searching for Jesus

I had the privilege of hearing one of my students preach last Saturday at a funeral for another member of the Bible School.  I liked what he did with his chosen text, Luke 2:41-49.

The preacher fastened on two key lines in the story of the twelve-year-old Jesus' journey with his parents for the Passover in Jerusalem (2:41).  First, the preacher fixed on the fact that, when his parents departed Jerusalem after the festival not knowing that Jesus was not with them, "they started to look for him among their relatives and friends" (2:44).  Second, the preacher emphasized the "anxiety" of the parents when they could not find Jesus; "Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety", his mother says to Jesus after they have found him in the temple (2:48, 46).  The preacher's point was that, in his words, "Life is very painful outside of Jesus", and that the pain of life without Jesus cannot be quelled even among one's relatives and friends.  Rather, the deliverance from the anguish of life comes only in the persistent "search" for Jesus, just as his parents continued to look for him when he was not to be found in the company of their relatives and friends (2:44, 45).  It was only in that persistent search that they "found him" (2:46).

Jesus Among the Teachers, from the Jesus Mafa Collection

The implications of such a message were not lost on the preacher's Xhosa audience, which hung on his every word, many among them encouraging him on with whoops and hollers.  I suspect that the impact of the sermon, the preacher's gospel meeting the people's context, had a lot to do with the continuing tension between loyalty to one's blood family (the text's "relatives and friends") and allegiance to Jesus.  True believers often find themselves having to choose between participating in family rituals that invoke spirits other than or alongside Jesus or hold their ground in the name of an exclusive loyalty to Jesus.  Many Xhosa Christians have found the satisfaction of life with Jesus in a way that was unavailable to them in the traditions of their elders.  The overall persona of the preacher as he spoke about life "outside of Jesus" exhibited an intensity seemingly impossible for one in whom the struggle to honor Jesus above relatives is not real.

Other elements in the proceedings also attested the side-by-side existence of Christian and non-Christian approaches to the challenges of life among those gathered.  Hence, while Christianity and/or the culture of the church has in important senses clearly won the day in this society, one family member of the deceased who made an announcement near the close of the funeral had no compunction about saying that, with the spate of death that had befallen that family recently, he would recommend that they go consult a sangoma (traditional diviner) for a remedy.  This announcement came--and I don't think with any confrontation intended--even after the preacher's clear counsel that Jesus is the answer to life's questions.

Perhaps we can only say that, given the spiritual competitors still vying for our loyalty in this world, our search for Jesus goes on.  Where can he be found?

In details not particularly emphasized by the preacher, Luke's story of the boy Jesus leaves us not without direction.  Indeed, those who were searching for him found him "in the temple", in Jesus' own words, "in my Father's house", "sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions" (2:46, 49).  It is noted that Luke's writings (the gospel and the book of Acts) are perhaps more favorably disposed toward the temple than those of the other evangelists.  Indeed, his gospel ends with the disciples of the ascended Jesus in Jerusalem, "continually in the temple blessing God" (Lk 24:53).  Similarly, the Pentecost community (see previous post) "spent much time together in the temple" (Acts 2:46).  Nevertheless, Luke also records Jesus' pronouncement of judgment against the temple in response to the disciples' adoration of it, and is thereby consistent with the united witness of the New Testament that in Jesus the Messiah, "something greater than the temple is here" (Mt 12:6; Lk 21:5-6).  In the end, the New Testament, both gospel and epistle, relativized place of worship in light of a people which worships "in spirit and truth" (Jn 4:24).  The community of Christ, the church, is the temple, "the dwelling place for God" (Eph 2:20-22; 1 Pet 2:4-5).

It is in that context, therefore, that we might, like his parents, find Jesus "in the temple" (2:46).  Indeed, he is there, "sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions" (2:46).  He is with us, sitting among us and asking us questions, wherever "two or three are gathered in his name", around the story of which he is Lord (Mt 18:20).

-Joe  

occupational hazards

In the category of texts which my African friends are more likely to know than I know, I submit 2 Kings 7.

On Sunday over lunch, one man in the church applied this text to a humorous situation on the church grounds that day.  One particularly zealous young man took it upon himself to act as a security guard at the gate, not allowing anyone who hadn’t eaten to exit the property (He had heard someone remark that no one should leave without eating).  Another young man who had been eating near me, upon finishing, had gotten up to leave.  Within a minute or two he had returned, informing the pastor that the gatekeeper would not allow him through.  Apparently the security guard did not believe that the other young man had actually had his meal.

