[visit: http://www.minister.ca/scriptural-sketches-toward-global-theology-1]

The current post focuses on the four Gospels of the Newer Testament – Matthew (Mt), Mark (Mk), Luke (Lk) and John (Jn). In the various narratives we are offered a verbal video of who Jesus is – the way he related to God and the way he dealt with people around him. We also experience the witness of the early faith community to what he means, not only for Christians but for the whole human family.  

The texts chosen here are but a sample that caution any Christian against the hubris of exclusivism and the denial of God’s saving ways with the entire human family.  Positively put: these sacred texts witness to the historic and boundless love of God and to attributes and virtues that all humans, all creatures, and all Creation can and do embrace and celebrate in their particular context and communities. 

1. The Birth of Jesus – Incarnation: Lk 2:1-20; Mt 2:1-12; Jn 1:10ff. In the story of Jesus’ birth, we see revealed what Micah summarized. The promised holy child is born in poverty and homelessness – a more humble way is hardly conceivable. But it is this powerless “little one” who is welcomed by both poor shepherds, wise Magi from the east, and a “multitude of heavenly hosts” – angels – singing “Glory to God in highest heaven”. JHWH is revealed by this helpless child as the One who brings “peace on earth” and “goodwill to all”. The message is clear: not the Emperor in Rome is the “Lord”; he is not worthy of claiming human adoration. The Child is the “beloved One” – the Anointed One (“Messiah” in Hebrew, “Christ” in Greek) whom people of faith await. The light shines bright even in the darkness of imperial occupation and oppression. (See my previous Pilgrim Praxis blog post on this theme: http://www.minister.ca/the-bethlehem-child-removing-the-proud-from-thrones.)

2. Escape to Egypt: Mt. 2:13ff: In this vignette, Matthew describes the desecration of the “Holy Land”. Herod’s paranoia sends armed soldiers to root out any potential, threatening claimant – born within the last two years - to the throne. The life and well-being of the Holy Child depends on fleeing to safety – as refugees evading the sword. All who live in refugee camps around the world are remembered by this brief poignant text – whatever their faith may be. The Holy One has the Beloved Child identify with all who have been driven to find safety from tyranny and oppression perpetrated by the malevolent of various stripes: military, economic, religious, nationalist, xenophobic, racist, sexist, homophobic, and more. Danger to and abuse of human life is a betrayal of the Divine image within every member of the human family. In the town of Jesus’ birth, parents wail at the loss of their innocents massacred by Herod’s paranoid and narcissistic exercise of power. Their wailing continues wherever the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule infused by the Spirit into every life are suppressed and betrayed.

3. The Temptations of Jesus: Mt. 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-12 – Egocentricity, self-centredness, self-aggrandizement, greed, self-interest, lack of authenticity or integrity, unearned adulation – all these sins are potentially in evidence in this story. They contradict “love your neighbour as yourself” and “treat others as you would have them treat you”. They represent assaults on the human family and a betrayal of the divine compassion and unconditional love which the Spirit awakens in every human. In the narrative, Jesus must navigate these temptations successfully for his ministry to be worthy and to be discerned as a divine blessing. When Jesus refuses to yield to temptation, the Tempter abandons Jesus - for now- and angels bring the Faithful One nourishment. See also James 1:12-16.

4. Jesus’ first sermon: Lk 4:16-30; Matthew 13:53-58; Mark 6:1-6; Isaiah 61:1-2; 58:6 – In his home region, Jesus risks being frank. He acknowledges the gifts of the Spirit calling him to truthful words that call people to more faithful living – esp. to humans at the margins of society. But they are not empty words, they a call to a more faithful response. Jesus reminds them that often Gentiles – outsiders – were more aware of God’s grace than the insiders of the faith, who assumed too much about God’s ways. God isn’t contained by human-designed excluding boundaries. The widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian live in the domain of God’s healing! But Jesus’ village mates revolted at this plain, inclusivist talk and threatened Jesus.

5. Jesus’ Prayer: Mt. 6:9-15 // Lk 11:1-4 - Our Father – today we want to recognize that assuming God is male again boxes God into a space much smaller that the reality of the divine. So, contemporary Christians often enlarge the parenthood of the Holy One by beginning this frequently spoken prayer with the words: Our Mother and Our Father. For those who grew up with the idea of God the Father, this transition is not easy. But assuming God is male – has in various cultures created a pyramid where males are on top and females lower and children even further. The systemic outcome has been to restrict religious (and other) leadership to males (still!!!) – a loss to many women and an obstacle to women’s gift sharing in the faith community. Blessedly change is happening even as we continue to pray: Our Mother & our Father, hallowed be they name; thy kindom come. … Some say this could be a prayer prayed across the religious spectrum. Although attributed to Jesus, the prayer has roots in the Older Testament and transcends in substance and in its petitions any particular tradition.

