http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+5 (Click on link to continue the story)
Today is St. Nicholas day. Nicholas Bishop of Myra was a fifth century Christian legendary for his generosity to the poor, especially to children. His legend grew into Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas. In many places in the world, today is the day when Christians exchange gifts in celebration of Christmas.
One of the core teachings or principles of Judaism is that God created the Sabbath day of rest for all of creation to be restored weekly, annually, and cyclically. Sabbath-keeping was and is a significant mark of the Jewish life. Friday night sundown until Saturday sundown there are rules of prohibition and permission around what one can and cannot do, eat, etc...it is also the day for Jews to gather in the synagogue to hear the Torah, the teachings of the books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.) These teachings include the Ten Commandments and all the other commandments, of which there are over 600 in the Hebrew Bible. Some of these commands relate to treatment of the poor and of certain offerings from the fields to serve the hungry, poor, foreigner, widow and orphan.
This chapter includes conflict around Sabbath keeping. It also includes a core set of ethical teachings known as the sermon on the plain, because of where Jesus delivered them. They are an abbreviated and edited version of the Gospel of Matthew's sermon on the mount (Matthew chapters 5-8).
What are the most challenging of Jesus' teachings? Which ones are the hardest to obey? Do you think these are teachings for religious individuals or are they directed more broadly at a community, a group, or even a nation?
We begin to hear parables, teachings of Jesus that are like analogies or metaphors. Jesus points at a common reference, like a fruit tree, and suggests that people can be like that too. Good trees bear good fruit and bad trees bear bad fruit. He suggests that one's behavior is a product of one's inner moral compass or inner thoughts. As opposed to external dangers that corrupt us, the corruption is internal. So too is the goodness. Are Jesus' teachings black and white, clear cut, or do they seem a bit more grey and uncertain?
The things he teaches about judgment and pointing the finger at others, criticizing or chastising another person is most interesting and relevant. Jesus suggests that self-reflection and self-correction is the way to a transformed life and a better world. Instead of attempting to correct others, to see their mistakes and flaws, we are commanded to look in the mirror. This may be good advice in a time of deep mistrust and division among people. We are suspicious and judgmental. Hearing the teachings of Jesus might remind us that we all have inner work to do, in order to become bearers of good fruit.
Friday, December 06, 2019
Thursday, December 05, 2019
Advent 1. December 5. Luke 5.
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+5 (Click on the link to continue the story)
When in your life have you felt most connected to God? When has God been close to you? When have you felt disconnected, that God is absent or far away?
Location matters in Luke's story. The locus of God's activity matters to Luke. This story is a theography---not sure if that is a word, but I'll coin it here to describe this sort of writing. Luke presumes God and is not arguing whether or not God exists. I think we can say that Luke is locating God within a particular place in time and space.
In the ancient world, God was always somewhere else. In heaven, on that mountain, in that holy temple or shrine. God was inaccessible. Above and beyond our human reach. Out there. God or the gods might affect the world, but God was not in the world. Some people argue that God is not accessible because God does not exist. Others may argue that God is beyond the limits of space and time and cannot be defined locally. God is everywhere or in everything. It was believed among the Jews that God had spoken to the ancient prophets---Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc...And that God had not spoken in a long time, centuries in fact. And that the people were waiting for God to speak again, to act again in a sort of final and significant way to set right what was wrong with the world. A primary location and presumed destination for God to speak and act was Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon. The Jews believed this place to be the axis mundi, the center of the cosmos. Other people believed other places on earth to be central places of divine revelation or activity. God was somewhere. And any real God was not fashioned out of clay or built by humans, but was somehow beyond our grasp or imagination. An invisible, immovable force. Luke, however, is telling us something strange and new about God's location and accessibility.
Yesterday, Jesus ran into trouble in the local synagogue. It seemed that his own religious community rejected him and his teachings. He found no audience of acceptance there. Perhaps he was too well known as "the son of Joseph the carpenter." He couldn't be taken seriously as a prophet or one who speaks for God.
But today we see Jesus on the beach, in a boat, on the street, and in a house. In all of these places, he is received with amazement. He invites ordinary people, fishermen and tax collectors, to follow him and become his disciples, learning to practice his way of life. These people were not scholars or privileged people, but working people struggling to sustain their households. They follow him because they are invited. You know how powerful an invitation can be. People want to belong, to join, to connect. Connection matters.
