Enjoy this compelling teaching offered by Rev. Dr. Angela Barker-Jackson.
Faith in Process: Putting it all together
Faith in Process: Creating a Life in God
“The main thing is to have God; to live in God; to have God live in us; to think God’s thoughts; to love what God loves and hate what God hates; to realize God’s presence; to feel God’s holiness and to be holy because God is holy; to feel God’s goodness in every blessing of your life and even in its tribulations; to be happy and trustful; to join in the great purposes of God and to be lifted to greatness of vision and faith and hope with God – that is the blessed life.” – Walter Rauschenbusch, The Culture of the Spiritual Life, 1897
If we want a faith experience like Jesus, we need to follow his lead, to learn and include his rhythms into our lives. The “salvation” he offered was a whole and lasting life, one filled with abundance of love, joy, peace, meaning, wellbeing, genuine relationships, significance – the things most people really want from life that money cannot buy. Jesus’ earliest followers followed his teaching and example so fully that they were first known as the People of the Way. Oh, that we might be known for that once more!
Jesus incorporated five movements into his life which produced the fruit of the whole-life salvation/well-being/spiritual vitality he was known for. He chose to stretch his thinking (lifelong learning), kneel in service to others, stand for grace and justice, commune with God intentionally, and connect with others in genuine community. Cultivate these movements into your life rhythm to foster the fruit of life in God.
Stretch. How are you incorporating new insights about God into your life? If you don’t make an effort to stretch in this area, it is likely that the faith you were born into will be the faith you take to your grave. How tragic would that be? Invest in your theological perspective. Check out our resources on CrossWalk’s website (CrossWalkNapa.org/Resources) for recommended books, podcasts, and online sources. Make a plan for when you are going to read. Get in on the Heart of Christianity class based on Marcus Borg’s book by the same name. Take it again every few years. In my opinion, it is the most comprehensive book that helps with deconstruction and reconstruction of the faith.
Kneel. We all have different capacities when it comes to serving others. Our skills and passions vary to a person. Our availability often is dictated by our stage of life and a wide range of issues like work, health, parenting, school, sports, an important TV shows we must stream or risk social ostracization (okay, the last one may not be true for everyone). Yet kneeling in service is as much a way of being in life as it is something to be accomplished or ticked off a task list. When we carry an attitude of loving our neighbors wherever we go, life improves. We look at everyone a little differently. I believe that when we enter the world this way, we affect those we are around. We become walking air fresheners wherever we go. Of course, many of us have time and ability to serve. Let CrossWalk know what your skills and interests are (if you haven’t already) and we will try to find a match. There are also a lot of great organizations in our community that could also use volunteer support. Check out VolunteerNow.org and find out how you can make a difference!
Stand. We have neighbors in our community who have been told they are “less than”. They have been shamed. They have been “othered.” They could use someone like you to proclaim a greater truth, that they are deeply loved as they are and are inherently worthy of abundant life. You might get to be that person who makes another’s day that leads to a much better life, simply be speaking grace to those who need it. Other neighbors face inequality, inequity, and are not included in decisions that impact their lives. There are many issues and causes to champion, and often not enough time or resources to address them all. Yet we can all do something. Here are some things to consider:
· Automate! For the organizations you support financially, set up automatic contributions. It takes it off your to-do list, and you’ll know you are supporting something you care about every month. As an organization that offers scheduled donations, CrossWalk benefits from the consistency every month – thank you to all who have already automated!
· Subscribe! For the organizations and issues near and dear to you, subscribe to their newsletters so you are kept up to speed on what’s happening and how you might get involved. Here are some you might be interested in: Environment, Global Poverty, LGBTQ+, Anti-Racism, Immigration Reform, Gun Violence, Human Trafficking, Food Insecurity, Women’s Rights.
· Write! Know who represents you and contact them about issues you care about! Use SmartVote.org to get started.
· Gather! Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to peacefully assemble and let your voice be heard.
Commune. Jesus regularly and intentionally spent time in solitude and silence for contemplation, meditation, and prayer. When we begin our day with this practice, the likelihood of staying in the zone for the rest of the day rises significantly. Here are some tips to help your daily commune work.
· Protect the time and space. If possible, keep this time consistent. It is difficult to pull off with interruptions. Choose a peaceful, tranquil space.
· Swap “obligation” for “invitation.” When this daily exercise becomes a should, do whatever you have to do to get your head on straight, otherwise it won’t be of much worth.
· Check in with yourself. Be aware of how you are feeling as you begin. Be honest with yourself. Your fake smile means nothing to God if your heart is breaking.
· Spend “more” time on breath work. Just do it. Americans suck at being still and quiet. You’ll be glad you did.
· Incorporate devotional reading. Carefully choose a voice to invite into your head to guide and shape your thoughts. The Center for Action and Contemplation offers a daily email that has helped hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Sign up!
· Journal your thoughts and gratitude. Writing down our thoughts and gratitude is much more potent than thinking them. Prove me wrong.
· Transition with a benediction. Wrap your daily commune with a prayer to help you take your faith into your whole day. Here are two from Rich Orloff – one to begin your time and the other to finish (or however you want to use them):
Daily Prayer
Thank you for this day
May I be aware of all of its blessings
May I notice each moment of love
May I appreciate each breath
May I see beyond my fears
May I recognize beauty
May I receive each molecule of joy offered
May I absorb kindness
May I not sabotage the happiness of myself or others
For the blessings of this day
I give thanks in advance
Today is an opportunity to experience
The miracle of every moment
Evening Prayer
May I recognize the blessings of this day
And of my life
May I absorb the blessings of this day
And of my life
May I always have access to the wisdom gained today
And use these blessings tomorrow
As I share my blessings with others
One love at a time
Till love blossoms into a field of joy
Covering the earth
Connect. We need each other. We are hardwired for community. We are interconnected and influence each other all the time – we may as well make the most of it! Connecting with others increases our collective wisdom as we share our experiences with each other, especially when we invite different perspectives into the conversation. Community can be incredibly helpful as we undergo unavoidable changes in life. Community helps shape and support the ethics we live by – we are stronger in our resolve when we are together. Connecting in a spiritual community especially help us learn to identify the nudge of the Divine in our lives and serves as a sounding board for discernment on what it might mean. We also grow more as human beings when we are together, which is a key component of the abundant life Jesus’s Way offers. How are you intentionally connecting with others?
Questions...
1. Stretch. What am I going to read, watch, or listen to, to strengthen my faith over the coming months?
2. Kneel. How am I going to kneel in service to others?
3. Stand. How am I extending grace and supporting justice with my life?
4. Commune. When am I incorporating quiet space to meditate, contemplate, and pray?
5. Connect. How am I intentionally engaging others in community?
Faith in Process: Connect
Watch the video of this teaching here.
Key reasons why connecting with each other matters...
Interconnectedness and Mutual Influence. CrossWalk’s theological perspective emphasizes the interconnectedness of all entities. In this view, every individual and community influences and is influenced by others. CrossWalkers, who often embrace a vision of faith that includes social justice, inclusivity, and transformation, benefit greatly from being part of a community that supports these values. Community provides a space for mutual influence, allowing individuals to grow in their understanding of justice and love through the experiences and insights of others.
Shared Experience and Collective Wisdom. Our theological perspective suggests that truth and understanding emerge from the collective experiences and wisdom of a community rather than from isolated individuals. CrossWalkers might find that their spiritual and ethical insights are deepened and refined through shared dialogue and collective reflection. A community offers diverse perspectives that can challenge, enrich, and broaden one's own understanding of faith and morality. Diversity is wonderful and should be celebrated!
Support in the Face of Change. CrossWalk’s theological ethos views reality as constantly evolving, with a focus on becoming and change. We seek to engage with a world that is also in flux, advocating for change and transformation in societal structures. Community provides a crucial support system as individuals navigate these changes. It offers encouragement and solidarity, helping members sustain their commitment to progressive values even when faced with opposition or uncertainty.
Ethical and Relational Growth. In our view, the development of ethical behavior is seen as a relational process. We might engage in practices that promote social justice, equity, environmental stewardship, and much more. Being part of a community allows for the practice and reinforcement of these values in relational contexts, fostering a more robust and dynamic ethical life. The community serves as a forum for ethical discussion, accountability, and action, which can enhance individual and collective moral development.
Experiencing and Acting on Divine Impulse. Our perspective posits that God is present in the ongoing process of becoming and influencing the world through what may be called divine persuasion: the nudging and wooing of God. In this framework, CrossWalkers might see community as a critical resource to discern and act upon these divine impulses. By working together, they can better interpret the signs of divine activity and collaborate on initiatives that align with their vision of justice, compassion, and creativity.
Encouragement of Holistic Growth. Finally, our stance supports the idea that growth is holistic, involving intellectual, emotional, relational, and spiritual dimensions. Community provides a nurturing environment where CrossWalkers can develop in all these areas. It offers opportunities for communal worship, learning, service, and support, which together contribute to a richer and more integrated spiritual life.
I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.
– Jesus, John 13:34-35 CEB
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially during challenging times like we are in now. – Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)
A Prayer to Make Space for the Divine
(a response to Psalm 16)
As it is possible to walk through a field
Without seeing the grass
So it is possible to walk through life
Without seeing the Divine
I do not wish to believe in you
What I desire is to experience you
Not an idea in a prayer book
But a presence I can touch
Not above me
But beside me
Opposite me
Facing me
Surrounding me
Inside me
Not me
But available to me
Even if you are beyond definition
You are always within reach
Let me make a place for you
Let me be open to your voice
As I venture into scary places
Let me sense you alongside me
My prayer is simple:
Let your breath become my strength
What I Can Offer You
I cannot fix your pain
I cannot solve your problem
I can’t prevent the sorrow you’re feeling
Or even guarantee I’ll make you smile
However, because I’ve known
Joy embracing me and disappearing in the middle of the night
Feeling safe and despairing if I’ll ever feel safe again
Lowering my guard and being ambushed by camouflaged demons
And because I’ve also known
The miracle of healing when pain seemed inescapable
The joy of connection when isolation had me surrounded
Love returning and apologizing for its absence
Because I have experienced enough No in my life
To understand tragedy
Because I have been surprised by enough Yes in my life
To maintain hope
Because I’ve known
All these things
And more
I will gladly hold your hand
So you don’t have to face the pains of life alone
And I will wait with you patiently
Until the next miracle arrives
Faith in Process: Stand
Watch the video of this teaching HERE.
Today I shared the following poem, performed by the poet. I hope it moves you as much as it moved me.
Warsan Shire
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
your neighbors running faster than you
breath bloody in their throats
the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory
is holding a gun bigger than his body
you only leave home
when home won’t let you stay.
no one leaves home unless home chases you
fire under feet
hot blood in your belly
it’s not something you ever thought of doing
until the blade burnt threats into
your neck
and even then you carried the anthem under
your breath
only tearing up your passport in an airport toilet
sobbing as each mouthful of paper
made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back.
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire
and one prison guard
in the night
is better than a truckload
of men who look like your father
no one could take it
no one could stomach it
no one skin would be tough enough
the
go home blacks
refugees
dirty immigrants
asylum seekers
sucking our country dry
niggers with their hands out
they smell strange
savage
messed up their country and now they want
to mess ours up
how do the words
the dirty looks
roll off your backs
maybe because the blow is softer
than a limb torn off
or the words are more tender
than fourteen men between
your legs
or the insults are easier
to swallow
than rubble
than bone
than your child body
in pieces.
i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important
no one leaves home until home is a sweaty voice in your ear
saying-
leave,
run away from me now
i dont know what i’ve become
but i know that anywhere
is safer than here
Warsan Shire (born August 1st, 1988) is a British writer, poet, editor and teacher, who was born to Somali parents in Kenya, east Africa. In 2013, she was awarded the inaugural Brunel University African Poetry Prize, chosen from a shortlist of six candidates out of a total 655 entries. Her words "No one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark," have been called "a rallying call for refugees and their advocates."
Many of us who were brought up in church in the United States were not exposed to the biblical texts that informed Jesus and his followers. Take some time (for the rest of your life) and immerse yourself in this sampling of texts:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:8 NRSV
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless. – Isaiah 1:17 MSG
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed.
Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice. – Proverbs 31:8-9 NLT
“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want. – Amos 5:21-24 MSG
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” – Luke 4:18-19 NLT
Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. – James 1:26-27 MSG
The LORD proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t spill the blood of the innocent in this place. – Jeremiah 22:3 CEB
“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’
“Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ – Matthew 25:35-40 CEB
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. – James 1:22 NLT
Standing for Grace and Justice was baked into Jesus’ cake because it is baked into the heart of God. To neglect such things is to neglect a central concern of the Spirit. For some of us, these verses may be a revelatory kick in the pants to incorporate grace and justice into our rhythm of life. If we want a robust, meaningful, world-impacting faith, we need to follow the model and invitation of Jesus. For all of us, this is a call to action. How are we addressing the injustices of the world and offering support to its victims? How are we standing for grace and justice?
"The problem with smart people is they can come up with a good reason for not doing anything. They are smart enough to find the cracks, to foresee the challenges, and to talk themselves out of the idea. They are experts at justifying their lack of courage or lack of action with an intelligent excuse.
But there will always be reasons to not do something, and this is particularly true of anything worth doing. We value those moments in which we overcame challenge, not those in which we avoided it. Ultimately, action is a choice. The choice to emphasize the reasons for doing it despite the reasons you have for avoiding it." – James Clear, Atomic Habits
Putting it Into Practice...
