Holy Textures

John 6:35, 41-51

2009-07-14T14:10:53-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 14, Ordinary Time 19
Sunday Between August 7 and August 13 Inclusive
10th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

With this lesson, we begin with the first of the seven great "I AM" statements in John:
I am the bread of life
Verse 35

And we also begin the first of three weeks of attempting to faithfully decipher, understand, make sense of, and find the Good News in the last 28 verses of this Chapter 6.

As always with John, the key is to NOT get lost in the repetition of words and phrases; but rather to use them like bread crumbs left to mark a clear path through a dark wood. The dark wood is the dull imagination of our earthly flesh and blood that is perishable. The clear path is Jesus who reveals life that is imperishable.

There are 3 sets of key words - each word of which illuminates the others:

Bread, flesh, life, heaven, truth, eternal, forever (contrasted with: manna, wilderness, death).
Eat, believe, come, see, hear, learn.
Come down, raise up, send, draw, give.

And in all of these, notice that it is the Father who is the source.

When Jesus says, "I am the bread of life," all of his hearers would know that bread IS life. Malina and Rohrbaugh note that 50% of the daily calories for non-elite people were from bread. (Page 133, see footnote below.) Jesus is not the bread roll on the side plate of life.

But the whole point of this passage is that while earthly bread nourishes earthly life (all of which will pass away), Jesus has been sent so that we might come / see / hear / learn / believe / eat the bread from heaven / the true bread that gives eternal life.

Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke who begin with a heavenly spirit descending on Jesus like a dove; John wants us to SEE that Jesus himself crosses back and forth between the heavenly realm and this earthly one. John does NOT mean that Jesus' earthly body crosses between these realms. The only modern day parallels that I can think of are what we call an out-of-body experience; a mystical or ecstatic experience; a really real experience of God's presence; a visitation. Don't get stuck on the up-down language. Heaven is not literally located "up there." But do get stuck on the idea that there is more to life than the flesh and blood eye can see; that there is more to life than bread which perishes and flesh and blood that dies.

And if the Judean elite thought they had something to murmur about in Verse 41 (about bread which came down from heaven), Jesus ups the ante in Verse 51:
and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Aside: Malina and Rohrbaugh state that the use of "Jews" in John is a mis-translation of the underlying Greek text. It should be more accurately translated as "Judeans." That is what the Greek word actually means. And that translation better highlights the real-world tension between the country bumpkin Galilean, Jesus, and his peasant followers. Especially since the Judeans in question are from the elite. This question of the status difference between Jesus the Judeans is what is being highlighted in Verse 42:
Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
This question needs to be read with a mocking sneer, and punctuated by spitting on the ground at the end.

For us Protestants, (and all vegetarians) the passage ends on a yucky, cannibalistic note: flesh.

We'll be dealing with this in more detail next week, but for now it is important to stress one more time that John is fighting against the tendency then, as now, to believe ABOUT Jesus, instead of to believe INTO Jesus.

John is stressing the importance of our relationship with Jesus. John does not just want us to believe Jesus; John wants us to bond with Jesus; to trust Jesus; to be loyal to Jesus. John wants us to eat Jesus.

And as I said at the outset, it is important for us to be as metaphorical with "eat," as we are with "bond," "trust," and "be loyal;" and to be as literal with "bond," "trust," and "be loyal" as we are with "eat." John deliberately uses these words inter-changeably so that we might hear / see / learn how they illuminate and transform each other.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

* Link to Amazon.com Bibliography for Bruce Malina, et. al., Social Science Commentary on ... The Synoptic Gospels; The Gospel of John; The Book of Acts; The Letters of Paul; The Book of Revelation; and others.

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

John 6:24-35

2009-07-03T14:01:05-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 13, Ordinary Time 18
Sunday Between July 31 and August 6 Inclusive
9th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

As always with John, it is important to remember that John is not writing a daily diary - "What I did with Jesus today" - nor a historical biography - "Jesus: The Man, His Times, His Achievements."

John is writing at the end of his life, at the end of the first century (nearly 70 years after Jesus' execution and resurrection), at a time when the early Christian communities are under severe persecution from the Romans, and have lost all connections with their original Jewish roots. He is NOT writing to "the general public." He is writing to a threatened, small, inner group, who have no first-hand memory or experience of Jesus or of being Jewish. Their physical - and more importantly - their eternal lives are at stake. They need to "see" Jesus. They need to be embedded in Jesus, abiding in Jesus, so that they can withstand the fear and pain of Roman arrest, torture, and bloody executions.

John has "seen" Jesus. Not just with his physical eyes. John has "seen" who Jesus is - the one whom the Father has sent - and he has "seen" the significance of this and how / why the rest of us must also "see" and respond. (The word "see" occurs 49 times in John, almost all in relation to seeing Jesus, his works, his glory, eternal life, etc. etc.)

