Genesis 32:23-33
I was challenged this morning to re-think my typical understanding of the Jacob wrestling with the Angel text. And it worked. Jacob has been a "hot-mess" so far in the story. He lies, cheats and steals. The big question seems to be about WHO Jacob is really wrestling with. He has a number of characters from his past who would be likely candidates. But here he is, frightened out of his mind that brother Esau is going to blow him and everything he loves (or if not loves at least owns) to bits. Then this wrestling occurs. Nothing like panic to cause an identity crisis. I forget that the title of this passage is a title…not part of sacred scripture at all. In actuality the only person who purports that the wrestling opponent is divine is Jacob…the ego-maniac! Who do I wrestle with? Most often myself. The wrestling itself is a sign of my own inner conflict. To the extent that I see that wrestling through to a conclusion…to that degree...I am quite broken open.
What happens to Jacob after this wrestling? His big, bad fears…his big, bad enemy…turns out to be a real brother. It is like the bogey-man in the closet. Where is God in this story? Perhaps on both sides…breaking down Jacob's hot-mess of a person and warming Esau's heart to forgive. Grace abounds in-between.
Today, I'll surely find myself a la Jacob or a la Esau…either way I hope to be surprised by grace!
(click here for the food for thought I had for breakfast related to this Genesis text thanks to John C. Holbert;)
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
THAT woman, again, only different - Monday, Week 14 Matthew 9:18-26
Go here to see A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed side by side as they are told in the three synoptics.
If I had to vote on the revelatory power of the three versions, Mark would win, hands down. Matthew's is boring by comparison. It is as if Mark is writing a dramatic play to be acted out on stage and Matthew is writing a catechism. The crowd is missing in Matthew. The woman's identity (see post of Sunday, June 28) is missing. The simultaneous recognition of the healing by the woman and Jesus is missing. The smart-mouthed disciples are missing. What's left is a healing and a resuscitation.
Matthew is deliberate about his editorial practices. It seems he doesn't want to get sidetracked by dramatic details. The essential thing is faith. And as these healings unfold Jesus' fame grows and the decision to accept or reject becomes more sharply focused.
I need characters. I want to place myself in the scene. I think that is why the stories of the saints are rich to me. Today is also the Feast of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr. She and my grandmother were from the same tiny town, Corinaldo, Italy. And the story is that Maria babysat for my grandmother when she was a baby (or was it the other way around?). What I remember is that Maria's story was part of the family story, and together we read about her, watched the campy movie, and called upon her intercession.
Maybe that is the disciple's role...
to become a decent-enough…if not quite exemplary…
character in the story of the People of God…
St. Maria Goretti, and that "Bad-Ass-Faith-Filled" woman with a hemorrhage,
Pray for me!
If I had to vote on the revelatory power of the three versions, Mark would win, hands down. Matthew's is boring by comparison. It is as if Mark is writing a dramatic play to be acted out on stage and Matthew is writing a catechism. The crowd is missing in Matthew. The woman's identity (see post of Sunday, June 28) is missing. The simultaneous recognition of the healing by the woman and Jesus is missing. The smart-mouthed disciples are missing. What's left is a healing and a resuscitation.
Matthew is deliberate about his editorial practices. It seems he doesn't want to get sidetracked by dramatic details. The essential thing is faith. And as these healings unfold Jesus' fame grows and the decision to accept or reject becomes more sharply focused.
I need characters. I want to place myself in the scene. I think that is why the stories of the saints are rich to me. Today is also the Feast of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin, Martyr. She and my grandmother were from the same tiny town, Corinaldo, Italy. And the story is that Maria babysat for my grandmother when she was a baby (or was it the other way around?). What I remember is that Maria's story was part of the family story, and together we read about her, watched the campy movie, and called upon her intercession.
Maybe that is the disciple's role...
to become a decent-enough…if not quite exemplary…
character in the story of the People of God…
St. Maria Goretti, and that "Bad-Ass-Faith-Filled" woman with a hemorrhage,
Pray for me!
Sunday, July 5, 2015
The Subtleties of Translation - 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 6:1-6
This is the "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place" pericope.
Many were astonished by Jesus' teaching in the synagogue. After that there is a string of where, what, who, how questions about this Jesus and then the crowd is all of the sudden scandalized!