What areas especially tug at your heart?
What are you doing already that others might learn from?
How are we continually gaining understanding about the issue and our relationship to it?
Is there someone within your reach directly impacted by the issue that you can learn from and find out how to be most helpful?
Who are we learning from and with?
What local initiatives are already happening?
What county, state, and national organizations might be good partners?
What government officials can be contacted to nudge toward justice policies?
() Anti-racism () Gender equity and inclusion () Immigration () LGBTQ equity and inclusion
() Environment () Gun safety policies () Reproductive rights () Houselessness () Hunger
() Children’s Rights () Anti-trafficking () Militarism of Law Enforcement () Economic disparity
() Education disparity () Other (list below)
Faith in Process: Kneel
Faith in Process: Kneel
A life-giving faith fosters “the blessed life” every person desires. A key component to that faith is loving, helpful service of others.
Some Benefits of Serving/Helping Others
Feels good. Keeps things in perspective. Builds self-esteem. Benefits your career. Connects with new people. Relief from pain. Volunteering combats depression. Lowers blood pressure. Reduces stress. More happiness. Develops sense of purpose. Giving triggers more giving. Fosters a sense of belonging. Altruism is contagious. Volunteering as a family is powerful. Longer lifespan.
Some Bible Verses about Serving/Helping Others
· Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV): Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his... – Jesus
· Matthew 25:35-40 (NIV): For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you invited me in, I needed clothes, and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me... Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. – Jesus
· John 13:12-14 (NIV): When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.'" – Jesus
· Galatians 5:13 (NIV): You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. – Paul
· Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV): Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. – Paul
· Colossians 3:23 (NIV): Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. – Paul
Things to think about...
1. What have been among the most positive experiences of serving others for you? What did you do? Why did you do it? How did it help others? How did it make you feel?
2. Have there ever been times when you served out of obligation, and you didn’t really want to do it? What did you do? Why did you do it? How did it help others? How did it make you feel?
3. How was “serving others” framed for you growing up? How was it tainted with obligation? How did that impact your desire? Your attitude? Your experience?
4. When has service come especially easy for you? Why? What was/is your motivation to serve in those situations?
5. How might you set yourself up for a more life-giving-and-receiving orientation toward kneeling in loving, helpful service toward others?
6. Who in your world are easy to serve? Who are more difficult for you to serve? How might changing our vision and motivation alter our capacity to serve them in ways that benefit yourself and the “challenging” person?
Faith in Process: Stretch
“Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is — what is good and pleasing and mature.” – Paul, Letter to the Romans 12:2 (CEB)
The main thing is to have God; to live in God; to have God live in us; to think God’s thoughts; to love what God loves and hate what God hates; to realize God’s presence; to feel God’s holiness and to be holy because God is holy; to feel God’s goodness in every blessing of your life and even in its tribulations; to be happy and trustful; to join in the great purposes of God and to be lifted to greatness of vision and faith and hope with God – that is the blessed life. – Walter Rauschenbusch, The Culture of the Spiritual Life, 1897
If you’re bored with your faith, or theology, or the Bible,
you’re doing it wrong.
May your curiosity lead you to discover more:
Who or what is God?
Where is God?
What are God’s primary characteristics?
What are God’s limitations?
What is the Bible and what is it’s role?
Who was Jesus and what is his role?
What is the goal of faith?
How do we live faithfully?
What does faith call us to do?
How does faith inform justice issues?
How does faith shape our spending?
Things to think about...
1. How has the process of living through stages of life been like the process of growing in faith? How has it been different?
2. When have you been like Nicodemus, proactively pursuing understanding?
3. When have you been surprised like the Samaritan woman, which led you to new insights about life and faith?
4. When have you been like Peter and Paul, whose learning was prompted by failures?
5. What keeps you from integrating intentional learning to develop your faith?
6. What are some of the areas about your faith you are most curious about right now?
Resources...
· The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg
· How the Bible Actually Works by Pete Enns
· Open and Relational Theology by Thomas Jay Oord
· How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere by Davis and Clayton (editor
Closing Celebration
Enjoy the wrap of a great week! Below the video of the entire service you can find the 10-minute video of the highlights of the week.
Unexpected Moments of Beauty in the Wilderness
What a treat to have Associate Professor Jenny Matheny, Ph.D., Truett Seminary (Baylor) , teach on a really inspiring-yet-very-human story found in 1 Samuel 25:1-35 NRSVUE: Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
2 There was a man in Maon whose property was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite. 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6 Thus you shall salute him, ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 I hear that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight, for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’ ”
9 When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. 10 But Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters. 11 Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” 12 So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. 13 David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every one of them strapped on his sword; David also strapped on his sword, and about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.
14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he shouted insults at them. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields as long as we were with them;16 they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now, therefore, know this and consider what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured that no one can speak to him.”
18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19 and said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 As she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21 Now David had said, “Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, but he has returned me evil for good. 22 God do so to David[a] and more also if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.”
23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from the donkey and fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant. 25 My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he; Nabal[b] is his name, and folly is with him, but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.
26 “Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal. 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29 If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for having saved himself. And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! 33 Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! 34 For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.” 35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition.”
With Regrets
This week’s lectionary passage is a gory tale about the demise of John the Baptist and the surprising reaction of the one responsible for it.
Mark 6:14-29 MSG
King Herod heard of all this, for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone’s lips. He said, “This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead—that’s why he’s able to work miracles!”
Others said, “No, it’s Elijah.”
Others said, “He’s a prophet, just like one of the old-time prophets.”
But Herod wouldn’t budge: “It’s John, sure enough. I cut off his head, and now he’s back, alive.”
Herod was the one who had ordered the arrest of John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison at the nagging of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. For John had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias “adultery.” Herodias, smoldering with hate, wanted to kill him, but didn’t dare because Herod was in awe of John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special treatment. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt—and yet he couldn’t stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back.
But a portentous day arrived when Herod threw a birthday party, inviting all the brass and bluebloods in Galilee. Herodias’s daughter entered the banquet hall and danced for the guests. She charmed Herod and the guests.
The king said to the girl, “Ask me anything. I’ll give you anything you want.” Carried away, he kept on, “I swear, I’ll split my kingdom with you if you say so!”
She went back to her mother and said, “What should I ask for?”
“Ask for the head of John the Baptizer.”
Excited, she ran back to the king and said, “I want the head of John the Baptizer served up on a platter. And I want it now!”
That sobered the king up fast. But unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in and let her have her wish. The king sent the executioner off to the prison with orders to bring back John’s head. He went, cut off John’s head, brought it back on a platter, and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and got the body and gave it a decent burial.
What regrets do you struggle with?
A Prayerful Process for Processing Regret
· Acknowledge what you’re feeling – journal the complexity!
· Fact-check your assumptions about your regret.
· Practice forgiveness: of yourself, others, and for yourself.
· Honor the loss of what might have been.
· Broaden your perspective: you are more than your failures.
· Connect with others who have been through something similar.
· Learn the lessons your regrets teach you.
· Allow regret to anchor you forward, not hold you to the past.
· Repeat as necessary.
With Regrets
Regrets linger like shadows in the past,
Haunting the mind with memories uncast.
But rise above, let go of the pain,
For in the present, you can regain.
Embrace the lessons that regrets bring,
Use them as fuel to rise and sing.
Let go of what you cannot change,
And focus on a brighter range.
In the ashes of regret, find strength anew,
Forge a path that is wholly true.
Overcoming regrets, you shall see,
A future filled with possibility.
What I Can Offer You
Rich Orloff
I cannot fix your pain
I cannot solve your problem
I can’t prevent the sorrow you’re feeling
Or even guarantee I’ll make you smile
However, because I’ve known
Joy embracing me and disappearing in the middle of the night
Feeling safe and despairing if I’ll ever feel safe again
Lowering my guard and being ambushed by camouflaged demons
And because I’ve also known
The miracle of healing when pain seemed inescapable
The joy of connection when isolation had me surrounded
Love returning and apologizing for its absence
Because I have experienced enough No in my life
To understand tragedy
Because I have been surprised by enough Yes in my life
To maintain hope
Because I’ve known
All these things
And more
I will gladly hold your hand
So you don’t have to face the pains of life alone
And I will wait with you patiently
Until the next miracle arrives
No Room in the Inn, Again
Mark 6:1-6 (MSG). He left there and returned to his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place. He stole the show, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?”
But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they never got any further.
Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.
What are some of your first reactions when you read this story?
How does this story resonate with you?
What questions does the story raise for you?
“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is opposed. Third, it is regarded as self-evident.” – Arthur Schopenhauer (19th Century Philosopher)
Research on adult transformational learning, where a person truly experiences, embraces, and embodies a major paradigm shift in their lives note that if people are open to a new thought, they may first be very excited about it and engage it, referencing the “new” ideas using their held mental schema (the way they have previously understood things). Eventually, they will struggle as the new idea cannot fit well into the old paradigm, which leads to some level of tension. Most of the time, due to the level of difficulty inherent in truly letting go of the former paradigm for the newer, people give up and revert back to their former vision. The overwhelming majority of people who successfully move into the new paradigm only do so with the support of a community who are witnesses and mutual adherents to the new way of seeing and being in the world.
Jesus was right when he said that you cannot put new wine into old wineskins – the old will burst and the wine lost. – Mark 2:22
“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponent and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die.” – Max Plank (Quantum Physics Pioneer)
God does not override our will. We can accept or reject God. How can we prevent limiting the work of God in our lives due to our struggle to desire and adopt new insights?
May we be grateful for what we know, and open to learn what we don’t.
A Request from a Former Caterpillar
by Rich Orloff
Recently I imagined I was in a cocoon
About to transform
With my family yelling at me
“When are you going to come out of that cocoon already?
“Stop acting like a baby and metamorphosize!”
I don’t know much about metamorphosis
But my gut tells me that no butterfly
Would feel safe emerging from a cocoon
If you yelled at it to come out
So if you see my cocoon cracking a bit
My antennas peering out of the crack
My thin, fragile body starting to emerge
My wings still crumpled and wet
Do me a favor and shut up!
I’ll still be getting used to the newness of it all
My whole training has been as a caterpillar
And as much as I look forward to flying
I doubt I’ll ever be able to do so in a straight line
And if you want me to land on you
Be patient
Don’t make sudden moves
Recognize the sacredness of the moment
And if you wish
You may weep with joy
Solo. Tzitzit. Kanaph.
This story we’re looking at this week has so many interesting details. Let’s just walk through it and I’ll make some comments as we go...
Mark 5:21-43 (NRSV). When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea.
Comment. Before this episode, Jesus had sailed to the other side of the lake/sea, where the wind stirred things up which Jesus calmed down. On the other side of the shore, he healed a Gentile guy struggling with demonic possession. That healing, like the wind-calming, freaked out the onlookers, who then asked him to leave the region, which is why Jesus was returning to the Jewish side of the lake.
Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” So he went with him.
Comment. Jairus was undoubtedly a big deal in the community, highly respected, and probably wealthier than most. He was likely accustomed to having people come and beg him for help. Imagine how desperate he must have been to become so humble as to fall at Jesus’ feet!
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.
Comment. This kind of chronic condition was bad enough to endure on its own, but it had other ramifications. At a time in history when women were valued primarily by their fertility, this dream likely died for this woman as the months turned into years. Her condition also meant ostracization, since strict adherence to Jewish law required her to keep her distance as an “unclean” person. Everything and everyone she touched became unclean – a game of tag that had real consequences, as being unclean forced you out of community. She apparently had money enough to consult physicians, but to no avail. How many people have been wiped out by health care costs? As we remember the repeal of Roe v. Wade, we are now aware of who that hurt the most: women of color and lower income. This story resonates on many levels.
She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
Comment. Consider the scene for a moment. Jesus had renown for being a powerful healer, so much so that throngs of people wanted to be near him. For this woman to get to Jesus, she had to brush up against and through many others in order to touch his robe. How many people did she make unclean through her act of faith? What does that communicate about her level of courage given the risk? If her hopes were dashed, how many people would be deeply angry with her for her significant social disregard? Further, she made Jesus unclean at the same time – she risked offending the one from whom she sought healing!
Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
Comment. The text itself speaks to the fact that the woman experienced healing in her body – she knew her hopes were fulfilled. The text also notes how ridiculous Jesus’ question must have appeared to the disciples given the pressing crowd. The woman was then faced with another opportunity for bravery. She got busted. Would she slink away, hoping to get away with stealing some healing? People would figure it out. Then what? Better to own up, even if it results in the ire of Jesus (and the crowd). She was hoping for discretion start to finish. Ugh. Did she know about Jairus’ request? Can you imagine his frustration and anger over such a delay knowing his daughter’s life was in the balance? Talk about a charged moment! Jesus treated her with grace and dignity as we would expect. Further, he didn’t take credit for the healing, but rather acknowledged her faith as the genesis of the miracle. He sent her away with a benediction to go in peace and be healed of her disease. I find that a bit interesting. Why tell someone who has just been healed to be healed as she goes? Could it be that healing is more than meets the eye? I wonder how many other aspects of her life would now change, would need healing, now that her hemorrhages were over?
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?”
Comment. What range of emotions were going through Jairus’ mind at that moment? The woman’s healing probably didn’t prevent Jesus from healing the girl since the heralds had to have been walking awhile to find Jairus, but it still may have stung a bit, right?
