He is Going Ahead of You...

He-Is-Not-Here, by He Qi, China











When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark 16:1-8


Thus ends the last week of Jesus.
But the end is a summons to a new beginning.

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, run from the tomb, silent, "for they were afraid." Mark ends his parable of discipleship open-ended. What will we do when summoned to follow the risen Christ who goes ahead of us to Galilee?
Will we be afraid?
What kind of earth will we be when the good seed falls upon us?

Here are the lyrics to a beautiful hymn from the Iona Community. It is called "The Summons"

And the tune

Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare,
Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer
In you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?

Will you love the 'you' you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I'll go
Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.


Have a Blessed Easter!

Dogwoods in the Snow

Today is Holy Saturday. Jesus is in his tomb.

Three-quarters an inch of snow blanketed our area this morning as nature's silent testimony. The dogwoods in my yard are a bit droopy but still beautiful in the cold.



















Saturday is a silent day. Mark records no activity on Saturday. Luke says they rested because it was the Sabbath. Matthew includes a story that the chief priests and Pharisees appealed to Pilate to have a guard placed at the tomb so that the disciples might not steal the body and proclaim that he rose from the dead. Matthew feels the need to counter a story that must have been circulating in his time that the disciples moved the body of Jesus from one tomb to another.

The Gospel of Peter expands this story and has Jesus descend into Hell on Saturday to preach to the dead. The Apostle's Creed reflects this tradition in its phrase, "he descended into Hell."

But according to Mark, Saturday is without words. It is a day for mourning.

Jim Dahlman of the Johnson City Press interviewed me for his column today, Easter is Really for Adults. I recommend it. He asked me about the Easter Egg Hunt for the children. Actually, we had our Easter Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday! Go figure. He asked me if Easter Egg Hunts compromise the message of Easter. Here is his report of my response:

First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton held its egg hunt last Sunday, and Pastor John Shuck isn’t concerned about the pagan background either, but for different reasons.
“We already went down that path with (Roman emperor) Constantine,” he said, referring to a church council decision in the year 325 that separated the date of Easter from Passover, connecting it instead with the spring equinox and full moon. (That decision helped drive a wedge between Western and Eastern Christian traditions. This is one of the occasional years when Easter is celebrated on the same day, both East and West.)
“The church has a long history of integrating different cultures. There’s not so much wrong with that, as long as you’re coherent about the message,” Shuck said. “It’s a fun time to have joy and celebration. The ideas of spring, equinox, death, rebirth — it’s all part of the symbolism that can add to the story of understanding Jesus. The idea is to make the church fun for kids.”

Jim concludes his column:

But Easter — the Christian Easter — is more than that, to be honest about it. This story wasn’t handed down as a generic, pastel-tinted celebration of springtime renewal. It claims to be about a real person who really suffered, died and then came back to life.
Children are welcome, of course, but this is a holiday for grown-ups.

I agree with Jim. Easter is more than the celebration of Spring. But Easter is also more than Jesus rising from the dead. It is more than me getting to heaven when I die. Easter is God's reversal of the violence and injustice of this world. The resurrected body of Christ bears the wounds of Empire. Jesus didn't die of old age or get trampled by a runaway horse. He was executed by legitimate authority. He was crucified because the powers felt the world would get along better without him or his kind. God reversed that decision.

Easter is about a new consciousness and a new awareness. It is courageously awakening to God's kingdom on Earth. It is the power of love confronting the powers of violence and oppression. We are the resurrected body of Christ who bear Empire's wounds. We all bear the wounds that are the consequence of the ideology of peace through violence. The God revealed in Jesus is the God of peace through justice. Easter is the joyful celebration that the God of Jesus is alive in all of us. Easter is an invitation to awaken to God's kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven. That is a message for adults.