He begins to heal people of diseases that separate them, exclude them, and prevent them from living whole and productive lives. In one personal account, a man suffering with leprosy says to Jesus, "If you choose, you can make me well." And Jesus says, "I do choose. Be made well." Jesus chooses connection and healing instead of detachment and perpetual illness. Isn't it true that these things are related? Personal connection and healing? People with healthier relationships are healthier overall, mentally and physically. Again, connection matters.
In another account he heals a paralyzed man by pronouncing that his "sins are forgiven." This action is the role of the priest and the temple system. It requires sacrifices prescribed by the biblical law. You don't just give it away. Sin is what necessitates religion. Its what separates humans from God. He hears opposition from religious scholars about this. "No one can forgive sins but God alone." This is their way of saying that God is not in that place or in the words of Jesus. They reject the notion that God is somehow present and active in such a personal and immanent way. God must be mediated through temples and rituals and priests. God is not proximate, touchable, or close. God is transcendent, somewhere else. Jesus is saying something else and what he is saying is confirmed by a paralyzed man standing up and walking out. He is calling the sick, the sinner to a new way of life.
Finally, Jesus turns to two analogies to describe his actions: the arrival of the bridegroom to a wedding feast and new wine. A joyful celebration is underway, full of goodness and love and sumptuous eating and drinking! Wherever Jesus is, there is a party, a moveable feast! Could this be a sign that God is present and active with Jesus---on the beach, in a boat, on the streets, in a house? God is located where God is needed, sought. In ordinary people experiencing hardship and struggle, exclusion and disconnection. God is located in healing, forgiveness, and invitation to belong. Because connection matters.
Tomorrow, chapter 6: Sabbath, Prayer, and Wisdom.
When in your life have you felt most connected to God? When has God been close to you? When have you felt disconnected, that God is absent or far away?
Location matters in Luke's story. The locus of God's activity matters to Luke. This story is a theography---not sure if that is a word, but I'll coin it here to describe this sort of writing. Luke presumes God and is not arguing whether or not God exists. I think we can say that Luke is locating God within a particular place in time and space.
In the ancient world, God was always somewhere else. In heaven, on that mountain, in that holy temple or shrine. God was inaccessible. Above and beyond our human reach. Out there. God or the gods might affect the world, but God was not in the world. Some people argue that God is not accessible because God does not exist. Others may argue that God is beyond the limits of space and time and cannot be defined locally. God is everywhere or in everything. It was believed among the Jews that God had spoken to the ancient prophets---Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc...And that God had not spoken in a long time, centuries in fact. And that the people were waiting for God to speak again, to act again in a sort of final and significant way to set right what was wrong with the world. A primary location and presumed destination for God to speak and act was Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon. The Jews believed this place to be the axis mundi, the center of the cosmos. Other people believed other places on earth to be central places of divine revelation or activity. God was somewhere. And any real God was not fashioned out of clay or built by humans, but was somehow beyond our grasp or imagination. An invisible, immovable force. Luke, however, is telling us something strange and new about God's location and accessibility.
Yesterday, Jesus ran into trouble in the local synagogue. It seemed that his own religious community rejected him and his teachings. He found no audience of acceptance there. Perhaps he was too well known as "the son of Joseph the carpenter." He couldn't be taken seriously as a prophet or one who speaks for God.
But today we see Jesus on the beach, in a boat, on the street, and in a house. In all of these places, he is received with amazement. He invites ordinary people, fishermen and tax collectors, to follow him and become his disciples, learning to practice his way of life. These people were not scholars or privileged people, but working people struggling to sustain their households. They follow him because they are invited. You know how powerful an invitation can be. People want to belong, to join, to connect. Connection matters.
He begins to heal people of diseases that separate them, exclude them, and prevent them from living whole and productive lives. In one personal account, a man suffering with leprosy says to Jesus, "If you choose, you can make me well." And Jesus says, "I do choose. Be made well." Jesus chooses connection and healing instead of detachment and perpetual illness. Isn't it true that these things are related? Personal connection and healing? People with healthier relationships are healthier overall, mentally and physically. Again, connection matters.
In another account he heals a paralyzed man by pronouncing that his "sins are forgiven." This action is the role of the priest and the temple system. It requires sacrifices prescribed by the biblical law. You don't just give it away. Sin is what necessitates religion. Its what separates humans from God. He hears opposition from religious scholars about this. "No one can forgive sins but God alone." This is their way of saying that God is not in that place or in the words of Jesus. They reject the notion that God is somehow present and active in such a personal and immanent way. God must be mediated through temples and rituals and priests. God is not proximate, touchable, or close. God is transcendent, somewhere else. Jesus is saying something else and what he is saying is confirmed by a paralyzed man standing up and walking out. He is calling the sick, the sinner to a new way of life.
