,” a most telling reason for the dispelling of fear. The three gospels that tell this story describe the disciples seeing a ghost in the middle of the storm as paralyzed by fear, terrified. That is the human condition. It is most revealing that the gospels make clear that the disciples were not afraid when they were engaged in surviving in the middle of a stormy sea. They became afraid when they saw Jesus walking in the sea but had not recognized him. Being approached by an unidentified stranger with evident divine power caused them to be afraid as their minds struggled with doubts. The three sentences in Jesus’ greeting are lined up perfectly: 1) “Take heart,” become whole again; 2) “it is I,” God is here, and 3) “have no fear,” have faith instead.
The enemy of faith is fear. That truth is especially made clear by the gospel of Mark. In this gospel there are two stories of Jesus and the disciples crossing the Sea of Galilee in a storm. In the first one, Jesus has been sleeping in the boat while the storm is raging. When the disciples wake him up, Jesus asks, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Here the opposition of faith and fear is explicit. Faith is a manner of life, and fear is what paralyzes the mind and the heart, thus allowing for life in the ways of the world to take over.
In several of the healings related in Mark fear is a prominent feature. When the Gadarenes came out of the city to find out what had happened to their swine, they saw the man possessed by a demon now healed and “they were afraid” (Mark 5:15). When on his way to the house of Jairus a woman touched Jesus’ garment and Jesus looked around to find the culprit, the woman came forward “in fear and trembling.” Then Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (Mark 5:34). When messengers came saying that there was no longer need for Jesus to go on because Jairus’ daughter had died, Jesus said to Jairus, “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Again, the opposition of faith and fear is explicit.
One of the characteristics of Mark is its negative portrayal of the disciples. Repeatedly the narrator highlights the disciples’ lack of understanding of what Jesus says or does. After the feeding of the multitude and the calming of the storm in the sea, we read that ‘they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, and their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:51-52). When on the road to Jerusalem Jesus explains to the disciples the need to fulfill his vocation in Jerusalem, we read that the disciples “did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:32). My favorite verbal picture in Mark says, “They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid” (Mark 10:32). They had premonitions of what would happen in Jerusalem and could not understand how Jesus could be determined to go there. They doubted the wisdom of his actions. They feared the consequences of appearing in Jerusalem with Jesus. These few words set the stage for the events in Jerusalem. As Jesus accomplishes his vocation, the lack of faith of the disciples caused them not just to walk dragging behind but to abandon him in fear.
Finally, the ultimate expression of this leitmotive, is found in the last words of this gospel according to the most ancient manuscripts available to us. They end the gospel in verse 8 of chapter 16. This ending is a bit abrupt, but totally Markan. Mark’s style is succinct. The chapter begins telling of a group of women who intend to anoint Jesus’ body and very early on Sunday morning go to the sepulcher with aromatic spices. At the tomb rather than Jesus’ body they find a young man dressed in a white robe sitting, and they get scared. The young man tells them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee where Jesus will meet them. The evangelist then closes his book writing, “And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).
By means of this ending, the evangelist’s picture of the disciples as paralyzed by fear reaches its climax. Of course, he wrote the gospel as a definitive expression of his faith. In the process of writing, however, he took care to insist that the followers of Jesus should not be following him to Jerusalem dragging behind in fear. Neither should they become so afraid of the consequences that they fail to tell others that Jesus is alive. Fear is what prevents Christians from living up to the demands of the Gospel. Faith is a way of being in the world that triumphs over the fear that is endemic to life in the midst of the chaotic situations faced in this mortal life. The fear that blocks reason, paralyzes the heart and allows the world to guide one’s life cannot be found in a Christian’s life.
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Bob Cornwall: What Use is God?
by Dr. Robert D. Cornwall, pastor and author, from his blog, Ponderings on a Faith Journey. Author of Ultimate Allegiance: The Subversive Nature of the Lord’s Prayer, Unfettered Spirit: Spiritual Gifts for the New Great Awakening, Marriage in Interesting Times: A Pariticipatory Study Guide, and more!