6. The Beatitudes:  Matthew 5:1-11: These pearls of holy wisdom are both grace and challenge to all who read and hear them – whatever their particular religious heritage may be. Matthew sets the story on a hillside – the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:27; see also Luke 6:17-19) – an open space where the crowds of people in all their diversity can come to listen. This is no secret “in-group” teaching for the elite disciples only. Not at all. Jesus’ teaching is “non-denominational” - global! It is Spirit wisdom inviting all listeners – whatever their background and human situation – to internalize as they are this wisdom to realize their full humanity “in the image of God.”  

“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth. … You are the light of the world.“

7. Love for Enemies: Mt. 5:38-48 // Luke 6:27-42 & Leviticus 19:17: The Lex Talionis – law of balanced retribution - is superseded by a higher standard – that of love even for those who harm you and even those whom one regards as enemies. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of JHWH in Heaven, who makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” God’s love is unconditional and those created in the image of God with the gifts of the Spirit are called to cultivate in themselves the divine way. The way of reciprocal retribution is the formula for persistent violence and suffering. Beating swords into plowshares is the symbol for global peace as portrayed in the United Nations building in New York.

8. Forgiving and Accepting: Lk 7:36 ff. // Jn 8: 1-11: These stories of the Jesus Way reveal that his approach to others – female and male – was not predicated on their “purity” or “sinlessness”, but simply on the basis of being another, a daughter or son of JHWH – beloved by the Holy One and treated with the full respect of being part of the human family. With Jesus, forgiveness was rooted in the experience of compassion, respect, and empowered by love.    

9. Do Unto Others – the Golden Rule: Mt. 7:12 & Lk. 6:31: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” Treat others the way you want to be treated. This is the simple – but incredibly demanding – norm shared by most of earth’s faith traditions as a starting point towards faithful human relations – especially in an increasingly pluralistic context. [See my previous Pilgrim Praxis blog post on the Great Commandment, Great Commission, and Golden Rule - https://www.minister.ca/revisiting-the-great-commission]

10. The Greatest Commandment: Lk. 10:27; Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 22:34-40; Leviticus 19:18-19; James: “You shall love JHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37) recognizes that “your neighbour” is anyone from wherever – near or far – in need or well – different or similar – foreign language, colour, faith, social status, political choices, gender, sexual identity – also a beloved child of JHWH. The companions/friends of Jesus are, like Jesus, moved to pity, full of compassion, and committed to restoring well-being for the other. Jesus is less interested in “correct faith” and doesn’t set in place preconditions before relating to others. Faithful living and acting, ready to give of self for the other – these are the Way of the faithful – of whatever stripe. (See also James 2:8 where the “neighbour” commandment is called “the Royal Law.”) (See also my earlier Pilgrim Praxis blog post: http://www.minister.ca/who-is-my-neighbour)

11. A New Commandment: Jn 13:34 & 35 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

The command to love transcends all the other commands and laws, customs, conventions, standards, norms, convictions, opinions, prejudices. Jesus says: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my mathetes (companions, disciples), if you have love for one another.” A later friend of Jesus wrote of this to a small congregation in Corinth, “And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” Love for the other, for the human family, for the world God loves can be costly as the life and death of Jesus attest.

12. True Relatives of Jesus: Mt. 12:48-50 // Mk 3:31ff //Lk 8:19-21: “My mother and my siblings are those who hear the word of God/Allah /JHWH and do it.” Is there a hierarchy of loyalty and love? Or is the relationship with Jesus predicated on living the love that has been poured into our being by the divine Spirit and expressing that love towards the others in God’s human family? The highest and ultimate “law” is the commandment to love. See also 1 John 4:7-16. (See also my Pilgrim Praxis blog post: http://www.minister.ca/disciple-or-friend-and-companion)

13. The Courageous Syrophoenician Woman: Mt. 15:21-28 // Mk. 7:24-30: For Christians, this passage can be somewhat embarrassing. She who came running after Jesus crying out for him to help her unwell little daughter is avoided by Jesus and rebuffed by his companions. She persists. Even in the conversation, Jesus is less than friendly – the children, his people, get food first, not “the dogs”, the foreigners / aliens!! She will not allow herself to be excluded or deflected from trying to save her daughter! Yes, Jesus! but even the dogs get crumbs and scraps from the children’s table! “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” Of course, the unconditional love of God enfolds all members of the one human family. No one, however they may differ from me / us, is beyond the unconditional love of God. Those who serve God and walk the Jesus Way cannot but love the other.

14. The Widow’s Offering: Mk 12:41ff

The story of the poor widow who “put in two small copper coins” into the temple treasury reveals again Jesus’ respect for poor and rich, old and young, powerful and weak – the entire human family. He respects her and her gift, which she gave “out of her poverty,” while rich people were giving “out of their abundance.” The gifts that the Spirit endows to all humans come from God’s boundless love and invites each and all to give with the heart of love.