However, in the first century Mediterranean world, publicly establishing that any person deserved higher status and higher honour than what they had been born into was a much more complicated matter than it is today. In Jesus' day, it would bring DIShonour and shame to draw attention to oneself, to launch a media campaign, appear on talk shows to promote one's greatness.

On the other hand, Jesus DOES go about publically teaching and doing signs. This attracts attention and provokes from the crowd and authorities the questions, "Just who is this guy? What right does he have doing these amazing things?" Thus in the gospels, Jesus is constantly being asked "Where are you from (that is, who is your father and what village are you from)," which is to ask, "Tell us what your place / rank / social status in society is." But it would be DIShonourable for Jesus to say of himself that he is from heaven, that his father is God. The only honourable way for this to be stated is by outsiders who come to "see" and say this about Jesus.

This is also why Jesus only talks openly with the inner group of his followers about where he is truly from - I am from the Father. Knowing this, and living it, is precisely what defines the inner group of Jesus' followers.

This withholding of truth from outsiders results in some interesting challenges and word play on Jesus' part. On the one hand, outsiders come to "see" Jesus and to see evidence of why they should change their estimation of his bottom-of-the-barrel social status (son of Joseph, the Nazarene carpenter), and on the other hand Jesus HONOURABLY REFUSES to be blatant about claiming any new worth for himself. And yet, he challenges them to ask themselves, "What have we seen? What is going on here? What is truly going on with this guy Jesus?"

Here's another way of thinking about this dance. The crowd comes and demands a sign. Jesus has two options:

If Jesus shows them a sign, he dishonours himself and proves that he is not worthy to be anyone special.
If Jesus refuses to show them a sign, he acts honourably and proves that he is worthy to be someone special, but maybe he really isn't anyone special because he has not shown them a sign that he is. (Except that when no one is demanding to see a sign as proof of his honour, Jesus does do signs, which then gets people wondering about his status and demanding that he do a sign to prove his status to them.)

What Jesus consistently does is choose option 2. Whenever he is challenged by outsiders to prove his worth, he instead challenges them to see for themselves. It is only to his insiders that he explicitly teaches them what they need to know in order to "see."

The text for today actually begins with a crowd who are following Jesus because "they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick." (John 6:2) Notice that this doesn't report a behaviour such as, "they saw Jesus healing the sick." Jesus is "doing" signs, and the crowds are "seeing" them.

We then have the story of the feeding of about 5,000 people with 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, at the end of which "the people saw the sign that he had done" and conclude that, "this is indeed the prophet who has come into the world." (John 6:14). To which Jesus responds by fleeing into the mountains (John 6:15)

According to John, it is this crowd that catches up with Jesus again on the other side of the lake. But now, instead of being ready to crown him, the "who are you really" dance begins again.

The question, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" is really a challenge to Jesus. Notice how it begins by lowering their previous estimation of Jesus as "the prophet," to "rabbi (teacher - of whom there were many in Jesus' day)." Even "rabbi" is a higher ranking than "peasant," but the question, "when did you come here," is actually not about, "tell us how was your boat ride." It is the ancient question of social location, "tell us who your father is, where were you born?"

As usual, Jesus does not answer the question directly. Instead, he begins by putting his personal reputation on the line, "I give you my word of honour" (or in the text, "Very truly, I tell you"). He then goes on to challenge them on the world of difference between what they were "looking for" and what they "saw:" food that perishes or food that endures for eternal life (6:26). Notice that in this interaction (verses 26-29), Jesus never refers to himself as being the Son of Man or the one whom the Father has sent.

The NRSV "believe in him who (God) has sent" (6:29) is too mild. The force of the language here is better translated as "believe into, embed yourself in, abide in, give your whole self in trust to, be in total solidarity with." Even though Jesus has honourably NOT said that HE is the one who God has sent, the crowd responds to Jesus' challenge to their not seeing what they were looking for, by again asking Jesus to give them a sign, and cite the precedence of Moses and the manna (bread) which appeared each day while the people wandered in the wilderness (Exodus 16).

Jesus then interprets the meaning of this passage to them. The lectionary passage ends with one of the great "I am" sayings found in John:

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me (see comment above) shall never thirst.
(John 6:35)

However, a better ending for this exchange is verse 36:

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

Needless to say, comments like that directly insult and challenge the crowds and authorities.

The challenge here for us is NOT that we see with our eyes and believe in IDEAS about Jesus.

The challenge here is to "see" which things perish and which things endure, and to embed ourselves - to abide in, to focus our living on - the things that endure. Because only the things that endure truly satisfy, and only the things that endure bring true life.

If we cannot "see" anything that endures, then we had better eat, drink and be merry to the max for tomorrow we die. But if we can truly open our inner eyes to "see" what endures, then we had better align our eating, drinking and merriment with what truly lasts and satisfies.

And the questions which both Jesus and John leave for us to answer for ourselves are:

What are we looking for?
What have we seen in Jesus?