Chuckling upon hearing the news, another man arose to take care of the situation.  He returned with a report of what he had said to convince the guard to let the man pass.  He told him the story of 2 Kings 7.  When the pastor narrated the story to me, I could never recall having heard it before.  Yet immediately it had come to this man, so apparently versed in the books of 1 and 2 Kings is he (I have noticed a preoccupation with these books before among African Pentecostals).

So what is the story?  A certain captain of the Israelite king had expressed doubt during a time of siege and ensuing famine that food could be sold in the city of Samaria on the next day as predicted by the prophet Elisha.  In response, Elisha told the captain that the captain would “see it with [his] own eyes, but [he] shall not eat from it” (2 Kgs 7:2).  After the Lord caused the besieging Aramean army to quickly abandon the city, the people of Samaria went out to plunder the Aramean camp, bringing back with them the provisions the Arameans had left behind.  And so, on the next day, according to the word of Elisha, food was again sold in the city.  And, also according to the prophet’s word, the captain saw but did not eat the food.  For as he was the one whom the king had appointed to “have charge of the gate”, he was trampled by the people as they flooded into the city with the plunder—and died there “in the gate” (2 Kgs 7:17).

Just as the stubbornness (refusal to heed the prophet) of this “security guard” had led to his demise, so his counterpart in the form of a resolute young churchgoer was being warned to let the people pass.  I am happy to report that no similar fate befell him.

-Joe

canon within the canon

I thought I would take stock of my use of scripture on this blog. On the sidebar, I have added a list of those labels to my posts which are a direct citation of a text or the name of a book of the Bible (If you're looking for reflection on a particular text, perhaps you will find something of interest using this tool). In doing so, I also decided to tabulate which texts and parts of the Bible I have used most to date in this "scripture diary" of sorts. Though the frequency of certain texts is partially related to the fact that I often follow the Revised Common Lectionary, it is nevertheless interesting to check how I am using the Bible and if I am giving adequate attention to all parts of the scriptural canon. So, here are the results so far of this blog's "canon within the canon" for a few different categories.

Testament Comparison
1. New Testament 41 labels
2. Old Testament 18 labels

Divisions Within Scripture
1. Gospels and Acts 27
2. Prophets 11
3. Letters of Paul 10
4. Torah/Pentateuch 5
5. Other New Testament Letters 3
6. Old Testament "Writings" 2
6. Apocalyptic 2

Individual Books (two labels or more)
1. Luke 11
2. John 8
3. Ephesians 4
3. Genesis 4
5. Isaiah 3
5. James 3
5. Mark 3
5. Matthew 3
9. 1 Corinthians 2
9. 2 Samuel 2
9. Amos 2
9. Galatians 2
9. Leviticus 2
9. Revelation 2

The concept of a personal "canon within the canon" interests me. What is yours?

-Joe

parts and the whole

It was the kind of question for which I had designed the lesson.

We were studying Genesis 19:1-14 as a representative text of biblical narrative. I had asked the students to find the repetitions in the text, having made the plea that if the author has seen fit to repeat himself, the repeated word, and therefore its meaning, must be of importance. The students had found numerous examples, and we had had a fruitful day of building meaning from the specific words and phrases.

This one man, however, would not accept that the word "know" in the request of "the men of Sodom" had connotations of rape. He was, of course, quite right that "know" in most usages means simply the possession of knowledge of this thing or that person or whatever. He was, at the same time, mistaken for not reading "know" within its immediate surroundings:

• as interpreted by Lot as "evil" intent.
• as parallel to its only other usage in the text in which Lot offers his two daughters who have "never known a man" in place of "the men"--Lot's guests--whom the "men of Sodom" wish to "know."
• as parallel within Genesis to the refrain, for example, of chapter 4: "Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore . . . " (v. 1, cf. vv. 17, 25).
  

The man's obstinance, in face of his peers' many attempts at correction, reflected an extreme version of a tendency I had earlier observed in the interpretive methods of some students: to find meaning in words, phrases, or texts without discerning their place as parts of a larger narrative that lends meaning. The problem, by the way, is not distinctly African.

If then, we do not permit words, phrases, or even texts to stand on their own, we do, on the other hand, view them as indispensable parts without which the greater meaning remains hidden.

Let us then proceed to the texts!