Holy Textures

Mark 11:1-11

The Bible doesn't tell us about Pilate parading in the main gate of Jerusalem, or what the crowd shouted, but you can bet it wasn't, "Blessed is the coming of the Kingdom of our ancestor David." That would be treason. And treason was punishable by? You guessed it, by execution on a cross.

Year B
Lent 6
Liturgy of the Palms
Alternate Reading A
April 1, 2012

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: Mark 11:1-11, The Message   or   Mark 11:1-11, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "Parades and Crosses."

On this day in the life of Jesus, it is the beginning of the week in which Passover will be celebrated in Jerusalem.

Passover is still celebrated by Jews to this day. Celebrated in synagogues, and most particularly in homes, where their salvation from slavery in Egypt is remembered and re-told: The hardship of our oppression. The calling of Moses to lead us to freedom and to a promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The repeated agreement - and then reneging - of the Pharaoh, until the tenth and final and most deadly of the plagues - the angel of death that killed all first born males - except for our homes where we had used the blood of a lamb to mark our door posts - those homes were passed over. The hurried preparations to be ready to flee - no time for leavened bread. The flight from Egypt pursued by the Egyptian soldiers. The miraculous parting of the Red Sea to allow us to pass through, but drowning the pursuing soldiers. The hardship of the 40 years wandering in the wilderness. The giving of the 10 Commandments - now that we are free, how shall live? What does the Lord require of us?

John 12:20-33

There is a deliberate pun in John about the "raising" of Jesus - on the cross, and from the grave. In the first, the rulers of this world are shown to powerless; in the second, death is shown to be powerless.

Year B
Lent 5
March 25, 2012

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: John 12:20-33, The Message   or   John 12:20-33, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "Written On Our Hearts."

Personal aside to begin.
Inserting readings from John along with those from MM&L (Matthew, Mark and Luke), without any explanatory comment, seems to suggest that MM&L and John are both telling the same story about Jesus. This is a mistake. Don't get me wrong. I love John's Gospel. But John has - literally - a very different vision of Jesus - wants us to "see" Jesus - in a way that is very different than MM&L. We do need to preach John's vision - raise it up, if I may borrow a phrase. But we should NOT harmonize it with MM&L. Instead, we need to have two good eyes/ears, and use both of them to see John's vision, and to hear MM&L's proclamation as they contrast and complement one another in a way that holds us in irresolvable tension - "irresolvable tension," also known as "mystery."

Malina and Rorhbaugh (See footnote below.) understand "some Greeks" to be Hellenistic Israelites, that is, Jews who were living outside of Judah, but would make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover.

Note the implied "pecking order:" they first talk to Philip, who then goes to Andrew, and then the two of them go to see Jesus. Recall that back in Chapter 1, verses 35 to 40 that Andrew was one of the first two disciples to follow Jesus. The next day in Galilee, Jesus calls Philip. Thus Andrew has precedence over Philip.

John 3:14-21

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

Year B
Lent 4
March 18, 2012

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: John 3:14-21, The Message   or   John 3:14-21, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "The Light Shines In The Darkness."

This text really begins back in Verse 3:1 with the visit of Nicodemus in the middle of the night. Verses 3:1-21 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.

These passages are 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, the Son of Man, who has ascended into and descended from heaven. (Verse 3:13) Thus, the testimony of Jesus here is meant to be understood as his first-hand, eye-witness, family-insider testimony.

Verse 14. 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. Instead of simply dying, Jesus breathes his Spirit into his followers.

In John, the action of saving the world is not to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand. 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."

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 to18, "belief" needs to be read as "trust and bond with:"

¹⁶ For 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.

¹⁷ Indeed, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Those who trust and bond with him are not condemned; but those who hesitate and are disloyal to him are condemned already, because they have not become one of the family of the only Son of God.