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

John 6:1-21

2009-07-03T13:29:38-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 12, Ordinary Time 17
Sunday Between July 24 and July 30 Inclusive
8th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Continuing my vow not to rant about the illogical choices the designers of the Lectionary made that present such challenges for preachers, I'll not comment on the sudden switch from Mark to John for 5 Sundays, as though the two were inter-changeable, which they're not; nor will I comment on trying to preach on a single lesson that contains two stories, each of which deserves its own reflection.

As always, Malina and Rohrbaugh (see link at bottom) come to our rescue with useful background.

Even if we hadn't been told already, by Verse 2 our ears should suddenly start tingling with alarms that we have switched from Mark to John. The trigger for this is the word "signs."

This word ought to warn us that from now on everything we are going to read is not merely an "event," not merely something that happens - even if it is a miraculous happening. From now on everything we are going to read is a SIGN. That is, something that points to another reality, a hidden truth that is in plain sight. (See my Introduction to John for further comments about the crucial importance of signs in John.)

It is a complete mis-reading of John to get stuck on the "miraculous," non-scientific nature of the events he is about to describe. To do so would be like spending an evening in a fabulous restaurant reading the menu and never enjoying the delicious food. These are signs. They point to a feast. Eat; don't just read.

Verse 3. Mountains are wild and dangerous places. Decent people never went there. Bandits live there. And wild animals. And evil spirits. But also, mountains are "thin" places, holy places, places where God is encountered.

Verse 4. This is the second annual Passover mentioned in John. Again, this is a trigger word, and ought to alert us that something is going to happen that will foreshadow the glory of God that will be finally revealed at the third Passover (what we Christians now call Holy Thursday and Good Friday).

Verse 5. Bread is another trigger word in John. Notice that Jesus asks a question about WHERE bread can be bought, but Philip responds about the PRICE. If Philip had been paying attention he would have passed Jesus' pop quiz, because he would have known both WHERE the bread of life comes from, and at what PRICE. The rest of the story is a sign that points to where the bread of life comes from.

There is a lot going on in this story.

The fact that 5,000 men plus an unknown number of women and children had left their towns and villages to travel into the wilderness to be with Jesus is an indication of his growing fame. (And may be an exaggeration, since a crowd of that size would be larger than most cities in Jesus' time.)

The only other time these people would have left their homes would be to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover. That John has them come to be with Jesus suggests Jesus as an alternative to the Temple - and to the Jerusalem ruling elite.

Verse 9. Andrew's question:
What are (five loaves and two fish) among so many people?
is a warning for us to open our eyes, hearts, and minds to really SEE what is going to happen next.

Aside. Remember. This is sign; it points to something else. The story doesn't actually say there were ONLY 5 loaves and two fish among all those people; that no one else had any food with them. But that is not the point. Please don't tell the Stone Soup story to explain this sign. This is a sign about where to find the bread of life and at what price.

Verse 11. Notice the parallel with how John describes Jesus' actions at the last supper.

Verse 14. Have I already mentioned that what happens here is a sign? Did you see it? The folks there did. And they saw it as pointing to Jesus as "the prophet who is to come into the world."

Verse 15. However, the people mis-understand the implications of the sign they have seen. They want to make Jesus an earthly, political ruler - which is the false charge for which Jesus is later executed. And they want to do it by their own force - which is contrary to the power of God's love.

Jesus escapes and withdraws further into the wildness of the mountain.

But wait. Thanks to the creators of the Lectionary, there's more. Jesus walks on water too! (Sorry, I'm getting a bit giddy.)

The story of Jesus walking on the sea is another sign. It is a sign of Jesus' authority over the living spirit that is the sea. A living spirit that is dangerous and unpredictable.

That this story is a sign of a deeper, spiritual reality is emphasized by the comment that when the disciples in the boat see that it is Jesus and change from being afraid to wanting to take Jesus into the boat, they are all immediately transported to the shore. The spirit of the sea has nothing more to do with them once they want Jesus to be with them in their boat.

As always with miracle stories, the moral of the story is NOT in the literal event.

These stories try to open our eyes, hearts and minds to see the hidden truth that is plain sight. They are trying to train us so that we too can SEE where is the bread of life; so that we can SEE just how much authority we should give to dangerous, life-threatening, chaotic spirits.

So that we can SEE Jesus and welcome him into our frail boats on the stormy sea.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

2009-07-02T15:57:31-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 11, Ordinary Time 16
Sunday Between July 17 and July 23 Inclusive
7th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

I'm tempted to rant once again about the unhelpful choices - from a preracher's point of view - of the Revised Common Lectionary. Why are the verses 6:30-34 not part of the reading two weeks ago as they are the conclusion of that story? And why are we skipping over the wonderful stories of the feeding of the 5,000 (Verses 35-44), and of Jesus walking on water (Verses 45-52)? Sigh.

Verses 30-32 are a wonderful lesson for the start of the summer season here in the Northern Hemisphere. Especially Jesus' invitation in Verse 31:
Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.

Thank you Jesus.

