This week I had the pleasure of slowly working through some of the themes located in John 4 that are often overlooked by the modern reader. After starting the class off with the 6th hour (only in 4:6 and 19:14) and Jesus' declaration of thirst (4:13-15 and 19:28), we got to the discussion of worship in 4:21-24. The focus on the spirit brought back to mind the preparatory staging of chapter 3, especially 3:31-36, to prepare the reader for the dialogue of chapter 4.
If one is to worship God in spirit and truth, then understanding the source of spirit is critical. That brings me back to John 3.5-6 as a launching point. "I tell you the truth, unless one is born of the water and the spirit it is not possible to enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit." Transposing this on John 4.24, one could say, "God is spirit and only those who are born of the spirit can worship him." In between these two passages rests John 3.31-36, where it could be said, "the one who comes from heaven speaks of the things of heaven, which are the words of God, because God does not limit the outpouring of his spirit."
Thus the answer to the question, "who can worship in spirit?" is answered before the question is asked. "The ones on whom God has poured out his spirit because they receive the words of the one God sent." This worship is synonymous with eternal life, the reason the Son came (3.16).
Friday, February 17, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Another word on Justice
On this the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. I ran across the text of his "I have a dream" speech at the Jesus Creed blog, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/ and glanced through it. I was struck by the passion, the intricacy, the biblical imagery and references. But I was also struck by the call to excellence. To quote MLK, Jr.
"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."
If there is any trait that is necessary in the pursuit of justice in the sense of the Minor Prophets, it is this understanding that what I do must be pursued on the "high plane". To paraphrase MLK, 'the end does not justify the means.' It is the loss of excellence that concerns me in this new decade of pursuing justice. Too many people buy into the opposite philosophy, "the end justifies the means,' and as a result are changed objects rather than being objects of change.
If Jesus, Paul, the prophets and countless other saints of the Christian tradition are to be our example, then it is our transformed character that produces change in the world around us, not our creative solutions to the problem.
"We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone."
If there is any trait that is necessary in the pursuit of justice in the sense of the Minor Prophets, it is this understanding that what I do must be pursued on the "high plane". To paraphrase MLK, 'the end does not justify the means.' It is the loss of excellence that concerns me in this new decade of pursuing justice. Too many people buy into the opposite philosophy, "the end justifies the means,' and as a result are changed objects rather than being objects of change.
If Jesus, Paul, the prophets and countless other saints of the Christian tradition are to be our example, then it is our transformed character that produces change in the world around us, not our creative solutions to the problem.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas Musings 2011
It's been a wonderful week for thinking about Christmas. Isn't it amazing that our first question is "what did you get" instead of "what did you give" for Christmas? Christmas is about giving, indeed it is a celebration about giving. I've been fortunate to be reminded of that on several occasions this week.
Most of you aren't familiar with Wichita radio stations on Sunday morning, but I was asked to be a guest of Steve McIntosh for a Christmas morning broadcast. I can't count how many times he said, "that's amazing" as we talked about the first Christmas, what we know, what we don't know and other options about the birth of this one later named Jesus. You can catch the podcast at http://audio.knssradio.com/a/49962759/issues-2011-12-25-11.htm?
So what should I say about Christmas morning, our celebration and the Minor prophets? It may be a stretch, but we should focus more on giving to the poor and needy and focus less on getting more toys that we call 'necessary.' We should probably look to the widows and orphans, or in modern language those who don't have any one to care and protect them in times of crisis. We should also look to meeting the needs of the suffering, those who are ill, aged, unemployed, and even those who have been abused by the powers of the world we live in. I will be the first to admit that I don't frequently visit those corridors. I am thankful that many of my students are wanting to visit those corridors and make them home!
Christmas is a holiday when we can be around family, enjoy one another's company, and realize our blessings. Too often it becomes a time for old feelings to be trampled upon, for complaints to be voiced, once again, for what someone else has not done in the past, and a time to fulfill our own selfish gratifications.