Finally, Jesus turns to two analogies to describe his actions: the arrival of the bridegroom to a wedding feast and new wine. A joyful celebration is underway, full of goodness and love and sumptuous eating and drinking! Wherever Jesus is, there is a party, a moveable feast! Could this be a sign that God is present and active with Jesus---on the beach, in a boat, on the streets, in a house? God is located where God is needed, sought. In ordinary people experiencing hardship and struggle, exclusion and disconnection. God is located in healing, forgiveness, and invitation to belong. Because connection matters.
Tomorrow, chapter 6: Sabbath, Prayer, and Wisdom.
Wednesday, December 04, 2019
Advent in the Word. December 4. Luke 4.
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+4 (Click the link to continue the story).
Its never easy to confront someone with whom you disagree. Few of us truly love conflict. At some point conflict is inevitable, even necessary, and often with those we love. It is even more difficult to confront yourself when you are conflicted by a difficult decision. Sometimes we are caught between a rock and a hard place--- damned if you do, damned if you don't. Sometimes we have to choose between self-care and self-sacrifice. Do I give that person the money or not? Do I offer to help again or not? We may ask ourselves along the way, "What's in it for me?" Have you ever quit something or walked out of a relationship because it wasn't feeding your or scratching your itch or giving you what you needed or wanted? Sometimes we make the selfish choice. And most of us hope to avoid conflict with others. I have personally experienced abandonment by people I thought were my friends. It has felt as if I was used or bled or eaten until the other was full or found another way to get what they needed or wanted. I have experienced much loneliness as a result.
Luke 4 is a narrative of personal and familial conflict, in which Jesus is both the instigator and recipient of opposition. There is a 40-day journey in the wilderness that mimics the stories of Moses, Elijah, and the liberated Israelite slaves in the Hebrew bible. This is meant to be a formative experience of self-surrender and utter reliance on God for sustenance. At the end of it, he is hungry. At that moment Jesus is tested. He is tested to use his status and power to serve himself, and acquire and consume for himself. Jesus refuses to use his status to sustain himself. Then he is tested to take a bribe to promote and advance his rule as Messiah. Finally, he is invited to test God's faithfulness and love by jumping off a high peak and expecting God to save him from harm. We notice that the way the devil seeks to gain access to Jesus and undermine his sense of self is through hunger first. Then it is through lust for power. Finally it is through a misreading of scripture's promises or a flawed theology, for it is patently false to assume that personal risk-taking and subsequent injury signifies God's lack of care for you. You can't fault God for the law of gravity when you break a leg jumping off your roof. Notice the devil knows God's Words. Self-reliance, quid pro quo, and unrealistic denial of human vulnerabilities test us every day. It may be, however, that in the wilderness moments of our lives God is more present to us than we acknowledge. When we are weakest, most vulnerable, most lost to ourselves God is there.
I suspect this encounter was more of an inner conflict that Jesus is resolving within himself about his identity and its implications for his life in community.
And we see what that looks like in the rest of the chapter. From synagogue to street, from Nazareth to Capernaum, Jesus is facing expectations and assumptions. His own neighbors assume that his inspired words and actions are for them, because of them, intended to them. He belongs to them and they get to decide what they will accept from him. And they should expect him to treat them with deference, privilege, and advantage. He challenges them with two ancient stories about God's prophets being sent by God to serve outcasts and enemies, when the same needs were found in Israel. Jesus suggests that he is also sent to the outcast and enemy, despite their own needs. And as a result he becomes one, cast out of the synagogue and chased out of his hometown. He'll never return there. The demons verbalize a response to Jesus. Have you come to destroy us? Perhaps he has. He has come to destroy our resistance to God, our insistence on our own way, our insatiable appetite for more, our desire to control the outcomes, our desire to control the story, our fast abandonment of people when we are disappointed or don't get what we want, our isolating self-reliance, and our denial of how vulnerable we all are. Transactional power is often imbalanced and dangerous. Jesus confronts our desire to avoid pain, discomfort, inconvenience, hunger. He confronts those who experience a privileged status because of ethnicity, race, gender, or economic status. We may not have seen it coming in the beginning, but it is becoming clear that Jesus---inspired and sent--- may bring conflict, confrontation, and challenge to us. When Jesus speaks, a confrontation happens. How will we resist, oppose, reject, or avoid him? What might it look like and feel like to embrace the conflict within us and follow Jesus?