Recently, the past Moderator of the United Church of Canada, The Right Reverand Dr. Peter Short, read a beautiful poem to our Conference:

Camas Lilies

Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas opening
into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground bulbs
for flour, how the settler's hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?

And you, what of your rushed and
useful life? Imagine setting it all down
papers, plans, appointments, everything,

leaving only a note: Gone to the fields
to be lovely. Be back when I'm through
with blooming.

Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.
Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake.
Of course, your work will always matter.
Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.

-Lynn Ungar from What We Share (Collected Meditations, Volume 2)

Try posting this note on your office door / Facebook / Twitter / blog / voice mail / memo to your Board:
Gone to the fields to be lovely.
Be back when I'm through with blooming.
And say a grateful, gleeful prayer of thanks all the while for the poetry of Lynn Ungar.

Too bad that Jesus never took the mandatory course in "Personal Self-Care 101." 'Cause the whole retreat thing gets ruined in Verse 34. Does the man have no sense of personal boundaries? Has he never read about co-dependence? If there is only one verse that could be nailed as the evil core of clergy burn-out, Mark 6:34 is my candidate.

I'm trying not to rant about the Lectionary, but why not just leave out Verses 33-34 and the rest? There is a beautiful and needful sermon in 30-32 alone.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

Mark 6:14-29

2009-06-30T08:56:17-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 10, Ordinary Time 15
Sunday Between July 10 and July 16 Inclusive
6th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Of all the sections of the Bible that the creators of the Lectionary choose to leave out, it is a puzzle to me then why they included this. Where is the Good News? How does our hearing of it edify us? Deepen our being the church?

As usual, Malina and Rohrbaugh (see link in left-hand sidebar) provide helpful historical background.

Recall that back in Chapter 1, Verse 14, it was the arrest of John that preceded the beginning of Jesus' ministry:
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God ...

We hear no more of John until this story, which Mark places after the story of the sending out of the 12 disciples and before telling of their return to Jesus.

Two weeks ago Mark told us that the gossip about Jesus had risen to reach the ears of two members of the Judean elite, Jairus the leader of the synagogue and an unnamed wealthy woman. But now we learn that even the King is hearing about Jesus. Word of this would, in turn, further enhance Jesus' reputation among the street people - and further increase tensions with the elite.

Verses 14 to 16 foreshadow Chapter 8, Verses 27 to 30, where Jesus asks his disciples for their assessment of him. There, Peter says they believe Jesus is the Messiah; here Herod says he believes Jesus is John the Baptist "raised from the dead." (Which is another foreshadowing of future events.)

Mark then goes on to tell the story of John the Baptist's execution, and gives us an interesting character sketch of Herod and a glimpse into the social customs of the elite.

We learn that Herod

is weak because he is unable to control the behaviour of his wife and daughter. (The daughter does in public what is strictly allowed for family members only. She has revealed a family secret. And to high ranking members of Judean elite. And it is his wife who takes the appropriate actions to restore her honour by having John executed.)
is easily seduced - because his fascination with John's teachings and by the dancing of his daughter.
is impulsive and reckless with the duties and authority of his office - because of his hesitation to have John executed immediately when John first insulted his wife, and because of the extravagant promise made to his daughter.

The only semi-honourable thing Herod does in this story is - reluctantly - keep his promise made to his daughter. Malina and Rohrbaugh comment:
Had he not done so, his officers would no longer trust him.
(Page 171)

The story ends with John's disciples coming and taking his body to "lay it in a tomb" - another foreshadowing of future events.

All of this background is very interesting and helpful, but my original question remains: Where is the Good News?

Perhaps there is none, and this is precisely Mark's point. Just in case we are getting too excited and thinking this business of being a disciple of Jesus is going to be a piece of cake, is going to be a story of ever increasing fame, miracles, and wonders, Mark gives a story of a good man being executed because of weakness, capriciousness, and vengence.

It's as though Mark is saying to us:

The world is a dangerous place. Not only might you get killed for proclaiming the Good News, you might not even be honourably killed - killed in a direct, open confrontation. Instead you might be killed by stealth, and for totally shameful and trivial reasons.

The moral of this story then might be:

Proclaiming and doing the Good News of God is not about ego, fame, or honour; nor is it a heroic quest. Our death may come because of totally unrelated, trivial, silly reasons.

Proclaiming and doing the Good News of God is simply about humble service - regardless of the "achievements" or the ending.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

Mark 6:1-13

2009-06-27T12:52:43-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 9, Ordinary Time 14
Sunday Between July 3 and July 9 Inclusive
5th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Once again the Lectionary gives us two stories in one lesson.

Jesus leaves "that place" where two members of the Judean elite had received healing and new life because of their faith - because of their trust / loyalty / bonding with God in spite of their hopeless circumstances - and returns to his hometown. What sort of faith / trust will he find there?

Simply stepping forward to teach in his hometown synagogue would literally be stepping out of his - and his families - assigned place in the village pecking order. Doing so would immediately demand public, critical evaluation by those in charge of keeping people in their place.