15. True Greatness: Mt. 18:1-5 // Mk 9:33 // Lk 9:46-48 and Lk 18:15 – 17: Jesus’ band of mathetes/companions are so caught up in the values of superiority! They have internalized the oppressive values of the religious pyramid and the Roman imperium. Result: they argue behind Jesus’ back about who among them is the greatest and will be the greatest when Jesus announces his reign into being! Boys will be boys! 

They haven’t been paying attention! They haven’t noticed the way of humility and self-giving – the way of the child. So, Jesus has to explain the Way it is meant to be in the reign of JHWH: “’Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the One who sent me.’” Jesus’ teaches all who will listen the Ways of the Holy One.

16. The Centurion’s Servant: Mt 8:5-13 // Lk 7:1-10: Not even the officer commanding a unit of soldiers – the oppressive enemy – is beyond the care and concern of Jesus. The revelation of the breadth of God’s love is clear: no one is beyond the love of God neither the centurion not his servant in need of healing. “Go,” Jesus says, “let it be done for you according to your faith.” Your religious ways may not be ours, but it is enough that you claim the gift of healing for your servant – an act of faith! You have the gift of the Spirit who endows each and all with the gifts of the Spirit to love generously.

17. Feeding the 4000 and more: Mt 14:13-21; Mt. 15:32-39 // Mk 6:30ff; Mk. 8:1-10 // Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-14: Jesus drew crowds of people – women, men, children – and he shared food and drink with them. He didn’t ask them first to become his disciples; he didn’t brand them or make them drink particular kool-aid. He simply welcomed and accepted them, shared himself and the food, the gifts that the “community” – the diverse community - had brought together. And it was enough – they had sufficient to feed even more people. Together they feasted on the generosity and goodness of JHWH and God’s creation of the blessed diversity within the human family. There are other meanings in these stories, but they do not diminish the simple act of welcoming all in their personal or collective diversity to be together and share. At the table set by Jesus, all can gather and are welcome as they are. The Gospels’ frequency of mentioning these “mass banquets” points to their importance for the nascent Christian community and for all who embrace divine attributes.

18. The Gift of Jesus’ Spirit: Jn 14:22-28. “Judas – not Judas Iscariot – said, “Rabbi, why is it that you’ll reveal yourself to us, and not to the whole world?” Jesus answered, “Those who love me will be true to my word, and Abba God will love them; and we will come to them and make our dwelling place with them. Those who don’t love me, don’t keep my words. Yet the message you hear is not mine; it comes from Abba God who sent me. This much have I said to you while still with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom Abba God will send in my name, will instruct you in everything and she will remind you of all that I told you.” [The Inclusive Bible translation.] The Spirit of Jesus sent by the Holy One endows every human with gifts that reflect the Jesus Way of being human in the image of God. It is the whole world of humans whom the Spirit – the Paraclete – unites with the Divine love which creates, redeems, and sustains all. Cultivating these gifts for the well-being of all – the Earth and all in it - is the vocation of all humans, irrespective of the religious heritage and community into which they were born or chose to immerse themselves.

19. Friends with the fruits of Jesus’ Spirit: Jn 15:12-17. “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. And you are my friends, if you do what I command you. I no longer speak of you as subordinates, because a subordinate doesn’t know a superior’s business. Instead, I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learned from Abba God. It was not you who chose me; it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit. Your fruit must endure so that whatever you ask of Abba God in my name God will give you.” [The Inclusive Language Translation]   

Friends of Jesus are ones who have recognized that his Way – the values and virtues of being human have universal validity. Central is the command to love – God and neighbour as self. The gifts of the Spirit produce the fruits shared to bring wholeness and well-being to all.

20. Judgement of the Nations: Mt. 25:31 ff. Just before he moves into telling the traumatic story of the Passion – the arrest, trial, conviction, and crucifixion and resurrection – of Jesus, Matthew paints a picture of a trial of the “sheep and goats”. The sheep are the good people; the goats, the bad. Were life that simple! In the story “the Son of Man” or “the Human One” sits at the court bench before “the gathered nations” who are divided into the sheep section and the goat section.  

Who are the sheep: the ones who fed the hungry; gave drink to the thirsty; welcomed the stranger; clothed the naked; cared for the sick; and visited prisoners. The sheep respond with compassion and love to the neighbour, whoever they may be and wherever they find themselves.   

The goats: didn’t.  

To the sheep the Judge says: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”  

Those who didn’t – the goats – “just as you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”  

Those who did: life; those who didn’t: condemned.    

When we link this story with the persistent witness of the scriptures that God’s love is unconditional, unstoppable, and boundless, it is difficult and illogical to accept the notion of “eternal punishment.”  