And, yes we have Easter Egg Hunts. They are fun. I make no apology for them. I want the church to be a place where children feel welcomed and loved. I want children to grow into adults who carry with them joyful memories of church. I hope they will experience a God who loves them and delights in them. The great reformer, Martin Luther said:

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

God has written the promise of resurrection in the joy of children, in bunnies and eggs as well. We adults had better take some notice of these children. They are the ones for whom we should be living. They are the ones who will inherit the world we leave them. So we had better darn well believe in Easter. We had better live and give our lives for a new consciousness that cares for Earth, that cares for the poor, that cares for peace, that cares for children.

See you on Sunday!

Should You Plant Potatoes on Good Friday?

Last year one of my church members said that Good Friday was the day that many farmers in East Tennessee plant potatoes. I was curious about that, so I just asked the internet god and found a few interesting websites. This is from The Old Farmer's Almanac

Why did the old almanacs always recommend planting potatoes on Good Friday? We can't speak for other old almanacs, but certainly The Old Farmer's Almanac has never recommended planting potatoes on Good Friday; our only recommendation has been to plant by the dark of the Moon. Further, all our research has turned up contrary advice -- neither to plant nor to dig potatoes on Good Friday. It was thought the timing would produce poor crops. The Creoles of Louisiana believed that if the ground were cut open on this day, Christ's blood would run out into the rows. The only exception we found was an old belief that seeds planted on Good Friday will thrive.

The State Journal (Kentucky) wrote today, Good Friday, April 6, 2007 is a very good day to plant those spuds:

"More than likely you’ve heard that potatoes should be planted on Good Friday. Even folks who make fun of "planting by the moon" often follow the "potatoes on Good Friday" dictum. Well, this Good Friday, which is April 6, will be a "very good Friday" for planting those spuds. The moon will be in the dark phase then and the sign in Scorpio (the secrets), one of the four most fertile signs.

"Things don’t get no finer than that for planting spuds dark moon, fertile sign so if you like to raise your own go ahead and get some seed potatoes and 'long about Wednesday cut them up, with an eye in every piece, and let them "harden off" to be planted on April 6.

How did the tradition of planting potatoes on Good Friday begin? Truth About Trade & Technology says it goes back to the Irish:

Whatever the future holds, the origins of this Good Friday practice have their fascinating roots in the past--and specifically in the Irish past. Today, the people of Ireland are known for their super-sized love of potatoes: Every Irish man, woman, and child eats more than 250 pounds of them each year. In the 19th century, however, many Irish Protestants refused to eat potatoes on the grounds that they weren’t mentioned in the Bible. There’s a good reason for this: Potato cultivation first occurred in the pre-Columbian Andes Mountains, and it wasn’t until about 1570 that a potato made its first transatlantic crossing. Even then, the plant took a couple of centuries to catch on in Europe. The Irish were among the earliest adapters, but there remained this little problem with the Bible. So Irish Catholics came up with an ingenious solution: They planted their potatoes on Good Friday and claimed that the plants had been “baptized.” For some reason, this seemed to silence the objections. Although Irish Catholics and Protestants remain divided in fundamental ways, they all seem to enjoy their potatoes.

For more about potatoes, moon gardening, and when to plant you might check out The Dundee Messenger, Moon Gardening, and for fun, Appalachian Mountain Wisdom. The latter contains such gems as:

• Plowing on Good Friday will cause the ground to bleed.

• Friday is a good day to plant crops which dangle from branches because Friday is hangman's day.

• Planting on Friday is bad luck, unless the zodiac sign is right.

• Tobacco grows well if planted under the sign of Cancer.

• Plant potatoes at night so that the eyes don't see light.

Back to Holy Week. According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus spends six hours on the cross, from nine a.m. until three p.m. when he says his final words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and breathes his last. I mentioned yesterday that according to some scholars, the last 24 hours of Jesus are broken up into eight three-hour segments. It was written for (or from) early liturgical observance. Last night we tried it. We broke up the readings into the three-hour segments. After each reading a bell would sound and we would observe a minute of silence. Then the bell would sound and we would sing a couple of verses from a hymn appropriate to the reading.