Tomorrow, Luke 5. Jesus invites us to walk.
 |
| Temptation in the Wilderness, Briton Riviere |
Its never easy to confront someone with whom you disagree. Few of us truly love conflict. At some point conflict is inevitable, even necessary, and often with those we love. It is even more difficult to confront yourself when you are conflicted by a difficult decision. Sometimes we are caught between a rock and a hard place--- damned if you do, damned if you don't. Sometimes we have to choose between self-care and self-sacrifice. Do I give that person the money or not? Do I offer to help again or not? We may ask ourselves along the way, "What's in it for me?" Have you ever quit something or walked out of a relationship because it wasn't feeding your or scratching your itch or giving you what you needed or wanted? Sometimes we make the selfish choice. And most of us hope to avoid conflict with others. I have personally experienced abandonment by people I thought were my friends. It has felt as if I was used or bled or eaten until the other was full or found another way to get what they needed or wanted. I have experienced much loneliness as a result.
Luke 4 is a narrative of personal and familial conflict, in which Jesus is both the instigator and recipient of opposition. There is a 40-day journey in the wilderness that mimics the stories of Moses, Elijah, and the liberated Israelite slaves in the Hebrew bible. This is meant to be a formative experience of self-surrender and utter reliance on God for sustenance. At the end of it, he is hungry. At that moment Jesus is tested. He is tested to use his status and power to serve himself, and acquire and consume for himself. Jesus refuses to use his status to sustain himself. Then he is tested to take a bribe to promote and advance his rule as Messiah. Finally, he is invited to test God's faithfulness and love by jumping off a high peak and expecting God to save him from harm. We notice that the way the devil seeks to gain access to Jesus and undermine his sense of self is through hunger first. Then it is through lust for power. Finally it is through a misreading of scripture's promises or a flawed theology, for it is patently false to assume that personal risk-taking and subsequent injury signifies God's lack of care for you. You can't fault God for the law of gravity when you break a leg jumping off your roof. Notice the devil knows God's Words. Self-reliance, quid pro quo, and unrealistic denial of human vulnerabilities test us every day. It may be, however, that in the wilderness moments of our lives God is more present to us than we acknowledge. When we are weakest, most vulnerable, most lost to ourselves God is there.
I suspect this encounter was more of an inner conflict that Jesus is resolving within himself about his identity and its implications for his life in community.
And we see what that looks like in the rest of the chapter. From synagogue to street, from Nazareth to Capernaum, Jesus is facing expectations and assumptions. His own neighbors assume that his inspired words and actions are for them, because of them, intended to them. He belongs to them and they get to decide what they will accept from him. And they should expect him to treat them with deference, privilege, and advantage. He challenges them with two ancient stories about God's prophets being sent by God to serve outcasts and enemies, when the same needs were found in Israel. Jesus suggests that he is also sent to the outcast and enemy, despite their own needs. And as a result he becomes one, cast out of the synagogue and chased out of his hometown. He'll never return there. The demons verbalize a response to Jesus. Have you come to destroy us? Perhaps he has. He has come to destroy our resistance to God, our insistence on our own way, our insatiable appetite for more, our desire to control the outcomes, our desire to control the story, our fast abandonment of people when we are disappointed or don't get what we want, our isolating self-reliance, and our denial of how vulnerable we all are. Transactional power is often imbalanced and dangerous. Jesus confronts our desire to avoid pain, discomfort, inconvenience, hunger. He confronts those who experience a privileged status because of ethnicity, race, gender, or economic status. We may not have seen it coming in the beginning, but it is becoming clear that Jesus---inspired and sent--- may bring conflict, confrontation, and challenge to us. When Jesus speaks, a confrontation happens. How will we resist, oppose, reject, or avoid him? What might it look like and feel like to embrace the conflict within us and follow Jesus?
Tomorrow, Luke 5. Jesus invites us to walk.
Tuesday, December 03, 2019
Advent in the Word. December 3. Luke 3.
http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=190196762 (Click on the link to continue the story)
What needs to change for the world to be more like heaven?
This story takes place in 29 AD. More importantly, Luke names all of the major political and religious leaders of the day again. (Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire from 14 AD to 39 AD. Pontius Pilate was procurator from 26-36 AD). Luke does this to orient the story in history and to give this story and its characters significance. What John and Jesus do here is happening under the noses of these world leaders. Both Pilate and Herod, named in the beginning of the story, will have direct ties to the main characters. Caiaphas, the high priest, will also play a role as the story unfolds. But Luke's point is precisely that God is acting within history and on behalf of the oppressed members of society and not the ruling class. God is not in the imperial courts in Rome or in palaces or temples, but in the wilderness with John and Jesus!