We can see this process at work by contrasting the comments at the end of Verse 2 with those in Verse 3.

In Verse 2 the comments allude to factors that would increase ACQUIRED honour. In Verse 3, the comments refer to the factors that establish life-long, INHERITED honour.

Anyone who has ever lived in a small town will appreciate that maintaining one's social standing is fiercely protected - protecting one's own honour from being devalued; and preventing anyone else's honour from being increased (since that could mean a lessening of one's own honour).

Notice the assumption in Verse 2, that someone, somewhere, had given wisdom and power to Jesus. In Jesus' time, wisdom, power, honour, etc. were all understood to exist in a fixed, limited amount, distributed unequally, and given at birth. So any increase could only happen by being given - or taking - from someone else.

The comments in Verse 3 speak against giving increased honour to Jesus. They remind his hometown hearers of just exactly who he is. The reference to "son of Mary," with no mention of his father would not so subtly remind everyone of the shaming gossip about Mary being pregnant before getting married. And who would believe the story that Mary tells about who the real father is? Poor thing.

Even the reference to being a carpenter would also be a reminder that in Jesus' time, carpenters often had be away from home in search of work - and this made them less than desirable as sons, husbands, fathers, and town residents. Who knows what happens when people are not under everyone's watchful eye?

Jesus responds to this insult against his and his family's honour by quoting an equally insulting proverb. In effect saying, "Those who should know me best but don't are doubly blind / stupid."

Verses 5 and 6 emphasize the point made earlier in this Chapter: faith / trust / bonding with God are crucial to healing. Without them, even Jesus cannot perform miracles.

Verses 7 to 13, (and 30-32) give a mini-manual in mentoring, and mission preparation, action, and reflection.

Sending the 12 out in pairs is both a way to test their readiness for ministry, and also a way to make his ministry more widely available. Sent in pairs both because it is dangerous to travel alone, and because a partner helps provide encouragement and accountability. The minimal possessions of these itinerant ministers was normal practice in Jesus' time.

Notice that Jesus delegates his authority over evil spirits to them (Verse 7). They also took up his ministry of calling people to repent and believe the Good News of God's Kingdom (See Chapter 1, Verse 15), and of healing (Verses 12 and 13).

Shaking the dust off your feet is reference to a common way of showing one's disapproval, of completely rejecting and disassociating oneself from the other. It too was a highly insulting gesture - somewhat like "giving the finger" today.

The reference to not being welcomed is a reminder of what has just happened in his hometown, and also a fore-shadowing of what lies ahead.

These are not easy, "good news," stories. They are not dramatic or miraculous. They are sobering reminders of how our own familiarity - our own comfort zone - with Jesus may blind us to the full reality of Jesus; and of how being in settled ministry with all of its possessions and property keeps us from travelling lightly with our sole focus on our purpose for ministry.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

Mark 5:21-43

2009-06-22T16:00:17-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 8, Ordinary Time 13
Sunday Between June 26 and July 2
4th Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

This text is a "Mark sandwich," a story-within-a-story, that is meant to be digested as a whole.

Jesus has just returned from foreign territory on the other side of Lake Galilee, and once again a large crowd gathers - the gossip network is successfully spreading news of Jesus; successfully increasing his public status and honour; and thereby also increasing his potential threat to the established authorities.

Indeed, his reputation has increased to the point that two members of the elite take the risk of crossing strict social boundaries to seek Jesus' aid: Jairus, an official of the synagogue, and an unnamed women who had spent all her money being treated by many doctors - to no avail. We know that Jairus belongs to the elite by virtue of his office. We infer the unnamed woman is also among the elite by virtue of her having money to spend on doctors. She is also probably a widow, since otherwise the money would not be hers to spend. We can also assume that Jairus has also had doctors treat his daughter - also to no avail.

Thus, in a nut shell, the context of this lesson is two elite members, who have used their socially accepted resources to no avail, step out of their gated communities and join the crowd of low-class people on the street to seek help from the rising folk hero - Jesus of Nazareth. A daring come down for them.

The lesson begins with Jairus approaching Jesus in public. Throwing himself at Jesus' feet is an action that Jairus would only do for a person Jairus acknowledged as being greatly superior to him. The crowd, of course, would be taking all this in and adding it to the stories that were spreading about Jesus.

The story of Jairus' unnamed daughter is then interrupted by the story of an unnamed woman.

An elite woman out by herself in a crowd such as this has placed herself in a position to be permanently ostracized by her own family network. A dangerous, life-threatening gamble on her part. Her audacity is highlighted further by Mark revealing that she came to the crowd with the thought that SHE would TOUCH Jesus' clothing. Gasp! Shocking! It is bad enough that she would be in the crowd. But that she would also go with the intention of touching a man's clothing is completely outrageous. At a minimum, the most she should do is what Jairus did, abase herself at Jesus' feet and beg for his aid.