We started the service at 7:30 in the light and by the time we finished, around 8:20, it was dark. We left in silence. It was probably the most "traditional" Maundy Thursday service I have put together. Even though I am not into the subtitutionary atonement and Jesus dying for your sins theology, I do appreciate that story when it is done liturgically. It helps me face the darkness.

I think that the Gospel of Mark is a parable of discipleship. I have used the word "fiction" to describe it, even though history and fiction are modern terms. I don't mean to dismiss the gospel (or gospels) because of that designation, but in modern times when much of the church has regarded these texts as journalistic accounts, I find it helpful to appreciate them as literary creations.

A helpful book in this regard is Mary Ann Tolbert's Sowing the Gospel. Tolbert suggests that the parable of the seeds planted in the different types of soil is the guiding metaphor for the Gospel of Mark. It is the only parable that Jesus explains. The Gospel can be understood as the various characters representing the different types of ground. The hard ground that rejects the message, the stony ground in which the seed grows quickly but because of persecutions gets burned, the thorny ground in which the seed is choked by the cares of the world, and the good earth that produces fruit.

In the Gospel, few characters are good earth. Interestingly, none of the twelve is good earth. The only characters I can remember that Jesus (or Mark) praises are the following:

• The Canaanite woman who in her persistence demands healing from Jesus,

• The scribe who understands the greatest commandment is to love God and neighbor,

• The unnamed woman who anoints his head "for burial,"

• and finally the Roman centurion who at the death of Jesus says, "Truly this man was the Son of God." He is the only human who gives Jesus this designation. It is the Roman centurion who at the point of the death of Jesus, execution by his own hand as an instrument of Empire, realizes that the emperor is not the son of God, but Jesus is. The Empire represents peace through violence. The logical conclusion of peace through violence is the death of justice and the death of the innocent. Jesus represents peace through justice. The way of non-violence and love is the way of God's world if we would only see it. On Easter, we find that God has reversed the decision of Empire.
  

Have a blessed Good Friday and Easter!

And They'll All Talk About Us When We Die

In just a few hours we will commemorate the last hours of Jesus's life at a Maundy Thursday meal (6:30 p.m.) and worship service (7:30 p.m.) I am reading through The Last Week of the life of Jesus through the eyes of Mark and with the assistance of scholars Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan. Another helpful resource is the new book by John Shelby Spong, Jesus for the Non-Religious. Spong suggests that the last 24 hours of the life of Jesus in Mark's Gospel is written as an ancient liturgical drama in eight three-hour segments. It begins with the supper at 6 p.m. and concludes at 6 p.m. on Friday with Jesus buried in the tomb.

Tonight, at our Maundy Thursday service, we are going to participate in that liturgical form. Here are the eight segments:

6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Supper
9 p.m to Midnight Gethsemane
Midnight to 3 a.m. The Arrest
3 a.m to 6 a.m. Peter's Denial
6 a.m to 9 a.m. Pilate and the Walk to Golgotha
9 a.m. to noon The Crucifixion
Noon to three Darkness and death
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Burial

Borg and Crossan regard Thursday as everything through 6 a.m. Friday morning. I will use that division as well. The evening begins at 6 p.m. Thursday. Jesus has a meal with his followers. In the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) the final meal is the Passover meal. In John, Jesus is killed on the Passover (at the same time the Passover Lamb is slaughtered). For John, Jesus is the Passover Lamb.

In Mark, Jesus and the disciples have a Passover meal in which Jesus says that the bread is his body and the wine his blood of the covenant. It is unlikely that this goes back to the historical Jesus. It sounds like a post-Easter ritualization. It wasn't the only way the early communities remembered Jesus and his meal practice. The Didache, which could predate the Gospels has a liturgy for communion that has no body and blood symbolism.