But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Comment. Limiting the audience as he did tied this event to similar healings by Elijah and Elisha, and also displayed these disciples’ significance as they also witnessed the transfiguration at a later point. When Jesus took the dead child be the hand, he became unclean all over again, according to the law. Prior to this scene, Jesus had previously touched a leper and also a Gentile – two egregious fouls violating Jewish law and social sentiment. Jesus made the decision to honor the higher/highest rule of loving others even if it put him at risk. The result was the healing of a woman who had been bleeding alone for 12 years and bringing back to life a 12-year-old girl who was too young to die, who perhaps wasn’t old enough to become pregnant yet. Two lives saved in different ways. Traditions boldly broken. Passionate faith expressed by those who sought healing and those who offered to facilitate it.
The Sozo in the Tzitzit on the Kanaph.. If you attended the services in person for this teaching, you were given a tassel as an object lesson that has particular relevance to this story. From The Bible Nerds:
The ancient Hebrews were commanded by God to place special tassels on the corners of their garments. These tassels – called tzitzit – were a symbol of their commitment to obey the commandments of God, found in the Torah.
The tzitzit consists of a specific set of knots and threads. Each one of these is symbolic:
· 5 Knots – The first 5 books of the Bible (Torah)
· 4 Spaces – The Name of God (YHWH)
The value of the word “tzitzit” is 600. If you combine that value (600) with the 5 knots, made from the 8 threads of the tzitzit, you come to the number 613. This is the most important number in the entire Hebrew world. There are 613 commandments in the Torah. So, the purpose of the tzitzit is to remind Israel that they are to honor the commandments of God, and the very numerical value of the word “tzitzit” equals 613 – the number of commandments they are to obey.
It’s also very important to understand where the tzitzit are attached. The Hebrew word for corner is “kanaph”. This word is used in various other ways throughout Scripture, as we will soon see.
Cutting Corners (1 Samuel 24:1-15). David was anointed future king of Israel, after Saul ignored God’s specific commandment regarding the Amalekites. After that, Saul became more and more angry and paranoid. This resulted in his seeking to kill the one man who most clearly understood the unique anointing of God that the king had – David.
While Saul was pursuing David, he entered a cave in the oasis of Ein Gedi. Unbeknownst to him, David and his followers were also hiding in the cave. David’s men tried to encourage him to kill Saul, and be done with the whole problem. But David understood that this would be using his own power and strength to deal with his trials, rather than allowing God to take care of it. Instead, he snuck up to Saul and cut off the corner of his robe, removing the tzitzit from Saul. In doing this, he was declaring for all to see that Saul was not honoring the commandments of God.
The Coming Son of David – The Prophets. It wasn’t long after Ein Gedi that David ascended to the throne. He ruled in righteousness and honored the commandments of God. And while his son, Solomon, started out well, eventually things deteriorated into pagan worship and the rejection of the commandments. The nation became divided, the Temple of God was destroyed, and judgment came.
During the time of the captivity in Babylon, the prophets of God began to foretell of another “son of David” who would come and restore the kingdom to Israel. He would be the Messiah – the Anointed One – who would rule in true justice and righteousness. He would properly teach the commandments of God to the people, and Israel would finally fulfill its calling to be a light to the nations.
· He will bring the political and spiritual revival of Israel, returning them to the land and restoring Jerusalem. (Isaiah 11:1-2; Jeremiah 23:8; 30:3; Hosea 3:4-5)
· He will establish a government in Israel that will be the center of all world government – both for Jews and Gentiles (Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:10; 42:1)
· He will rebuild the Temple and re-establish its worship (Jeremiah 33:18; Ezekiel 40-50)
· He will restore the religious court system of Israel and establish Torah as the law of the land (Jeremiah 33:15)
In essence, they prophesied that the Messiah would return Israel to obedience to the Torah; to keep the commandments that were symbolized by the wearing of the Tzitzit.
The Sun of Righteousness – Malachi 4:1-2
In the final writings of the period of the prophets, Malachi foretold of the “sun of righteousness” who would arise with “healing in His wings.” This prophecy immediately became associated with the coming Son of David – the Messiah.
As we saw earlier, the Hebrew word for corner is “kanaph”. Hebrew is considered a “poor language” – meaning that it has many fewer words than languages like Greek, Latin, or English. That means that one word must be used to describe several different things. Therefore, in addition to “kanaph” meaning corner, it also means wings.
The Hebrew sages taught that this meant that the coming Messiah would have special healing powers in the tzitzit that were attached to the corner of his robe.
Many Pharisees who wanted to be considered candidates for the role of Messiah, would attach especially long tzitzit to their robes, suggesting that they had these special healing attributes. (Matthew 23:5-7)
The Hem of His Garment – Matthew 9:18-21. One day when Jesus was making His way through the crowds to heal a young girl who was on the verge of death, a woman reached out and grabbed hold of his tzitzit. In doing this, she was doing much more than believing that He could heal her. The woman was declaring to all that she believed Jesus to be the promised Messiah [with healing in his wings].
Consider the Irony: The bleeding woman’s reaching out to touch the representation of following the Law was itself an act of not honoring the law. Jesus, whose robe was embellished with the symbols of the Law, disregarded the law as he held the girl’s hand. Jesus was one who was famous for choosing to obey the spirit of the law over the letter. This allowed him to think broadly and live in a spaciousness that treated everyone as deeply loved and valued. The bleeding woman was so full of faith that she violated her faith and thus affirmed it. Jesus was so full of faith that he violated the faith and thus affirmed it.
So, what’s this have to do with us? You tell me. What parts of this story are relevant to your life? What are you desperate enough to pray for audaciously, requiring both humility and great courage? The Greek word Mark uses for “save” is sozo, which can be translated as healing, save, made well, made whole, etc. What sozo are you seeking, and are you open to the sozo that is always available and present for us and to us? Maybe holding the tassel will inspire your prayers, remembering that there is still healing in the wings – healing, saving, making whole in ways you might not expect or know that you need.
On another level, who are today’s bleeding women and dying children that need people of faith to embrace even if it appears to deny faith even as it lives it out? Perhaps holding the tassel will embolden you to be Jesus to the LGBTQ community directly and/or as an ally, to stand for justice and grace for those in our nation who have been denied such a promise. Maybe the most Jesus thing you can do is to deny the letter of social and religious laws as you honor the higher spirit of the Way of God embodied in sozo, leading you to think and act in ways that bring healing, wellbeing, honor, restoration, and dignity to those who have not yet experienced it.
Commentary from SALT (Matthew Myer Boulton)
Sixth Week after Pentecost (Year B): Mark 5:21-43 and Psalm 130
Big Picture:
1) We are almost exactly in the middle of an eight-part portrait of Jesus’ early public ministry, exploring a series of chronologically selected passages from the Gospel of Mark. The outlines of Jesus’ mission are becoming clear: as we saw last week, he’s just calmed a storm at sea, and since then, he’s healed a Gentile man afflicted with an “unclean spirit” (Mark 5:1-20). Both of these events portray the expansive, surprising, barrier-breaking nature of Jesus’ healing, saving work — and this week’s passage continues to develop this theme.
2) Mark frequently composes stories in a “sandwich” form, nesting one episode inside of another. This strategy has at least three primary effects: first, it ratchets up the suspense, as one cliffhanger pauses while we turn to another; second, each story throws light on the other, like a diptych with two images side-by-side; and third, the two stories together create a more-than-the-sum-of-their-parts unity. In fact, Mark’s artistry is such that we should resist thinking in terms of “two episodes”: as we’ll see, there’s really one story here, not two.
3) Mark’s early audiences would have been at least loosely familiar with the purity practices recorded in scripture: menstruating women were allegedly “unclean” (Leviticus 12:1-8; 15:19-30), as were corpses (Numbers 19:11-13), such that anyone and anything they touched also became “unclean.” Jesus overturns these ideas in this story, and bearing them in mind helps highlight the tensions pushing the narrative forward. Did she, an unclean woman, really just touch him, the Holy Teacher? And did he really just touch a stranger’s corpse?
4) Psalm 130 is a classic plea for divine rescue “out of the depths” (Ps 130:1). Its superscription, “A Song of Ascents,” is common to Psalms 120-134 — and it may refer to the “ascent” of pilgrims to the city of Jerusalem, and perhaps to a sanctuary located there. As such, these psalms may have comprised a kind of hymnal of songs sung by pilgrims as they traveled on the way, approaching Jerusalem with every step…
Scripture:
1) Having just underscored the barrier-breaking character of his ministry by healing a Gentile man in Gentile territory, Jesus now crosses back over the Sea of Galilee into Jewish precincts — and now he will dismantle at least two other kinds of barriers: one between “clean” and “unclean,” and the other between life and death.
2) Jairus, a “leader of the synagogue,” falls at Jesus’ feet, pleading that he come to his house and save his daughter, who is “at the point of death" (Mark 5:22-23). Even as he calls “out of the depths” of desperation, Jairus’ plea is a reminder that Jesus’ mixed reception among Jewish leaders sometimes included trust and respect (Ps 130:1).
3) The underlying word Jairus uses here (translated as “be made well” in the NRSV) is the Greek word, sozo, which can also be translated, “save,” “heal,” “preserve,” or “rescue.” The word appears repeatedly in this passage, blurring any sharp distinction between “salvation” and “health,” “saving” and “thriving.”
4) Jesus agrees to go with Jairus to the dying girl, but along the way, the crowds — perhaps emboldened by Jairus’ example — press in around the holy teacher. To get to him, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years pushes through, in her own way silently calling “out of the depths.” The fact that she’s “endured much under many physicians” suggests she was formerly a woman of some wealth and status — and now has become an outcast, declared “unclean” by holy writ (Leviticus 12:1-8; 15:19-30). Her persistence and audacity is striking: not only does she push through the crowds, she pushes through the words of Leviticus, too, the ancient ideas that not only is she “unclean,” but anything she touches will become “unclean” — including the one whose clothing she seeks to touch!
5) It’s worth pausing here to let this sink in: everything in the story so far suggests that what the woman is doing is wrong, or dishonorable, or both. An “unclean” outcast, she pushes through a crowd, disobeying ancient, scriptural prohibitions. She audaciously touches a holy teacher without his permission, apparently desecrating him in the process. And as it turns out, she thereby delays him on his journey to the home of a local religious leader. And so when Jesus stops, turns, and demands to know, “Who touched me?” — we can imagine a collective gasp from Mark’s early audience. Jesus must be angry! And look, she knows it, too: she’s coming forward “in fear and trembling”… (Mark 5:30-33).
6) And now the story pivots in a stunning, scandalous direction. Jesus is not angry. On the contrary, with the crowds and Jairus looking on, Jesus praises the woman for her audacity, her daring, her persistence, her “faith”: “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (again, the word is sozo) — a remark that is yet another surprise, since the story to this point seems to suggest that Jesus’ “power” is the source of her healing (Mark 5:30). But Jesus strikingly draws attention not to his power, but to hers.
7) And at that very moment, Jairus receives news that tempts him to despair: Your daughter is dead. You’re too late. You’ve taken too long. But Jesus, overhearing the news, says to Jairus: “Do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Because of what’s just happened, the choreography is clear. It’s as if Jesus says to Jairus: Look — this woman has just shown you what genuine faith looks like: audacious, daring, persistent trust in God. No barrier can constrain God’s graceful mercy. Even the barrier between life and death, in the end, can and will be overcome.
8) And so even this last barrier will be broken. At Jairus’ house, Jesus sends away everyone but the family and the disciples Peter, James, and John — the same trio invited to the mountaintop at the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), a sign that the events in Jairus’ house have a similarly iconic, revelatory status. Taking the dead girl’s hand in his and calling her to rise (Talitha cum! Little one, get up!), Jesus breaks two barriers at once: the barrier between “clean” and “unclean” (Numbers 19:11-13), and the barrier between life and death. In both senses, the story foreshadows Jesus’ resurrection, as well as the broader promised resurrection to follow.
Takeaways:
1) As Mark arranges them, these two episodes form a single story: a vivid picture of Jesus’ expansive, barrier-breaking, healing, saving, life-giving ministry. Is Jesus more interested in “eternal life” or “life here and now”? This story helps clarify that this is a false choice; sozo carries both connotations at once. Likewise, just as Jesus breaks ethnic and sociopolitical barriers between Jews and Gentiles, he also breaks barriers within religious life that contemptuously demean and separate. For Christians today, the task is most definitely not to criticize Jewish practices (thereby falling into the contempt trap all over again!), but rather to identify and root out Christian practices that implicitly or explicitly create walls between “outsiders” and “insiders.”
2) This story is also a glimpse of how Jesus thinks about scripture. He engages it not with uncritical obeisance, as if every word in Leviticus (or any other book) is to be taken at face value, but rather with wise rabbinical judgment, carefully weighing which passages are most important, which passages help throw light on other passages — and then applying the results at the right time, in the right place, and in the right way (remember, “love your neighbor as yourself” is from Leviticus, too! (Leviticus 19:18))
3) “Faith” is cast here as a form of barrier-breaking courage, daring, and persistence — and the woman is cast as an exemplar, all the more surprising because of the presence of a religious leader, Jairus, who effectively becomes her student. An outcast is thus brought center stage. A consummate insider is encouraged to learn from her. And the very act of reaching out to God in bold tenacity, even and especially “out of the depths,” is spotlighted as a pivotal power possessed by each and every human being: “your faith has made you well [sozo]…”
4) Finally, the fact that sozo has such a wide range of meanings in this story — from salvation to health to resurrection to thriving to restoration to community — should stand as a guardrail against concluding that, in our own lives, the absence of a “cure” means afflicted people are to blame for their “lack of faith.” Healing comes in many different forms, physical, emotional, social, and otherwise, and we can trust that our most daring, faithful efforts will be met with God’s merciful healing touch. For that, after all, is Jesus’ message of encouragement here, the good news of the Gospel in this story: Even “out of the depths,” my children, take heart, reach out, push through, and dare to touch God’s garments — for God is already reaching out to you, and will yet take your hand, both today and in the end, to say, “Talitha cum! Little one, get up!”