Again, Mark highlights the extraordinariness of her touching Jesus with the comments and questions in verses 30 to 32. Unlike everyone else in the crowd who had bumped into Jesus, the unnamed woman had deliberately touched Jesus; she had faithfully, hopefully, touched Jesus. Notice that she is healed at once, and she knows it. All without Jesus having said or done anything.

However, Jesus does feel power going out of him; is also aware of a change in his body. He knows he has been touched for healing and not just accidentally.

Now the woman comes before Jesus, humbling herself as Jairus had done, acknowledging Jesus' superior status. But Jesus, immediately calls her, "My daughter," placing her within his kinship, and since kinship was the paramount definition of one's social standing, these two words quite literally redefine this woman's place in the community.

Once again, it is important to remember that in the Bible, "faith" is NOT about "beliefs," or "ideas," or "understandings." It is about relationships. And so Jesus' observation:
My daughter, your faith has made you well.
is better understood as:
My daughter, your trust / loyalty / bonding has made you well.

As if to emphasize this for us, Mark immediately has messengers from Jairus' house say the exact opposite of what Jesus has just said:
Your daughter has died, don't bother trusting that Jesus' can make her well.

However, Jesus overhears and ignores the messengers and encourages Jairus:
Don't be afraid. Instead, trust.
(Which ought to remind us of last week's lesson - Jesus' words to his followers in the midst of the storm.)

The rest of the story basically shows us how an honourable Holy Man would act: With authority and directness; excluding curious / skeptical by-standers; including disciples (for their mentoring) and parents (for their position as parents and for their confirmation as witnesses).

Jesus' command that the little girl be given something to eat is to confirm that she indeed fully alive as before and is not a ghost or zombie. Eating would also restore her into the family's circle and routines. (Healing disease is always a two-step process: The correction of the physical symptoms, followed by acceptance and restoration into one's normal social context.)

Again, this story ends as did last week's with everyone completely amazed. And again, it is important not to get side-tracked by the "miraculous" healing and restoring to life - though they are both pretty amazing.

But the real story here is about the quality of relationship with Jesus. Jesus does NOT want us to be amazed. He wants us to trust God. To trust without hesitations or reservations. To trust without fear. Now THAT would be amazing.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

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Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

Mark 4:35-41

2009-06-15T13:21:11-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 7, Ordinary Time 12
Sunday Between June 19 and June 25 Inclusive
3rd Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

Jesus peacefully sleeping at the back of the boat in the midst of a raging storm has gotta be one of the all time great images. This is what it looks like to trust in God's caring no matter what the circumstances.

The drama of this story hinges on four questions, with a concluding exclamation:

Teacher, don't you care if we drown?
Why are you so afraid?
Do you still have no faith?
Who is this?
Even the wind and sea obey him!

A fierce storm has suddenly arisen. The waves are high enough to wash over the side of the boat; filling it with water; and threatening to sink it.

Alarmed and in fear of their lives, the disciples rush to the back of the boat - and find Jesus sleeping! Notice that their understanding of Jesus' sleeping is that he doesn't care if they drown. But Jesus isn't asleep because he doesn't care. He is asleep because he trusts in God's caring.

Just a few short hours ago as they set sail with fair winds and calm seas, the disciples were not anxious about whether Jesus cared. But they - like us - and UNlike Jesus - identify caring with circumstance. We confuse gifts with the Giver: If circumstances are good then God is good and cares for us. But when circumstances change for the worse?

And so Jesus' questions to them - and us - Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? - reveal a deeper truth:
Deep down our trust in God's caring is really quite shallow.

Do you still have no faith? No, actually, even now, even after all you have taught us Teacher, we still have no faith. We only have "fair weather" faith. Faith that vaporizes with the first hint of fear.

But mercifully, even though we have no faith, no trust-in-God's-caring-no-matter-what-the-circumstances, Jesus does respond to their fear, and orders the wind and sea to be quiet, to be still.

Personal aside. Please don't get distracted by this "miracle." There is currently no scientific explanation. But that does NOT mean the story is imagined, or exaggerated, or "unscientific" and therefore not real / true. Science has not yet given us its final explanation of the universe. And my personal opinion is that in the not too distant future (assuming there will be a not too distant future), science will finally start admitting there is scientific evidence for non-material realities that even material realities like the wind and the sea obey.

The question here - "Who is this?" - echoes the same question asked back in Chapter 1 when the first thing Jesus did in his public ministry was to drive out an unclean spirit. (Verses 21 to 27) And again in Chapter 2 when Jesus forgives the sins of the paralyzed man. (Verses 1 to 12)

Just as with the cases of the unclean spirit and the forgiveness of sins, the issue here is Jesus' authority / ranking / status in the spiritual realm. Since all living things - all moving things - are animated by spirits, Jesus here demonstrates his authority over powerful spirits - the spirit of the wind and the spirit of the sea. They obey him, therefore Jesus must have higher authority.