1) Now concerning the Thanksgiving meal, give thanks in this manner.
2) First, concerning the cup:
We thank You, our Father,
For the Holy Vine of David Your servant,
Whom You made known to us through Your Servant;
May the glory be Yours forever.
3) Concerning the broken bread:
We thank You, our Father,
For the life and knowledge
Which You made known to us through Your Servant;
May the glory be Yours forever.
As this broken bread was scattered over the mountains,
And was gathered together to become one,
So let Your Body of Faithful be gathered together
From the ends of the earth into Your kingdom;
for the glory and power are Yours forever.

After the meal, they go to the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus prays for three hours. There he says that his disciples will all scatter and that Peter will deny him three times. The disciples protest and vow to be faithful. However, even his three favorites, Peter, James and John are unable to keep awake while Jesus prays. It is hard to imagine that his disciples will be much help. At midnight he is arrested and Judas betrays him with a kiss. "All of them deserted him and fled." (14:50)

Jesus is taken to the high priest and in the middle of the night he is questioned. Mark says that different people say different things and their testimonies do not agree. Finally, the high priest asks Jesus if he is "the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" Jesus says, "I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."

In other words, Jesus is saying that God's kingdom is about to come in power, now. This all sounds like post-Easter confessional language including the question by the high priest. In fact, it is likely that we are fully in the realm of fiction now. The trial and crucifixion is based on Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.

We may have learned in Sunday School that Jesus fulfilled prophecy. From a historical perspective, it is the other way around. Decades after the death of Jesus, the followers wrote the story of Jesus by combing through the scriptures to find words and symbols that would be appropriate to him. Check out the comparisons between Psalm 22 and Mark 15:

• My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Psalm 22:1
• My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Mark 15:34 (The last words of Jesus)

• ⁷All who see me mock at me; they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;⁸‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver— let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’
• Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. (Mark 15:29-32)
  

• ¹⁸they divide my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.
  
• ²⁴And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. (Mark 15:24)
  

Here is how I see it. Mark's account of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus is a fiction. None of this happened in the sense we think of things happening. However, the storytellers can only talk about the impact of Jesus, the God-presence they experienced in him, through the symbols they know. Mark is writing, as I said the other day, a parable of discipleship. Look at what happens to Jesus. Can you drink that cup? That is what Mark is asking his readers.

When the high priest questions Jesus and Jesus responds with the language of apocalypse found in Daniel 7, we get an insight of Mark's hope. He sees in Jesus, his person and his way, the way of the kingdom of God.

At three a.m. Mark shifts to Peter. Peter denies Jesus three times, once per hour perhaps, until 6 a.m. when the cockcrows and it is Friday morning. Peter, the rock, fails. It's not easy following Jesus, at least as Mark portrays him.

I wonder if Mark writes his story about the disciples who were at one time failures but now have now proven faithful. Mark is encouraging his audience and the rest of us who think that we could never be like them. In our own failure of nerve, we think we blew our chance, but hey, so did Peter. So did the twelve, so even, Judas. Perhaps there is forgiveness for all, yes even Judas. That could be one reason Mark is so hard on the disciples.

Or maybe he just never liked them! Perhaps in Mark's eyes, the twelve were always failures and the audience he writes for can do better. Don't look to the disciples for guidance. Look to the unnamed woman who anointed his head with costly ointment. In either case, Mark is, I think, a parable for discipleship. The disciples show how not to do it! Jesus shows the way.

Why I Like James Tabor

I am impressed with James Tabor. I have not met him. I have exchanged a couple of e-mails. But I like him. When Ted Koppel did the response to the Discovery Channel's Lost Tomb of Jesus, James Tabor came across as cool and scholarly. At the risk of putting him on a pedestal, he seemed to me to be someone with whom I would like to have long conversations.

