Holy Textures

Acts 2:1-21

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This text stands as a book end to the story of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). In Babel, the story begins with one language and a common understanding and purpose, but ends with many languages, confusion and scattering. In Acts the story begins with many languages, and ends with many languages, but contains in the middle a common hearing about God's deeds of power (verse 11).

Unfortunately, unlike the story of Babel, this story does not contain within it any cautionary tale against human hubris. It is absolutely crucial in reading this text aright to truly pause and ponder the question asked in verse 12, "What does this mean?"

When The Spirit Comes

Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-21
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I want to begin my reflection today by asking you to recall the first time you saw a movie with special effects. … I’m old enough to remember seeing Cecil B. DeMille’s, “Ten Commandments,” when it was first released. Sitting in the darkened theatre as a child, watching Charlton Heston lead the people between the walls of raging water as they crossed the Red Sea. It was pretty amazing back then. But it was pretty primitive and hokey by today’s standards. Back then we could see the seam where the two images were glued together. Today, special effects must be seamless; must be an integrated aspect of the story.

John 20:19-31

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I am going "off lectionary" in order to preach a series of sermons on S.O.S. - Soil for Our Souls, Spiritual Practices that Provide Rich Soil for Our Souls to Flourish. Check the new web site www.soilforoursouls.com. Below is a sermon I have preached on the John text.

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This passage continues telling how the risen Christ was experienced by his followers; this time with the focus being on “doubting” Thomas.

Seeing Life

We know that the texts in the Bible were written down for folks like you and me – people who were not alive at the time of Jesus; people who would only know about Jesus if those who were there wrote down their memories so that they could be told to future generations.

The last few verses in John make this explicitly clear. The “you” in “these are written so that you may come to believe,” is you and you and you and me. These are written so we here today might believe. And, come to believe, as Jesus points out, “without having seen.”

Luke 23:33-43

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This lesson, chosen for Christ the King / The Reign of Christ Sunday, seems to be chosen as a deliberate counter-point to the temptation to rush to a quick and easy, "Christ the all-powerful King will rescue you from all physical hardships, and prevent any bad things from happening to you," type of sermons.

Indeed, the question that cries out from the page is, "If Jesus can't save himself, how can he save us?"

Luke 21:5-19

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The readings at this time of year are out of sync with what is happening in malls and stores everywhere: they are gearing up for that shopping madness called Christmas; the lessons are gearing up for cosmic conflict and death. Folks come expecting some advance preparation for Christmas; they get lessons about global warfare, plagues, confrontation, betrayal, persecution, and ... endurance and salvation.

I sometimes think we should make the Reign of Christ a whole new Season in the Christian calendar just to give everyone a heads up.

Luke 20:27-38

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It is important to remember the context of this passage: Jesus has entered Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-40) and a series of confrontations with the authorities begins. After telling the parable of the wicked tenants (Luke 20:9-19), Luke comments:

So they watched (Jesus) and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor.
Luke 20:20 (NRSV)

Luke 19:1-10

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By the end of this Chapter, Jesus will have entered Jerusalem and the last week of his life before he is arrested, tortured and executed.

In this passage he enters Jericho near Jerusalem.

Zacchaeus is a CHIEF tax collector. This probably means he has been given a contract (for an agreed set price) to collect taxes from a large region. He would employ others to actually do the collecting - one of whom we met in last week's parable.

Luke 18:9-14

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Last week, Jesus told us a parable to show our "need to pray always and never lose heart," Luke 18:1 (the parable of the widow who persisted in seeking justice. Click here to read my comments on that passage.)

And now, Jesus tells us a parable to show our need to avoid pride, hubris, smugness, self-righteousness, etc. should we happen, in fact, to actually "pray always."

Luke 18:1-8

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This passage echoes themes found at the beginning of Chapter 11: A neighbour asking for bread in the middle of the night; ask, seek, knock; and sinful human fathers who know to give their children what they need when they ask.

The remarks that frame the actual parable of the persistent widow make 2 points and raise 1 question:

• We need to pray at all times and never give up, never lose heart
• It is in God's nature to respond urgently to our prayers for justice
• But if the Son of Man were to suddenly appear would he find us praying and trusting that God is responding urgently to our prayers for justice?

John 6:24-35

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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.