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

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

1. The action starts with God so loving the world - the whole world - without any qualifications, hesitations, exceptions or prior demands.
2. Then the Son comes.
3. Those who trust and bond with the Son, become part of the Son's family (being born anew from above), and thereby 
4. become heirs to the family estate: heaven, Spirit, light, truth, love, salvation and eternal life.
5. Those who hesitate and don't 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. And this decision will have natural consequences. However, this does NOT mean that God's offer of love and kinship is withdrawn. God does not make one-time, take it or leave it, time limited offers.

David Ewart,
www.holytextures.com

Historical background information in this post is drawn primarily from Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John, see link below, pages 80-89.

* Link to Amazon.com Bibliography for Bruce J. Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh, 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.

John 3:14-21 (NRSV)

   ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

   ¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

   ¹⁷ "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Return to top of post.

John 3:14-21 (The Message)

   ¹⁴ In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—¹⁵ and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

   ¹⁶ "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. ¹⁷ God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. ¹⁸ Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

   ¹⁹ "This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. ²⁰ Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. ²¹ But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."

Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Return to top of post.

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 2:13-22

Just as Jews continue to read the Passover in the first person plural, present tense; I wonder how this passage would sound to us if we read this as Jesus' cleansing our places of worship today? Are there any habits we might have fallen into which are insulting God?

Year B
Lent 3
March 11, 2012

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: John 2:13-22, The Message   or   John 2:13-22, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "Sabbath Time."

I'm somewhat confused as to why the designers of the Lectionary chose this passage from John when there is a perfectly good parallel in Mark, and Mark is the prime Gospel for Year B.

In any case, this text is a good time to once again warn against the tragic antagonism toward "the Jews" that is in our Holy Text, and in our blood stained history.

Malina and Rohrbaugh (See footnote below.) provide a crucial correction to the mistranslation of the Greek text which refers to "Judeans" not "Jews."

At the time of Jesus, the people we today call "Jews" referred to themselves as "Israel." "Judeans" were the people of Israel who lived in the region of Judea. "Galileans" were the people of Israel who lived in the region of Galilee.

But since the capital city, Jerusalem was in Judea, and the Romans primarily dealt with the elite living in the capital, they referred to everyone as Judeans regardless of which region they were from.

But Judeans regarded Galileans as hillbillies. We see this in the comment, "Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?" (John 7:14)

The Gospels are filled with antagonism between Jesus of Nazareth - the Galilean - and the Judeans - NOT "the Jews."

Mark 8:31-38

Just exactly how do we lose our life so that we get it back? The key is to not skip over the crucial qualification: "for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel."

Year B
Lent 2,
Alternate Reading A
March 4, 2012

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: Mark 8:31-38, The Message   or   Mark 8:31-38, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "Take Up Your Cross."

When a passage begins with "Then," it is usually a good idea to check back and see what the time / space reference is. In this case, the "then" refers to 8:27-30, where Jesus seeks confirmation from his inner group of disciples of what the gossip is about him - "Who do people say that I am?" And then of their assessment - "Who do you say that I am?"

When Peter says, "You are the Messiah," he confirms the authority of Jesus - as seen by others - to now take his show on the road to Jerusalem. In a very real sense, up to now Jesus has been working the small town stages to build up his street cred's. And having made a name for himself, he is now ready to tackle the big leagues - Jerusalem and the Roman authorities.

The rest of Chapter 8 and all of Chapters 9 and 10 are the road trip to the big city - and Jesus' teachings and actions are now all focused on preparing his followers for the actions that will happen there as Jesus brings his proclamation of the Kingdom of God into direct, face-to-face, confrontation with the Empire of Rome.

Poor old Peter. In verse 30, he calls Jesus, the Messiah. Three short verses later, Jesus is calling Peter, "Satan."

Mark 1:9-15

"Believe in the good news" is better translated as "Trust into the good news," since the whole point is not, "Have an opinion about the good news." Rather, Jesus is calling for a radical, total, unqualified basing of one's life on his good news.

