Monday, May 26, 2008

June 1st -- Judgment and authenticity

Passages: Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19, Psalm 46, Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28, Matthew 7:21-29

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers!’”—Matthew 7.21-23

In this passage, Jesus predicts that in the future, many people will profess faith in him but fail in doing the will of God. Although they may self-identify as followers of Jesus, Jesus explicitly states that this is not enough. This prophesy extends to today, and I believe Jesus would maintain that it’s not enough to simply attend church, be baptized and even pray on a daily basis. Doing things in the name of the Lord, and calling yourself a “Christian” is not a guarantee of doing things in accordance with God’s will.

In this passage, Jesus is talking about judgment and authenticity of faith. Although some Christian sects debate doctrine and renounce other sects’ validity, I think this passage makes clear that authenticity is not found along denominational lines. Today’s lection is fairly unambiguous that the labels we put on things – saying “Lord, Lord!” and doing deeds of power “in your name” – are not valid indicators of an authentic Christian heart. Fundamentalist, orthodox, progressive, liberationist; the differences in these theological movements are not trivial, but authenticity isn’t to be found in the labels.

So where then is authenticity found? I see two specific things that Jesus is valuing in this passage above acts of piety and confessions of faith: doing the Lord’s will and being in relationship with him. The first is obvious and explicit: “only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Interestingly, Jesus does not equate the work of zealous followers – casting out demons and delivering prophesies – with doing the will of God. In fact, this quote immediately follows a warning against false prophets, who are “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” In this context, Jesus this passage can be seen as passing judgment on only those who insincerely claim to be religious leaders.

But I think this passage has implications for all followers of Christ, not just those who claim to be prophets and leaders. Jesus is making it clear that people can claim – and even believe – that they are doing things in his name when in fact those actions are in vain. Jesus emphasizes the importance of actually doing the Lord’s will as opposed to lip service, but discerning God’s will isn’t always easy, and there are many conflicting ideas about what exactly constitutes “God’s will.” In the passage, Jesus says he will declare to those who profess faith in the Lord but fail to do God’s will, “I never knew you.” While it is possible to interpret this differently, I think this statement implies a correlation between a relationship with Jesus and doing God’s will.

As a religious pluralist, I think it is possible to do God’s will and work in the world without being a Christian and professing faith in Christ. However, personally it is my understanding of the resurrected Christ who dwells in the heart of believers that I use to discern God’s will. My relationship with the living Christ is my compass for how I live out my faith, so the words “I never knew you; go away from me,” speak loudly to me. It is when I ignore this relationship with Christ that I stray most from God’s will.

However, in general I think the spirit of this passage is emphasizing sincerity and genuineness over actions and confessions. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount (which this passage comes from) Jesus encourages the crowd to be discreet in their fasting and prayers, and avoid the public piety displayed by hypocrites who seek social approval over God’s (Mt. 6.5-18). Although a prophesy of judgment, at its heart I think this passage is a similar warning about the vice of religious posturing, which is almost always at the expense of genuinely seeking God.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

God and Mammon

Passages: Isaiah 49:8-16, Psalm 131, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Matthew 6:24-34.

Roman coin of Augustus, circulated at the turn of the 1st century AD

No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? … But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.Matthew 6:24-25, 33-34

In a modern society that demands investment for retirement, a society driven by money and wealth (mammon), these are challenging words delivered by Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount. These words represent a significant shift from the Hebrew Scripture themes of wealth, which often emphasizes wealth as a blessing from God and, through the prophets, continually called for the just distribution of that wealth. However, in the Jewish confrontation with the Roman Empire, there is a drastic shift in the way wealth is both viewed and quantified. Before the Roman occupation, wealth was conceived in terms of land, livestock and harvest, but Roman economics and currencies changed the financial landscape and, predictably, attitudes toward wealth. Jesus, in this passage and several others in all four Gospels, warns of money as an obstacle to salvation and knowing God. The two are put at odds; mammon is not a gift from God, but is antithetical to the Kingdom of God – No one can serve two masters.

Obviously people cannot survive unless their material needs are met. Globally, billions of people live on less than $2 a day and millions die every year from causes directly related to that poverty, mainly starvation, lack of sanitary water and preventable diseases. Jesus, in the tradition of the prophets, calls those with the capacity to help these neighbors to do so with care and compassion. Today’s lection is not an outright dismissal of material ministry, or a denial of material necessities.