Luke 16:19-31

The story of the nameless rich man and the named beggar, Lazarus, (Hebrew for, "Our God has helped") is placed by Luke between verse 16:14:

You cannot serve both God and Money.

and verse 17:1:

Occasions for stumbling are bound to come.

seemingly as an illustration of both truths.

As is typical with Jesus and ourselves, there are a number of assumptions and reversals in this story.

Luke 16:1-13

Over the last few Sundays, the "audience" has shifted from "large crowds" (Luke 14:25), to "Pharisees and the scribes" (15:2) to now, "the disciples." (16:1) And, apart from the story of the prodigal and his father and brother (Luke 15:11-32), the content of Jesus' teaching is primarily wisdom stories and concluding sayings. (And often the concluding sayings are only loosely connected to the actual content of the stories. For example, the sheep and the coin are lost but do not sin nor repent. The sayings about joy in heaven would more logically follow the story of the prodigal son.)

And so, what are we to make of the story of the manager (or steward or agent) and the concluding sayings?

First, we should understand that the manager is indeed being shrewd (or wise or prudent or astute), in that,

Luke 15:1-10

Last week, when large crowds were traveling with him (Luke 14:25), the lesson was about the cost of following Jesus.

This week, now that tax collectors and sinners are coming near to listen to him, the lesson is all about celebration that the lost have been found (without any cost on their part).

In Luke, the religious leaders try to get a reading of what honour (or dishonour) to bestow on Jesus by inviting him to dinner, Chapter 14. But now they start grumbling about him. Hanging with tax collectors and sinners is definitely not an honourable thing to do, and by now associating with these people, Jesus is bringing dishonor on the leaders for their previous association with him. (They could now be publicly ridiculed for not having correctly assessed Jesus' character BEFORE they had invited him to dinner - they should have know that he was the kind of guy who would

Luke 14:25-33

This text begins and ends with an "all or nothing" injunction about following Jesus, with two practical illustrations in between.

Given that at this point in his ministry, Jesus is beginning to sense the "all" that lies ahead for him personally (betrayal and denial by his closest companions, followed by false arrest, torture, and brutal execution), perhaps it is no wonder that his response to the large crowds is to challenge any hopes they may have for an easy entry to the messianic age. The way ahead will be hard, not magical.

The word "hate" (as used in the NRSV) is clearly being used in an exaggerated sense and not literally. The Good News Bible's "love me more" is better, but doesn't capture

Jeremiah 18:1-11

This passage presents God in the image of an autocratic, totalitarian, emperor. God exercises divine punishment on those who do evil, and reward for those who follow his (sic) commands.

However, there is another way to hear this text. The text reveals that evil is antithetical to God's nature and character. Not only is there no evil in God's personal being, God abhors evil in anyone's being. And particularly, God abhors evil inflicted on others.

The text also reveals that God is influenced by unfolding events, by the decisions and

Luke 8:26 - 39

The previous verses had demonstrated Jesus' power over the demons within nature by calming a storm, now we will see Jesus' power over the demons within people by calming a wild man.

The description of the behaviour in verses 27 and 29 is exactly how a possessed person behaves: shouting, naked, living among graves; and how the community responds: isolating, guarding, chaining.

Notice the honorific greeting used to greet Jesus: "Son of the Most High God." When Jesus, asks him his name in verse 30, this is a sign of Jesus' higher status: well-behaved subjects speak first only to acknowledge the sovereign, "Your Majesty," and then wait for well-behaved sovereigns to ask for their name. Giving one's name gives power to control and direct.

The name "Legion" has a double meaning. Literally, it means, "Many, thousands, multitudes." But it also alludes to the occupying Roman soldier legions which numbered 3,000 to 6,000 each. Many Israelites felt the Roman legions were a demonic occupation.

The presence of a herd of swine nearby indicates that this scene is taking place in land used by non-Israelites.

Why are the people of the city afraid of Jesus, instead of welcoming? Perhaps they prefer the stability of demonic occupation by Roman legions to the disruption and destruction that might come with them being cast out?

The man seeks to follow Jesus out of devotion and out of the debt now owed to Jesus for freeing him. But Jesus directs directs him to give his devotion to the one who truly freed him - God. Notice that the man fails to do this and instead continues to praise Jesus.

