Thursday, March 14, 2024

UNLESS A GRAIN OF WHEAT DIES...

Two of the more popular metaphors for the church come from Paul. When you ask people what the church is, as far as the New Testament is concerned, many will respond with "Body of Christ" or "Bride of Christ."

There are actually more metaphors, and three of the most powerful come from Jesus: Salt. Light. And a grain of wheat.

We have heard so many homilies about these three. We are the salt of the earth, we give flavor to life. We are the light of the world, we push away the darkness. We are a grain of wheat, we need to bear fruit... We feel good about being salt, light, and a grain of wheat.

And we miss what those metaphors demand from us: all require self-sacrifice, all require emptying, all require death...

Salt dissolves. Light burns out. And as Jesus in Sunday's lection declares, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

We should never forget what Jesus commands us: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." We should never forget what his earliest disciples remind us: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."

We should never, ever, forget that we follow a Crucified and Risen Lord. There is no Resurrection without the Crucifixion.


*image from ConnectUSFund.

Thursday, March 07, 2024

GOD HAS A WOMB

Sunday's lection contains the favorite Bible verse of many Christians: John 3:16.


I like this narrative because two men--Jesus and Nicodemus--are talking about something they do not have and an experience they never go through: wombs and birthing. When Nicodemus asks Jesus if being being born anew meant going back into his mother's womb, Jesus says no. It is being born from God's womb.

Many among us learned about the Yahwist tradition in the Torah (the Pentateuch) which describes God in anthropomorphic terms: God forming Adam from the dust of the ground; God breathing into Adam's nostrils; God planting a garden; God walking in that garden; and God making garments for Adam and Eve. Yet, God is male in these imaginings.

Female imagery for the divine is rare in the Bible. Sunday's lection challenges us to imagine God as a woman. Sunday's lection challenges us to imagine God giving birth. Sunday's lection invites us to imagine God nursing her children.

Why? Because this is how John's Jesus imagined God. Because hundreds of Judean Pillar Figurines (JPFs) found in Ancient Judahite homes and cultic sites tell us that this is how the masses imagined God. God has a womb. God has breasts. God is a mother.

Friends, Sunday's lection challenges us to imagine God beyond the boxes we have created to contain God.

*image of JPFs from Femmina Classica [In Search of Ashera: The Hebrew Lost Goddess].  

Thursday, February 29, 2024

HEARTLESS AND CRUEL

Sunday's lection describes Jesus making a whip to drive out those responsible for turning the Temple in Jerusalem into a marketplace. Historians tell us that Jesus entered the city with 5000 men and went straight for the temple which, by that time, had become the symbol of the conjugal dictatorship of the Romans and the Jerusalem-based political and religious elite. Pontius Plate, the Roman Governor, and Joseph Caiaphas, the High Priest, were bosom buddies. Both were responsible for the execution of Jesus. Both were responsible for the murder of so many others who were deemed "enemies of the state."

Both were removed from office around 36 CE. Josephus described Caiaphas as "heartless" while Philo characterized Pilate's tenure as one of "ceaseless cruelty".

As long as there are heartless and cruel people who wield power, the murder of innocents and the massacre of defenseless peoples will continue. As long as there are heartless and cruel people who think that women and children are objects, that people are commodities, and that the Bible is a land title* the culture of impunity will continue. As long as there are heartless and cruel people enthroned and sustained by empire, patronage politics, and insatiable greed, the killings will not stop.

Dear Friends, the heartless and the cruel will not stop. In order for the killings to stop, in order for this culture of impunity to end, we need to stop the heartless and the cruel: Netanyahu, Biden, Trump, Marcos, and their ilk ... Now! We also need to dismantle the systems, the structures, and the culture that breed them.


* "The Bible is not a land title" is a quote from Prof. Atalia Omer.
+art, "Jesus drives out the merchants", JESUS MAFA 1973, Cameroon (from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library art collection).
 