Too often passages such as the one preceding today’s lection in the Sermon on the Mount – “store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes” (Mt. 6.20) – are used to spiritualize Jesus’ message entirely and distract from the material ministries. Here, Jesus is addressing wealth as a master, something that consumes and enslaves you. In fact, Jesus is trying to quell the anxiety about self-preservation that prevents them from being good stewards to their neighbor and therefore poor servants of God. For when you are caught up in a selfish desire for security, and do not trust God to provide for you when doing God’s work, you are serving the interest of mammon.

Matthew 6.25-33 is also found in Luke 12.22-31, almost word for word (this is the part from “do not worry about your life” to “strive for the kingdom first”). Both times it immediately follows a warning about the consuming effects of wealth and greed. In Matthew it follows the famous teaching “no one can serve two masters,” and in Luke it follows the parable of the rich fool (Lk. 12.13-21) which tells of a man whose land produced abundantly, and in this abundance decided to build a larger barn and enjoy the security of many years of ample goods. But God tells the man: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Lk. 12.20).

The teaching “Do not worry,” is a fitting teaching to follow the parable. The rich fool hoarded his goods and did not share his harvest with the hungry, choosing to bask in his security and “relax, eat, drink, be merry” (Lk. 12.19). He allowed his anxiety about the future to overcome his trust in God and obligation to the community to share his abundance. He literally stored up his treasure for himself, but “was not rich toward God” (Lk. 12.21). In Luke, unlike in Matthew, Jesus expands on this teaching and describes what it means to be rich toward God: “Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Lk. 12.33-34).

This is challenging to us in modern society, when investments (particularly for retirement) and saving is so heavily emphasized and encouraged. I do not think Jesus is calling for us to ignore the need to prepare for tomorrow, but rather warning of the peril of wealth. It has a consuming nature, and in putting our trust in our savings we are prevented from doing God’s work and ministry on Earth. The economy of Rome – the economy of empire – has prevailed for the past two thousand years, and the idea of wealth as currency has increased and solidified. This makes the New Testament shift in emphasis on money as “the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6.10) even more applicable today then when first spoke. The pressure to serve mammon is even greater, and is perhaps an even more cruel and powerful master than in the first century.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Passages: Genesis 1:1-2:4, Psalm 8, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. –Matthew 28.18-20

Historically, the Christian church has not done the Great Commission well; that is, it was not done with the love and compassion that should be expected from Christian missionaries. Particularly at the height of European imperialism, from the 15th to 20th century, Christianity worked hand in hand with empire and aided in the destruction of cultures and civilizations. Peoples were converted to Christianity with no respect to their current religious and cultural existence, and often the approach of a Christian missionary meant the approach of destruction for the indigenous people of the area. The historical atrocities, and mistakes, of Christian evangelism has led many denominations of Christianity to abandon the missionary institution all together. Indeed, the laundry lists of abuses in the past have revealed the problematic nature of the Great Commission. But, the Great Commission can be redeemed if done in harmony with the Great Commandment (“love your neighbor as yourself”).

There are many beautiful things about a missionary religion. Its expansive nature seeks to tear down boundaries and enter into fellowship with all people of the world. Nobody is excluded, and all people are seen as God’s children. There is a genuine concern for all people of the world and the tradition is not inwardly, self-focused but devoted to others. In its encounters with other people, religions and ideas, an open-minded faith will grow and change, being reformed by the positive elements of other cultures. If missionaries love their neighbors, and respect their hearts and ideas, then there will be a genuine exchange of ideas – a partnership – and not a one-sided imposition of religion on a people.

In many ways, Christianity is a product of the Jewish encounter with Greco-Roman ideas and culture. Hellenistic Judaism, for the most part, was a closed tradition that – for a variety of historical reasons – was intentional about resisting assimilation and maintaining a religious and ethnic identity in exile. Modern Judaism has retained these characteristics, especially since its immersion in other cultures and cultural domination grew with increasing intensity into the modern era. But, in the 1st century, there was a great deal of Greek and Roman interest in the Jewish religion and the God of Abraham. What Christianity, and the Great Commission, did was open the religious tradition to the Greeks/Romans and embrace aspects of their culture and religion. This can be seen clearly in the fact that the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) are written in Hebrew but the New Testament is written in the Greek language. In the epistles of Paul, it is easy to find places where he navigates the conflicts between Jewish tradition and law with the influx of Gentiles into the faith. This open fellowship was one of the things that distinguished the early followers of Jesus from other Jews and give it a divergent nature.