However, the real question to ask of this story is NOT:
Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
For us, the real question is:
Who is this, that even raging, life-threatening circumstances do not disturb his sleep?

The real miracle of this story is NOT Jesus calming the storm. The real miracle is Jesus' calm while the storm is raging. His calm is not simply the suppression of fear. His calm arises from within his faith; from within his trust in God's caring - no matter what the actual circumstances.

Thus, the moral of this story is NOT: run to Jesus when you are in a crisis and he will make the storm go away. Rather the moral is: run to Jesus when you are in crisis and learn from him the source of his calm.

Do the wind and the sea fill us with fear and terror? Then how ought we respond to the one whom they obey? NOT with greater fear. Quite the opposite. With awe and reverence. With - perhaps, finally, now - faith, and trust-in-God's-caring-no-matter-what-the-circumstance.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."

Mark 4:26-34

2009-05-29T11:35:54-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Proper 6, Ordinary Time 11
Sunday Between June 12 and June 18 Inclusive
2nd Sunday After Pentecost 2009

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

This week, we return to reading through the Gospel of Mark. Having read most of Chapter 1 way back in Epiphany, we skip Chapters 2 and 3. Malina & Rohrbaugh title the section, Mark 3:7 to 8:26:
Back and Forth at Sea with Jesus and His Disciples.

Chapter 4 is a miniature, "Sermon by the Sea:"

Verses 1-9, The Parable of the Sower and the Soils.
Verses 10-12, An explanation of why Jesus teaches using parables.
Verses 13-20, Jesus explains the Parable of the Sower to his inner circle.
Verses 21-23, The Parable of Light Brought into a House.
Verses 24-25, A Caution about Measure / Judgement: What you give (to others) will be given to you (by God).
Verses 26-29, A Kingdom Parable: Like a Seed That Grows All By Itself.
Verses 30-32, A Kingdom Parable: Like the Smallest Seed That Grows Beyond All Expectations.
Verses 33-34, A concluding comment about using, and explaining, parables.

This week's lesson with 2 parables and a concluding comment about having the ears to hear their inner meaning is going to make for tough sermon choices!

I don't know Greek well enough - actually, I no longer know Greek at all - but I am intrigued by the nuances in the English translation used by the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV):

NIV (and others): This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed ...
NRSV: The Kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed ...

The indefiniteness of the NRSV translation - to my ear at least - provokes a question, an invitation, a possibility for participation. If the Kingdom is as if someone would ... Who might that someone be? When might that someone scatter seed? Could that someone be me / us?

I love that in this parable the action shifts away from the sower - who has no idea how things happen with the seed - they just go about their day. And shifts away from the seed as well - it is the SOIL that produces of itself.

As someone who has spent their life in an action-oriented denomination, I find comfort and discomfort in this parable.

The comfort is to consider the possibility that the most helpful thing I could do to advance the Kingdom of God is to take a nap.

The discomfort is to consider the certainty that the point of the parable is neither the sower, nor the seed, nor the soil, nor the sprout, nor the stalk, but the fruit. I wonder what would happen if every single Christian and congregation pondered the question of fruitfulness - not as the outcome of OUR actions but as a grace received - we don't know how?

Verse 30 is often formatted in most translations as the opening sentence in the paragraph which goes on with the parable of the mustard seed. Since the original Greek text had neither paragraphs nor verse numbers, it is possible to just let the verse stand on its own as an invitation by Jesus for us to respond to:

With what can we compare the Kingdom of God? What parable will we use for it?

Go ahead. Take your time. With what would you compare the Kingdom of God? What parable would you use for it?

Jesus himself resorts to comedic exaggeration. A mustard seed??!!! The Kingdom of God is like ... a mustard seed? C'mon, surely the Kingdom of God is like something majestic, something powerful, something really big. Like a mountain, or a cedar, or an eagle.

A mustard seed? This is like comparing the Kingdom of God to a dandelion. It sows itself. It shows up in our ordered lives without our planning or expectation. It is tough to get rid of, in fact impossible to get rid of. But we do try to get rid of it so that the order we have planned can continue unblemished. It is impossible to tame; to get it to grow only where we want.

Personally, I take comfort in the concluding comments:

he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it (i.e., understand it)

he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Jesus understands our limitations and speaks to us in ways we can understand; and even then goes the extra step of explaining everything to his followers (who must be even dumber since they need a further explanation even after Jesus has spoken in ways we can understand).

As the parables themselves have already explained, the Kingdom of God is not dependant on our getting it right - or even getting it at all! If even the original 12 need extra help because they don't understand, this is a group that I can aspire to imitate!

Surely this is Good News.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
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John 3:1-17, Year B, Trinity Sunday

2009-05-28T14:48:30-07:00

Short, easy to read, thought provoking background commentary for your sermon, bible study lesson, or scripture reflection.
Listed on The Text This Week, www.textweek.com.

Year B, Season of Pentecost
Trinity Sunday
1st Sunday After Pentecost

Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF version of this note.