The word translated as astonished (or amazed in the NIV and astounded in the NRSV) is difficult to capture. If the context influences the meaning then we need to pay attention to this crowd gathering again. And the crowd in the Gospels has some unique characteristics. It is a Gospel word; not used much in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is such drama in the fickleness of this astonished crowd that I wonder what exactly this astonishment is made of. Can astonishment be a negative…like infuriated, maybe?* Or intrigued or mesmerized?
If the gathering crowd of people are really more like an amorphous and unstable mob, then it makes a lot of sense that Jesus is very careful around them. In Mark, when these crowds get a little heated he asks everyone to keep quiet and he finds a quieter place to get away from it all. He knows what crowds do…they switch from Hosanna to Crucify Him with one pointed finger.
A different take on verses 2-3:
Who the H--- does this guy think he is…
all full of himself.
All I can say is I don't trust him
and I don't trust the source of his tricks.
He's that weird kid who has been a Momma's boy all his life
And a simple carpenter's son at that!
There is something fishy about him.
And then, well, he can only heal of few sick folks in his home town, which from a Gospel perspective is not much. The physical healing is no where near as important as the spiritual. The most astounding thing is what forgiveness and reconciliation can bring about in the lives of individuals and communities.
Mob versus Communion…two very different forms of gathering…
links that fed my pondering:
* leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/07/mission-grounded-in-rejection.html
for interesting perspectives on translation
waysofreadingthebible.blogspot.com for thoughts on the crowd in the the Gospels
This is the "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place" pericope.
Many were astonished by Jesus' teaching in the synagogue. After that there is a string of where, what, who, how questions about this Jesus and then the crowd is all of the sudden scandalized!
The word translated as astonished (or amazed in the NIV and astounded in the NRSV) is difficult to capture. If the context influences the meaning then we need to pay attention to this crowd gathering again. And the crowd in the Gospels has some unique characteristics. It is a Gospel word; not used much in the Hebrew Scriptures. There is such drama in the fickleness of this astonished crowd that I wonder what exactly this astonishment is made of. Can astonishment be a negative…like infuriated, maybe?* Or intrigued or mesmerized?
If the gathering crowd of people are really more like an amorphous and unstable mob, then it makes a lot of sense that Jesus is very careful around them. In Mark, when these crowds get a little heated he asks everyone to keep quiet and he finds a quieter place to get away from it all. He knows what crowds do…they switch from Hosanna to Crucify Him with one pointed finger.
A different take on verses 2-3:
Who the H--- does this guy think he is…
all full of himself.
All I can say is I don't trust him
and I don't trust the source of his tricks.
He's that weird kid who has been a Momma's boy all his life
And a simple carpenter's son at that!
There is something fishy about him.
And then, well, he can only heal of few sick folks in his home town, which from a Gospel perspective is not much. The physical healing is no where near as important as the spiritual. The most astounding thing is what forgiveness and reconciliation can bring about in the lives of individuals and communities.
Mob versus Communion…two very different forms of gathering…
links that fed my pondering:
* leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2012/07/mission-grounded-in-rejection.html
for interesting perspectives on translation
waysofreadingthebible.blogspot.com for thoughts on the crowd in the the Gospels
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Saturday July 4, Week 13 - Cloaks and Wineskins, New and Old
Matthew 9:14-17
As I read today's gospel text it was a sort of Jeopardy experience. The answer is the parable of the cloth and the wineskins, "No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine in old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." Now what's the question!
A few verses earlier we hear the pharisees and the disciples of John in attack mode as they want to know how eating with sinners and tax collectors, and not making a show of one's fasting practices, could ever be appropriate religious practice. In verse 13 there is the reference to Hosea 6:6 about God's preference for mercy over sacrifice. Unlike the Marcan parallel, Matthew adds the bit about preservation. So, the question is how to move forward in such a way that the old (Judaism)and the new (following this man Jesus) are able to bless each other and offer something new that will grow in faith, hope and love. AND, this is to happen in fidelity to what has gone before. Not an easy task. And we are still at this. The parable is a start.
I still concern myself with what the "religious life" ought to look like. Which I suppose is fairly benign as long as it doesn't get in the way of mercy. But it does get in the way...doesn't it? I think so...
ASIDE: The Genesis reading today is about Jacob stealing Esau's identity! The only thing I can say is Genesis is no Disney flick! Rewards for bad behavior abound! Again, I just love that centuries of editor's never felt the need to make this all nice. Literary critic, Andrew McKenna, said something like "Biblical literature understands us better than we understand ourselves. Our challenge is to approach these texts in such a way as to close the gap between their superior understanding of us and our inferior understanding of ourselves." This text needs more than a blog entry to contribute to that narrowing;) This blogger has more study to do...