Here, we are reintroduced to John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. He is in the Judean wilderness. He is preaching. He is baptizing people into repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People are visiting John there, hungry for a message from God, for truth telling, for an invitation to a changed life. People who are aware of their own brokenness and vulnerability go to John for cleansing. John is a voice crying out in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." This is a reference to the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. (See Isaiah, chapter 40). He is inviting and challenging people to a higher moral life under oppression. Soldiers and tax collectors, aligned with the Roman empire, come to John. He is not just attracting religious types. In fact, the religious Jews are comfortable in their identity as Abraham's children. They belong to God. What more ought they to do? John is challenging them to have a faith perspective, to see the world differently. He is challenging them to see that the current system is broken and must be destroyed. Those who benefit from the system must divest from it. They must bear fruit worthy of repentance That is their pubic actions, their productivity as active leaders and participants in the world must show that they have changed in ways that align with the values of the biblical God. The strict adherence to the law of Moses requires an economy of shared resources, not competition in which there are winners and losers. The rich and poor. The book of Deuteronomy and its focus on social justice seems to play into the mindset of the storyteller and into the words of John. Repentance means to move from an unjust past into a more just future. It is to reject allegiance to corruption and harmful acquisition. Baptism in the Jordan is also a reenactment of God's people crossing the Jordan to enter the promised land after 40 years in the wilderness and 400 years of Egyptian slavery. It is an act of defiant emancipation!
John's message resonates powerfully with people. But John is not the Messiah. His work is preparatory, to make people ready for the Messiah to come. John suggests that the Messiah will be more powerful, more dangerous, more challenging, more inspirational than he. And that he is coming soon. Then John is arrested. We don't know why yet. Could it be his message of repentance?
Jesus is baptized. While he prays the Holy Spirit like a dove comes to him and a voice says, "You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased." He is identified and empowered to act as God's representative.
Then we have this ancestral chart. The intent of the chart is to tie Jesus to Adam as son of...son of....son of...God. Aren't we all sons or daughters of God, according to the bible? Yes. Precisely. Jesus is a human being. Like me and you. And yet, the language "son of God" has political implications in ancient Rome. According to Roman custom, the Emperor Augustus was considered divine or a god. And Tiberius is his son! The Emperor is Son of God! Or is it Jesus? A Jew in the Judean wilderness? Son of God? This is a Messianic claim, a challenge to Roman imperial hegemony and power. Who is more powerful, Rome or Jesus? Is a battle beginning? We will see.
From what must we be emancipated as the children of God?
Tomorrow, Luke 4. Tested.
 |
| Judean wilderness |
What needs to change for the world to be more like heaven?
This story takes place in 29 AD. More importantly, Luke names all of the major political and religious leaders of the day again. (Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire from 14 AD to 39 AD. Pontius Pilate was procurator from 26-36 AD). Luke does this to orient the story in history and to give this story and its characters significance. What John and Jesus do here is happening under the noses of these world leaders. Both Pilate and Herod, named in the beginning of the story, will have direct ties to the main characters. Caiaphas, the high priest, will also play a role as the story unfolds. But Luke's point is precisely that God is acting within history and on behalf of the oppressed members of society and not the ruling class. God is not in the imperial courts in Rome or in palaces or temples, but in the wilderness with John and Jesus!
Here, we are reintroduced to John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. He is in the Judean wilderness. He is preaching. He is baptizing people into repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People are visiting John there, hungry for a message from God, for truth telling, for an invitation to a changed life. People who are aware of their own brokenness and vulnerability go to John for cleansing. John is a voice crying out in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." This is a reference to the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. (See Isaiah, chapter 40). He is inviting and challenging people to a higher moral life under oppression. Soldiers and tax collectors, aligned with the Roman empire, come to John. He is not just attracting religious types. In fact, the religious Jews are comfortable in their identity as Abraham's children. They belong to God. What more ought they to do? John is challenging them to have a faith perspective, to see the world differently. He is challenging them to see that the current system is broken and must be destroyed. Those who benefit from the system must divest from it. They must bear fruit worthy of repentance That is their pubic actions, their productivity as active leaders and participants in the world must show that they have changed in ways that align with the values of the biblical God. The strict adherence to the law of Moses requires an economy of shared resources, not competition in which there are winners and losers. The rich and poor. The book of Deuteronomy and its focus on social justice seems to play into the mindset of the storyteller and into the words of John. Repentance means to move from an unjust past into a more just future. It is to reject allegiance to corruption and harmful acquisition. Baptism in the Jordan is also a reenactment of God's people crossing the Jordan to enter the promised land after 40 years in the wilderness and 400 years of Egyptian slavery. It is an act of defiant emancipation!
