Perspective: Be Like the Heretic

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Be Like the Heretic

My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it?  Claiming to have faith can't save anyone, can it?  Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat.  What if one of you said, "Go in peace!  Stay warm!  Have a nice meal!"?  What good is it if you don't actually give them what their body needs?  In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.

James 2:14-17 (CEB)

'Cause we can talk and debate it till we're blue in the face
About the language and tradition that He's coming to save
Meanwhile we sit just like we don't have give a [$#!%]
About fifty thousand people who are dying today

From "What Matters More" by  Derek Webb

In the Gospel of Luke, we read that one day a religious scholar decides to test Jesus by asking Him what he must do to obtain eternal life.¹  Jesus responds by asking the scholar about the very thing he has dedicated his life to studying, the Jewish Law.  He asks, "What is written in the Law?  How do you interpret it?"

The scholar replies by quoting commandments from the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus.²  He says, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."  In other Gospels, Jesus identifies these same two commandments as the greatest and second greatest commandments respectively.³  In one Gospel, He even goes so far as to suggest that all of the instructions in Scripture are derived from these two commandments.⁴

Naturally, Jesus likes the scholar's answer.  He says, "You have answered correctly.  Do this and you will live."

Unsatisfied, the scholar asks Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus then tells a story about a man who is traveling on the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho when he is attacked by robbers.  He is stripped, beaten, and left by the side of the road to die.  Eventually, a priest comes along, but, when he sees the injured man, he does not help him but rather walks to the other side of the road and passes him by.  Later, a Levite comes along, and, when he sees the injured man, he does the same thing the priest did.

Both the priest and the Levite in Jesus' parable are required to know and understand the Jewish Law in order to carry out their responsibilities, not unlike the scholar who approached Jesus with a question.  Priests are responsible for carrying out the requirements of the Law through their work in the temple, and Levites are responsible for teaching the Law to others, among other duties.⁵  Of all people, the priest and the Levite in Jesus' story should know best that the Law requires them to love their neighbor as they love themselves, yet, when they see a neighbor in need, they do not help him as they would hope someone would help them if they were in the same situation.  Instead, they choose to prioritize their own safety and convenience.

Later on, a Samaritan comes along and sees the injured man, but, unlike the priest and the Levite who kept walking, he stops to help him.  He administers first aid on the injured man and takes him to an inn where he can recover from his wounds.  He pays the innkeeper for the man's room and board and promises to cover any additional expenses when he returns.

In Jesus' day, Jews and Samaritans hate each other.  One reason is that they disagree on a number of doctrinal issues, including where God is to be worshiped and which scriptures are to be considered sacred.⁶  The religious scholar who approached Jesus would probably consider Samaritans to be heretics, people who hold opinions contrary to established religious teachings; however, in Jesus' story, the heretic is the only person who actually does what the Jewish Law requires.

Jesus, referring to the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan in the story, asks the religious scholar, "What do you think?  Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?"

The religious scholar replies, "The one who demonstrated mercy toward him."

Jesus says to the religious scholar, "Go and do likewise."

Many Christians put a little too much importance on having correct doctrine.  In fact, many can be downright unkind in regards to their disagreements with others.  Over the last two thousand years, churches and even entire denominations have split over doctrinal issues.  In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus reminds us that being right is not nearly as important as doing what is right.  Doing what is right means prioritizing love over all things, putting our love for God and neighbor into action, and helping our neighbors in need, as we hope our neighbors would help us in our time of need.


Notes:

1. This perspective is based primarily on Luke 10:25-37.  Quotations are taken from the Common English Bible.
2. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18
3. Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-31
4. Matthew 22:40
5. Wikipedia: "Levite"
6. Wikipedia: "Samaritans"

The Good Samaritan was painted by Balthasar van Cortbemde in 1647.

Perspective: The One Who Serves at the Table

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The One Who Serves at the Table

For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Mark 10:45 (NRSV)

He said, "Freely, freely, you have received
Freely, freely give
Go in My name, and because you believe
Others will know that I live"

From "Freely, Freely" by  Carol Owens

In the Gospels we read that one day the Disciples start arguing about which one of them is the greatest.  Overhearing their argument, Jesus says to them, "Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles.  It's not going to be that way with you.  Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant."¹  Basically, Jesus is telling the Disciples that true greatness is found in humility and that, among His followers, leadership is to be viewed as a form of service.

In three of the Gospels, the Disciples squabble about which one of them is greatest,² and, in the same three Gospels, Jesus, in response to their clamoring for greatness, tries to teach them about practicing humility and leading with a servant's heart.³  What is unique about the Gospel of Luke is that this conversation takes place during the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus shares with the Disciples before He is arrested, put on trial, and executed by crucifixion.

Jesus then says to the Disciples, according to the Gospel of Luke,

Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner?  You'd rather eat and be served, right?  But I've taken my place among you as the one who serves.  And you've stuck with me through thick and thin.  Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God's people.⁴

The fact that Jesus speaks about serving and being served at the table during the Last Supper is illuminating, especially since He has been serving the Disciples during supper.⁵  Perhaps His words are meant not just for His original twelve disciples but for all of His disciples in all times.

Earlier that evening, Jesus took a loaf of bread, gave thanks for it, broke it, and gave it to the Disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me."  He then took a cup of wine and gave it to the Disciples, saying, "This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you."⁶  These actions are reenacted regularly at churches all around the world in the sacrament of Holy Communion.

