The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
Last week we spent time with Luke’s telling of the Nativity Story and in our reflections we explored four Lucan themes: the rearing of Jesus in the Mosaic Law and traditions, the importance of Jerusalem and the Temple in Jesus’ family life, the presence of God’s Spirit in the Jesus story, and Jesus as the presence of truth and light that will effect decision and judgment. (Mays 932)
God says:When you experience my son in this story you too will be filled with wisdom and light. When you live in my Spirit you too will find your decisions come to you more easily for they will be made in and through me. I do not want to control you and that is why I have given you full free will. I want to love you, and I want you to love me. Jesus lives by the old law in order to bring about the new. This is not easy and it involves misery and disappointment; yet this sadness is transformed just as a butterfly arises from the cocoon spun by a caterpillar; new life springs from the decaying seeds of the old tree, and eternal life arrives through the fidelity and integrity of your relationships. Remain in me as I remain in you. Allow yourself to be filled with my wisdom and light. And allow my favor to bring you out of all suffering and pain.
As the child grows strong and becomes filled with wisdom, so too do we grow in strength and understanding when we grow in God. As God’s favor rests upon the Child of Wisdom and Light, so too does God’s favor rest on each of us when we live and work in the Spirit. As we move through this holiest of weeks, let us open our hearts and minds to the gift of endless light and life.
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 932. Print.
Many see Jesus as an outsider or an iconoclast who wanted to break rules and molds; yet when we look closely, we see that Luke presents us with a picture that is quite different.
“Luke offers readers several major themes important to his theology. First, Jesus is reared according to the laws of Judaism. Neither his parents nor Jesus rebelled against or rejected the law of Moses. The best of Jewish piety and obedience to Moses were observed. Five times in this section Luke speaks of actions according to the Law of Moses. As for Mary’s purification and the child’s presentation to God, Luke interweaves the two rituals in a confusing way. According to Lev. 12:2-8, forty days after the birth of a male child the mother went through a ritual purification, offering a lamb as a sacrifice in the Temple or, if poor, a pair of pigeons or turtledoves. According to Exod. 13:2, 12-13, the firstborn male child belongs to God and could be redeemed (taken home) by means of an offering by the father”. (Mays 932)
We know from Matthew, Mark and John that Jesus overturned the tables of the corrupt Temple money changers and we see in all four Gospels that he was not shy in declaiming the hypocrisy of the Temple leadership; yet here we see Jesus and his family following the Mosaic Law. We watch as they adhere to these simple rituals in order to identify their fidelity to God and their hope in the future. The rebellion that Jesus later leads is far more encompassing than a mere political statement. Jesus comes to each of us to rescue us not only from social, religious and civic oppression . . . but from the darkness of the mind, heart and soul. Jesus comes to guarantee our life eternal. Jesus comes to rescue our overwhelmed spirit. Jesus comes to guarantee peace and serenity in the Spirit.
In this Jesus, then, we see not the overturning of the harsh, old way and outdated rituals, but a loving fulfillment of the promise of God’s original covenant with the faithful.
Tomorrow . . . another theme from Luke.
Mays, James L., ed. HARPERCOLLINS BIBLE COMMENTARY. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988. 932. Print.
Berlin: Cunieform tablet mentioning Jehoiachin in Babylon
It is no mystery why so many scripture readers see God as an angry deity to be placated or even avoided. We must admit that if the supreme being of Ezekiel 5 were the only God we knew . . . we might not seek an intimate relationship with our creator. This castigating image is one in which God stands in severe judgment, metes out dreadful and complete consequences, and uses his overwhelming strength against nearly powerless creatures who have broken his laws. We can see why so many cringe at the thought of knowing God intimately . . . or of God knowing us at all.
I will inflict punishments in your midst . . .These verses might terrify anyone looking for consolation for the only solace here comes through a neurotic obedience to an enormous number of laws that are sometimes contradictory. We can see why these words might panic an already fragile soul into flight; and yet we remember . . . Jesus read this prophecy. And Jesus lived his life as a practicing Jew, adhering to the Mosaic Law. If we allow ourselves to pause, we also remember . . . Jesus tells us that he comes to supersede and to fulfill the old law rather than negate it. Jesus comes to us to let us know that in the end there is only one law, The Law of Love. But how do we juxtapose this thinking with the verses we read today?
This week we have spent time reflecting with 2 Kings; we have witnessed the unfolding of events which Ezekiel rails against. These events lead to the destruction of the kingdom, the exportation of God’s people, and the scattering of the Jewish faithful. What do we learn from our reading?
When we explore who Ezekiel is and to whom he writes, we find some skepticism about the identity of the author. This frequently happens with ancient texts but when we search commentary we discover that most scholars believe the writer to be of a priestly family taken into exile withKing Jehoiachinin 597 B.C.E. He was married and is believed to have had a degree of freedom while in exile, even having his own house in a village called Tel Abib on the river Chebar. He lived well, benefited from the structure yet saw its corruption. As we read his prophecy we understand that he writes at God’s insistence and this fact enables us “to appreciate better how he could be objective and distant and yet intensely present with his audience”. (Senior RG 337) Ezekiel writes these words that come from God, rather than his own initiation, in order to transform and save. We sense his urgency in wanting to make an impression on his readers . . . and this he unquestionably does.