John's message resonates powerfully with people. But John is not the Messiah. His work is preparatory, to make people ready for the Messiah to come. John suggests that the Messiah will be more powerful, more dangerous, more challenging, more inspirational than he. And that he is coming soon. Then John is arrested. We don't know why yet. Could it be his message of repentance?
Jesus is baptized. While he prays the Holy Spirit like a dove comes to him and a voice says, "You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased." He is identified and empowered to act as God's representative.
Then we have this ancestral chart. The intent of the chart is to tie Jesus to Adam as son of...son of....son of...God. Aren't we all sons or daughters of God, according to the bible? Yes. Precisely. Jesus is a human being. Like me and you. And yet, the language "son of God" has political implications in ancient Rome. According to Roman custom, the Emperor Augustus was considered divine or a god. And Tiberius is his son! The Emperor is Son of God! Or is it Jesus? A Jew in the Judean wilderness? Son of God? This is a Messianic claim, a challenge to Roman imperial hegemony and power. Who is more powerful, Rome or Jesus? Is a battle beginning? We will see.
From what must we be emancipated as the children of God?
Tomorrow, Luke 4. Tested.
Monday, December 02, 2019
Advent in the Word. December 2. Luke 2.
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+2 (Click the link to go to the story).
Here it is. The Christmas gospel! It starts with political history, who were the world leaders---both civil and religious. This orients the story in time and gives it some historical significance. Based on the references, historians suggest that the year was likely 4 or 6 BC. (How could Jesus be born BC, "Before Christ"? Its likely that our calendar is a little wrong).
Then we enter into a family story. A forced migration for tax purposes brings the young, pregnant couple to the ancient town of Bethlehem---home of Israel's greatest King, David. Placing this birth in this town gives it even more significance---a son of David is born, and therefore a future King of Israel. Right under the noses of the Emperor Augustus, his rival is born, known only to insignificant shepherds. They are the poor laborers in the fields, but also reminders to us that David was a shepherd. This is ongoing confirmation that this birth is meaningful. Just as David the shepherd was anointed King, so this child will be a King. Messiah means anointed one. And this baby is the Messiah. Even oppressive imperial decrees serve God's purposes in this story.
Angels sing about peace on earth and goodwill to all people---another suggestion that Roman peace and goodwill is insufficient and not of divine origin. (Augustus Caesar was known as the divine son of God). This newborn will usher in a new age of divine peace, unlike the Romans. This is a political message hidden inside a birth story. A story that ties the baby to both God and royalty.
Faithful elders, prophets, seers, recognize this baby as God's savior. We cannot fail to notice that a savior is needed when a people or nation needs to be saved. This is a nation in trouble, oppressed, living in fear on the margins of existence. Roman assimilation threatens to destroy whole cultures, religions, languages, traditions, holy places, and ethnic practices. Judaism is both a religious faith and an ethnicity with traditions, laws and language. All of this is threatened by Roman occupation. Salvation means rescue from Roman imperialism and all that it means to Jewish life. The Words of Simeon, "Now Lord let your servant depart in peace..."is one of the earliest hymns of Christian prayer for centuries, along with the songs of Zechariah (1:68-79), and Mary (1:46-55). We can't underestimate these words spoken in the temple, the holiest place in Judaism. It is considered the dwelling place of God. God has acted on behalf of God's people through the birth of this child. (Not unlike the birth of Moses or Samuel). This is the Nativity, the Christmas story, the birth of the Messiah. Do you have a beloved Christmas carol? "Away in a Manger" or "O Little Town of Bethlehem" or "Silent Night"? The images are found here in Luke 2!
