Why Jerusalem?

Over twenty years ago I had the privilege to attend a meeting of the Jesus Seminar. There I met John Dominic Crossan, NT Wright, Marriane Sawicki, Robert Miller, and Marcus Borg.

During the meeting I asked the group why did Jesus need to go to Jerusalem? His Galilee-based movement was doing great. Going to Jerusalem was suicide. Even his disciples knew this. They did not want to him to go to Jerusalem. It did not make sense. But Jesus went anyway.

Crossan volunteered John 7 where Jesus's brothers tell him, "No one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world!"

We all know how this story ends.

Gabriela Silang did not need to take over leadership after Diego was assassinated in 1763. Jose Rizal did not need to go back the Philippines in 1892. Bonifacio did not need to go to the Magdalo camp in Cavite in 1896. Ernesto Che Guevara did not need to go to Bolivia in 1967. We also know how these stories ended.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem with over 5000 people, mostly farmers and fisherfolk, waving palm branches, Pontius Pilate entered the city from the opposite direction. With a Roman Legion. 6000 professional soldiers. Jesus did not need to go to Jerusalem. But he did anyway.

First came a movement. Then an execution. But surprise of surprises, the movement continues. To this day! Thus, movement, execution, continuation. But the greatest of these is continuation.

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DANCE IS A LANGUAGE OF FAITH

The oldest Christian tradition, quite possibly formulated within the first decade from Jesus’s crucifixion, is the Christological hymn that Paul quotes in Philippians 2: 5-11. Many Hebrew Bible scholars agree that the oldest tradition from Ancient Israel, quite possibly already circulating a generation or two from the Exodus event, is found in the book of Exodus. Chapter 15: 20-21 to be exact. 

Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for God is highly exalted. Both horse and driver God has hurled into the sea."
This passage, over three thousand years old, challenges many of our most cherished practices and traditions. First, the main characters in this oldest poem are women. Not men. Second, their faith expression is dancing, not preaching. Third, their leader is a prophet, not a priest; a woman, not a man; Miriam, not Moses.
Let me say it again: In this most ancient Hebrew Bible account, we have women, we have dancing, and we have a prophet, Miriam. Dancing is one of the oldest forms of worship. Dance is a language of faith. 

Melinda Grace Aoanan once said: “To sing to to pray twice. To dance, on the other hand, is to pray three times!” To dance is to celebrate the cycles and circles of life. To dance is to offer thanksgiving for babies born and loved ones departed, for bountiful harvests and sweet-smelling rice, for dreams realized and abundant life for all.

To dance, in Miriam and the women’s case, was to celebrate God’s liberating acts. Dance is a language of faith.

Remember this, my friends. An ancient people enslaved for centuries find themselves free. Yahweh had delivered them. God had heard their cries. God had come down to liberate them. God had accomplished what God had promised. And what is the first thing they do to celebrate their deliverance? THEY DANCE. 
God continues to deliver people from bondage. God continues to liberate those who are imprisoned. God continues to hear the cries of the oppressed and of those whose only hope is God. And what are we supposed to do to celebrate God’s continuing liberating acts? We actively participate in God's mission. We proclaim Good News to the Poor. We become the salt, and the light, and the seed God calls us to be. 
AND WE DANCE!

[image from http://www.atzmut.com/the-womens-dance/]

Unless a Seed Dies...

Seed. Salt. Light.

These are very powerful metaphors that the Church has used, for centuries, to describe itself. All these metaphors come from the Gospels. (The Church as the Body of Christ is Pauline.)

Unfortunately for the church, it has forgotten that all three metaphors require self-giving, require emptying, require death...

A seed dies... Salt dissolves... Light burns out.

The Church needs to remember its Crucified and Risen Lord. There is no Resurrection without the Crucifixion.

SOUP and SALT

The world needs soup.

Unfortunately, millions of people cannot even have or afford a decent cup of hot soup. So many people are so poor they gargle water for breakfast, take hot water for lunch, and force themselves to sleep at night in place of supper. Mas emphatic sa Tagalog: Marami tayong kababayan na mumog ang agahan, nilagang tubig ang tanghalian, at tulog ang hapunan. 
When Esau, in the Genesis 25. 29-34, came to his brother, he was close to death. And he asked for soup. For billions of dispossessed people who struggle against death forces everyday, the promise of life in its fullness is actually a hot bowl of soup. For countless people who face the violence of starvation each and every moment of their lives, God’s shalom is a hot bowl of soup. 
When our sisters and brothers’ homes and livelihood are destroyed by flash floods, relief operations bring soup. When schools offer feeding programs to malnourished grade school children, they are fed soup. When our churches and church-related institutions welcome the homeless and street-children into our “soup kitchens,” guess what we offer them? 
But you and I know this, soup is more than food for the hungry and drink for the thirsty.  It is also just wages for workers, homes for the homeless, justice for the oppressed, care for the sick and dying, welcome to the stranger, land for the landless, liberation for those in bondage and captivity, solidarity with those whose only hope is God. 
The soup that can meet the world’s hunger is the soup we cook together. Every one contributing what each can. Because we are each other’s keepers. If God is our parent, then all of us are sisters and brothers. 
Those of us who call ourselves Christian do not have the monopoly on soup. We have an ingredient to share. This is probably why Jesus calls the church, salt of the earth. Soup tastes better with salt. 
But soup does not need salt to be soup!

God Loves the Cosmos!

Yes. God loves the cosmos.

But for so many of us who memorized the verse, it's God so loved the World. And for most, the line really means God so loved (state your name).

It's actually, God loved the Cosmos! God loves the heavens, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Earth. Mountains. Oceans. Rivers. Rocks, pebbles, sand.

God loves rooted people. Finned people. Four-legged people. Winged people. Two-legged people.

God loves Moslems. Buddhists. Rebels. Indigenous peoples. Refugees. Rohingya. Migrants. Palestinians. PWDs. PLHAs...

God loves the cosmos so much that God decided to become one with the cosmos, a two-legged person. A two-legged person whose loving was experienced as life lived for others.