Year B
Lent 1
February 26, 2012

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: Mark 1:9-15, The Message   or   Mark 1:9-15, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "Repentance."

Verse 9. "In those days," that is, in those days of John's ministry of:

• proclaiming, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;"
• proclaiming a baptism for the forgiveness of sins (instead of making the Biblically mandated sacrifices at the temple for the forgiveness of sins);
• proclaiming, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; ... he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (and who has ever done that before?)

That is, "in those days" of raised expectations that the long-desired Messiah who would save Israel from the Roman oppressor was on his way.

In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth. Say again! Nazareth! You gotta be kidding. Nothing and no one good has ever come from Nazareth!

But it is precisely in those days, from that Nazareth, that that Jesus came and was baptized by that John in that river Jordan.

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Fortunately, this passage actually has TWO new commandments: 1) Love one another as I have loved you. And, 2) Forgive one another as I have forgiven you. Christ-like-love is the goal. Forgiveness is the salve that heals brokenness and makes love possible once again.

Year A
Holy Thursday / Maundy Thursday
April 21, 2011

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: John 13:1-17, 31b-35, The Message   or   John 13:1-17, 31b-35, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Listen to or download an MP3 of this post:

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "."

Chapters 13 to 19 are devoted to the "hour" that has now come after 3 years of Jesus' ministry that John covers in Chapters 2 to 12.

This "hour" is actually the final day of Jesus' life, beginning with this meal and ending with his being "lifted up" on the cross.

John 19:38-42

The crucial piece of background information which we need to know here is the belief that the flesh contained a person's evil deeds. And the year-long rotting of the flesh was a purging of these deeds, leaving the bones (which contained the personality of the person) ready to receive the new body fashioned by God at the resurrection. But the resurrection of Jesus on the third day will interrupt this process before it starts. Jesus needs no such purification; his resurrection is a vindication by God of the purity of his words and deeds.

Year A
Holy Saturday
April 23, 2011

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: John 19:38-42, The Message   or   John 19:38-42, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

Listen to or download an MP3 of this post:

John 19:38-42

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. George Hermanson, "."

Joseph of Arimathea is described in all 4 Gospels:

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
Matthew 27:57-58 (NRSV)

Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Mark 15:43 (NRSV)

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the (Judean) town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 
Luke 23:50-52 (NRSV)

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the (Judean authorities), asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body.
John 19:38 (NRSV)

From these we can picture Joseph as a good and righteous man, a disciple of Jesus (though a secret one), a respected member of the Council (though not agreeing with their plan to kill Jesus), a rich man, a man waiting expectantly for the Messiah.

Israelite Burial Customs

The claim that Jesus is raised by God is a claim of divine vindication for the deeds and words of Jesus. His life has been that of the Word made flesh in Israel, and God preserves its fleshly record intact.

Click here for an easy to print or email Adobe PDF copy of this post.

Given that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are so central to our faith, I thought it would be most helpful to post this extended comment from Bruce Malina and Richard Rohrbaugh.

Archaeological evidence and later scribal Pharisaic documents disclose to us the meaning of Israelite burial customs at the time of Jesus.

Israelites regarded death as a lengthy process, not a moment in time.

In elite circles in Judea, between the last breath and sundown, the body would be laid out on a shelf in a tomb carved into limestone bedrock outside Jerusalem.

Mourning rites would commence, continuing throughout the year as the body underwent decomposition. The rotting of the flesh was regarded as painful, but also expiatory for the dead person. One's evil deeds were thought to be embedded in the flesh and to dissolve along with it.

After a year, the mourning ritual concluded.

In the first century, people thought that the bones retained the personality, and that God would use them to support new flesh for the resurrection.

After this year of purification and putrefaction, the bones of the deceased were often collected and placed in an ossuary or "bone box," which was in fact a second burial casket. This process was called the ossilegium, "the collection of bones."