If we allow ourselves to spend time with Ezekiel in the context of the New Testament and if we are honest . . . we suddenly see that in viewing life as a race to be won, we hurry to placate a god who is extreme and unreasonable. We panic, we look away, we scrabble against one another in our rush to show God how good and obedient we are, how much better we are than others. And we forget to look at the Spirit within each of our neighbors whom we so anxiously judge. Sadly, we fail to experience God in others. We frighten ourselves and we cannot see God as the constant, merciful, just, forgiving and adoring lover. We miss God’s capacity and willingness to absolve. We mistake God’s passionate embrace for the chains of doom and damnation. We miss entirely God’s warmth, safety and goodness . . . until we remember Jesus.
Tomorrow . . . some of Jesus’ words to live by when we consider our image of God.
Do not join the wicked in putting your hand, as an unjust witness, to anyone. Neither shall you allege the example of the many for an excuse for doing wrong.
Nor shall you . . . side with the many in perverting justice.
When you come upon your enemy’s ox or ass going astray, see to it that it is returned to him.
When you notice the ass of one who hates you lying prostrate under its burden . . . help him to raise it.
You shall not deny one of your needy fellow-men his rights in a lawsuit.
You shall keep away from anything dishonest.
You shall not put the innocent or just to death . . . You shall not acquit a guilty man.
Never take a bribe. Bribes blind even the most clear-sighted and twist the words even of the just.
You shall not oppress an alien . . . since you were once aliens yourselves.
If we might only heed these oh so old words . . . there would be oh so much less strife among us!
Paul reminds us that Christ fulfills this old Mosaic Law, telling us that he even comes to supersede it. He also reminds us that we are significant members of God’s family.
You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
John of Patmos has a vision of the New Earth and the New Jerusalem in which he reports a loud voice from the throne saying: Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]. (Revelation 21:3)
Jesus is not God’s Plan B. He does not arrive to live among us as an afterthought or as a fixative for something that has gone wrong. He has always been and will always be the thought and action of God among us . . . The Word. It was always intended that we live peaceably side by side, helping one another with our troubles, lifting one another to new levels of spiritual maturity, coaxing, exhorting and encouraging one another over the hurdles we encounter in our journey. Yet even as we are a collective, we also have the individual responsibility to see to our own growth, to gather around us friends who live by the Mosaic and Christian codes, to rebuke one another, to listen to one another, and to love one another. We might look back from our twenty-first century vantage point to see the pieces fall into place. We can see that from the earliest stages of our development as peoples, God was abiding with us. We can also see that he abides with us still. Let us praise God! Let us sweep the floors clean . . . renew the old and new rules . . . and welcome him into the dwelling place of our hearts.
Written on November 9, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
St. StephenThis reading may strike home for many of us today. Our work is going well. So well, in fact, that it is clear that more workers are needed. The call goes out, workers are vetted and taken in . . . and then the grumbling begins. Camps and sides form quickly. The Old Guard feels the need to protect certain traditions and practices against the ideas of the Newcomers. The newest workers push against the reactions of the old timers. Protocols and policies change. There is discontent. We divide ourselves into factions or sects. We either protect what we know or we tear down what we believe to be stale. The story we read today teaches us how to behave when we enter the maelstrom.
Footnotes help us to understand the different factions. “The Hellenists were not necessarily Jews from the diaspora, but were more probably Palestinian Jews who spoke only Greek. The Hebrews were Palestinian Jews who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic and who may also have spoken Greek. Both groups belong to the Jerusalem Christian community. The conflict between them leads to a restructuring of the community that will better serve the community’s needs. The real purpose of the whole episode, however, is to introduce Stephen as a prominent figure in the community whose long speech and martyrdom will be recounted in ch. 7”. (Senior 193)
We notice almost immediately that jealousy brews against Stephen and commentary further helps us to understand the further implications of the conflict we hear today. “The charges that Stephen depreciated the importance of the temple and the Mosaic law and elevated Jesus to a stature above Moses (6, 13-14) were in fact true. Before the Sanhedrin, no defense against them was possible. With Stephen, who thus perceived the fuller implications of the teachings of Jesus, the differences between Judaism and Christianity began to appear. Luke’s account of Stephen’s martyrdom and its aftermath shows how the major impetus behind the Christian movement passed from Jerusalem, where the temple and law prevailed, to Antioch in Syria, where these influences were less pressing”. (Senior 193)
Verse 10 tells us all: They could not withstand the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke.
I am thinking of an article I read just last night of a similar conflict in the National Catholic reporter. Written by Tom Roberts and entitled, “Seismic shifts reshape US Catholicism,”it investigates the inevitability of change that happens when humans form a community. Liberals find that the change taking place is happening too slowly. Conservatives believe that the change they see happening must be halted. Moderates find themselves squeezed between these two inexorable forces. The conflict will ebb and flow with the natural social, political and fiscal movements and everyone begins to gather their own opinions in defense of a stance. Tensions ratchet upward. Wisdom and the Spirit – rather than clearing the air – are shoved into oblivion and the inevitable explosion takes place. As Christians, rather than succumb to the temptation to splinter into groups we must find a way to come together.
When we read this story in Acts we have the opportunity to look at ourselves to see how we fit into God’s plan for the world today. When we read the story in Acts we have the chance to examine how we witness to Jesus today. When we read the story in Acts we are called to examine how we allow Wisdom and the Spirit to influence our daily interactions with others.
When we are called to speak as Stephen speaks we must also be prepared to disappear into the maelstrom that will follow.
When we hear another speak as Stephen speaks we must be prepared to be open to the voice of Wisdom and the power of the Spirit.
When we enter the place where a conflict is raging we are called to witness as Christians must . . . with grace, and mercy, and wisdom . . . and always in the Spirit of God.
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