Questions (from LESSONMaker)

• What situations seem hopeless to you?
• What has been your first reaction when meeting wild behaving, "possessed" people?
• Why did the man beg Jesus not to torment him? What was Jesus doing - or going to do - that would be tormenting?
• In what ways do people today ask Jesus to leave them alone?
• What can you do this week to become more aware of Jesus' ability to help you with your most serious problems? What form do expect this help to take?

Luke 7:36 to 8:3

Jesus! How Could You!

Meal times are rich with assumed, unspoken, expectations and customs. And meals with invited guests are even more so. What food will be served? What drink will be served? Who will sit beside whom? In what order will people be served? What will be "polite" conversation? What thanks are to be offered? To whom? By whom? Etc.

This lesson from Luke both reveals and takes for granted many such meal time customs in Jesus' day.

In Jesus' day, there were no paved roads, no socks, and no running water. So it was an expectation that a host would provide guests with a servant to wash the guests feet on their arrival, and provide some scented ointment for their hair. Meals were served onto low tables, and the guests would lie on sofas, propped on their left side, taking and eating food from serving dishes with their right hands. Only men would eat together. Women would enter the room only to serve food. They would not talk with the men. And as always, a woman would always have her hair covered and would never directly speak to or touch a man in public.

Thus, when the woman in this story comes into the room where the men are eating, she is violating a huge standard of socially respectable behaviour for a woman - just by being in the room.

I wonder why she is weeping? For joy? For sorrow? For loss? For repentance? For relief?

It is shocking what she does. Washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Touching him with her hair. Anointing him with ointment. But then, she is already a woman with a reputation. She has no "good name" left to lose. But what about Jesus? Any proper man would have re-acted with outrage and anger at her behaviour. Any proper man would have absolutely prevented the way she touches him in public. Allowing this behaviour tars Jesus with the same reputation as the woman touching him. And if left unchallenged would bring dishonour on the host as well.

However, an interesting twist takes place. Just as the host is thinking to himself, "Doesn't Jesus know what sort of person this woman is," Jesus tells a story to make plain that he does indeed know what sort of woman she is, and more than that, knows what sort of person his host is as well. Ouch.

Only Luke reports this event in Jesus' ministry. I wonder why? Certainly Luke was from the same social class as the Pharisee in the story. I wonder if this story was particularly poignant for him? Reminding him - and causing him in turn to remind us - that God's care, love and forgiveness is for all - without distinction. But not without inequality. All are forgiven, but not all are forgiven equally because some have greater debts, and God's forgiveness is never partial, never half way, never with a hidden catch. It is always total, whole, full and complete. Ouch. It is good news that my debts are forgiven, but hard to hear that someone else's much larger debt is also totally forgiven.

And yet, it is exactly this good news of God's hospitality being extended to all without distinction that was one of the marks of the new community of those who followed the Way of Jesus. I wonder what our churches would be like if we could fully live this hospitality? I wonder if others would still find that distinctive and attractive?

Genesis 11:1-9

The story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 is a creation story.

Like the creation stories that have preceded it, the important question to ask of this story is NOT, "Is it factual?" The question to ask is, "Does it tell something true about human experience?"

Aside: In the first 11 chapters of Genesis there are several linked creation stories:

• Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 - how God made the good world: 7 days of creation.
• Genesis 2:4 - 3:24 - why we suffer and are estranged from God: no longer in the Garden of Eden.
• Genesis 4:1-26 - why there are peoples who are similar but different: Cain kills his brother Abel and is sent into exile.
• Genesis 6:1 - 10:32 - starting over: Noah and his family as the new originating humans.
• Genesis 11:1-9 - building the city of our dreams: why there are so many languages

The story of the tower of Babel is both an instructive and a cautionary tale. It instructs (explains) to us how, after the flood, where there was once again a single first family - Noah's - yet there came to be many different peoples with many different languages.

But like the story of Cain and Abel, which is a cautionary tale about human jealousy and Divine justice, this is a cautionary about human hubris and Divine purpose. ("hubris: exaggerated self-confidence," an often fatal, always mistaken assumption that one knows all there is to know)

From the vantage point of the 21st Century, it is not too difficult to hear in this story echoes from every age of human history: "Wow, with this new technology, nothing can stop us from building a whole new dream world." In Babel, the technology was bricks, in our century it is the internet, in the past it has been planes, trains, cars, ships, etc., etc. The caution in the tale is not, "Stop creating new technology." The caution is, "Don't be over-confident about what this new technology will result in. Everything has a price to pay. Everything has unforeseeable, unintended, unpredictable consequences." As Leonard Cohen says, "There is a crack in everything." And as John Calvin says, "Everything is depraved."