Thursday, February 22, 2024

SATAN DOES NOT WANT US TO SUFFER

 

Many among us grew up with images of and ideas about Satan that do not actually come from the Bible. Most of us grew up with this idea that Satan is a hideous monster, with a tail, horns, and a pitchfork. Many among us believe that Satan is God's equal. We blame Satan for things that go bad or wrong in our lives and thank God for the opposite. It's like God and Satan are playing chess, and we're mere chess pieces on the board we call life.

In the book of Job, Satan is with other heavenly beings in the presence of God. In the book of Zechariah, there is a vision of God with Satan to God's right. In Mark, Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and nights. He was not alone--he was with Satan. In 1 Chronicles 21, the anger of the LORD is described as Satan. In Numbers 22, the use of the Hebrew term "satan" actually means blocking one's way forward. (This is why Netflix's Lucifer and The Sandman are a must-see if you have access.)

In Sunday's lection Jesus calls Peter Satan. Why??? This is Peter, the leader of the disciples. Peter, whose house in Capernaum served as Jesus's home. Peter, the Rock. Peter is probably Jesus's most loyal disciple. Peter is probably Jesus's closest friend. Among the disciples, Peter probably loved Jesus the most. Thus, he did not want him to suffer, to be rejected, and to be killed. Peter thought Jesus was making a big mistake by going to Jerusalem.

Jesus calls Peter Satan. Why? Peter was in the way, in front of Jesus. Jesus tells him to get behind him, to get out of his way. Peter was wrong!

My friends, never, ever, forget this. Satan does not have horns, a tail, and a pitchfork. Many times in our lives, the adversary is not the enemy. Many times, the one who opposes or blocks our decision, our mission, or our advocacy is a loved one. Family. Parents. Spouses. Children. Friends. Even a best friend. Like Peter.

Why, you ask? Because they love us. Because they think we are making a mistake. Because they want what they believe is best for our well-being. Because they do not want us to undergo great suffering. Because they do not want us to be killed. They behave like Peter.

Every day people decide to follow Jesus, to demand for a ceasefire in Gaza and stand with the Palestinian People, to fight against tyranny and dictatorships, to work for peace based on justice, to proclaim good news to the poor and liberation to the oppressed.

And every day, people who love, people who care, people who do not want their beloved to suffer, to be rejected, to die, or to experience hell on earth, do as Peter did. They rebuke their loved ones because they think they're making a big mistake. They stand in the way.

Like Peter, they become Satan. Like Jesus, we need to rebuke them and continue on the path that God has called us to tread. Let us never forget, Peter eventually takes the path Jesus did. Offering his life so that others may live.



*art, "Get Thee Behind Me, Satan" by James Tissot, 1836-1902 (from the Vanderbilt Divinily Library digital archives).

Thursday, February 15, 2024

JESUS WAS NOT ALONE

On Sunday's lection from Mark, the heavens are torn or ripped apart during Jesus's baptism. In Matthew and Luke they are opened. A stark contrast.

The Spirit then drives Jesus into the wilderness in Mark. In Luke and Matthew, the Spirit leads Jesus. Being driven and being led are very different descriptions. The former conjures an image of Jesus going with hesitation, even reluctance. The latter paints a picture of readiness and willingness.

Wilderness conjures up a lot of ambivalent images for us who study scripture. God appeared to a hardheaded Moses through the burning bush in the wilderness. The Israelites wandered almost aimlessly in the wilderness for decades. Many of them died there, including Moses. John the Baptist was a "voice of one calling in the wilderness." The wilderness does not seem like a very hospitable place. Yet, God's surprises abound in the wilderness!

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. Matthew and Luke add that he fasted. This narrative is the basis for the 40 days of Lent.

Many among us imagine that Jesus was alone in the wilderness during those 40 days. He was not. Jesus had company. Wild beasts. Angels... and Satan. Non-human life. God's surprises do abound in the wilderness!

