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Reading the Bible inside a Jeepney: Celebrating Colonized and Occupied Peoples' capacity to beat swords into ploughshares; to transform weapons of mass destruction into instruments of mass celebration; mortar shells into church bells, teargas canisters to flowerpots; rifle barrels into flutes; U.S. Military Army Jeeps into Filipino Mass Transport Jeepneys.
Sunday, February 02, 2025
Saturday, February 01, 2025
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
The "How Many Squares Do You See?" Books are designed to teach young people about the Bible, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Trump and his ilk will definitely NOT read these books. They'd probably find the books "nasty" for "promoting the woke DEI agenda threatening America!"
So, why not get them while you still can?
How Many Squares Do You See? https://a.co/d/iwqqRqu
The Shortest Short Introduction to the Bible https://a.co/d/1NJEoYO
The Shortest Short Introduction to Biblical Interpretation https://a.co/d/0zvhFB2
The Shortest Short Introduction to the New Testament https://a.co/d/5VOiiw6
Friday, January 31, 2025
Thursday, January 30, 2025
HOMECOMINGS
We touch. We hug. We play. We talk. We sing. We dance. We eat. We do all this and more--together. This is the homecoming, the reunion most of us picture.
But Sunday's Lukan lection on Jesus's homecoming paints a different picture. In Luke's version of Jesus's return to Nazareth, his townmates tried to throw him off a cliff. They found his interpretation of good news to the poor offensive because for Jesus, the poor whom God cared for included those who were not Israelites nor Judahites.
To this day, the bastard from Nazareth who lived his life with and for those whose only hope was God, who challenged the rich to sell everything they have and give the proceeds to the destitute, who defied empire and its life-negating systems, and who commanded everyone who followed him to offer one's life for a friend, remains a very hard sell.
Trump and his ilk will have major problems with this Nazarene troublemaker and his gospel.
*art. "Brow of the Hill near Nazareth" by James Tissot (1836-1902), available at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives.
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
READING THE PARABLES INSIDE A JEEPNEY
The first book in the JEEPNEY HERMENEUTICS Collection.
Kindle
https://a.co/d/a5jVAqG
Paperback
https://a.co/d/gEjccpt
Hardcover
https://a.co/d/5eXPryE
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Thursday, January 23, 2025
US, THEM, AND ALL OF US
The pronoun “us” assumes belongingness; being a part of a whole. In particular, “us” are insiders. As far as the people of Nazareth were concerned, Jesus was “one of us.” Isaiah was “one of us.” The promises from Scripture was “for us.” Jesus’s proclamation of said promises fulfilled in their hearing was also “for us.” Ultimately, all these presuppose that God is always and only “for us.”
“Us” also presumes another group. Those that do not belong: them. The outsiders. The empire--built on privilege, power, possession and commodification--divides and conquers peoples. The empire creates “us” and “them.” Sunday's lection from Luke 4 presents both groups and posits an alternative.
Jesus proclaims the alternative to the Kingdom of Caesar. In the Kingdom of God, there is no "us", there is no "them"; there is only "all of us".
At first, those who listened to Jesus read Isaiah were happy. Then, as they listened to him interpret the challenge of the Jubilee, they metamorphosed into a mob bent on throwing him off a cliff! Why? Because Jesus dared to change the beneficiaries of God’s jubilee: Leviticus 25, the year of the Lord’s favor, proclaimed land, liberty and cancellation of all debts. Jubilee meant gospel to those whose only hope is God, good news to a people suffering under Roman occupation. Jesus challenged their interpretation of “us” to include “them.”
For Jesus, there is only “all of us.” If God is our parent, then we, all of us, are God’s children. We are all sisters and brothers. Not just his fellow Nazarenes. Not just his fellow Galileans. Not just his fellow Israelites.
During the time of Elijah, when drought and famine ravished the land, there were many widows in Israel, yet God sent Elijah to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, yet none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. For Jesus, God’s children include the widow at Zarephath in Sidon and Naaman the Syrian.
For Jesus, the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed and everyone waiting for the year of the Lord’s favor were not just “us” Israelites but also “them,” the Gentiles, who were poor, captives, blind, oppressed and everyone waiting for the year of the Lord’s favor.
Thus, the jubilee, then and now, is not just for “us” but also for “them,” and therefore for “all of us.”
*art, "The Poor invited to the Feast," JESUS MAFA 1973 (from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives).
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