I hope that you and yours have a very, merry Christmas. I hope that as you reflect on the year gone by that you will focus on the blessings received through your acts of kindness and generosity and not focus on the ways in which you may have been wronged. I also hope that you will take time to reflect on what you have been given, and what you give in turn to others.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Most of you aren't familiar with Wichita radio stations on Sunday morning, but I was asked to be a guest of Steve McIntosh for a Christmas morning broadcast. I can't count how many times he said, "that's amazing" as we talked about the first Christmas, what we know, what we don't know and other options about the birth of this one later named Jesus. You can catch the podcast at http://audio.knssradio.com/a/49962759/issues-2011-12-25-11.htm?
So what should I say about Christmas morning, our celebration and the Minor prophets? It may be a stretch, but we should focus more on giving to the poor and needy and focus less on getting more toys that we call 'necessary.' We should probably look to the widows and orphans, or in modern language those who don't have any one to care and protect them in times of crisis. We should also look to meeting the needs of the suffering, those who are ill, aged, unemployed, and even those who have been abused by the powers of the world we live in. I will be the first to admit that I don't frequently visit those corridors. I am thankful that many of my students are wanting to visit those corridors and make them home!
Christmas is a holiday when we can be around family, enjoy one another's company, and realize our blessings. Too often it becomes a time for old feelings to be trampled upon, for complaints to be voiced, once again, for what someone else has not done in the past, and a time to fulfill our own selfish gratifications.
I hope that you and yours have a very, merry Christmas. I hope that as you reflect on the year gone by that you will focus on the blessings received through your acts of kindness and generosity and not focus on the ways in which you may have been wronged. I also hope that you will take time to reflect on what you have been given, and what you give in turn to others.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Minor Prophet Musings
Having completed a semester of teaching the "minor" prophets, otherwise known Book of the Twelve, one aspect that was made clear in the past week is the consistency of some of the themes between the Minor Prophets (otherwise Old Testament) and the teachings of God through more recent prophets (otherwise New Testament).
The first theme, and the topic of this blog, is that of God's sovereignty. Defined by Webster's as "supreme power or authority", it is too common to think of this trait as simply 'power or authority' and forget the 'supreme' element. Webster's describes supreme as "superior to all others" in regard to authority. Thus the idea of God's sovereignty is that this deity, and none other, holds the authority over creation that is second to none, indeed it is not merely better than others, it is superior to all the others. Indeed, the concept of superior is quite difficult to consider in a democratic society where no one is supposedly 'superior'.
However, in both Testaments of the Christian canon, the sovereignty of God is proclaimed. The book of Hebrews espouses the superiority of Jesus to a list of other options, including prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Abraham, the priesthood and the temple. The preliminary question I rather superficially (don't act so surprised) impose on each prophet of the twelve to be asking is "who will follow YHWH?" The answer in terms of God's sovereignty is this: the one who recognizes and submits to that supreme power and authority. The New Testament writers ask the very same thing: submit to God and to His Son.
The first theme, and the topic of this blog, is that of God's sovereignty. Defined by Webster's as "supreme power or authority", it is too common to think of this trait as simply 'power or authority' and forget the 'supreme' element. Webster's describes supreme as "superior to all others" in regard to authority. Thus the idea of God's sovereignty is that this deity, and none other, holds the authority over creation that is second to none, indeed it is not merely better than others, it is superior to all the others. Indeed, the concept of superior is quite difficult to consider in a democratic society where no one is supposedly 'superior'.
However, in both Testaments of the Christian canon, the sovereignty of God is proclaimed. The book of Hebrews espouses the superiority of Jesus to a list of other options, including prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Abraham, the priesthood and the temple. The preliminary question I rather superficially (don't act so surprised) impose on each prophet of the twelve to be asking is "who will follow YHWH?" The answer in terms of God's sovereignty is this: the one who recognizes and submits to that supreme power and authority. The New Testament writers ask the very same thing: submit to God and to His Son.
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