I am a member of the Westar Institute, just an associate, but I serve on the Liturgy and Literacy Seminar. It has been the most rewarding thing I have done regarding my continuing education as a minister. I admire the community of Westar. They are the tops. The Jesus Seminar scholars take a different angle from James Tabor. They see Jesus as non-apocalyptic. As I understand it, the parables and aphorisms of Jesus are central. James Tabor sees Jesus as part of the apocalyptic movement. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a critical part of his view. In fact, Dr. Tabor has made me rethink that issue. I am in the muddled middle on all of this right now. I don't think it is a bad place to be. It is not a good place to be either. It is just a place.

But this is what I like most about Dr. Tabor. He has taken a most unpopular position. He is criticized from both the right and the left regarding the Talpiot Tomb. He is a lone voice in this. He has defended the integrity of Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron, even as he has disagreements with some of their conclusions. He blogs daily and his tone and his information is always measured and insightful. Frankly, the Talpiot Tomb isn't even his main thing. His scholarly work is mostly about Jesus and his family, most notably, the brother of Jesus, James, and the Jerusalem tradition. He has done some very extensive work. The other night I read again the Jesus Dynasty and I liked it better the second time through. Dr. Tabor has stuck his neck out on something that isn't even central to his thesis. He sticks his neck out because he thinks it deserves a hearing. That's it. Give it a hearing.

Biblioblogs interviewed Dr. Tabor. Get to know him. I think you will admire him as I do.

In Memory of Her

What a great surprise to find that Doug King of the Witherspoon Society did a review of my blog. He is looking for other progressive oriented blogs. The Witherspoon Society is a page to add to your favorites. It provides a progressive witness in the PCUSA ("news and networking for progressive Presbyterians"). You might consider joining them! Now that Doug and I have shamelessly promoted each other, on to Jesus!

Following the last week of Jesus according to Mark and with the assistance of Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan's book, The Last Week, we come to Wednesday. Jesus has finished a long day teaching and jiving with the scribes. They have had about enough. This
"Bible-thumping hack from Galilee" is daaa-aaangerous (remember the song from Jesus Christ Superstar?) and he is stirring up the crowd who delights in what he has to say.

The crowd is the reason the authorities want Jesus dead. We get insight into their motiviation in John 11. The authorities are worried:

⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ ⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’

While it might be tempting to demonize the temple authorities, we need to know that they were in a tight spot between the people and Rome. If Rome gets wind of this guy stirring up trouble, they fear that Rome will retaliate against the temple itself.

The crowd is also Jesus's protection. You can't just arrest him in broad daylight or the crowd will retaliate. You need to find a way to get him alone, away from the crowd and deal with him stealthily. It has to be an inside job. Hmmm. What to do? Here is the text:

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; ²for they said, ‘Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.’

Mark leaves us in suspense and shifts the scene. Jesus has left the temple and is relaxing in Bethany. Mark inserts the following story in the midst of the plotting authorities. Throughout Mark, the disciples are as dumb as they come. They never understand the message of Jesus and he has to tell them repeatedly why he is going to Jerusalem, what will happen there, and what they must do to be followers. I think of the Gospel of Mark not as history remembered but as a parable about discipleship. In the heat of the Jewish War (66-70), in response to the violence of empire and the injustice of religious collaboration with empire, Mark's Gospel is about the way of following Jesus. It is the way of the cross. The disciples are all bad examples. They are illustrations of fear. There is one who gets it and this is her story:

3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. ⁴But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. ⁶But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

We need to stick with Mark. The other gospels take this story and run with it in their own way. For Mark, the unnamed woman is the one who actually listens to Jesus. She knows he is headed for death and that she must anoint him now because she may never get another chance. She knows the cost of discipleship. The costly ointment is a symbol for the cost of following Jesus. It is the cost of one's life. It represents all that is valuable. While "some" scold her for wasting this ointment, Jesus understands. "She has done what she could," he says. She has given what is most valuable in order to follow the way, the way of the cross and resurrection.

Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

Do you understand disciples? Do you understand, dear reader? That is what I think Mark is saying. In contrast to the one follower who gets it, to the model of true discipleship, Mark takes us back to the main plot. We are introduced to failed discipleship at its most explicit. Enter Judas:

10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. ¹¹When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

Mark gives no motivation for Judas's betrayal. None is needed. There is no need to make Judas greedy or possessed by Satan as the other gospels regard him. There is no need to make up all kinds of motivations for him. What reason might you have to betray the way? Judas is that. Judas is one of "the twelve." He is the disciple who for Mark represents the failure to walk in the way of death and resurrection. Judas misses the way to authentic life.

Thus ends Wednesday, with a contrast between two ways of discipleship: the costly giving of oneself (the unnamed woman) or the betraying of oneself (Judas).

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor...

An advertisement before we move on to Wednesday of Holy Week:

I. Maundy Thursday. Soup Supper at 6:30. Service at 7:30.

II. Easter Celebration. 11:00 a.m. Sermon title: What if We Found the Body of Jesus? Rethinking the Resurrection. Beyond literalism. Beyond myth. Embracing the Mystery of Life and what Jesus called the realm of God. Some ideas to be borrowed from this post by John Dominic Crossan.

III. Screening of the Ground Truth. Thursday, April 12, 7:00 with discussion to follow.

IV. Test the Waters! Open House Saturday, April 14, 10:00a-1:00p (includes lunch). Find out about our congregation.

V. John Mundy and a Course in Miracles Lecture, Monday April 16, 7 p.m.

VI. Earth Day Hike. Sunday, 1 p.m. April 22, meet at the church.

VII. Dr. Patricia Williams Workshop on Science and Religion. May 19-20.

VIII. Pluralism Sunday, 11:oo a.m. May 27.


A little about us:

Every Sunday we hold a great celebration of life at 11:00 a.m. We have an adult forum at 9:45 and religious education classes for all ages at the same time. We have professional nursery care in a totally redesigned nursery.

We are a Progressive Christian Community affiliated with The Center for Progressive Christianity. This is what we mean when we say we are progressive. We are also an active congregation in Holston Presbytery in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Through the week we have a men's group that meets with no agenda except good conversation Tuesdays at 6:30.

We have Yoga Meditation Wednesdays at 7:30.

We have a choir and a bell choir that rehearse on Wednesdays.

Also a youth group with its own blog!

We also have a women's group that meets monthly, aerobics, drumming, a book study group and all kinds of other things churches have!

If you would like to check out where I am coming from you can go to my web page and read or hear some sermons. The most important thing is that we honor each person on their spiritual journey. It is not about me. It's not about you. It is about us. All of us!

I really like our congregation's mission statement. It is what first attracted me to this great congregation!

And of course we are an inclusive bunch. Here is our statement of welcome:

First Presbyterian invites you to become a part of our fellowship as we worship God and serve others in the spirit of Jesus Christ. With a commitment to achieving a just and peaceful world community, our congregation welcomes those of every age, gender, sexual orientation, race and ethnic identity.

If you just stumbled on to this blog, come visit us on Easter. Or, you may be interested in another progressive church in your area. Check the links to the right of this blog or look over the list of congregations on The Center for Progressive Christianity website!

Each week I send out an e-mail about all the things we have going on at First Presbyterian. If you would like to receive a weekly e-mail, then e-mail me and I will put you on my e-list.

Shuckin' and Jivin' with the Scribes

Thanks to Sharon Cobb for this link about Passover. Passover began last night, 14 Nisan. Jim Tabor wrote yesterday about how he thinks that the Gospel of John might be more accurate than Mark regarding the sequence of events regarding the trial and execution of Jesus. Mark and John give conflicting accounts. In Mark, Jesus and his disciples celebrate the Passover meal as the Last Supper. In John, Jesus is dead and buried before Passover begins.

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. You can read about the history of how that calculation came about here. How did Easter get separated from Passover? Tabor writes:

For more than a century before the Good Friday/Easter Sunday tradition had fully prevailed in the Church, thousands of Christians all over the Roman world used to observe what they called the “Pasch,” on the 14th of Nisan. They used the Hebrew calendar to determine the proper season. On this day they would remember both the “night he was betrayed,” as well as the death of Jesus on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. They were called by their enemies “Quarterdeciman,” or “Fourteenists.”