Finally, we skip from birth in Bethlehem to eighth day circumcision in Jerusalem to a twelve year old boy in the temple. Every way, he is fulfilling requirements of the Messiah. Born in the right place at the right time, obeying the rules. At age thirteen a Jewish boy becomes bar mitzvah, a son or practitioner of the commandments. Jesus is acting like this a year earlier. It is a sign that he is preparing to be a disciple, a student of the Torah---the first five books of the bible and the core of Jewish teachings. When he is twelve, his obedience to God makes him disobey his parents, since he fails to travel with them on their journey home. "Did you not know that I must be in my father's house," he says. What a strange kid! He is not like the others. He's different. There is significance to this chapter. It is simply layered with meaning, allusion, and connection---telling us that this birth is important. Everything that happened here tells us that this child is born for a divine purpose. But if he was, then so were Mary and Joseph. So were Elizabeth and Zechariah. So were those shepherds and Simeon and Anna. Somehow his birth gives greater significance to all those named and unnamed in the story. And by extension, perhaps his birth is significant to us. And perhaps our births matter too.
Tomorrow, chapter 3. The Baptist and the Son.
 |
| Roman coin denoting the divine sonship status of Augustus |
Here it is. The Christmas gospel! It starts with political history, who were the world leaders---both civil and religious. This orients the story in time and gives it some historical significance. Based on the references, historians suggest that the year was likely 4 or 6 BC. (How could Jesus be born BC, "Before Christ"? Its likely that our calendar is a little wrong).
Then we enter into a family story. A forced migration for tax purposes brings the young, pregnant couple to the ancient town of Bethlehem---home of Israel's greatest King, David. Placing this birth in this town gives it even more significance---a son of David is born, and therefore a future King of Israel. Right under the noses of the Emperor Augustus, his rival is born, known only to insignificant shepherds. They are the poor laborers in the fields, but also reminders to us that David was a shepherd. This is ongoing confirmation that this birth is meaningful. Just as David the shepherd was anointed King, so this child will be a King. Messiah means anointed one. And this baby is the Messiah. Even oppressive imperial decrees serve God's purposes in this story.
Angels sing about peace on earth and goodwill to all people---another suggestion that Roman peace and goodwill is insufficient and not of divine origin. (Augustus Caesar was known as the divine son of God). This newborn will usher in a new age of divine peace, unlike the Romans. This is a political message hidden inside a birth story. A story that ties the baby to both God and royalty.
Faithful elders, prophets, seers, recognize this baby as God's savior. We cannot fail to notice that a savior is needed when a people or nation needs to be saved. This is a nation in trouble, oppressed, living in fear on the margins of existence. Roman assimilation threatens to destroy whole cultures, religions, languages, traditions, holy places, and ethnic practices. Judaism is both a religious faith and an ethnicity with traditions, laws and language. All of this is threatened by Roman occupation. Salvation means rescue from Roman imperialism and all that it means to Jewish life. The Words of Simeon, "Now Lord let your servant depart in peace..."is one of the earliest hymns of Christian prayer for centuries, along with the songs of Zechariah (1:68-79), and Mary (1:46-55). We can't underestimate these words spoken in the temple, the holiest place in Judaism. It is considered the dwelling place of God. God has acted on behalf of God's people through the birth of this child. (Not unlike the birth of Moses or Samuel). This is the Nativity, the Christmas story, the birth of the Messiah. Do you have a beloved Christmas carol? "Away in a Manger" or "O Little Town of Bethlehem" or "Silent Night"? The images are found here in Luke 2!
Finally, we skip from birth in Bethlehem to eighth day circumcision in Jerusalem to a twelve year old boy in the temple. Every way, he is fulfilling requirements of the Messiah. Born in the right place at the right time, obeying the rules. At age thirteen a Jewish boy becomes bar mitzvah, a son or practitioner of the commandments. Jesus is acting like this a year earlier. It is a sign that he is preparing to be a disciple, a student of the Torah---the first five books of the bible and the core of Jewish teachings. When he is twelve, his obedience to God makes him disobey his parents, since he fails to travel with them on their journey home. "Did you not know that I must be in my father's house," he says. What a strange kid! He is not like the others. He's different. There is significance to this chapter. It is simply layered with meaning, allusion, and connection---telling us that this birth is important. Everything that happened here tells us that this child is born for a divine purpose. But if he was, then so were Mary and Joseph. So were Elizabeth and Zechariah. So were those shepherds and Simeon and Anna. Somehow his birth gives greater significance to all those named and unnamed in the story. And by extension, perhaps his birth is significant to us. And perhaps our births matter too.
Tomorrow, chapter 3. The Baptist and the Son.
Sunday, December 01, 2019
Advent in the Word. December 1. Luke 1.