What use is God if God can’t or won’t prevent evil from occurring? That’s a question people have been asking for millennia. Theologians and philosophers have done their best offer answers defending God (the term for this is theodicy), but the question keeps arising. It would be easier if Christian theology allowed for the existence of two equally powerful gods, one good and the other evil (dualism). Then evil could be blamed on the evil god, leaving the God of love untainted. Unfortunately, that solution isn’t available to Christians, for like other traditional monotheistic religions, Christians believe that God has no ultimate rival. Therefore, we must look elsewhere for answers.
A seventeenth-century theologian suggested this is “the best possible world,” and so we should accept things as they are. This solution, however, ultimately failed to gain full support. Either God is capable of keeping evil at bay (omnipotent) and fails to do so, or God is too weak to address evil. If either is true, then why bother with God? (Read More … )
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Allan Bevere: We Need the Whole of Scripture for Christian Ethics
from the personal blog of Dr. Allan Bevere, pastor, professor, and author of Politics of Witness: The Character of the Church in the World, Colossians and Philemon: A Participatory Study Guide, and more
Christians have always struggled to view the whole of Scripture as authoritative in a practical sense, but it has become fashionable of late to deliberately argue that 21st century Christians should have a canon within a canon, that we modern, enlightened, scientifically-oriented believers have the wisdom to decide which Scriptures are relevant only for today and which are only for a by-gone more primitive era.
The problem with such a view is that the church hasn’t left us with that option. All Scripture is authoritative and necessary for Christian ethics, for Christian life– from law to prophetic pronouncement, from poetry to prose, from parable to narrative– all of it is authoritative. Once we realize this, we are freed from the arrogance of suggesting that we know more than the ecclesiastical wisdom of the ages what God has and has not said, and we can spend our time reading, interpreting, struggling, and wrestling with the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation in all of its complexity. (Read more … )
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David Moffett-Moore: God of All Creation
by Dr. David Moffett-Moore, pastor and author of The Jesus Manifesto: A Participatory Study Guide to the Sermon on the Mount, Pathways to Prayer, Wind and Whirlwind: Being a Pastor in a Storm of Change, and more!
The Psalmist writes, “O God, our God, how majestic is your name over all creation!” as book-ends for a psalm that beholds the wonders of the universe, the stars above and the flocks beneath, and in wonder and delight is moved to glorify God.
My father was walking home from a Boy Scout meeting late one evening and, beholding the canopy of creation over his head, the heavens in all their glory, felt that oceanic oneness and described this experience as his call to professional ministry. Growing up in a Christian Scientist household, he had little experience of clergy yet this mystic encounter convinced him to become one.
“Why not a scientist?” I asked him. “Why not an astronomer or astrophysicist and study those stars in the midnight sky?” But it was not that kind of reasonable, rational experience; it was more experiential than intellectual. He felt called, compelled to a spiritual pursuit based upon this physical, tangible experience.
I think modern science is, or at least can be, a divine revelation and an opportunity to experience the divine in contemporary ways. God may be encountered in telescope or microscope, in petri dish or specimen slide as readily as in any sacred text, any holy canon.
One of the biblical images of God and nature is that all the universe is but the garb that God wears, worn not to conceal but to reveal God’s divine presence in, with and through all of God’s creation. In my studies of Celtic spirituality I am reminded that the Christian Celts regarded the created order as God’s first revelation and any text on a page or written manuscript as a secondary revelation. Even according to those written words, God’s first spoken words were “Let there be!” and there was, as God in Genesis speaks creation into being.
In my book Creation in Contemporary Experience I include introductory chapters on scripture and doctrine, but the meat of the book is in modern science as contemporary revelations and experiences of the divine. Evolutionary biology and morphic field theory, the big bang as God’s “Let there be,” quantum mechanics as the dance of the cosmos, chaos theory as allowing free will, Christ as an event of spiritual singularity.
I believe that the God who loves us, forms us, frees us and fills us, desires to be known and experienced by us, wants to be at one with us in our atonement, and therefore continues to reveal God’s presence, purpose and promise to us through our study of all creation, from quarks to quasars, from electron probability fields to black holes. I believe that scientists of all stripes can join with mystics and theologians, declaring “O God, our God, how majestic is your name in all creation!”
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