As in the Cain and Abel story where God intervenes to both protect Cain and yet also make plain God's expectations for justice and caring, in this story God intervenes to both protect language and yet also make plain God's expectations for novelty, complexity and diversity - and appropriately humble, honest, human labour and participation in populating the whole world.

Nonetheless, the opening verse of this story contains an echo of a deeply embedded human ache:

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.

In our age of both global communication technologies and stubbornly entrenched local violence, we long for a global understanding as the means to achieve a single, common purpose and harmony. A longing to which this story still stands as a cautionary tale about our hubris.

Acts 16:16-34 (35-40)

Whenever we read the Bible, it is important not to get distracted by the special effects. The important question to ask is NOT, "Is this story factual?" The important question to ask is, "What is the truth that this story is telling?"

This story of Paul and Silas may or may not be completely factual in all its details. But it is certainly truthful in its revelation that vulnerable people (the girl in this story) are exploited by others to make money. And that anyone who jeopardizes the ability of the powerful to make money will pay dearly (publicly accused, humiliated, beaten, imprisoned). This is an old story whose truth we all know all too well.

(In Biblical times, it was believed that everything, and I do mean everything, was caused by some living spirit, seen or unseen. "Normal" human behaviour was caused by the spirit of that person. But deviant behaviour was caused by a spirit that had possessed the person. The spirit could possibly be holy and good, or it could be demonic and evil. In Biblical understanding, this girl's spirit is not clear: it is accurately publicly saying who Paul and Silas are. But unclean spirits can do this - as for example the spirits that recognize who Jesus truly was. Paul probably initially tries to ignore the girl because he would be aware of the consequences that would follow if he were to challenge the spirit in the girl. That Paul finally acts because he became "very much annoyed" (verse 18, NRSV) may or may not be factual, but it certainly reveals a believable human characteristic of Paul's. It is precisely this telling of the faults and failings of the "heroes" of the Biblical story that makes the story believable.)

From this point on the story gradually introduces surprises: novel, unpredicted possibilities.

Surprise number 1. Having been publicly shamed, beaten and imprisoned, Paul and Silas do not fall in line and become obedient to the prevailing authorities. Instead, they exercise the inner spiritual freedom which they still have - they pray and sing! They are in prison but still free in faith. Is this part of the story factual? Who cares? Is this part of the story truthful? Does it truthfully open up to us new possibilities for how WE might respond to constraints we experience in life? (Or is this a delusion, a lie?)

Surprise number 2. Having been freed from their chains and had the prison doors opened by an earthquake, Paul, Silas and all the other prisoners stay in their cells! Having been set physically free, they continue to exercise the freedom in faith they already had by choosing to stay put instead of fleeing. If Paul and Silas had still been captive to the logic of who has true authority in their society (the magistrates) they would have fled. But the upside-down logic of this is that fleeing is still part of the same old story, whereas staying put is what confirms the new freedom in faith that Paul is giving witness to. Is this part of the story factual? Who cares? Does it truthfully open up to us new possibilities for how WE might break the cycles of rebellion-punishment-obedience and respond in a way that is truly faithful and free?

Surprise number 3. The response of the guard to become a believer and care for Paul and Silas' wounds is a courageous response. His initial reaction of drawing his sword to kill himself is because he knows what will happen to him when it is discovered all the prisoners have escaped - he will be brutally tortured and then killed. Better to kill himself as painlessly as possible. But by accepting the truth of the above two surprises, the guard steps outside the norms of his society and becomes vulnerable to the same persecution that Paul and Silas received. By being baptized he now knowingly, willingly, gladly puts himself and his household in exactly the same danger he thought he was in when he first saw that the prison doors had been thrown open. However, by being baptized he now also claims for himself and his household the freedom in faith from the rulers of this world that Paul and Silas gave evidence of. Is this part of the story factual? Who cares? Does it truthfully open up to us new possibilities for how WE might respond with courage to adopt new beliefs and new ways of being, even in the face of being punished, ostracized, or worse, by our friends and society?