Giant Storms
Maybe you saw the recent article about a piece of manuscript found in Egypt depicting a story from Jesus’ childhood? Dating from the 5th Century CE, the story talks about the boy Jesus playing with clay bird-toys and then miraculously bringing them to life. The story can be found in the Gospel of Thomas – it’s not new – and reminds us why that Gospel didn’t make it into the Canon, the books deemed to best represent our faith that comprise our Bible. The story is likely folklore yet serves to communicate to the readers that Jesus was special, endowed with the Spirit of God even from childhood. It is difficult for us Westerners to handle the tension in such texts. We are hard-wired to want to read something historical as literally true, and all things folklore we deem as fiction, or not true. In matters of faith, we want to base our theology on things that are true and reliable. That’s what led our predecessors to demand a view of the Bible as inerrant and infallible – if we can’t trust the Bible to be true, what value does it really hold? It is imperative that we remember that this is not how Jesus or his contemporaries viewed sacred text. They weren’t Westerners. They weren’t obsessed with the need for literalness and absolute certainty. As an Eastern tradition, they appreciated the value of story to communicate many truths without having to be factually accurate. If you are new to CrossWalk, you may want to sit with this for a while, because it can feel incredibly startling if you’ve always been taught to never question the Bible’s accuracy. That line of thinking has never been in line with Jesus, the rabbis that preceded him, or even the Apostle Paul who provided the scriptural weaponry to proof-text our modern claim that God essentially wrote the Bible.
It’s hard to know how literally to take these two remembered stories, one from the childhood of Israel’s favorite king, David, and the other from a time when Jesus was crossing Lake Galilee after a busy time of ministry (see full text below). Nobody hade cell phones with incredible cameras built into them to capture either scene to be posted to TikTok or YouTube or FB or IG or X. To spend too much time debating literalness is a fool’s errand. The better use of time is to lean into the midrash approach, appreciating all that the stories have to offer regardless of their literal, historical merit. As Marcus Borg would say, we choose to look for more than the literal meaning, onto the metaphorical, which is where we always end up anyway. We can engage sacred scriptures seriously without taking them literally.
We have two stories about facing daunting threats: a giant and a storm. We can relate to that, because throughout our lives we face unavoidable giant problems and severe storms. While there are many moments of love and joy, we will struggle and face sickness and death. This is simply part of the human experience. What struggle are you facing right now?
What do these stories have to teach us? I see several things that resonate with me. I see people calling on God in faith, which is an important move for us and for God. I see people acting with the wisdom available to them. I see people acting in courage, which is always required when facing giant storms. I see people using their gifts and strengths. I see people finding themselves in an awe that delivers deep peace.
Calling on God matters. We may think at times that since God knows all there is to know, why bother calling on God for help? The reason is not to inform God or persuade God to act. The reason has more to do with being honest about what we are going through. When we keep our lament to ourselves, I don’t think it helps. In fact, I think it may really cause more harm. When we express our struggle, fears, doubts, and desires to God, however, it puts it all on the table instead of taking up so much room in our heads. The act of prayer alone can be cathartic. That’s why journaling can be so helpful – it gets stuff out of our heads. But since the address of our lamenting is God, it also opens us up to the Spirit of God to comfort us, receiving our pain, at times helping us see things differently which serves to help align us with God’s shalom. There’s also the potential of peace as well – more on that later.
Wisdom matters. During the storm, the disciples were doing all they knew to do as experienced people in the fishing industry. We can be certain that they were busy doing everything they could to keep the boat afloat, like bailing water out with whatever they could use to scoop – and it surely helped. David showed great wisdom as he shed the armaments that were placed upon him. He knew right away that the armor may have been the right fit for someone else, but not for him. The garments designed to preserve his life would only serve to hasten his death. We look at this from the vantage point of our place in history and readily agree, minimizing how difficult it might have been to say no to the presumed importance of armor and sword. Had he chosen to wear what others insisted he must, he would have been a sitting duck. David also showed wisdom as he determined his strategy. Bigger, stronger men had obviously failed to be victorious over Goliath in hand-to-hand combat. David knew he didn’t stand a chance if Goliath got that close to him. Malcolm Gladwell suggests in his book, David and Goliath, that the giant likely had very poor eyesight, which people may have learned from experience with other people who grew to such size. David needed to use Goliath’s poor eyesight to his advantage.
Courage. It’s hard to appreciate David’s level of courage here, but it had to be high. Everyone has courage from the comfort of their La-Z-Boy watching competitors in the arena. Stepping into the arena where there are real consequences? Courage required. As Theodore Roosevelt quipped, “It is not the critic who counts… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again... If he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Gifts and Strengths. David was still young, still more adept at shepherding sheep than fighting men (other than his brothers!). He probably wasn’t very good with a sword. But as a shepherd boy, he surely learned how to use a sling. It was his best weapon against predators from a distance, before they could overpower him. Even today, boys who are well-trained with a sling have tremendous accuracy and speed with their shot. It is not inconceivable that David could fell the giant with a great shot.
Peace. The result of both stories was peace. David’s victory ended the battle that season. Jesus calming the storm brought peaceful seas and hearts among those who were terrified. The Apostle Paul, who suffered severely for proclaiming the Good News Jesus lived and taught, wrote to the Philippian church that there exists a peace that is beyond understanding, and urged them to be faithful in prayer:
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7 (AMPC)
That peace is real, and I believe it comes from the heart and presence of God. I have experienced this untold numbers of times throughout my life. It doesn’t make everything all better, but it absolutely helps us get through our giant storms that we all face in life. Even facing the fear of death, I have experienced it personally and seen it experienced with many who were about to die. If that were the only thing that faith had to offer, it might be enough. Gratefully, our faith offers much more regarding living life well and helping others do the same – the “death benefit” is simply icing on the cake.
What giant storms are you facing right now? How have you expressed your struggle and requests to God? No fancy words required. Sometimes no words are even necessary. In another letter, Paul writes that our sighs too deep for words are prayers. What wisdom are you respecting as you face this threat? What healthy next step do you know to do? What wisdom is offered by experts and those who know more about this than you? What gifts and talent can you add to the mix as you face down your giant? These are among the things you can do as you face your storms. As you do, and especially as you continue to bathe it all in prayer, may you genuinely experience the peace of God that holds you now and holds you forever:
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Paul’s Letter to the Romans (15:13), NLT
1 Samuel 17:1-11, 19-23, 32-49 CEB
The Philistines assembled their troops for war [in] Judah. The Philistines took positions on one hill while Israel took positions on the opposite hill. There was a valley between them.
A champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was more than nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore bronze scale-armor weighing one hundred twenty-five pounds. He had bronze plates on his shins, and a bronze scimitar hung on his back. His spear shaft was as strong as the bar on a weaver’s loom, and its iron head weighed fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer walked in front of him.
He stopped and shouted to the Israelite troops, “Why have you come and taken up battle formations? I am the Philistine champion, and you are Saul’s servants. Isn’t that right? Select one of your men, and let him come down against me. If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves, but if I overcome him and kill him, then you will become our slaves and you will serve us. I insult Israel’s troops today!” The Philistine continued, “Give me an opponent, and we’ll fight!” When Saul and all Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were distressed and terrified...
[David heard that his brothers were] with Saul and all the Israelite troops fighting the Philistines in the Elah Valley.”
So David got up early in the morning, left someone in charge of the flock, and loaded up and left, just as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp right when the army was taking up their battle formations and shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines took up their battle formations opposite each other. David left his things with an attendant and ran to the front line. When he arrived, he asked how his brothers were doing. Right when David was speaking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came forward from the Philistine ranks and said the same things he had said before. David listened...
“Don’t let anyone lose courage because of this Philistine!” David told Saul. “I, your servant, will go out and fight him!”
“You can’t go out and fight this Philistine,” Saul answered David. “You are still a boy. But he’s been a warrior since he was a boy!”
“Your servant has kept his father’s sheep,” David replied to Saul, “and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock, I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it. Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God.
“The LORD,” David added, “who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.”
“Go!” Saul replied to David. “And may the LORD be with you!”
Then Saul dressed David in his own gear, putting a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David strapped his sword on over the armor, but he couldn’t walk around well because he’d never tried it before. “I can’t walk in this,” David told Saul, “because I’ve never tried it before.” So he took them off. He then grabbed his staff and chose five smooth stones from the streambed. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and with sling in hand went out to the Philistine.
The Philistine got closer and closer to David, and his shield-bearer was in front of him. When the Philistine looked David over, he sneered at David because he was just a boy; reddish brown and good-looking.
The Philistine asked David, “Am I some sort of dog that you come at me with sticks?” And he cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said to David, “and I’ll feed your flesh to the wild birds and the wild animals!”
But David told the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel’s army, the one you’ve insulted. Today the LORD will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head! Today I will feed your dead body and the dead bodies of the entire Philistine camp to the wild birds and the wild animals. Then the whole world will know that there is a God on Israel’s side. And all those gathered here will know that the LORD doesn’t save by means of sword and spear. The LORD owns this war, and he will hand all of you over to us.”
The Philistine got up and moved closer to attack David, and David ran quickly to the front line to face him. David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone. He slung it, and it hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
Mark 4:35-41 CEB
Later that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along.
Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped. But Jesus was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?”
He got up and gave orders to the wind, and he said to the lake, “Silence! Be still!” The wind settled down and there was a great calm. Jesus asked them, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?”
Overcome with awe, they said to each other, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Commentary from SALT (Matthew Myer Boulton)
Fifth Week after Pentecost (Year B): Mark 4:35-41 and 1 Sam 17:1-49
Big Picture:
1) We’re in the midst of an eight-part portrait of the early phase of Jesus’ public ministry, exploring eight chronologically selected passages from Mark’s Gospel. Jesus has emerged on the scene as a celebrated healer and teacher — and now, with this dramatic story, the vast scope of his work comes into view.
2) Mark was likely written during or just after a period of intense, almost unimaginable upheaval in first-century Palestine, near the year 70 CE: a Jewish revolt against the Roman imperial occupation rises up, and the empire’s might comes crashing down, desecrating and destroying the Jerusalem Temple — which is to say, from the Jewish point of view, desecrating and destroying the heart of the world. To put it mildly, the atmosphere of Mark’s world was full of fear, grief, lamentation, and dread. Death-dealing forces were swirling through everyday life, like a chaotic storm at sea.
3) As we’ve seen, Mark figures death-dealing forces as “demons,” and heralds Jesus as the “Son of God” sent to heal and liberate human beings (Mark 1:1). One of his first acts of public ministry is to drive out a man’s “unclean spirit”: Jesus commands the intruder to “Be silent, and come out of him!”, and the crowds are astonished, whispering about how Jesus “commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” (Mark 1:25-27). This week’s story reprises these basic themes — though now at an even larger scale.
4) The story from 1 Samuel is the well-known tale of David and Goliath, a legendary turning point in Israel’s war with the Philistines, and in David’s rise from obscurity to the throne. Reading these passages from 1 Samuel and Mark side by side makes their similarities stand out: each takes place in a context full of intense conflict, and each features an apparent underdog who triumphs over what initially appears to be an overwhelming adversary.
Scripture:
1) Jesus has just told several parables about the “kingdom” or “reign” of God, and now, that very evening, he instructs the disciples to take him across the Sea of Galilee by boat. It’s as though the parables flow directly into the journey, as if to say, God’s reign has come, and this is what it’s like in parable form (sowing seeds, graceful growth, a weed subversively taking over a field) — and now, this is what it’s like in the form of action. Though night is falling, we’ll head across the sea into Gentile territory, where we’ll confront even more death-dealing adversaries. Even tonight’s journey itself will take on this death-defying character of adventure and struggle: we’ll sail into the shadows of a storm, with the wind and sea against us…
2) As the waves bear down on the boat, Jesus is asleep in the stern, an ancient sign of equanimity and trust in God (compare Job 11:18-19 and Psalms 3:5 and 4:8). The disciples are understandably distraught, and their cry, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” echoes the ancient Israelite tradition of lamentation (compare Psalms 35:23; 69:1-2,14-15; 107:26-28).
3) The disciples’ lament elevates this episode beyond a mere “complaint” story about the disciples’ lack of faith, or even a mere “miracle” story about Jesus’ power. There’s something deeper here. The essence of God’s mission is distilled down into a single scene: the apparently invincible adversary of the storm (a kind of “Goliath”); an apparently clueless central character (Jesus sleeping like a kind of “David,” a shepherd boy without armor, shield, or sword); and then a jaw-dropping reversal of fortune, itself reminiscent of the Psalms: “he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed” (Psalm 107:29).
