Interpretation is always plural!

Diversity is a gift. No two of anything is exactly alike. No two interpretations as well. There are other ways of reading. Interpretation is always plural.

In the New Testament we usually assume that we have four interpretations of Jesus. Mark's, Matthew's, Luke's, and John's. Actually there is more. There's Paul's, Peter's, and all the other writers of the letters. And then there's John's (the author of Revelation).

Every moment of our lives, those of us who call ourselves Christian, need to answer Jesus's question: "Who do you say I am?" And if there are over one billion of us, then there are over one billion answers to that question.

Interpretation is always plural but it does not mean that everything and anything goes. We are talking about Jesus. The one who proclaimed Good News to the poor, liberation to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and the year of the Lord's favor.

We are talking about Jesus. The one who demands that the rich sell everything they have and give the proceeds to the poor. We are talking about Jesus. The one who stormed the temple and called it a den of thieves!

Interpretation is always plural but if our interpretation of Jesus does not resonate with the Jesus who always took the side of those whose only hope is God, then our interpretation is off the mark and we are following the wrong Jesus.

Like Donald Trump!


[Artwork from the National Episcopal Church, Tom McElligott, Emmy Kegler.]

Satan does not want you to go to hell!

When Jesus told his disciples that he will suffer, be rejected, and be killed in Jerusalem, Peter took him aside and rebuked him.

Jesus in turn, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan!"

Most of us grew up with this idea that Satan is a hideous monster, with a tail, horns, and a pitchfork. Many among us actually believe that Satan is God's equal. We blame him for every single thing that goes bad or wrong in our lives, and thank God for the opposite. Like God and Satan are playing chess and we're chess pieces on the board we call life.

In the lectionary reading from Mark 8, Jesus calls Peter, Satan.

Peter is probably Jesus's most loyal disciple. Peter is probably Jesus's closest friend. Peter's home was Jesus's home away from Nazareth. Peter probably loved Jesus more than the other disciples.

Thus, he did not want him to suffer, to be rejected, and to be killed. Peter thought Jesus was making a big mistake going to Jerusalem.

Every day people decide to follow Jesus, to follow the path dedicated to others, to fight against tyranny, 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, or to die, do as Peter did. Rebuke their loved ones because they think they're making a big mistake.

Like Peter, they become Satan.

People who Prey

There are people who read their Bibles and pray every day.
Then there are people who read their Bibles and prey every day.

The Bible is filled with stories about predators. Joseph preyed on the Egyptians. Solomon preyed on the Canaanites then on his own people. Many characters in Jesus’s parables prey on the weak, the poor, and the marginalized.

The ruling class during Jesus’s time preyed on the masses using the temple system, taxation, and state-sanctioned executions. Nothing has really changed.

Predators are usually people we look up to, people we respect, people we trust, people we idolize.

Thus, they are able to take advantage of us, betray us, dehumanize us... We know them. They need to be stopped.

Two of the world's most dangerous predators are popular heads of state. Both are also sexual predators.

They need to be stopped. Right now!

If Jesus Showed Up Today

If Jesus showed up today, he will not look anything like the Jesus many of us preach, teach, and sing about.
If Jesus showed up today, he will probably be murdered by people in power within a year, even less.
If Jesus showed up today, churches and institutions that bear his name will have no place for him.
If Jesus showed up today and challenged us to sell everything we have and give the proceeds to the poor, most of us will think he's mad.
If Jesus showed up today and called us to leave everything behind and follow him, we will not.

The truth is Jesus does show up every day and we, those who who are so proud to call ourselves Christian, refuse to recognize him.

Among the otherized and the odorized. Among the displaced and dispossessed. Among the poorest of the poor. Among people living with HIV and AIDS. Among the LGBT. Among those whose only hope is God.

Jesus shows up. Every day.

METAMORPHOSIS

We love to call this Sunday’s story as the Transfiguration.  It is better called the 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.

Metamorphosis.

But not everyone who encounters God come back as butterflies. Like 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!

Moses is alive. Elijah is alive. At the end of Mark, the young man who proclaims the resurrection tells the women to tell the disciples (the Ten) and Peter to meet Jesus in Galilee. Jesus is Risen! For everyone who offers one’s life for others, God will raise ten. For every ten, God will raise one hundred. For every one hundred…

To believe in the resurrection is to believe in metamorphosis; in God’s power to transform caterpillars into butterflies. Yes, even Peter.

To believe in the resurrection 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. 

Jesus and Coming Out

Coming out is an important theme in the Gospel of Mark. If Immanuel can serve as book ends for Matthew (since this is the promise both in chapter 1 and chapter 28), coming out frames Mark (in chapter 1 and 16).

The women at the end of Mark expected Jesus to be inside a box, a tomb, but he was not. He came out. Jesus is never, ever, where we want him to be.

In our lectionary reading, the disciples and Simon Peter expected Jesus to be inside a box, Peter's house in Capernaum. But Jesus was not. He came out. Jesus is never, ever, where we want him to be.

He always goes back to Galilee where we don't want him to be. Among the poor, among sinners, among outcasts and lepers and the demon-possessed. And he is there. Right now.

Waiting for us.