A long time ago, I was blessed to learn that if the Holy One “judges and condemns us,” then the “sentence and punishment” is actually “to be loved by God forever.” A judgement of grace abounding for my healing and my wholeness and for all.

This passage’s reference to “all nations” also picks up on the Genesis 9 Covenant with post-flood covenant with Noah and his family – in which the Divine gives the rainbow as a sign of the eternal covenant between JHWH and the earth and “with every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth,} that the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” JHWH is the God who is love. (see also 1 John 4:13-21)

21. Anointing at Bethany: Lk. 7:36-50; Mt, 26:6-13; Mk 14:3-9 // Jn 12:1-8 Jesus doesn’t judge or condemn those whom religion or society label “sinners”; he receives them and their goodness graciously, unconditionally and recognizes the transformative power of love in their lives. In this story, the “sinner” woman’s generous expression of love in bathing Jesus’ feet with ointment is to Jesus a sign that “her sins, which are many, have been forgiven – see how she loves! But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” (The Inclusive Bible Translation) 

   

22. The Crucifixion: Mt. 27:32-55 // Lk 23:13-43 and John19:13-30 – The cost of abundant love can be extremely high. Innocence and kindness bring with along no guarantee of safety or security. But there is power in the witness of the faithful martyr. “Death is the supreme festival on the road to freedom,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer testifies. There are many interpretations of the meaning of the crucifixion. A Song of Faith – an evocative (vs. dogmatic or prescriptive) poetic statement of the faith of the United Church – says this about Jesus’ life and death:

“Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus. He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and execution. He was crucified. … In Jesus’ crucifixion, God bears the sin, grief, and suffering of the world.” The meaning for all the world: God is willing to go to the cross to redeem and make whole the Earth, its creatures, and the entire human family – love divine transcending all the evil and pain of the world. The crucifixion of Jesus the Beloved is the sign for Christians that God “so loves the world” (John 3:16 and that embracing Jesus’ Way of the Great Commandment and the Golden Rule is to experience the gift of “eternal life” – full humanity for now and forever.

Christians “proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.” (A New Creed)

23. The Resurrection: Mt. 28:1-11; Jn 20:1-18; Ezekiel 37:1-10. The resurrection stories (prefigured in the witness of Ezekiel to the power of God to restore “them dry bones” to life) proclaim that death is conquered by life given by God. In A Song of Faith, United Church faithful sing: “But death was not the last word. God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope. We sing of Jesus raised from the dead. We sing hallelujah. … In Jesus’ resurrection, God overcomes death. Nothing separates us from the love of God. The Risen Christ lives today, present to us and the source of our hope. In response to who Jesus was and to all he did and taught, to his life, death, and resurrection, and to his continuing presence with us through the Spirit, we celebrate him as the Word made flesh, the one in whom God and humanity are perfectly joined, the transformation of our lives, the Christ.” The transformation of the entire human family from ways of death to the Way of love rooted in JHWH’s love and revealed in the Gospel narratives of Jesus.

24. Some Companions on the Way: Lk 24:13-31. A resurrection story – one of several in the Gospels. These stories start with sadness, sorrow, grief, remorse, doubt, fear, despair but wind up with good news evoking joy and hope. In this particular story, two grieving friends of Jesus are walking to the village of Emmaus and find themselves accompanied by a stranger (identified by the narrator as the resurrected Jesus), who recounts to the friends the long story of faith that interprets the crucifixion and resurrection. The stranger is invited to their home and at the evening meal he “took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him….” Breaking bread together is an opportunity for the global human to recognize the divine Way of sharing the gifts and fruits of the Spirit. In the Christian faith community this is celebrated as a sacrament, but in the global human family every meal shared has sacramental meaning.

25. Commissioning the Friends: Mt. 28:16ff. The “Great Commission” at the end of Matthew’s Gospel has historically been for many Christian missions the mandate to proselytize and convert people of other and no faiths into the Christian fold. For some Christian denominations approach remains the mission they pursue. The means have too often been less than ethical and the outcomes have too often been superficial.  

The “Great Commission” is much more serious than simply adding numbers to the Christian church. It is a mandate to invite respectfully the whole human family to be about the task of cultivating the gifts of the Spirit revealed in Jesus’ Way so that Earth might become a place where God’s shalom – God’s just and peaceful reign of love may be fulfilled. Visit my Pilgrim Praxis blog post for a fuller commentary on this text:   

http://www.minister.ca/revisiting-the-great-commission.

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End of Part 2 -  selected passages from the Gospels of the Newer Testament.   Part 3 will  post a selection of passages from other books of the Newer Testament. To visit Part 1, the post of texts selected from the Older Testament books, use this link: http://www.minister.ca/scriptural-sketches-toward-global-theology-1.