My comments here are drawn from Malina & Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on the Gospel of John, pages 80-89.

Verses 3:1-17 contain 3 questions / statements by Nicodemus, and 3 responses by Jesus - each beginning with Jesus giving his word of honour to his response, "Very truly, I tell you:"

3:3, no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above;
3:5, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit; and,
3:11, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.

This passage is thick with words that have double - or triple - meanings, and images that are presented as sharp contrasts:

born "from above" can equally be translated as born "anew."
Spirit, wind, breath are all translations of the same word.
Earth is contrasted with heaven; flesh with spirit; darkness with light; evil with truth; hate with love; condemnation with salvation; death with eternal life - and by implication, heaven, Spirit, light, truth, love, salvation and eternal life belong together.

Whereas in Matthew, Mark and Luke, the Spirit descends from heaven onto Jesus; in John, it is Jesus himself, the Son of Man, who has descended from and ascends into heaven. (Verse 3:13) Thus, the testimony of Jesus here is meant to be understood as his first-hand, eye-witness, family-insider testimony.

Verses 1-2. Nicodemus is a leader of the Judeans. (Not "Jews" as per the NRSV. Using the translation, "Jews," misses John's biting contrast between Jesus, the country bumpkin Galilean, and the elite Jerusalem-based Judeans.) Travel by night indicates stealth and deviant behaviour - in contrast with Jesus who teaches openly, by day, in the light, and in truth. That Nicodemus addresses Jesus, the Galilean, by the honorific title, "Rabbi," is surprising, coming from one of the Judean elite, and could be sarcastic. Note how Jesus is going to rephrase Nicodemus' phrase "(you have) come from God" to "born from above / anew."

Verses 3-10. Being born anew / from above is a huge transformation, since it means quite literally starting over with a new "family of origin." In Jesus' day, one's birth - one's family and the place one was born - determined for life one's status and honour. And even in our day, one's family - one's childhood - has a huge influence on our character and life choices / opportunities. Being born anew / from above relocates our identity and resets possibilities for our character and life choices / opportunities.

We literally become children of God, of the Spirit. To be "a child of," means to bear the seed of, to be begotten of, to bear the likeness of. It also means to have the same social status as one's siblings (except for the first born). And so, being born anew / from above creates a new family of sisters and brothers regardless of previous birth.

In Verse 5, the reference to being born of water and Spirit could be a reference to later baptismal practices. It almost certainly is a reference to Jesus lifted up (on the cross) from whom flowed water (from his wound, John 19:34) and Spirit ("he...gave up his spirit," John 19:30.)

Verses 6-12 are common sayings, which Jesus uses to confuse, discredit - and insult - Nicodemus.

Verse 13. Note that descending from heaven is a pre-condition for ascending. The action all begins in heaven. It is all initiated by God. It is all motivated by God's love for the world.

In John, the Son of Man is "lifted up" (on a cross), whereas in Matthew, Mark and Luke the Son of Man is killed. Indeed, in John, Jesus is not said to die, but rather he gives up his Spirit. (Verse 19:30) Instead of this being a shameful, brutal death, "being lifted up" reveals God's glory, for it is from on high - where God resides - that God sees the world, and so loves the world as to send his Son.

In John, the action of saving the world is not to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. In John, the Kingdom of God is seen and entered by those born anew / from above / of water and Spirit. Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John is not proposing the coming of a new political structure on earth. Rather he is proposing the formation of an alternative society "from above" that has access to the Kingdom of God by action of the Son.

And so, salvation lies in being born anew; in being born from above - in re-defining one's "family of origin." John really means that we become God's off-spring, children of God, and in that way we receive from God the same honour and character that God has; and owe God the same loyalty that blood relations show one another (or ought to).

In Verses 16 to17, "belief" needs to be read as "trust and bond with:"

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who trusts and bonds with him may not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷Indeed, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might saved through him.

That is, no one is saved by intellectual agreement with a "belief." Salvation is all about the restoration of broken relationships. Being "saved" simply means being restored to the proper bond and trust of true kinship.

It is important to note, the organic "logical consequences," of these words. That is,

The action starts with God so loving the world - the whole world - without any qualifications, hesitations, exceptions or prior demands.
Then the Son is sent.
Those who trust and bond with the son, become part of the Son's family (being born anew from above), and as equal status siblings,
Become heirs to the family estate: heaven, Spirit, light, truth, love, salvation and eternal life.
Those who don't trust and bond with the Son, don't become part of the family, and don't becomes heirs.

To be more clear. The logic of John is NOT: If you believe, then God will love you and save you. God's salvation is not a reward for belief. Nor does God withhold God's love, forgiveness and salvation until we believe.

On the other hand, since love is not coercive, we do have to accept the invitation in order to actually be part of the family.

David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca

Permission is granted for non-profit use of these materials.
Acknowledgement in oral presentations is not required.
Otherwise, please acknowledge source as, "David Ewart, www.holytextures.com."