4) And then there’s the way Jesus stills the storm and hushes the waves. As Mark puts it, he “rebukes” the wind — the same term, epitimaó, “rebuke,” Mark uses to describe what Jesus does to the “unclean spirit” in Mark 1:25. Likewise, what Jesus says to the sea — pephimōso, “be muzzled,” translated “be still” in the NRSV — is exactly what he says to that “unclean spirit” (Mark 1:25; here the NRSV translates pephimōso as “be silent”). Finally, in case we missed it, Mark underscores the point by having the onlookers react almost identically in the two stories: in Mark 1, the crowds whisper, “What is this?… He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him”; and in Mark 4, the disciples whisper, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 1:27; 4:41).
5) The upshot of these parallels is that what happens on the Sea of Galilee is no ordinary miracle story, but rather a kind of exorcism or healing story writ large. The reign of God has come near; it will meet with fierce, overwhelming opposition, as wide and fearsome as a nighttime storm; and yet, the new world will prevail. The world’s death-dealing forces are no match for the God of life.
Takeaways:
1) At the beginning of a musical or film, sometimes the orchestra plays an “overture,” a kind of preview of the main themes we’re about to hear in the production. That’s what this story is like in the Gospel of Mark. It boils everything down to one dramatic episode: the powerful opposition, the disciples’ fear and doubt, and Jesus’ serene triumph. Viewed this way, the story also foreshadows Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.
2) Mark clearly wants us to understand this episode not as just another “miracle story” (as in, There he goes again, doing something amazing!), but rather as a kind of healing story writ large, a liberation story writ large — and this has at least two implications. First, the story suggests that the world’s death-dealing forces aren’t limited to afflicted individuals; they are also much larger, interpersonal, communal phenomena, more like enveloping storms than personal maladies. And second, the story suggests that the essence of Jesus’ mission is to confront such forces — not with military might, but with a calm, courageous campaign of healing and liberation.
3) In a world reeling from polarization and division, rife with racism and other forms of communal inequality, poisoned with rancor, conspiracy theories, and despair — we all know a thing or two about how death-dealing forces take broad, enveloping forms. Mark’s world was full of fear, disorientation, and lament; and in its own way, so is ours.
4) The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus is with us in the boat; indeed, one of the earliest symbols of the church was a boat or an ark (it’s why a cathedral’s central section is called a “nave” — as in, “navy”). But please note, Mark strikingly adds that there are also “other boats” in the storm with us (Mark 4:36). In his time and in ours, when Jesus proclaims the words of healing and liberation — Peace! Be still! — he calms the wind and waves not only for our sake, but for the sake of the life of the world.
Sowing Seeds
Here are the texts we are looking at this week as found in the lectionary, along with some preliminary questions.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Have no regard for his appearance or stature, because I haven’t selected him. God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the LORD sees into the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7 CEB
Q: Why does it matter that God sees into the heart?
Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens. And as soon as the grain is ready, the farmer comes and harvests it with a sickle, for the harvest time has come.”
Jesus said, “How can I describe the Kingdom of God? What story should I use to illustrate it? It is like a mustard seed planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of all garden plants; it grows long branches, and birds can make nests in its shade.”
Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.
– Mark 4:26-34 NLT
Q: What are your initial thoughts about these parables?
Nerd Notes:
· “The Lord sees into the heart.” The context is Samuel anointing David as the future King of Israel. He was just a boy at that time, with older brothers who towered above him.
· Sowing seeds. A major point here is that we can never be sure what will happen with the seeds we sow – the future is largely out of our hands. But we still need to sow, and we always are sowing some seed – but what? What do we make of this? How does the idea that what we sow may have significant impact – despite the apparent smallness of our seed-sowing? How does that impact our choices? How does it empower us?
· Mustard. Scholars still debate the plant to which Jesus refers. Mark’s account sticks with the mustard bush, which nobody would choose to plant because it was seen as an invasive weed (think Ivy) that is nearly impossible to get rid of. What do we make of this? How has the invasive weed of the grace of God made its way into your life? How have you tried to limit its spread? How might we welcome its spread? What are the ramifications of going with the flow of the Kin-dome of God spreading like an invasive weed?
i8
i8.
It was November 1999. Lynne and I and the kids were shopping at Walmart when we came across a roadshow display and a salesperson who knew a sucker when she saw one (that would be me). She was barking a product called the Quick Cut 2000. The name alone drew me in. This food processing device could quickly and effortlessly chop up vegetables simply by loading up the bowl and turning the crank on top. No power needed, and very few moving parts meant it would surely last forever! Suddenly I had dreams of all the salsa we would be enjoying made from fresh veggies we would of course have recently purchased at a Farmers Market. What a vision. I was sold. Had it not been for what surely had to be the intervention of God, I would have purchased one for family members for Christmas. Lynne just shook her head. She knew how this was going to play out, but it didn’t cost much, so she didn’t put up much resistance.
I think I used it once. We stored it somewhere in our kitchen for several years, and I eventually sold it to some other sucker at our garage sale, but for much less than I paid, that’s for sure. As I recall that guy’s wife was rolling her eyes just like Lynne did years before...
Sometimes we make decisions based on what we think we want only to find out later that it was a mistake.
The story of the people of Israel records this perennial process over hundreds of years. There would be moments of clarity when everyone agreed on what kind of people they were meant to be as those led by God only to be followed by stories of pain and destruction caused by their veering off course. God was always quick to pick them up, dust them off, and help them get back on their way, but the mistakes always came with a price, which was often very high.
Part of the vision of following God as their leader was that they would not be led by a king. There would be judges anointed for the hardest cases, but for the most part the idea was that everyone would be guided by shalom to create shalom in community. People would look after each other and treat each other as brothers and sisters. It was undoubtedly a messy process, but it offered the benefit of not being ruled by a king who might be susceptible to greed, power, lust, etc. Over time, however, Israel found themselves walking down the aisle at Walmart only to discover a display for “Kings”. Abandoning their better judgment, they just had to have one:
All the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. They presented their case: “Look, you’re an old man, and your sons aren’t following in your footsteps. Here’s what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else.”
When Samuel heard their demand—“Give us a king to rule us!”—he was crushed. How awful! Samuel prayed to GOD.
GOD answered Samuel, “Go ahead and do what they’re asking. They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they’re doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they’re in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.” – 1 Samuel 8:4-9 MSG
A king they got. Saul was tall, dark, and handsome, and that was about it. He was a lousy king. All but a handful of Israel’s kings were lousy, leading them to war, lining their pockets, not taking God seriously, with grave consequences every single time. Yet God would always be gracious and help them get back on their feet and on their way toward shalom.
There are other forms of leadership than royalty, of course. In Jesus’ day, Israel was under the Roman Empire’s oppressive thumb. To keep the peace, Rome allowed Jewish leaders to keep up their cultic religious practices, with the Chief Priest holding rank over the rest. With power often comes corruption, and the Chief Priests were no exception. The elite Jewish leadership became wealthy from the offerings from the mostly extremely poor Jewish people they “served.” And, of course, they did everything they could to protect and maintain their power. When word came to them that a man named Jesus was challenging their interpretation of scriptures as well as their demands and ethics, they sent some of their own to learn more and deal with him as necessary:
Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was believing his own press.
The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working black magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power. Jesus confronted their slander with a story: “Does it make sense to send a devil to catch a devil, to use Satan to get rid of Satan? A constantly squabbling family disintegrates. If Satan were fighting Satan, there soon wouldn’t be any Satan left. Do you think it’s possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man, and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out. – Mark 3:20-27 MSG
In this scene we are seeing the consequences of choosing against shalom on the part of the Jewish leadership – the people were desperate. While the imagery of demons and such may seem antiquated, Matthew Myer Boulton (SALT Project) reminds us that it may not be as foreign as one might imagine:
Any number of death-dealing forces today are often experienced as "possession" or being "caught up" in dynamics that far exceed our intentions or control. Think of how addiction overwhelms individuals and families; how racism shape-shifts over time between explicit and implicit forms; how anger consumes; how envy devours; how lies and conspiracies distort; or how sexism creates pervasive atmospheres of degradation. We may or may not call addiction or racism or lies or the objectification of women “demons,” but they are most certainly “demonic.” They move through the world as though by a kind of cunning. They seem to resist our best attempts to overcome them. And as we contend with them, the experience can be less like figuring out an equation and more like wrestling with a beast...
Jesus has come into the world as a healing liberator in direct, authoritative opposition to the death-dealing forces of evil and ruin in the world.
We are also seeing God’s response: Jesus was all about restoring shalom for one and all. Eventually, the Jewish leadership got their way and killed Jesus. Yet the vision remained and prospered as his disciples picked up the mantle and followed. They were living into what it meant to be followers of Jesus.
The pattern of being lured into some decision only to regret it later is still with us in our time. It will always be with us. In the Jewish stories of their beginning, they give their take on this so that everyone who would learn the story would become wise to it. Adam and Eve in a lush garden. Forbidden fruit. Temptation. Blowing it. Hiding. Blaming. Denying. And then owning up. Here we catch up after the infamous bites had been “enjoyed.” (Genesis 3:8-13 MSG):
When they heard the sound of GOD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from GOD.
GOD called to the Man: “Where are you?”
He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”
GOD said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”
The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”
GOD said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”
“The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”
“The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was executed by the Nazis, once argued that the decisive, heart-breaking “fall” away from God isn’t the point in the story when humanity eats the forbidden fruit, but rather the moment when they hide from God afterwards, in effect turning away from their Creator and at the same time from their true identity (Boulton).” Adam and Eve are human indeed, and eventually on the path to maturing. Before owning up to their personal complicity in the offense, they each blame someone else. Adam blames Eve’s excellent sales-pitching. Eve blames the seductive snake. That’s not maturity, that’s just classic evasion. The mature part is when they admitted that they ate it. They weren’t force-fed. They ate. “I ate” is a great start on the path to shalom. Follow up will include lots of introspective questions aimed at understanding the complexity of the dynamics that led the possibility of taking a bite in the first place. What was happening in us that contributed toward our abandoning the path of shalom? That’s the question we must ask if we should ever hope to avoid finding ourselves in the same situation again.
Sometimes the stakes aren’t very high. My $20 “Quick Cut 2000” didn’t harm our financial future or hurt much more than my pride. But some decisions away from shalom have devastating results to ourselves, our relationships, our families, our communities, our nation, and our entire world. Taking our decisions seriously is very much connected to our faith. As Boulton notes:
“Follow me” means following Jesus into the fray, into the shadows, into the house of menace itself. He means follow him into the good-and-difficult work of building up from ruins, of helping to free the captives, of living with dignified responsibility — in short, the work of salvation (health!) in our hearts, in our homes, and in our neighborhoods. The good news of the Gospel is that this life-giving mission is already underway, and God calls us to take part, each in our own way, in the beautiful struggle of restoration.
Today, what do you sense it means follow Jesus in terms or your personal life? Your key relationships? Your family system? Your community? Your country? Your world?
Commentary from The SALT Project
Third Week after Pentecost (Year B): Mark 3:20-35 and Genesis 3:8-15
Big Picture:
1) This week the season of Ordinary Time (sometimes called the “Season after Pentecost”) begins in earnest, a period of nearly six months during which the Gospel of Mark (and occasionally John) will be our guide through the story of Jesus’ ministry. This is the first of seven weeks in a row working our way through seven chronologically selected passages in Mark.
2) Jesus’ ministry is just getting up and running — and tensions are already palpable. Crowds of people seeking healing and wisdom are pursuing and pressing in on him, so much so that “he could no longer go into a town openly” (Mark 1:45). The atmosphere is a hectic mix of devotion and desperation: people from Idumea (Mark 3:8), for example, would have had to have traveled from 150 miles away! Perhaps in part because of this frenzy, local authorities are already plotting to discredit or destroy Jesus (Mark 3:6), and even members of his own family now doubt his sanity, and have come to restrain him.
3) Mark’s world is full of shadows and menace, riddled with demons who distort creation and overwhelm hearts and minds. Human beings are cast as porous creatures open to spiritual influences: Jesus himself is driven deep into the desert by the Holy Spirit, and many people are possessed by unholy ones. On first glance, this way of understanding the world can seem archaic and strange. But after all, when we read the Bible, we engage ancient texts from halfway around the world; it's only natural that they’ll feel cross-cultural and unfamiliar at first. Think of this as a kind of travel (including time travel!). The opportunity is to stay open to how another way of thinking and living can shed new light on our own.
4) For example, any number of death-dealing forces today are often experienced as "possession" or being "caught up" in dynamics that far exceed our intentions or control. Think of how addiction overwhelms individuals and families; how racism shape-shifts over time between explicit and implicit forms; how anger consumes; how envy devours; how lies and conspiracies distort; or how sexism creates pervasive atmospheres of degradation. We may or may not call addiction or racism or lies or the objectification of women “demons,” but they are most certainly “demonic.” They move through the world as though by a kind of cunning. They seem to resist our best attempts to overcome them. And as we contend with them, the experience can be less like figuring out an equation and more like wrestling with a beast.
5) The story of humanity’s “fall” into sin (Genesis 2-4) is often framed as a story of disobedience, of Adam and Eve eating a forbidden fruit. And so it is — but it’s also a great deal more than that. The story begins with humanity’s creation and call, including a portrait of remarkable intimacy between God and humankind; then human anxiety arises, along with ambiguity, mistrust, and that infamous meal; and then comes this week’s passage, an account of the first couple’s subsequent encounter with God in the garden, full of evasion, blame, and denial. Only by attending to each of these stages in the story (culminating in the final stage, humanity’s turn to violence in Genesis 4) can we fully explore sin’s breadth and depth in human life. And that exploration lays the groundwork for exploring salvation’s corresponding breadth and depth, the good news declared in the Gospel.