Their enemies, those who favored Easter as a substitute for Passover, and wanted nothing to do with the Jews, or Jewish observances of Passover, labeled them as “Judaizers” and sought to have them excommunicated. At the 1st Christian council, at Nicea in 325 CE, the bishops, led by the emperor Constantine, forbid Christians to celebrate their “Pasch” on Nisan 14th, declaring that Christians should have nothing in common with “the detestable Jewish crowd.” The Bishop of Rome in particular insisted that “the entire world” should unite behind a single “Christian Passover” celebration on Easter weekend. (Read More)

Now back to Holy Week as described in Mark’s Gospel. Tuesday was a big day. It is filled with verbal sparring between Jesus and the authorities. You can read Mark’s version of Tuesday in Mark 11:20-13:36. It is too much to comment on in one post. Here are some highlights:

The authorities want to drive a wedge between Jesus and the crowds. They attempt to trick him with a number of questions such as:

By what authority do you do these things?
Should we pay taxes to the emperor?
Who gets the bride in the resurrection?
What is the most important commandment?

In each case, Jesus silences the opposition with wit and savvy. Jesus never answers the tricky tax question (at least directly). He turns the tables and exposes their hypocrisy. He asks them to pull out a coin and they do! Of course, it has the emperor’s image with the phrase “Son of God.” "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” says Jesus.

While many have used this phrase to suggest that Jesus was making a distinction between church and state, religion and politics, earthly matters and heavenly matters, that is not what Jesus said. He got himself out of a tricky question. That is the point. He did a little Shuck and Jive, if you will!

The crowds remain on his side. He also tells the parable of the wicked tenants and denounces the scribes because they “devour the widows’ houses.” Following that he watches people put money in the temple treasury. Regarding a widow who puts in a couple of coins, Jesus says,

‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. ⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had to live on.’

This text has often been used as a stewardship sermon. Dig deep folks, be like the widow. But that is not what this text is about. Jesus is making an indictment of the abuses of the temple by the authorities “who devour widows’ houses.” She should not be paying her last coins for temple tax! The temple should be helping her! The temple has taken all she has. She is now desolate. The temple’s corrupt leadership is the wicked tenant.

Then Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple (the Romans laid waste to Jerusalem and the temple in 70 CE). The reference to the Son of Man coming on the clouds is not about his return or “second coming.” It is probably a reference to the people of Israel as a whole to whom YHWH will give victory.

Mainstream scholars are about evenly divided as to whether Jesus was “apocalyptic”-- that is, whether he thought the kingdom would come dramatically and miraculously in his time, perhaps this week at Passover. James Tabor would be here. Other scholars, such as Marcus Borg, think that Jesus was not apocalyptic and that the apocalyptic elements come from other influences.

There appears to be evidence for both views. I am open on this question. In either case, whether from Mark or Jesus himself, the prediction is that the kingdom of God would come in power in their lifetimes. They were of course, mistaken. No scholars (save the evangelicals) think that Jesus (or Mark) was predicting future events (such as in our time). This apocalyptic view was not about “the end of the world.” It was about a new era of justice and peace on this Earth.

That ends Tuesday. Jesus and I both need to go bed.

Den of Robbers

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; ¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’
¹⁸And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. ¹⁹And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. Mark 11:15-19

El Greco, "Jesus Overturning the Tables of the Moneychangers" (late 16th c.)

During Holy Week, I am looking again at the last week recorded in the Gospel of Mark. The excellent book by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week will be my guide.

We began with Palm Sunday, where Jesus lampoons the Empire's military parade by riding in on a donkey in the spirit of Zechariah 9:9-11.