So the Great Commission is one of the defining characteristics of Christianity, and – with the obvious exception of accepting Jesus Christ as the Messiah – perhaps the thing that alters Christian practice from Jewish practice the most. If done with love, compassion and a genuine desire to share one’s faith and good news with the entire world, the Great Commission is a positive and beautiful asset to Christianity. However, it opens the door to a great deal of abuse, making it an easy partner with imperialism and the domination of other sovereign people. If the Great Commission is kept, but the Great Commandment is lost, missionary activities will quickly become missionary atrocities. Knowing and acknowledging the mistakes of its past, Christianity needs to move forward in its global mission with an extra emphasis and concern on the love, respect and care for its partners and neighbors around the world.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

May 11 -- Day of Pentecost

Passages: Acts 2:1-21, Psalm 104:24-35, 1 Corinthians 12:3-13, John 20:19-23

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? … 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." Acts 2:4-13 (NRSV)

2 For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit. 3 On the other hand, those who prophesy speak to other people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4 Those who speak in a tongue build up themselves, but those who prophesy build up the church. 5 Now I would like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. … 9 So with yourselves; if in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air … 11 If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. 1 Corinthians 14:2-11

In Acts and 1 Corinthians we are presented with two different conceptions of what it means to “speak in tongues.” Acts recounts the event of the Pentecost, when the disciples are granted the gift of tongues to empower them in their ministry of the early church and live out the Great Commission (to make disciples of all nations). In Acts, the words the disciples speak are intelligible to many people in the crowd, whereas in Corinthians, Paul is describing a practice in the early church that closely resembles the “speaking in tongues” of many modern Pentecostal and Charismatic churches (“Charismatic” is a term for non-Pentecostal Christians who speak in tongues several times a year or identify as “Pentecostal” while belonging to a non-Pentecostal denomination, like Catholicism). Paul is accepting and encouraging of the practice, but expresses reservations about it. He attempts to downplay its importance in churches and as a sign of belief. These two practices, although sharing a common name (glossolalia), have crucial differences.

Two common interpretations of Acts 2 are: 1) the Disciples were given the ability to speak in previously unknown languages intelligibly, and 2) the Disciples were given the ability to speak in mysterious tongue and many of those present were granted to the power of interpretation and each heard this tongue in their own language simultaneously. The second interpretation seems the soundest to me based on a close reading of the text – in Acts 2.8 the crowd asks “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” Also, in 2.13 it is mentioned that there are people present who do not understand and mock the Disciples, saying they had too much new wine. So, to bust out a Star Trek reference here, the Holy Spirit acts as a sort of “universal translator.” In the Star Trek world, everyone is capable of speaking in their own native language and be understood in the other person’s. This bridges the vast cultural differences between the different species, and makes the mission of exploration possible. Likewise, the Pentecost bridges the cultural barriers and makes it possible for the mission of the Apostles to be accomplished. It invites all nations to hear the message and be a part of the divine discussion.

This is a sharp contrast to what Paul says in First Corinthians 14.2: “For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.” Paul, although not rejecting glossolalia, complains about how the practice is unintelligible to others in the church and therefore inferior to prophesy or other spiritual gifts that are communicable. Where the Pentecost brought understanding between foreigners, the unintelligible glossolalia of the early church created separations (according to Paul): “If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me” (14.11).

Growing up in a congregational church, where the majority of worship is spent sitting still and listening to sermons or prayers, speaking in tongues is a foreign concept to me. However, Pentecostal and Charismatic worship is spreading rapidly all around the world (especially in Latin America, where even some Catholic services have a Charismatic worship style). It is a powerful religious experience for many people, one I wish to respect. Yet, it’s interesting that the debate Paul addressed almost two thousand years ago – about the value of speaking in tongues – continues today. Often, Pentecostals and Charismatics (often jointly referred to as “Renewalists”) point to Acts, and Hebrew Scripture passages like Joel (as Peter does in today’s lection) for the Biblical basis of their practice, while some non-Renewalists, point to passages from Paul to discredit it or relegate it to a private practice outside of worship, as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 14.18-19: “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

However, those who use Paul to refute glossolalia are not being fair to the argument Paul presents in 1 Corinthians, and are rather picking out a few harsh sentences. Paul does indeed argue that it doesn’t have much of a place in worship if there isn’t a translator, but he doesn’t deny the experience either or call it gibberish. He ultimately concludes with, “So, my friends, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; but all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:39-40). On the day of Pentecost, I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that the New Testament itself has different conceptions of “speaking in tongues,” and that it has been a subject of controversy for the entire history of the Christian church.