Scripture:
1) Mark has mentioned crowds at Jesus’ house before (Mark 2:1-12), but this throng seems even more intense, so packed in shoulder-to-shoulder that “they could not even eat” (Mark 3:20). Jesus’ family has come to restrain him, apparently concerned about rumors that he has “gone out of his mind” — a phrase that likely refers to extreme fervor or spirit possession.
2) Scribes from Jerusalem (that is, experts in religious law) pick up on this same idea, raising the stakes into a devastating charge: not only is he possessed, they declare, he’s possessed by “the ruler of demons” — and that’s why the demons listen to him! Jesus responds with a pithy analogy: a house divided cannot stand. He’s no member of Satan’s house; instead, he’s an intruder breaking into it. His ability to cast out demons demonstrates that he has bound “the strong man” himself, and so that the spirit indwelling Jesus — “the Holy Spirit” — opposes Satan outright (Mark 3:27-30). Mark frames all of this as speaking in “parables” or figures, but the overall message is clear: Jesus has come into the world as a healing liberator in direct, authoritative opposition to the death-dealing forces of evil and ruin in the world.
3) What’s more, Jesus pushes back directly against his critics: to reject the Holy Spirit as an “unclean spirit” — indeed as Beelzebul, “the ruler of demons” — is consummate blasphemy, a point Jesus underlines by calling it “an eternal sin,” a stunning, enigmatic phrase. For Mark’s storytelling purposes, this exchange puts Jesus’ mission into sharp relief: accused of being in league with death-dealing forces, he’s actually at work defeating them, all for the sake of the world’s salvation (from the Latin salvus, “health”).
4) Those who seek to follow Jesus, then, can only do so by taking part in this life-giving mission as well. His “family” will be constituted not by those who seek to “restrain” his healing work, he insists, but rather by “whoever does the will of God” (Mark 3:21,35). Neither kinship nor doctrine will do: what matters most is participating in God's mission of healing, hope, and restoration.
5) In the Genesis story, the first human beings, at the serpent’s suggestion, have just disobeyed God — and now they make matters even worse. Hearing God approaching in the garden, they hide, resulting in God’s question, “Where are you?” As the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber and others have argued, the question isn’t for God’s benefit (since God knows very well where they are) but rather for humanity’s benefit: like its counterpart, “Where is your brother Abel?” (Gen 4:9), the question is a call for the first couple to reorient themselves, to regain their bearings — for they have lost their way.
6) But instead up stepping up into dignified responsibility, the first humans fall further into blame, evasion, and denial — three good synonyms for sin (“sin-onyms”?). Loss compounds loss. Adam blames both God and his wife (You gave me this woman, and she gave me the fruit!), and the woman blames the serpent (He tricked me!). By failing to take responsibility for their actions (another good definition of sin), they alienate themselves even farther from God, from one another, and from their own individual integrity. Now they will physically leave the garden — but their self-imposed exile has already begun, from God and from each other.
Takeaways:
1) Jesus’ ministry involves courage and confrontation — not for its own sake, but rather for the sake of the health and life of the world. And so this week is a perfect time to challenge ourselves, as individuals and as congregations: How can we more boldly and effectively stand against the world’s death-dealing forces, in ourselves and in our neighborhoods? Are we following Jesus, filled with the Spirit, into the fray? Where is “the strong man” still at work today, and how are we called to take part in God’s mission of hope, healing, and liberation? In short, how are we “doing the will of God,” not just thinking about it or talking about it, and thereby becoming Jesus’ “brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35)?
2) These are not idle questions. This passage in Mark is also a candid testimony to the difficulties of ministry and discipleship: the needs of the world may overwhelm; authorities may oppose the work of restoration; and even our families (sometimes especially our families) may “restrain” rather than encourage. These are extremely delicate topics, and should be explored with care; Mark doesn’t seek to justify recklessness! But on the other hand, naming the difficulties of discipleship can be cathartic, affirming, and ultimately heartening. The struggle is real, as are the stakes — and naming the struggle is an important first step toward supporting each other through it.
3) Taken together, this week’s passages provide an opportunity to reflect on the nature of sin and salvation. Sin can mean being “caught up” — personally or collectively — in dynamics of ruin (addiction, racism, anger, envy, lies, degradation, and so on). And it also can mean being caught up in patterns of denial and recrimination, blaming God or others rather than taking responsibility with dignity and grace. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis, once argued that the decisive, heart-breaking “fall” away from God isn’t the point in the story when humanity eats the forbidden fruit, but rather the moment when they hide from God afterwards, in effect turning away from their Creator and at the same time from their true identity. “Where are you, Humanity?” (The Hebrew word, ‘adam, means “humanity.”) From this angle, “sin” may be framed as less about “disobedience” and more about estrangement and alienation, a debilitating separation from God and from our true selves that requires healing and reconciliation.
4) The interdependent concepts of “sin” and “salvation” are foundational for Christian life, and there’s a wide range of scriptural and theological approaches for understanding them — much wider, it turns out, than many realize. Disobedience-Forgiveness is one way of framing the Sin-Salvation relationship, but there are others: Affliction-Healing, for example, as these early chapters of Mark would suggest; or Separation-Reconciliation, as Genesis 3 would have it. How we conceive this crucial pair of ideas will move our thoughts and practices in quite different directions — and most important of all, our participation in God’s mission will be enriched accordingly.
5) For Mark, when Jesus says, “Follow me,” he means follow him into the fray, into the shadows, into the house of menace itself. He means follow him into the good-and-difficult work of building up from ruins, of helping to free the captives, of living with dignified responsibility — in short, the work of salvation (health!) in our hearts, in our homes, and in our neighborhoods. The good news of the Gospel is that this life-giving mission is already underway, and God calls us to take part, each in our own way, in the beautiful struggle of restoration.
Space, Croissants, Trees, & An Expanding YOUniverse
Enjoy this fantastic teaching offered by Angie Barker-Jackson, built around the story of God visiting Abraham under the trees of Mamre. Profound insights here!
CrossWalkMoth: Unsung Heroes
Stories connect us. Listen to these stories celebrating people in our lives who made a difference. Who is an unsung hero in your life?
Pentecost 2024
Welcome to Pentecost Sunday, the day most Christians recognize as the birthday of the Church. Here is the story recorded by Luke, the author of the Book of Acts:
When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!”
Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!
Peter replied, “Change your hearts and lives. Each of you must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you, your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God invites.” With many other words he testified to them and encouraged them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Those who accepted Peter’s message were baptized. God brought about three thousand people into the community on that day.
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved. - Acts 2:1-15, 38-47 (CEB).
This is one of those sci-fi passages that can be baffling to modern readers. We need to remember that this passage did not have us in mind. It was written to communicate what was being told to Luke from stories he gathered as he researched the development of the Church after Jesus died. If the story sounds a bit like a folk tale, it should. Decades had passed since the event described. Set aside the Western need for certainty and verifiable details. Allow yourself to hear what is trying to be communicated for the original recipients. Below are a series of take-aways that jump off the page once we see the story from their perspective:
The Festival of Weeks/Shavuot/Pentecost. This started as a Spring harvest festival, but then morphed into something more in Judaism. Let’s appreciate what we’re seeing here. Remember that Jesus told the disciples to stay put until they were baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Festival of Weeks was perhaps the highest-attended festivals in ancient Judaism during the time of Jesus. While it first celebrated the Spring harvest, it eventually celebrated the giving of the Law/Torah – a gift from the mouth of God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It is no accident that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is remembered as having taken place on the day the Law was given. This is a new, quite literal expression of the Word of God being given. Take-away number one: on the day set aside to celebrate the early harvest as well as the historical day when “God spoke”, the disciples experienced God’s presence.
A Mighty Wind (not the hilarious movie). We read that there is the sound of a mighty wind. We recall that ruach and pneuma, the Hebrew and Greek words that give us the word “breath” and “wind”, can also be translated as “spirit.” This was reminiscent of the scene in Ezekiel’s vision of the Valley of Dry bones, when the Spirit of God brought to life that which was formerly dead. Take-away number two: the sound of wind affirms the presence of the Spirit of God that brings new life.
People engrossed in fire! Flames settle on each person. One translation suggests that each person was immersed in the flame. In the Exodus story, Moses experienced God’s call through a burning bush full of flame but never consumed, and as the Israelites wandered toward the Promised Land, God’s presence at night was evidenced as a flame. Take-away number three: the scene has us seeing the disciples immersed (the literal translation for baptism) in the presence of God.
Que pasa? The immediate result of the disciples’ baptism in the windy, flaming presence of God was that they began speaking in other tongues. From the tongues of fire come words in other tongues, a spiritually fueled pronouncement of God’s speaking the Word again. People nearby who were visiting Jerusalem for the Festival of Weeks/Pentecost heard the disciples speaking in their respective languages. This shocked them because the disciples were not from a region of academic excellence where you might find many bilingual speakers. No, the disciples were viewed as uneducated country boys with accents and outfits that gave their home zip code away. The Word of God was being given to people from all over the world, not just in the Aramaic language Jesus spoke, but in the native tongues from distant places. This echoes the call of Abraham, when he was told by God that this new venture they were undertaking would bless the whole world. It was also a reversal of the ancient Tower of Babylon myth, where God humbled humanity by creating multiple languages. Now, God has “come down to earth” and unified humanity by enabling people to hear and speak as one – a move toward radical inclusion. Take-away number five: The message of God was meant for the whole world, in their native tongues, not just for Israel.
The Fruitful Result. The result of all of this was a growing community built on the realized shalom of God. People shared their resources with each other as they each had need. They broke bread together, defying strict cultural rules dictating otherwise. They continued to learn together from the remembrances and insights of those who knew Jesus well, and they continued the practices that fostered their connection with God: prayer. Take-away number six: the presence of God led them toward the practice of shalom.
CrossWalk Copycat. “The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers.” This verse should resonate with anyone who calls CrossWalk home because it reflects our means and ends that lead us to shalom. We value and incorporate lifelong learning (Stretch), serving others (Kneel), leveling the playing field by welcoming everyone as equals (Grace & Justice), cultivating spiritual practices (Connect), and doing it all together as the spiritually attuned faith community (Incarnate). Take-away number seven: CrossWalk is modeled and is modeling that early expression of the Christian movement!
The Lord’s Prayer (adapted by Philip Newell): Ground of all being. Mother of life, Father of the universe, Your name is sacred, beyond speaking. May we know your presence, May your longings be our longings In heart and in action. May there be food for the human family today and for the whole earth community. Forgive us the falseness of what we have done as we forgive those who are untrue to us. Do not forsake us in our time of conflict but lead us into new beginnings. For the light of life, the vitality of life, and the glory of life, are yours now and forever.
Enjoy: The Lord’s Prayer in Multiple Languages
Commentary from SALT. Pentecost (Year B): Acts 2:1-21 and Ezekiel 37:1-14
Big Picture:
1) Pentecost (from a Greek word for “fiftieth”) is the fiftieth and last day of the Easter season. Next week is Trinity Sunday, and then nearly six months of “Ordinary Time” begin, during which this year’s walk through the Gospel of Mark (and occasionally John) will continue. From ten thousand feet, the Christian Year appears divided almost in half: about six months of holy seasons (Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide), and about six months of Ordinary Time. Like a pendulum swinging back and forth, or a pair of lungs breathing in and out, the church alternates between these two movements each year: high holidays and everyday life, the joys of celebration and the grunt work of growth.
2) Pentecost is the Christian rendition of the ancient Jewish pilgrimage festival, the Festival of Weeks, or Shavuot (pronounced “sha-voo-OAT,” the last syllable rhyming with “coat”), celebrated 50 days after Passover. For the ancient Israelites, this festival was an explicitly inclusive harvest celebration (Deut 16:11; Lev 23:16), and over time, it also came to mark the reception of the Torah at Mount Sinai. For Christians, it celebrates the reception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Happy Birthday!
3) The passage from Ezekiel is in the context of Israel’s exile to Babylon in the sixth century BCE. The prophet’s symbolic vision of a valley filled with the bones of the slain evokes the death-like experience of exile itself, and God’s spirited revivification of those bones functions as a hopeful promise of renewal and restoration.
Scripture:
1) The community of disciples are gathered because of the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot). Jesus had promised the arrival of the Holy Spirit not long after his departure — and sure enough, on the festival day itself, the Holy Spirit arrives. The scene is spectacular and chaotic: a violent, rushing sound like wind, and then “divided tongues, as of fire” — not a fire that destroys, but rather a fire like the one Moses encountered at the burning bush, which was “blazing, yet it was not consumed” (Exodus 3).
2) The Spirit’s most immediate, conspicuous effect is linguistic: many are empowered “to speak in other languages,” and at the same time, each person gathered hears the testimony in their native language. Think of a meeting at the United Nations, in which each person hears (through a headset) the proceedings translated into their mother tongue. The upshot of all of this is a sense of togetherness and unity: diverse as they are, everyone understands and can communicate, thanks to the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, they’re dazzled and taken aback, asking, “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:12).
3) As if to answer this question, Peter stands and speaks. He cites the prophet Joel, adapting those ancient words to illuminate the present: the final and decisive chapter of history has arrived, the dawn of God’s joyous Jubilee that Jesus declared early in his ministry (Luke 4:18-19), and now the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon “all flesh.” Jesus both heralded and inaugurated this new era, and now the Spirit will empower a community through whom the movement’s message of healing, liberation, and joy will go out to the ends of the earth. The church is born!