The ossuary was designed like a box for scrolls, just long enough for the thigh bones to be laid in like scroll spindles awaiting a new hide and new inscription by the divine hand.

In an alternate image, the bones could be regarded as loom posts made ready for God to weave a new body.

In keeping with these views of the character of resurrection, inkwells and spindle whorls have been found in excavated tombs.

This day of second burial (of the bones) marked the end of the family's mourning and its turn toward the hope of reunion and resurrection.

Obviously, then, the disappearance or loss of a body after death would be experienced as a greater calamity than the death itself because the family would be unable to prepare the bones for resurrection.

...

These cultural beliefs and practices provide the context for understanding the claims of the first generations of Jesus' followers about the resurrected Jesus.

In John's account, Jesus dies condemned by the Judean populace, leaders, and crowds alike (although at the hands of the Romans).

Then a ranking Judean, Joseph of Arimathea, takes his body into custody.

It is laid in a separate tomb, to begin to serve the sentence of decay in order to atone for its sins.

It is precisely this penal / atonement process that is interrupted if the tomb is suddenly discovered empty.

To say that Jesus was raised is to say that God overturned the judgment of Israel's chief priests and the Judean populace, the judgment that Jesus needed to rot to prepare for resurrection.

Instead, God supposedly took Jesus directly from last breath to resurrection because there had been no guilt in his flesh.

God intervened before the rotting started, hence God overturned the death sentence.

The claim that Jesus is raised by God is a claim of divine vindication for the deeds and words of Jesus. His life has been that of the Word made flesh in Israel, and God preserves its fleshly record intact.

Taken in its cultural context, the claim of resurrection for Jesus asserts that his death was wrong and has been overturned by a higher judge.

This cultural interpretation of the death of Jesus contrasts sharply with the theological one: that Jesus' death was right and necessary and required by God "to take away the sin of the world." ...

For John, Jesus calamitously died due to the intransigence of the Judeans, but God rescued and vindicated him because Jesus was in fact the mediator of life itself. (See John 20:31)

The other (theological) tradition ... is not in John.

And contrary to Malina and Rohrbaugh, I would argue it is also not in Matthew, Mark or Luke either.

This cultural background also helps us to understand why the New Testament stresses the bodily resurrection of Jesus – his flesh did not need to rot away in order for his bones to be ready for resurrection. The fact that God raised Jesus without this rotting process confirms and vindicates that Jesus’ flesh – his words and deeds –  were true, without fault or failing, and can be trusted without hesitation on our part.

We cannot dismiss the bodily aspect of Jesus' resurrection because to do so would be to dismiss the resurrection of his words and deeds which are embedded in his flesh.

And before we get into speculating about Jesus’ flesh and bones, let’s remember that the resurrected body is connected to the earthly body somewhat like our minds are connected to our brains. Our mind arises from that piece of flesh we call the brain, but it is also more than the brain and has a life that cannot be reduced to the brain.

David Ewart,
www.holytextures.com

Historical background information in this post is drawn from Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of John, see link below, pages 276-277.

* 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."

Matthew 27:57-66

And just in case we might think that later events were a hoax, Matthew relates that the Jerusalem authorities take steps to guard the tomb.

Year A
Holy Saturday
April 23, 2011

Read the passage at the bottom of this post: Matthew 27:57-66, The Message   or   Matthew 27:57-66, The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

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

It is important not to shy away from the brutality and humiliation of Jesus' death.

Mocking, flogging, stripping completely naked, and nailing to a cross lifted high for public viewing and exposure to the elements and carnivorous birds and animals was a deliberate, well-thought out form of execution used by the Romans for a very specific reason.

It was designed to cause the maximum amount of pain for the maximum amount of time. (Usually the crucified person suffered for 2 or 3 days before dying. Their body would be left for birds and animals to eat at before finally being taken down and cast into a mass grave.)

And it was designed to cause the maximum amount of shame and humiliation.