Surprise number 4. (But only if you read right to then end of the story.) Paul and Silas didn't flee when an earthquake opened the prison doors, and now when the magistrates set them free, they still won't go! The logic of the old story of how the rulers of this world are the only rulers would have Paul and Silas taking the token offered to them and getting out as quietly and as quickly as possible. But Paul and Silas have been living all along in the freedom of their faith. They don't accept the "authority" of the rulers of this world because they believe the truth that there is another ruler - one whose "rule" is love. And so, in this freedom, Paul and Silas demand, and get, a public apology. By so doing, they set an example of courage, and they actually provide an element of increased social safety: the Magistrates will be less hasty to condemn followers of this new Way of Jesus. Is this part of the story factual? Who cares? Does it truthfully open up new possibilities for how WE might live to the fullest extent our obedience to the narrative of God's love?

John 17:20-26

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Again, we have a small section from a much longer, more complex passage.

These verses re-iterate the central concern of John, the formation of an organic, complete, total, loyal relationship with Jesus / the community of his followers (now and in future generations) / his Father. This fully devoted relationship is what John means by "love." It is by abiding in this love, sharing God's word and God's glory, and being completely one that outsiders may truly know / understand / realize that indeed Jesus was sent by the Father. And as verse 17:3 says:

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent

And again, I would repeat that while the exclusionary language of John is antithetical to the Good News of Jesus, the vision of the community that abides in the unity of God's love is to be lifted up as a challenge to all followers of Jesus. Will the outside world indeed see in us the love and glory of God?

David Ewart
www.holytextures.com

Acts 16:9-15

One interesting thing about this rather prosaic passage is that it highlights once more the important leadership and resources offered by women in the early Christian community - and even lets us know her name: Lydia!

Lydia is described as a God-fearer or a worshipper of God. ("God-fearer" should be heard as slangy street language and not as a formal term.) This means she was a Gentile (i.e., non-Jewish) adherent of Judaism. Scholars believe there were a significant number of such God-fearers, and that these were among the first of Paul's Gentile converts to the way of Jesus.

Things I wish I knew about the setting of this passage:

• Why were only women present at the prayer gathering?
• Why were the women meeting by the river instead of in someone's home or a syngogue?
• How would the presence of Paul and his male companions be viewed, at least initially, by the women, and by the community?
• How had Lydia, a woman, come to do what was normally only something a man could do - trade in cloth?
• I understand that purple was an expensive dye in those days, so what does that imply about Lydia's social status and standing in her community?

John 14:23-29

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Once again we have a small excerpt selected from a much longer, richer, and more complex passage which is the whole of Chapter 14.

These verses are part of an address by Jesus to his followers (then and now) on why they should not let their hearts be troubled (Verses 1 and 27) even though he is about to leave them.

Acts 11:1-18

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This passage is a great sermon illustration of how challenging to received traditions and social customs, "loving one another as I have loved you" can be.

We can accept the difficult challenge of loving those we are close to, but how should we regard those who are strangers and foreign; those who may have habits and customs that are repugnant to us. If they agree to become like us, they can be included in our responsibility to love. But are we to love them as we find them?

John 13:31-35

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This passage is taken from a much longer, more complex and richly significant telling of Jesus' last supper with his followers before his betrayal, arrest, trial, torture and execution. The first verse of John 13 sets the context:

Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go the Father. Having loved (agape) his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Acts 9:36-43

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Jesus raised the Centurion's daughter and Lazarus from death; now Peter raises Dorcas / Tabitha.

Note that this raising is not the same as the resurrection. Her life has been resuscitated, but Dorcas will later die again. Also note that this work does not result in people worshiping Peter - they "put their faith in the Lord."

I love the interesting details in this story. I wonder what Peter prayed about / for? I wonder why he sent everyone out of the room? Given his prior tendency for impetuous behaviour, I wonder if Peter himself was changed in any way in this story?

David Ewart
www.holytextures.com

John 10:22-30

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The context for the question posed in Verse 24 is given in verses 19-21 - controversy among Judeans over who Jesus is. What are they to make of his deviant behaviour? His behaviour must either be caused by an evil spirit or the spirit of God. Jesus' challenging and provoking of the authorities and upsetting social harmony suggest he is possessed by an evil spirit. But on the other hand, "can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

John 21:1-19

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This is the story of the "first breakfast."

As usual with John, it is important to not get caught up in the historical details. John wants us to see Jesus, to see the glory of God revealed in / through Jesus.

Note that this is the third time (in John) that the risen Jesus has appeared to his followers. Three signifies completion / wholeness.