Bible Verse Fave Of The Week

While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. - John 17:12 (NRSV)

I always feel bad for Judas.

He was "destined" to be lost to fulfill scripture.

30 pieces of silver was a trifling sum; the mere cost of compensation to one whose slave has been killed.

For the author Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo, it is Judas who gives the greater sacrifice. In the story "Three Version of Judas" Borges' says: "The ascetic, for the greater glory of God, degrades and mortifies the flesh; Judas did the same with the spirit. He renounced honour, good, peace, the Kingdom of Heaven, as others, less heroically, renounced pleasure."

Did Judas act without desire for personal gain, I mean thirty pieces of silver - come on - and sacrifice everything for the Logos? Body? Spirit? Soul? Is that possible? He dies in a variety of ways depending on which Gospel account you read, and likely is damned for either his betrayal or suicide...which hardly seems just in either case... or did he?

Was Judas simply made up out of whole cloth?

Theologian Aaron Saari contends "Mark 16:14 and Luke 24:33 state that following his resurrection Jesus appeared to "the eleven." Who was missing? After all that had transpired one would just naturally think it was Judas. Apparently not, because in John 20:24 we learn that the one missing was Thoms. Therefore the eleven had to include Judas. To further confuse things,, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:5 that following his resurrection Jesus was seen by “the twelve.” This had to include Judas because it wasn't until after the ascension, some forty days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3), that another person, Matthias, was voted in to replace Judas (Acts 1:26). So, apparently Judas neither committed suicide nor died by accident. In Acts 1:25 we are told that Judas "turned aside to go to his own place." [copied from Wikipedia "Judas Iscariot"]

If he is simply cut from the cloth of the Old Testament, why bother? If he is a historical disciple, why the various modes of death and Gospel ambiguities? And if he was necessary to fulfill the scriptures - why is this sacrifice a sin? Why would Christ's death not atone for even this?

I'm not saying the Gospel isn't true...

I'm just sayin'...


Namaste.

Holy Doubt

The basement of St. Mark’s coffee house was filled with Holy Doubt tonight.

We were reading from Acts, 1 John and John.

But it was John 15:16 that set the Spirit free and the debate poured out and flooded the basement. Here’s the Scripture that set off the debate about prayer, whether it works and why we pray: “...the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.”

This promise of God granting our prayers occurs again and again in the Gospels.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” - John 15:7

“If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” - John 14:14

And so on. You can look up the others on your own, I’m sure.

One woman spoke of her mother dying of cancer. One man spoke of runaway children not returning. One spoke of fear that doesn't go away. And I could not help but think of my Mother’s suicide. All spoke of prayer and prayers not answered.

Yet, we all still pray though no one thought it quite worked like Jesus promised it would. But what did he promise? Is Jesus a liar? Deluded? Mistaken? No one thought any of those things either. But what then?

I am sure that there are lots of clever explanations for the dichotomy between what Jesus pretty clearly promises on a multitude of occasions, and what He actually appears to deliver. Is it a dichotomy? Were the cancer, suicide, fear, and runaway child God’s will? If not, whose was it?

Still, we pray. We even prayed at the end of BYOB Bible Study. We asked for things to be done, be undone, to happen or not happen.

Did Jesus mean God is a cosmic Santa Claus? That God is just an extra special episode of “I Dream Of Jeannie?”

Or does He only answers prayers that are good for you or accord with his will as 1 John 5:14-15 seems to suggest:

“And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.”

So if I pray what He wants me to pray He'll give me what He wanted to give me in the first place. If so, what's the point? Does this mean when someone asks Him to cure their cancer and He doesn’t, it’s because this is not in accord with His will? That’s just mean. Isn’t it?

So why do we pray anyway? Despite it all?

I think because not praying is unthinkable. Because in praying we seek to understand. Because prayer is hope manifested. And I think that no matter what we pray we are always asking the same thing: show me that I am, am loved, and am safe.

Whether you want your cancer cured or a Mercedes-Benz, it’s really all the same prayer isn’t it?

Namaste.

Bible Verse Fave Of The Week

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. - John 10:16

There is yet more light and truth to break forth from God's Word. - John Robinson (Puritan Preacher, 1620).

According to Dr. Byron E. Shafer in a sermon he preached at Rutgers Presbyterian Church in NYC back in 2005: "Robinson believed that, in principle, the Holy Spirit can lead us to find truths in Scripture that no Christian group or generation has previously seen or understood." And goes on to say that "... I believe that when Christians today read in John 10:16-"I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold"-the Holy Spirit is seeking to lead us beyond the view that there is no salvation outside of Christianity-beyond that view to the understanding that God does have other sheep and that Christianity is not God's only sheepfold."