As I read today's gospel text it was a sort of Jeopardy experience. The answer is the parable of the cloth and the wineskins, "No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine in old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." Now what's the question!
A few verses earlier we hear the pharisees and the disciples of John in attack mode as they want to know how eating with sinners and tax collectors, and not making a show of one's fasting practices, could ever be appropriate religious practice. In verse 13 there is the reference to Hosea 6:6 about God's preference for mercy over sacrifice. Unlike the Marcan parallel, Matthew adds the bit about preservation. So, the question is how to move forward in such a way that the old (Judaism)and the new (following this man Jesus) are able to bless each other and offer something new that will grow in faith, hope and love. AND, this is to happen in fidelity to what has gone before. Not an easy task. And we are still at this. The parable is a start.
I still concern myself with what the "religious life" ought to look like. Which I suppose is fairly benign as long as it doesn't get in the way of mercy. But it does get in the way...doesn't it? I think so...
ASIDE: The Genesis reading today is about Jacob stealing Esau's identity! The only thing I can say is Genesis is no Disney flick! Rewards for bad behavior abound! Again, I just love that centuries of editor's never felt the need to make this all nice. Literary critic, Andrew McKenna, said something like "Biblical literature understands us better than we understand ourselves. Our challenge is to approach these texts in such a way as to close the gap between their superior understanding of us and our inferior understanding of ourselves." This text needs more than a blog entry to contribute to that narrowing;) This blogger has more study to do...
Friday, July 3, 2015
Friday, July 3rd - Feast of St Thomas, Apostle - Ephesians 2:19-22
Ephesians is all about unity. Jews, Gentiles, uncircumcised, haunted past…whatever it was, it all stands within the grasp of the one true God Jesus came to reveal.
The motif is that of a building; a household of God with a firm foundation and one very key stone that holds everything in place. This key stone, capstone, cornerstone is Christ. This household continues to grow in service to the Lord and so becomes a "dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
This word dwelling is weighty for me. Just saying it real slowly makes me throw open my arms in a kind of "bring it all on" gesture. My sensibility hears the word dwell, and adds in, with, and among. It captures a necessary engagement in the life exchange of a community. I have lots of dwelling places. Places where I am in, with and among. They all don't have Christ as capstone. In fact, I'm pretty sure that only one of them has been consciously attempting for it to be so. The big picture of Ephesians, and all the unity talk, means that wherever I find myself dwelling…well it is God's. God is there wanting no part of my life to be unfit for the Holy Spirit's dwelling.
Thanks be to God.
The motif is that of a building; a household of God with a firm foundation and one very key stone that holds everything in place. This key stone, capstone, cornerstone is Christ. This household continues to grow in service to the Lord and so becomes a "dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
This word dwelling is weighty for me. Just saying it real slowly makes me throw open my arms in a kind of "bring it all on" gesture. My sensibility hears the word dwell, and adds in, with, and among. It captures a necessary engagement in the life exchange of a community. I have lots of dwelling places. Places where I am in, with and among. They all don't have Christ as capstone. In fact, I'm pretty sure that only one of them has been consciously attempting for it to be so. The big picture of Ephesians, and all the unity talk, means that wherever I find myself dwelling…well it is God's. God is there wanting no part of my life to be unfit for the Holy Spirit's dwelling.
Thanks be to God.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
The NON Sacrifice of Isaac - Thursday Week 13
Confession again. This text has never made sense to me as a story of Abraham's faith. It makes beautiful sense…revelatory sense...as a story about the challenges in discerning the authentic voice of God.
God doesn't change. But hopefully we do. The scriptures tell the unfolding story of the human race and her growing relationship to the God who brought us to being and who calls us to communion. So, we have been at this for a long time! And this long time is full of baby steps. They look like baby steps to us in the 21st century but a long long time ago it took a powerful amount of openness to hear,
"Abraham, Abraham, I know you're stuck believing like the whole world around you believes, that I want you to sacrifice your son…that that is what I am hungry for…but…"
In a moment of openness to the One God who doesn't change, Abraham was able to hear that his only son's life, the miraculously conceived son that has been the subject of much of Genesis to this point, that his life is not on God's most wanted list.
That's as far as it went. The ram was there. The ram will do...for now. Later on it will be Hosea who will reveal that a "contrite heart" is the sacrifice that God longs for.