At many churches, including my own, whenever the congregation receives Holy Communion, we are reminded that the Communion table belongs not to the church or to the church's denomination but to Christ, and we are reminded that Christ is the One who invites us to the table.  We receive the body and blood of Christ - represented by bread and wine - so that "we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood."  We depart, praying "that we may go into the world in the strength of [God's] Spirit, to give ourselves for others."⁷

Christ humbly serves us at the Communion table, and we humbly receive the bread and wine representing His body and blood, so that we may be spiritually nourished to humbly serve His people as His disciples.


Notes:

1. Luke 22:24-26 (The Message)
2. See also Matthew 18:1 and Mark 9:33-34.
3. See also Matthew 20:25-28 and Mark 10:42-45.
4. Luke 22:27-30 (The Message)
5. I also found reading Jesus' words as they are translated in The Message illuminating in this case.
6. Luke 22:19-20 (CEB)
   
7. From "A Service of Word and Table I" in The United Methodist Book of Worship

The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 1400s.

Perspective: The Meaning of a Miracle

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Comments are always welcomed.
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The Meaning of a Miracle

Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples' presence, signs that aren't recorded in this scroll.  But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God's Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name.

John 20:30-31 (CEB)

I felt it first when I was younger
A strange connection to the light
I tried to satisfy the hunger
I never got it right

From "Your Love" by  Brandon Heath

In the Gospels, we read that one day Jesus and the Disciples head across the Sea of Galilee to a secluded location.  There, they are met by a crowd of nearly five thousand people.  At one point, the question arises of how Jesus and the Disciples can possibly feed so many people.  They know that they cannot afford to buy enough food for everyone, and they have only five loaves of bread and two fish on hand.  Jesus has all of the people sit down on the grass.  He then takes the bread and fish, gives thanks for them, breaks them up, and has the pieces distributed to the crowd.¹

Somehow everybody in the crowd has enough food to eat, and, when the Disciples gather up the leftovers, somehow they fill twelve baskets.²

The story of Jesus' feeding the multitude is one of the few stories that can be found in all four of the Gospels.³  Sometimes, in my personal Bible studies, I like to compare different versions of a single story from the Gospels so that I can see what the different writers want to emphasize.  When I recently encountered the story of Jesus' feeding the multitude as it is told in the Gospel of John, I wanted to compare it to a telling from one of the other Gospels, because John's Gospel is radically different from the other three.  I chose to compare it to the version in the Gospel of Mark, since Mark's Gospel is thought to be the first Gospel written.

In Mark's version of the story, after Jesus has been teaching the crowd all day, the Disciples become concerned that the people are growing hungry.  They urge Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that everyone can go to a nearby village and buy some food.  Jesus then says to the Disciples, "You give them something to eat."⁴  In John's version of the story, when Jesus sees the crowd, He asks the disciple Philip where they will buy food for so many people.  The writer tells us that, when Jesus asks this question, He is already planning to feed the crowd miraculously.⁵

In Mark's version of the story, when the Disciples remark about how expensive it would be to buy food for so many people, Jesus asks them how much bread they have on hand.  They check their provisions and reply that they have five loaves of bread and two fish.⁶  In John's version of the story, when Philip remarks that it would not be feasible to buy food for the crowd, the disciple Andrew reports that a young boy has offered them his five barley loaves and two fish.⁷

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus' miraculously feeding the multitude seems to happen on the spur of the moment.  The Disciples are concerned that the people in the crowd are growing hungry, so Jesus helps them find a way to feed them.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus' actions are a lot more deliberate.  Jesus brings up the matter of feeding the crowd, because He already has a plan to feed the crowd miraculously.

Something else that differs between the two versions of the story is how the story ends.  In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells the Disciples to go ahead of Him back across the Sea of Galilee, and, after He dismisses the crowd, He heads up a mountain to pray for a while.⁸  In the Gospel of John, Jesus can see that the people in the crowd want to revolt against the Roman Empire and make Him their king, so He heads up the mountain to escape from them.  When night falls, the Disciples decide to head back across the sea of Galilee without Jesus.⁹

I think that the key to understanding the differences between the two versions of the story is understanding the significance of a miracle means in the Gospel of John.  In John's Gospel, Jesus' miracles are called "signs."  They are not just good deeds supernaturally done or demonstrations of divine power.  They are meant to point beyond themselves to some truth about who Jesus is.

In John's Gospel, the tension between Jesus and the people who want to make Him their king leads into a greater discussion about who Jesus is and what people want from Him.  When the crowd catches up with Jesus, He points out that the only reason they are looking for Him is that He gave them all the food they wanted.  He notes that the food He gave them won't keep them filled forever and then urges them to seek what can truly satisfy them.¹⁰  Jesus goes on to tell the crowd, "I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."¹¹

In three of the Gospels, Jesus miraculously feeds a crowd of thousands of people simply because they are hungry.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus miraculously satisfies the physical hunger of thousands of people in order to teach them that they need more than literal bread in this life and that He is the Bread of Life that will satisfy the hunger of their souls.


Notes:

1. Mark 6:32-41, 44; John 6:1-11
2. Mark 6:42-43; John 6:11-13
3. Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–13
4. Mark 6:34-37 (CEB)
5. John 6:5-6
6. Mark 6:37-38
7. John 6:7-8
8. Mark 6:45-46
9. John 6:14-17
10. John 6:24-27
11. John 6:35 (CEB)

The Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes was painted by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in the late 1600s.