His sermon is ultimately less than affirming of other faiths or at best reaches no conclusion about what those "sheep that do not belong to this fold" mean. But reading between his lines, I think, he sees that other faiths have much to teach us and that God has chosen those other faiths for reasons unknowable to impart wisdom to us. You can read it all here if you'd like.

Today, my doubts are as ever. But I take comfort in the idea that there are "sheep that do not belong to this fold" (I may well be one of them) but that nonetheless Jesus will bring them together in some way that is unfathomable. Sometimes more mystery makes it easier to believe. Three persons in One God. Many religions that will listen to Jesus' voice.

Despite my doubts, this bible verse centers me, and I await "more light and truth to break forth from God's word."

Namaste.

Bible Verse Fave Of The Week

Without a doubt, this week's fave is:

"But Thomas (who was called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ " - John 20:24-25

Imagine, if you will, the other eleven guys in your small fraternity. You, Thomas, enter to empty wine jugs and dirty dishes having inexplicably missed the previous night's kegger, and are immediately accosted by your brothers.

"Twinman, guess who came to dinner last night?" says Peter, speaking for all.

"Who?"

"Jesus walked right in here, I mean wow! The door was locked and everything. Just showed up in the middle of us all." says Peter. "Sat right here."

"Riiiiight."

"No really. He breathed the Holy Spirit on us..." protests Peter.

"Dude, let me smell your breath."

"Well, ask him yourself. I'm sure he'll be here again."

"Pete, let me know when he gets here 'cause I want to stick my fingers in the mess the Romans did to him."

"Thomas!"

"Holy crap... I mean... "My Lord and my God!"" exclaims Thomas, straightening up.

I have to say that I would have been just like Thomas. A doubter. A show me kinda guy. I've been Thomas all my life about more topics than the Resurrection of Jesus.

And then Jesus pours salt in Thomas' wound and says:

"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ "

And then we don't hear anything more of Thomas in the New Testament. Nothing. There is no comeback from Thomas! You can just see him feeling about 1 ft. tall at that point, while his brothers snicker, looking around the room for the keg. Apostle needs a drink about then....

Then he goes to INDIA to preach or so legend tells it.

Everyone else gets to stay more or less in the 'hood, but not poor Thomas.

Being a Doubting Thomas is a tough road to faith. I wish I just had faith. Rock solid.

But that's not me.

Namaste.

Today I Am ... Freaked Out

I noted yesterday that I am now uncool. Today, I am uncooler if that is possible.

Yesterday I went to BIBLE STUDY called BYOB (Bring Your Own Brain)which claims to take the bible seriously but not literally. It is run by Pastor Nadia with the following description from the church website: "House for All Sinners and Saints' is a group of folks figuring out how to be a liturgical, Christo-centric, social justice oriented, queer inclusive, incarnational, contemplative, irreverent, ancient - future church with a progressive but deeply rooted theological imagination."

Nice that.

But its still bible study... I've never studied the bible. I've pooh-poohed it. I've ignored it. I've ridiculed it. I've heard it read in church. Suddenly I feel compelled to read it, study it and, good lord, talk about it with other people. Christo-centric people! We did not talk about religion, Christ, God, let alone our "theological imagination" in the home I grew up in. We did not speak God's name. That was for the priests' to do. On Sunday. Our job was to shut up and listen. On Sunday.

Now I'm listening for god because I want to after forty years, give or take, of searching everywhere but under my bed as I mentioned in my last post.

Taking a deep breath, I went to bible study which is held at St. Mark's coffee house, next door to the Thin Man Bar, carrying my bible as if it were explosives. I'm early. I drink two huge cups of coffee because my hands aren't already shaking enough. Finally, its 7 PM and time for class or group or whatever it is and we go downstairs to the performance area. Stage. Christmas lights strung around. An interesting (as we would say in MN) space.

We proceed to discuss the bible. I mostly listened on the premise that I was already uncool, so no need to be perceived as an idiot to boot. I had to use my table of contents to find the book we are discussing, everyone else just flips it open because they apparently know what order the books of the bible are in. Show-offs.

In particular, we discuss 1 Samuels 3:1 - 10. This is the story where Samuel, as a boy, is helping Eli at the temple and the Lord drops in and calls out to Samuel. I especially like the line here "The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread." Which pretty much sums up my involvement with Christian thought up to that point. Then we read John 1:43 where Jesus calls Phillip and Nathanael. This is the verse that reads: "He found Phillip and said to him, "Follow me."

Follow me?

My first bible study and the verses are about being called by God and being told to follow him.

As I say, I'm freaking out!

Namaste.