I love how the biblical narrative doesn't cover up our slowness; how it's pretty honest about our past behaviors. It is the inspired story about us and our coming to know the one true God. It is not particularly neat and tidy.
What/who am I hearing? Is it God, my culture, my ego? What is it that I am so sure that God is saying, and might it be this time's child sacrifice? It may likely be something that is such a given…like child-sacrifice in Abraham's time…something that might take an attacking ram to dislodge.
God of Peace and non-violence
Grant me a spirit of discernment
That is not afraid to look at "givens"
A spirit keen on moving toward your likeness
For this I pray
Amen
God doesn't change. But hopefully we do. The scriptures tell the unfolding story of the human race and her growing relationship to the God who brought us to being and who calls us to communion. So, we have been at this for a long time! And this long time is full of baby steps. They look like baby steps to us in the 21st century but a long long time ago it took a powerful amount of openness to hear,
"Abraham, Abraham, I know you're stuck believing like the whole world around you believes, that I want you to sacrifice your son…that that is what I am hungry for…but…"
In a moment of openness to the One God who doesn't change, Abraham was able to hear that his only son's life, the miraculously conceived son that has been the subject of much of Genesis to this point, that his life is not on God's most wanted list.
That's as far as it went. The ram was there. The ram will do...for now. Later on it will be Hosea who will reveal that a "contrite heart" is the sacrifice that God longs for.
I love how the biblical narrative doesn't cover up our slowness; how it's pretty honest about our past behaviors. It is the inspired story about us and our coming to know the one true God. It is not particularly neat and tidy.
What/who am I hearing? Is it God, my culture, my ego? What is it that I am so sure that God is saying, and might it be this time's child sacrifice? It may likely be something that is such a given…like child-sacrifice in Abraham's time…something that might take an attacking ram to dislodge.
God of Peace and non-violence
Grant me a spirit of discernment
That is not afraid to look at "givens"
A spirit keen on moving toward your likeness
For this I pray
Amen
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Wednesday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time --- Arriving at Prayer with Psalm 34
I admit that Genesis has been a little exhausting, and today's Matthean version of the Demoniac episode isn't as interesting and colorful as Mark's or Luke's, so today it is Psalm 34...a great start to any day!
Psalm 34 seems to fit so perfectly with this bit of reflection I came across last night by Abraham Joshua Heschel:
That must have been what happened to Mary when she erupted in the Magnificat which echoes parts of Psalm 34. At her joy, her body reached for words, "sanctified by the honesty and love of generations," and her particular culling of those words and phrases, fell together as both new and ancient.
Today, I think I will surrender and let the words grasp my being.
Psalm 34 seems to fit so perfectly with this bit of reflection I came across last night by Abraham Joshua Heschel:
It is good that there are words sanctified by ages of worship,
by the honesty and love of generations.
If it were left to ourselves,
who would know what word is right
to be offered as praise in the sight of God
or which of our perishable thoughts worthy of entering eternity?
to be offered as praise in the sight of God
or which of our perishable thoughts worthy of entering eternity?
On the other hand, one might ask:
Why should we follow the liturgy?
Should we not say, one ought to pray when one is ready to pray?
The time to pray is all the time.
There is always an opportunity to disclose the holy,
but when we fail to seize it,
there are definite moments in the liturgical order of the day,
there are words in the liturgical order of our speech to remind us.
These words are like mountain peaks pointing to the unfathomable. Ascending their trails we arrive at prayer.
from "Man's Quest for God" 1954
That must have been what happened to Mary when she erupted in the Magnificat which echoes parts of Psalm 34. At her joy, her body reached for words, "sanctified by the honesty and love of generations," and her particular culling of those words and phrases, fell together as both new and ancient.
Today, I think I will surrender and let the words grasp my being.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Blessed be the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times, with praise ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord, who will hear the cry of the poor.
-
Let the lowly hear and be glad: the Lord listens to their pleas;
Let the lowly hear and be glad: the Lord listens to their pleas;
and to hearts broken God is near, who will hear the cry of the poor.
-
Every spirit crushed God will save; will be ransom for their lives;
Every spirit crushed God will save; will be ransom for their lives;
will be safe shelter for their fears, and will hear the cry of the poor.
-
We proclaim your greatness, O God, your praise ever in our mouth;
We proclaim your greatness, O God, your praise ever in our mouth;
every face brightened in your light, for you hear the cry of the poor.
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