4) On one level, from a Christian perspective these events provide a new layer of meaning for the ancient harvest festival: the Spirit comes in order to gather in the sheaves of God’s great harvest of redemption. On another level, the story of Pentecost reverses the ancient story of Babel (Gen 11:1-9): in an arrogant attempt to “make a name for ourselves,” humanity tries to build a tower with its top in the heavens — and God scatters them by diversifying their languages. Here in Acts, instead of humanity presumptuously ascending toward heaven, God graciously descends to earth; and instead of humanity linguistically fragmenting, the Spirit brings us together, bridging divides so we can understand each other.
Takeaways:
1) The birthday of the church is a perfect time to reflect on what “the church” is in the first place. This week’s passage points toward a portrait of the church as a dynamic community of people following Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry out God’s mission of healing, liberation, and joy for the sake of the world.
2) This community is strikingly inclusive and egalitarian. The Jews Peter addresses are immigrants from all over the known world (“known” to Luke, that is!) who now live in Jerusalem, and the Jesus movement will soon open up to include Gentiles as well (Acts 10). Accordingly, Luke casts the church as a diverse, prophetic community of bridge-builders, visionaries, and dreamers, male and female, enslaved and free (Acts 2:17) — and soon enough, this egalitarian, communitarian ethos extends to the church’s social organization as well: “they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:43-47). (On the early church’s socio-economic life, check out this remarkable, provocative short essay by theologian David Bentley Hart, “Are Christians Supposed to Be Communists?”)
3) Likewise, this is a perfect week to reflect on how we understand the Holy Spirit. Luke’s portrait of the Spirit draws on ideas at least as ancient as Ezekiel’s vision, in which God’s “breath” or “spirit” — both ru’ah in Hebrew — brings life, renewal, connection, and restoration, sometimes in sudden, disruptive fashion (compare Ezekiel’s “suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together” to Luke’s “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind” (Ezekiel 37:7, Acts 2:2)).
4) But for all the drama, Pentecost is only the beginning: throughout the Book of Acts, again and again, the Spirit mobilizes the church and opens up new horizons for ministry (see Acts 4, 8, 10, 13, 15, 19, and so on). Breath means new life — and new life means new growth, change, and ongoing development. The Spirit protects and connects, but also challenges, provokes, and pushes us along. And thinking this way about life in the Spirit is the perfect segue into the nearly six months ahead of Ordinary Time, the season of everyday life and growth. So, “Happy Birthday,” yes — and also, “Let’s go!” The church is not a building, nor is it a particular membership or group of people. At its heart, the church is a mission, God’s mission — and the call, the challenge, the adventure continues. Let’s go!
Freeing Jesus: Presence
With this teaching, this series on Diana Butler Bass’ book, Freeing Jesus, concludes. Our journey, however, does not. This also happens to be Mother’s Day and the Sunday before Pentecost. What a nice synchronicity that a chapter on the dwelling of God dovetails with a text serving as a prelude to the dramatic experience of the Holy Spirit also lands on a day that we honor the gender who is capable of carrying a “dweller” and eventually giving birth to something (someone) new! Here is the text:
Acts 1:1-8 (CEB). Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s [kin-dom]. While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?”
Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Question: As Spirit bearers, what will be said of our witness?
Bass offers wonderful research well communicated in the following quotes (page numbers are from the Kindle version). Take your time. Let each quote sink in…
In the scriptures, the Spirit is called the ruach, pneuma, and the shekhinah, the “wind,” the “breath,” and the “dwelling.” Theologian Marjorie Suchocki refers to these as God’s power, wisdom, and presence. Those three things are the heart of redemption, of experiencing the full life God intends for all: God as presence answers alienation and loneliness with love; God as wisdom answers the loss of time with trust; God as power answers injustice with empowering hope. This vision of a redemptive God of presence, wisdom, and power comes from the biblical revelation of God’s presence in Jesus of Nazareth, named the Christ (222-223).
Jewish historian Amy Jill Levine says, “Judaism has the idea of the Shekhinah, the feminine presence of God descending to earth and dwelling among human beings.” She continues, making the point that the possibility that a person could somehow be the presence, the dwelling among us, was not out of line with ancient Judaism: First-century Judaism was sufficiently fluid to allow even the idea that an individual could embody divinity. We know that because the earliest followers of Jesus who recognized him as divinity incarnate—such as Paul or James, the brother of Jesus who’s running the Jerusalem church—still called themselves Jews. Everybody recognized them as Jews (223-224).
Jesus was born male, the Son of God. If, however, Jesus is inhabited by shekhinah, Jesus brings the divine presence to the world, then, in some way, the man Jesus also embodies the sacred feminine. (238)
In the Old Testament, there is maternal imagery for God—including that of a mother bear, an eagle hovering over her nest, a woman in labor, a nursing mother—and verses like this: “I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them” (Hosea 11:4). In the New Testament, Jesus continues this tradition claiming motherly concern as his own: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). Although often ignored, there have been important Christian thinkers who have explored the idea of Jesus as Mother. The most notable of these gender-bending reflections came from Julian of Norwich, circa 1390: “And so Jesus is our true Mother in nature by our first creation. And he is our true Mother in grace by taking our created nature . . . He is our Mother, brother and savior” (238).
Theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim puts it well: The Christian faith is different from what the world teaches. The Christian faith is not “seeing is believing,” but rather, “believing is seeing.” We must open our eyes and hearts and see Jesus’s presence in our lives. We need to see him in the places that we dare not to look and dare not to think about (245).
Everyone is born of flesh and spirit. The problem is that we forget.
Question: How are you relating to the Presence of God dwelling in this space today?
Freeing Jesus: Way
The following text has comforted and tormented untold millions of people over time. Can you see why?
“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. You know the way to the place I’m going.”
Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.” – John 14:1-7 (CEB)
On the one hand, Jesus offers great comfort regarding God’s care, which apparently extends somehow beyond the grave. On the other hand, however, it sure seems like he makes a very exclusivist statement about himself, calling into question whether or not people of other faith traditions will be covered under the same promises. The latter concern triggers our lizard brains into a frenzy. Combine it with our present context where we demand clarity and certainty, and we can find ourselves riddled with anxiety. Yet, for Christian insiders, the certainty is a comfort. As Pete Enns noted, “believing that we are right about God helps give us a sense of order in an otherwise messy world” (193).
The bummer of our desire for certainty is that we get more than we bargained for. As Richard Rohr notes, “religion has turned the biblical idea of faith . . . into a need and even a right to certain knowing, complete predictability, and perfect assurance about whom and what God likes or doesn’t like” (193). When we “get it all figured out” we don’t really need faith anymore, do we? We’ve got a signed contract from God in our proof-texted theological construct. This is deeply problematic, however, as Pete Enns notes: “Aligning faith in God and certainty about what we believe and needing to be right in order to maintain a healthy faith—these do not make for a healthy faith in God. This the sin of certainty” (194).
Much of the Christian tradition that has formed our current thinking was not born from a pure state with no motives beyond the Spirit’s truth. Hardly! As Diana Butler Bass points out, “the creeds were the result of politics, power, patriarchy, and privilege, part of a larger argument about who would shape the Christian narrative, and not some miracle of the Holy Spirit. It was a conflicted history involving humans with messy motives and much self-interest” (197). It sure is a relief knowing we are no longer susceptible to such lowly motives in our present age... Sigh.
So, what do we make of Jesus’ statement of love and also exclusion? Bass reminds us that “the disciples are frightened that their friend and teacher is leaving; Jesus reassures them that, although they cannot follow him into suffering and death, he is present with them through love, trust, and faith in him, not in ideas about him. ‘I have loved you; abide in my love’ (John 15:9)” (168-169). Lovely. But what about “except through me”? As one scholar [Craig Koester] says, “the seemingly judgmental phrase ‘no one comes to the Father’ is ‘not the last word’: ‘Except’ is like a window that lets light into a closed room. It fits what the Gospel says about Christ coming as light into a world of darkness and serving as the door . . . that enables people to enter God’s sheepfold. Rather than restricting access to God the word “except” creates access to God. There would be no way except that the love of God has made a way. God would be distant, unavailable, separated from us except for love” (169-170). As Bass paraphrases, Jesus was saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus assured them. Except for my showing you the way of God you’d get lost” (170). How does this way of thinking about this passage sit with you?
This jibes well with Jesus instruction that follows (John 15:9-14 CEB):
“As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
If Jesus promoted anything, it was love. This was the central thrust behind the Kin-dom of God he proclaimed. I think it is worth noting that Jesus didn’t simply tell his disciples to love each other – he told them to love each other as he had loved them. This serves as a reminder that our vision of love may be too small. We need to be reminded of the expansiveness of love. Could it be that we settle for our more shallow understanding of love? I wonder what we have missed out on? I wonder what others have missed out on because we opted for a smaller love, because love isn’t only something we receive – we are commanded to extend it wherever we go. Bass recalls:
In 1979, when I was still in college, a professor assigned a book called Journey Inward, Journey Outward. No surprise that I loved it. The author, Elizabeth O’Connor, told the story of a Christian community organized around two spiritual journeys—the interior one toward knowing our true self and knowing God, and the one directed outward into the world to enact God’s justice and love. These two movements comprise the way of Jesus, a continual flow of breath: in, out; in, out; in, out. “Breathe it all in,” writes poet Mary Oliver. “Love it all out.” This spiritual dynamism was the wellspring of knowing Jesus, of my inner searching and outward service (186).
This interpretation of John 14 – beyond certainty of who is in and who is out – is founded entirely differently. It is in the loving that we experience deeper, more profound love, and ultimately, God. Not a checklist, but an approach to life. As Meister Eckhart wrote, “There is a journey you must take. It is a journey without destination. There is no map. Your soul will lead you. And you can take nothing with you” (186-187). What a different vision than maintaining a belief statement to make sure it is right! Bass reminds us of how this was lived out by the mystics of the past:
Not all mystics are remembered, many were martyred by their own church, and a few were made saints. Yet for all their diversity and the uniqueness of their experiences, they tend to express what is within through circles and spirals, poetry and revelations, in visions of love rather than dogma. Theirs was the alternative way, unconcerned with worldly power, seeking only to follow a less-traveled path. “Since I gave myself to Love’s service, whether I lose or win, I am resolved,” wrote the thirteenth-century Dutch mystic Hadewijch of Brabant in language echoing others’. “I will always give her thanks, whether I lose or win; I will stand in her power.” For her, love was the energy of an unreachable destination, the way of a “Being beyond all bliss” (188-189).
Wow! I find this so incredibly compelling! Love’s service – who wouldn’t want to count themselves in Love’s service? Yet as human beings it is always a choice, always something that must be maintained. Rabbi Jonathon Sacks notes:
We can obey but also disobey; we can create harmony or discord. The freedom to do good comes hand-in-hand with the freedom to do evil. The result is the entire human drama as Judaism understands it. Our fate does not lie in the stars, nor in the human genome, or in any other form of determinism. We become what we choose to be (206).
If the past is any predicter of the future, we can safely bet that we will find ourselves being a mixture of hits and misses, wins and losses, at times champions of love and at other times perpetuators of hatred. Knowing this ahead of time helps our inner perfectionists calm down a bit. While we wish we could bat a thousand, the best batters usually get a hit only a third of the time. We can hopefully do better than that, but we will never be 100%. Not even Jesus hit that mark. But we can celebrate the reality that love always continues to invite expression. There will always be more opportunities to invite and express love.
In what areas of your life does accepting and expressing love come easily? Why? Where is it more difficult? Why? Where do you sense Love inviting you to embrace love and express love? How might saying yes to such an invitation fulfill Jesus’ statement about being the way, truth, and life that leads to the Divine?
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes are from Diana Butler Bass’ book, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence (HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Through me: spiritual practices (the way), authenticity and integrity (the truth), and abundance and joy (life). (Bass, 166)
Commentary from SALT (Matthew Myer Boulton):
Sixth Week of Easter (Year B): John 15:9-17 and Acts 10:44-48
Big Picture:
1) This is the sixth of the seven weeks of Eastertide, and the third of four weeks exploring Jesus’ teachings about living in intimacy with God. Following directly on last week’s passage in which Jesus casts himself as “the vine” and the disciples as the vine’s fruitful branches, here Jesus elaborates on just what sort of “fruit” he has in mind: works of love for the sake of joy.
2) As we saw last week, the key to understanding the “farewell discourse” in John (John 14-17) is to remember that Jesus is engaged here in urgent pastoral care, assuring his distraught disciples that his imminent departure is not abandonment, but rather a move that will make way for an even deeper intimacy. Accordingly, the exhortations in this week’s passage (“love one another”) are expressions of care and reassurance. Hearing Jesus this way shifts the tone from mere imperative (“you must go and do such-and-such”) to warm encouragement and consolation (“take heart, I’m not abandoning you — as you go and do such-and-such, we’ll be together!”).
3) This passage introduces a key theme in the farewell discourse — arguably the central theme, nothing less than the purpose of Jesus’ mission in the first place. That theme is joy. In this passage, and again in chapters 16 and 17, Jesus frames joy as the ultimate goal of his ministry to his disciples, and by extension to the whole world: "that your joy may be complete" (John 15:11). Jesus has come to dwell with humanity, and now will lay down his life, and promises to equip the church and “draw all people” (John 12:32) — and he does these things out of love, he proclaims, a love for the sake of "complete joy."