On Monday, Jesus and his followers enter the temple and turn over tables in the outer courtyard. He creates a disturbance and then teaches. I think this scene as well as the Palm Sunday parade does contain history remembered. Jesus is self-consciously acting in a prophetic way. There are common misconceptions of what he is doing:

1) Jesus objects to the selling in the temple. This is a common interpretation but it hardly makes sense. People would travel for miles. It would be impractical to bring sacrificial animals with them. This is where they could purchase animals and make currency exchanges. There is no reason to think that Jesus objects to this. There is no reason to think that the moneychangers are ripping people off.

2) Jesus is making a statement against Judaism and the temple sacrificial system. Again, this makes little sense. Jesus lived as a Jew and died as a Jew. Temple sacrifices were a central part of worship. The idea that Jesus came to replace Judaism is obviously very late, after the destruction of the Temple and after various forms of the Jesus movement began to separate from their Jewish roots.

3) The emotions of Jesus got the better of him. Instead, we should see this was a planned event. The day before, Sunday, he walks into the temple, checks it out, then leaves. It was likely that he was scoping out the situation with his disciples to make plans for the next day's demonstration.

As Borg and Crossan point out, the best way to interpret the actions of Jesus is to focus on the teachings of Jesus. How did Jesus interpret his action? After turning the tables, likely with the assistance of his disciples, Jesus says: ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers.’

Jesus is making reference to Jeremiah 7:1-11. Jeremiah is told by the Lord to stand at the gate of the temple and tell the people who are entering the gates to amend their ways. Jeremiah is to say to the people:

5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, ⁶if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors for ever and ever.

Justice before worship. Then the clincher:

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord.

A den of robbers is not where the robbers do their robbing. A den of robbers is the safe place the robbers hideout after they have done their robbing! Jesus is making a prophetic indictment of the temple authorities. The keepers of the temple, the chief priests and scribes, by collaborating with Rome, are participating in the oppression of the people. Then they claim that the temple makes them safe.

How do we know that Jesus is speaking against the scribes and priests? Directly following his teaching, we read:

¹⁸And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.

It is easy to see how Jesus is headed for trouble. The crowd is on his side, but his searing indictment of the temple authorities who have been collaborating with Rome to keep the people in oppression has angered them. It has angered them enough to want him dead.

A Tale of Two Parades

There were two parades on that first Palm Sunday. We are familiar with one of them. We know the story of Jesus coming down from the Mount of Olives to enter the city of Jerusalem from the East. He enters riding on a donkey to shouts of praise and an adoring crowd.

This is the week of Passover when tens of thousands will gather in Jerusalem to celebrate the most important religious and political festival of the Jewish people. Passover acknowledges the escape from bondage in Egypt. It is a volatile time.

On the other end of the city, from the West, from Pilate’s headquarters as Caesarea Maritima, came another parade. It was a parade of Roman soldiers, metal, leather, horses, swords, hammers, nails, crossbeams, probably carried by slaves. It was Passover, and Rome needed to secure the peace. There would be an increased presence at the Temple and throughout Jerusalem.

There would be crucifixions. There always were. Rome crucified thousands. They crucified for sedition. Those who stirred up the people would be crucified publicly. Pilate was especially ruthless. He would execute without trial. He was even too ruthless for Rome. Historian Josephus reports that Rome called him back not long after the execution of Jesus for his brutality.

Jesus was a messiah, an anointed one, as a successor of David. I think he thought of himself as a suffering servant for his people. His way of resistance was not violent, but non-violent. Like those who put their lives down before the blasphemy of Caligula, refusing to move, who would risk death for justice, Jesus, too, resisted violence with non-violence and the proclamation of the justice and peace of God.

Blessed are the poor. Love your enemies. That is what Jesus lived and died for.

As we enter Holy Week, I invite you explore the last week of the life of Jesus as a struggle between two ways of living. One way is the way of Empire, peace through strength and the other is way of Jesus, peace through justice.

There were two parades on that first Palm Sunday.

In which parade will we march?