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+1 (Click link to read passage)
This Advent we will read together the entire gospel of Luke, a chapter each day from December 1 to December 24. We will hear the entire story of Jesus in a month. There is great storytelling in this gospel. I hope you will be inspired by what we read together.
Today, we start at the beginning. We will hear of two households. Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph. Both are visited by an angel, Gabriel, a messenger from God. Both respond to the messenger with questioning doubt. Both will also sing a song of joy and triumph, of divine justice and mercy. An angel is a messenger from God. Have you ever received an angel or been one yourself? Have you ever offered words of comfort, encouragement, hope, or promise to someone?
This first chapter is all about expectations. God’s people, Israel, expected a Messiah---an anointed King from the house of David, to rule Israel and bring about peace. They expected this Messiah to battle and defeat the enemies of Israel, especially the Roman Empire who occupied their land, taxed the people, and exploited their resources and labor. Israel waited for God to act decisively and powerfully on their behalf. For centuries, the people felt abandoned by God as they waited in silence for God to speak to them and act for them. What are our expectations of God?
Elizabeth and Zechariah are an older couple, childless, but faithful to God and one another. Mary is a young woman, engaged to be married to Joseph. Both of these women will unexpectedly conceive and bear sons. Both of these pregnancies are miraculous. The angel announces that it is God’s power at work in them. In the small and insignificant, God acts. In unexpected and impossible ways, God moves us. This is a story of two sons. John and Jesus. Both with their own significance. Both with their own calling and purpose. Both teachers.
This is a story about people, ordinary people put in extraordinary and even dangerous circumstances. It is a story about God acting in human families, showing up in homes and dreams. God acts through two brave women. This is a story that may remind us of the story of the birth of Moses in Exodus chapters 1-2. Or the birth of Samuel in 1 Samuel 1 and 2. Consider those stories as precedents to Luke and likely what he had in mind in his own storytelling.
God answers the prayers and cries of God’s people. God does come with power and with vulnerability. God comes into our humanity, filling us with God’s own self.
Tomorrow, chapter 2. Of shepherds and Emperors; infants and eldely folk.
Advent in the Word. Luke 1
http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke+1 (Click on link to view text)
Advent in the Word: December 1. Luke chapter 1.
This Advent we will read together the entire gospel of Luke, a chapter each day from December 1 to December 24. We will hear the entire story of Jesus in a month. There is great storytelling in this gospel. I hope you will be inspired by what we read together.
Today, we start at the beginning. We will hear of two households. Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph. Both are visited by an angel, Gabriel, a messenger from God. Both respond to the messenger with questioning doubt. Both will also sing a song of joy and triumph, of divine justice and mercy. An angel is a messenger from God. Have you ever received an angel or been one yourself? Have you ever offered words of comfort, encouragement, hope, or promise to someone?
This first chapter is all about expectations. God’s people, Israel, expected a Messiah---an anointed King from the house of David, to rule Israel and bring about peace. They expected this Messiah to battle and defeat the enemies of Israel, especially the Roman Empire who occupied their land, taxed the people, and exploited their resources and labor. Israel waited for God to act decisively and powerfully on their behalf. For centuries, the people felt abandoned by God as they waited in silence for God to speak to them and act for them. What are our expectations of God?
Elizabeth and Zechariah are an older couple, childless, but faithful to God and one another. Mary is a young woman, engaged to be married to Joseph. Both of these women will unexpectedly conceive and bear sons. Both of these pregnancies are miraculous. We think about families; those struggling with infertility and pregnant unwed, single teenage girls. God is in their lives. The angel announces that it is God’s power at work in them. In the small and insignificant, God acts. In unexpected and impossible ways, God moves us.
This is a story of two sons. John and Jesus. Both with their own significance. Both with their own calling and purpose. Both teachers. Both will follow a spiritual path. Both will invite others to join them. Both will suffer violence. Stories about two people, two brothers, will come up throughout the gospel of Luke. Pay attention to them.
This is a story about people, ordinary people put in extraordinary and even dangerous circumstances. It is a story about God acting in human families, showing up in homes and dreams. God acts through two brave women. This is a story that may remind us of the story of the birth of Moses in Exodus chapters 1-2. Or the birth of Samuel in 1 Samuel 1 and 2. Consider those stories as precedents to Luke and likely what he had in mind in his own storytelling. Luke is riffing on some old tunes.
God answers the prayers and cries of God’s people. God does come with power and with vulnerability. God comes into our humanity, filling us with God’s own self.
Tomorrow, chapter 2. Of shepherds and Emperors; infants and eldely folk.
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