My friends, let us never forget. Satan did not betray Jesus. Judas did. Satan did not deny Jesus. Peter did. Satan did not plot to arrest and kill Jesus in secret. The chief priests and scribes did. Satan did not abduct, torture, and murder Jesus. The Romans did.

Satan is not behind world hunger, monopoly capitalism, Islamophobia, nor homophobia. Satan is not behind the genocide ongoing in Gaza, nor is he the architect of the dehumanization of the Palestinian People. We all know who are responsible and should be held accountable for all these.

Lent began last Wednesday. Who among us will spend 40 days in the wilderness with non-human beings? Jesus did. God's surprises await us there!


*art, "Jesus is Tempted," (JESUS MAFA, 1973, Cameroon) from Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives

Thursday, February 08, 2024

METAMORPHOSIS

Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all experience mountain-top encounters with God. All three went through very trying and challenging times in their lives and their encounter with God enabled them to complete the tasks that God has called them to do. The three went up caterpillars, they came down butterflies.

Transfiguration. The original word, transliterated, is metamorphosis.

Not everyone who encounters God come back as butterflies. Take Peter. In the mountain Peter experienced something so special, so unique that we expected him to come out as a butterfly. He does not. He opposes Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem. He eventually denies Jesus.

Everyone who encounters God in God’s mountain needs to come down. When Moses came down he led in the birthing of a people whose love for Yahweh was expressed in love for neighbor, especially the poor, the orphans, the widows, and the strangers. When Elijah came down he continued the struggle against Israel’s oppressive kings and began a prophetic tradition that ended with John the Baptizer. When Jesus came down he followed the path that led to Jerusalem, to the cross, and, eventually, to the empty tomb!

Metamorphosis.

My friends, to believe in metamorphosis is to believe in God's power to raise Gaza up from the rubble, in God’s power to bring down empires, in God's power to transform caterpillars into butterflies. Yes, eventually even Peter. And, yes, even you and me.

To believe in metamorphosis is to believe that goodness will always triumph over evil, that hope is stronger than despair, that faith conquers fear, that love is always greater than indifference, and that life will always, always, conquer death!

*art, "Transfiguration" (2008) by Mary Jane Miller (taken from her book "Life in Christ 2021, Knowledge of God made visible in Jesus the Man"). Image from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

Thursday, February 01, 2024

COMING OUT

Coming out is an important theme in the Gospel of Mark. If "Immanuel" can serve as bookends for Matthew (since this is the promise both in chapters 1 and 28), "Coming Out" frames Mark (in chapters 1 and 16).


The heavens are torn apart in the beginning of Mark, and the Spirit comes out. It stays out, and it is still out. Jesus goes all over the towns and villages of Palestine and commands unclean spirits to come out of the people they have occupied and possessed. The disciples at the end of Mark expected Jesus to be dead inside a box, a tomb, but he was not. He came out. He is risen. Jesus is never, ever, where we want him to be.

In Sunday's lection, the disciples and Simon Peter expected Jesus to be inside a box, Peter's house in Capernaum. But Jesus was not inside. No box can contain Jesus. He came out. Jesus is never, ever, where we want him to be.

No box can contain Jesus. Not then, not now, and not ever.

Right now, he is loose among the poorest, the most oppressed, the most marginalized, and the most demonized communities. Jesus is where most of us don't want him to be; where most of us do not want to be; where most of us are afraid to be.

He is in Gaza, he is among people living with HIV and AIDS, he is among sinners...

Jesus is waiting for us to come out of the boxes that keep us safe, indifferent, isolated, and insulated. He is waiting for us to come out of the boxes we have created to keep everyone in. Yes, even Jesus.

He is waiting for us to come out and join him.


*art, "Christ healing Peter's Mother-in-Law," (Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669), from vanderbilt divinily library digital archives.

UNLESS A GRAIN OF WHEAT DIES...

Two of the more popular metaphors for the church come from Paul. When you ask people what the church is, as far as the New Testament is conc...