4) The larger context of the passage from Acts is the Jesus movement’s official shift toward including Gentiles as well as Jews. Just a few verses earlier, Peter has preached on God’s openness to all people: the phrase the NRSV translates as “God shows no partiality” is literally, “God accepts no one’s face” — in other words, God doesn't crassly play favorites, and so God's love isn't restricted to any in-group, but rather spills over, expanding to include supposed outsiders (Acts 10:34). Accordingly, Peter’s question in this week's reading (“Can anyone withhold the water…?”) echoes the Ethiopian eunuch’s rhetorical-yet-subversive remark, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36).
Scripture:
1) In the context of Jesus assuring his disciples that he is by no means abandoning them, these reflections on love, joy, and friendship function as soothing words of solace. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “On one level, I am about to leave you, but on a deeper level, we’ll be even closer than before. Just continue along the path I have shown you — and we’ll be together. Love one another — and you’ll thereby abide in my love, which is to say, you’ll abide in me, as intimate as a vine and its branches. Your love itself will be the sign of all signs that we are acting together, living together, abiding together. Look at my intimacy with God: it’s based on my listening and embodying and abiding in God’s commandments to love, and in this way, God and I are inseparable. So — go and do likewise! Listen and embody my commandment to love, and we’ll be inseparable, too.”
2) And then it’s as if Jesus adds: “And here’s the point of all this: I want us to be so close that my joy is yours, so that your joy will be perfect joy, complete joy, joy in all its fullness. Isn’t that what all loving parents want for their children? Complete joy? That’s what God wants for you! And so: even though the stars may seem to fall over the days ahead, as I am handed over and sent down into the valley of the shadow of death, remember this: what I want for you, and what I promise you, and what I give to you — is joy.”
3) To what may this “complete joy” be compared? A little later in the farewell discourse, Jesus compares it to childbirth: “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:21-22). Jesus’ mission is for the sake of joy, yes — but not just any joy. Think of it, he says, like the joy of a new mother, strong and creative, exhausted and exultant, a joy that is no stranger to anguish, and above all the joy of having brought new life into the world. From this angle, we may put the poetry this way: every Christian disciple is a mother or a midwife!
4) What do we typically call a relationship characterized by this confluence of listening, love, togetherness, creativity, and joy? In this week’s passage Jesus calls it friendship, another note of assurance and consolation for his disciples, as if he's saying: “I no longer call you ‘servants’ but rather ‘friends’ — and of course I would never abandon my friends! On the contrary, I will lay down my life for my friends — precisely so we can be even closer in our life together, abiding in one another, so that your joy may be complete.”
5) While Jesus mentions many imperatives in John’s gospel (“abide,” “believe,” etc.), he gives his disciples only one commandment: to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34-35; 15:12). And so the emphasis in this passage on “keeping commandments” betrays no authoritarianism, but rather the opposite: we should do nothing, and follow no command, that does not build up our neighbors in love, ourselves in love, and the world in love. In other words, Jesus is calling not for the sort of forced "obedience" found in relationships of coercion, but rather the sort found among genuine friends, companions who listen to each other in loving-kindness (the English word “obedience” is from the Latin ob (“to”) and audire (“listen”)).
6) Likewise, Jesus assures his disciples that his love doesn’t depend on them; rather, they can depend on his love, come what may. The poignancy here, and therefore the consolation, is almost unbearable: for these “friends” to whom Jesus speaks in this passage will deny and desert him later that very night! It’s as if he’s saying, “You don’t know it yet, but just a few hours from now you will have good reason to doubt yourself, your faith, your integrity as never before. But don’t worry. You didn’t choose me; I chose you. You may find yourself fickle and afraid, but my love for you is steadfast. Nothing you do can change it — even the unspeakable things you will do tonight. I chose you, I choose you, and I commission you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last: works of love for the sake of joy.”
Takeaways:
1) For some Christians today, faith is the most important dimension of a disciple’s life. For others, love is the ultimate goal toward which any truly living faith will lead. But for John, there is yet another, even higher aim, for the sake of which faith and love abide. Jesus calls it “complete joy.” This is the “for what” of God’s love and deliverance, the “for what” of salvation, the “for what” of Jesus’ ministry and therefore the ministry of the church. For joy! Faith, yes — but faith for the sake of joy. Love, yes — but love for the sake of joy. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
2) What kind of joy? In this week’s passage, Jesus evokes the delight-in-being-together of genuine friendship — and in our own best relationships, we can catch glimpses of what he has in mind. And just a bit later in the farewell discourse, he explicitly compares “complete joy” to the jubilation of a new mother: her spent, exhilarated delight following the anguish of labor, celebrating the new life that has come into the world. And indeed, as we approach Mother’s Day, it’s fitting to reflect on how mothering can help us understand God’s love for us.
3) Finally, in light of this week’s passage from Acts, we can add this: Love seeks a world in which this “complete joy” is not just for a privileged few, but rather for everyone. Peter’s rhetorical-yet-subversive question — “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:47) — echoes the Ethiopian eunuch: “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Potential obstacles and withholders abound, of course, and the next chapter in Acts chronicles the ensuing inclusion/exclusion controversy that Peter's openness provoked in the early Christian community (sound familiar?). But the way Peter puts his question is telling, both then and now: “Can anyone withhold the water...?” Like love, water tends to permeate and overflow limitations. Like joy, water resists attempts to contain it. The Holy Spirit goes where She wills: as Peter goes on to explain, “Who was I that I could hinder God?” (Acts 11:17). After all, God’s love had already overflowed Peter’s denials and desertion, including him precisely when, by all appearances, he might well have been excluded. Far be it from Peter, then (and far be it from us!), to presume to withhold or prevent. God’s love for the sake of creation’s joy knows no bounds.
p.s. For more on love, joy, and midwifery, check out Mary, Midwives, and God's Kairos.
Freeing Jesus: Lord
I started with an impersonal God as a kid. Growing up in church, I learned the stories fo Jesus and knew the ethic. I would listen to pastoral prayers awhile before my mind wandered off (or I fell asleep). I knew all the parts to the most-loved hymns. I knew the story well and believed it. But God was not personal.
Jesus became Lord for me the summer before my junior year of college. Par for the course, as a young adult I was doing my best to make a case for humanity’s total depravity until it caught up with my in the form of heartache, followed by some bad old-fashioned Christian-specific shame and guilt. I literally had a come to Jesus moment where I experienced profound grace, followed by deep gratitude and allegiance. It was at that point that Jesus became my Lord. I addressed my prayers to “Lord”. It worked well for me, keeping me in line for a while, and giving me a way to express my devotion in somewhat scripted ways. Referencing Jesus as Lord was truly liberating, freeing me to a new level of faith that I hadn’t yet experience. I loved Jesus as Lord, and I was his dutiful, grateful servant. My experience gave me very personal insight into Jesus’ parable directed toward religious leaders who were great at telling others how to live their lives yet failed to take their own advice:
“Why are you so polite with me, always saying ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘That’s right, sir,’ but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.
“If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock. When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation. When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.” – Luke 6:46-49 (MSG)
I could relate to building a life without a foundation – I lived through the wreckage. I could proclaim the strength a strong foundation provides – I was living it. What I didn’t realize is that this parable also provided a measure to not just gauge my own faithfulness, but one to judge others as well. How well were those around me toe-ing the line? I could surely identify the ones who clearly weren’t. Paradoxically, the story meant to humble the self-righteous eventually made his humbled kid self-righteous! Perhaps it should have been expected, given that the word “Lord” implies hierarchy. In a hierarchy, everyone knows where they stand in relation to others. In this case, Jesus was always on top with the rest of us below – but the ranking in that field below mattered. As Diana Butler Bass notes in her book, Freeing Jesus (120):
“Jesus is Lord.” Historians refer to it as an early creedal affirmation, but it was really more of a theological slogan. At its simplest level, the Greek term kyrios, meaning “lord” or “master,” quite literally meant the one who owns you. Slaves called their masters “lord”; students often referred to revered teachers as “master”; and workers might call their employers “lord.” In a world where millions were held in slavery and millions of others lived in poverty and powerlessness at the bottom of a rigid social hierarchy, claiming Jesus as “Lord” announced one’s liberation from oppression. “Jesus is Lord” made sense in an empire of slaves, as submitting to his lordship amounted to spiritual freedom, especially in the new community called the church where, apparently, female slaves held leadership positions and Roman social status was upended. Baptism was the rite of initiation into this egalitarian community. All Christians were baptized into their new master, Jesus, according to Paul, who includes an early baptismal creed in his letter to Galatians: “There is no longer slave or free . . . for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (3:27–28).
Furthermore, Bass points out that the roots of this moniker are found in the Jewish tradition:
“Lord” appears in Jewish contexts of the time. Because the name for God in the Hebrew scriptures, YHWH, was considered too sacred to utter aloud, whenever that term appeared in the text, the word adonai, “Lord,” was used in its place. In the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures, the Septuagint, kyrios was the translation of the Hebrew word adonai. Thus, Greek-speaking Jews referred to the Jewish God as Kyrios, “Lord.” – Bass, 121
We may not be cognizant of the implications of such language, but we cannot kid ourselves into thinking our language is benign. While language at times liberates us, it also immediately limits us, too. There’s no way around it. In this case, using “Lord” implies a hierarchy, further concretized by Jesus’ use of the phrase “Kingdom of God/Heaven.” The Lord is the one who owns the manor, the region, or the whole empire. How might that play out in a tradition that was informed by Imperialism from the time of Constantine forward? As Bass notes, “Kingdom is a corrupted metaphor, one misused by the church throughout history to make itself into the image of an earthly kingdom. Indeed, Christians have often failed to recognize that “kingdom” was an inadequate and incomplete way of speaking of God’s governance, not a call to set up their own empire (149).” And yet we did. First, we rode the coattails of the Roman Empire, and then, when the Church grew strong enough, it was its own expression of empire. This is still evident in the Catholic Church, but to lesser degrees exists in most denominations. The Southern Baptist Convention represents the most powerful body of conservative Evangelicalism in the United States, flexing its power every election cycle as it influences its members to vote according to the issues it has deemed most important (to the neglect of others). Ironically, this group that claims to be founded on Jesus’ teaching and example, barely resembles him in an increasing number of onlookers in our culture. As actor and comedian John Fugelsang noted (Bass, 138):
Jesus [was] a radical, nonviolent revolutionary who hung around with lepers, hookers, and crooks; wasn’t American and never spoke English; was anti-wealth, anti–death penalty, and anti–public prayer; who was never anti-gay; who never mentioned abortion or birth control, never called the poor lazy, never justified torture, never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes, never asked a leper for a co-pay; and who was a long-haired, brown-skinned, homeless community-organizing, anti-slut-shaming Middle Eastern Jew.
So, we can now see that “Lord” as as title is problematic, in part because it seems so inherently entwined with the idea of “Kingdom.” Yet, as Bass points out, perhaps we need to rethink our understanding what Kingdom meant for Jesus and might mean for us:
Isasi-Díaz argues that “kin-dom,” an image of la familia, the liberating family of God working together for love and justice, is a metaphor closer to what Jesus intended. In the words of theologian Janet Soskice: In Middle English the words “kind” and “kin” were the same—to say that Christ is “our kinde Lord” is not to say that Christ is tender and gentle, although that may be implied, but to say that he is kin—our kind. This fact, and not emotional disposition, is the rock which is our salvation. To say “our kinde Lord” was to say “our kin Lord.” Jesus the Lord is our kin. The kind Lord is kin to me, you, all of us—making us one. This is a subversive deconstruction of the image of kingdom and kings, replacing forever the pretensions and politics of earthly kingdoms with Jesus’s calling forth a kin-dom. King, kind, kin (149-150).
As a white man living in a country that is still led by white men more than others, I don’t think I can fully appreciate the potency of the idea of kin-dom. I represent the apex predator, after all, not the oppressed (despite what may be reported by some news outlets). I wonder if white guys like me actually prefer the Kingdom and Lord paradigm because it perpetuates the Imperialism we have enjoyed for so long. Jesus as Lord may rule over us, but we rule over everyone else. I can live with that! Or can I? If kin-dom is more accurate, that’s going to require some retooling, isn’t it? It implies not only that I cannot settle for a hierarchical relationship with Jesus and the Divine, but I cannot settle for it anywhere else. That’s quite unnerving.
Chucking the hierarchical lordship and kingdom paradigms (as understood in this era), what are we left with? Relationship. I suppose an argument could be made that relationships exist in the other paradigms, but not the kind that are mutually fulfilling, and not ones that operate on love or shalom. For love and shalom to exist requires a relationship not built on roles and reciprocity, but on equality, equity, inclusion, and belonging. These words are often used to describe the goals leveling the playing field for all human beings regardless of ethnicity, skin tone, or sexual orientation. They are the right words.
Such thinking leads me to ask some questions. Have you ever been in such an equitable relationship? Have you ever been in one that wasn’t quite there? What were the differences? How did each make you feel? What did each require?
Questions to think about...
What language for God has been powerful and helpful for you in your past? Has that language’s effectiveness changed over time? How?
What language for God is working for you now? How does the foreknowledge that your current language may not be your future language affect how tightly you hold that language?
How does the reframing of the word kingdom impact your view of God, yourself, and others?
All quotes, unless otherwise noted are from Diana Butler Bass’ book, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.