So What?

Passiontide 45: Mark

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.  After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.  When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land.  When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning walking on the lake.  He intended to pass them by.  But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified.  But immediately he spoke to them and said, 'Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.'  Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased.  And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.  (From: Mark 6:45 - 52, NRSV)

Back in the nineteen eighties I had my one and only article for The Guardian's Saturday Face to Faith column published.  At the time the editor was Walter Schwartz.  It was my interpretation of this story; one of the most powerful stories in the most powerful of the Gospels.  Mark's Gospel shows us the relationship between Jesus and the disciples as tense and confrontational.  It comes to a head in this story and all I can say here is, walking on water is the least remarkable thing about this story.

One question: why is the miracle of the loaves so important to understand this story?  Note how this story links with the Matthew selection in this series .  Jesus there refuses to make bread from stones but later, makes bread from bread.  He refuses to use miracles to control people, but when confronted by people wishing to make him king he feeds them in order to avoid the obligation they wish to press upon him.  Consequently, he is able to walk on water.  Easy.  Hmmm ...

Passiontide 44: Matthew

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.  The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.'  But he answered, 'It is written, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."'  Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you", and "On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone."'  Jesus said to him, 'Again it is written, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."'  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.'  Jesus said to him, 'Away with you Satan! for it is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him."'  Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited upon him.  (From: Matthew 4:1-11, NRSV)

This passage was the subject of my Masters dissertation in Applied Theology, during the 1990s.  The theme of the work was Social Auditing and I found the claim that these temptations are unique to Jesus as somewhat misleading.  These are temptations for managers as much as they are for Messiahs. 

The devil is trying to tie Jesus to the standards of Scripture.  He presents each option to Jesus; they are indeed what all reasonable people would expect of a Messiah.  Jesus rejects them all, using scripture in his own way.  He departs from the wilderness with no plans and no powers, just open to where God might lead and willing to deal with whatever happens.

Lent 43: Radical Paul

We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute.  We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see - we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.  (2 Corinthians 6:3-10, NRSV)

On Monday, a new book by Philip Pullman The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ  was published.  I think the hype around Pullman is a bit over the top; I managed to read His Dark Materials without realising he was meant to be an atheist.  So I welcomed news of this new book.  However, my rapture was somewhat modified when I heard on the radio that the person responsible for the scoundrel Christ is none other than Paul.  At this stage, I have not read the book but the idea that Paul was somehow singlehandedly responsible for the misrepresentation of Christ does not stand up to scrutiny.  For one thing, only six of the letters ascribed to him were actually written by Paul.  This Paul is sometimes known as radical Paul.  The New Testament includes several letters which were written after Paul's death and significantly modify radical Paul's theology.  Furthermore, I'm sure the problems started much later than Paul, in the fourth and fifth centuries.  Constantine reinforced trends already present in the contemporary church.

Another thing in the news is a nurse who is taking her employers to court for discrimination  against her faith because she is not permitted to wear a cross whilst on duty.  Good for her!  She should be standing up to such pettiness, which, contrary to popular belief, is not enshrined in legislation.  But does it really require a letter in the Sunday Telegraph from several bishops and ex-bishops, lamenting this attack upon the Christian faith?  Look at this passage from Paul and get some perspective!

Lent 42: Adam Kahane

The root of not listening is knowing.  If I already know the truth, why do I need to listen to you?  Perhaps out of politeness or guile I should pretend to listen, but what I really need to do is to tell you what I know, and if you don't listen, to tell you again, more forcefully.  All authoritarian systems rest on the assumption that the boss can and does know the one right answer.  (From: Solving Tough Problems : An Open Way of Talking, Listening and Creating New Realities, page 47)

I discovered this book about 3 years ago and I have suggested Kahane's approach might be used to address some of the more intractable ecumenical issues (with no apparent success so far).  Read more about his approach to scenario planning  on my other blog.

The idea in this paragraph reminds me of the post I did about Pirsig .  It is a hint as to the proper meaning of humility.  It is only when we can set aside our own ideas and be open to the others that we can be effective.  And sometimes we feel as if effectiveness is something that works through us rather than something we do for ourselves.

Lent 41: Timothy Ashworth

'Keeping aligned' is a concept that captures well the sense that this prophetic word does provide guidance but without any coercive force.  Actions flow naturally from it.  As we have seen, Paul does not say, if you live by the Spirit these are the things that you ought to do, these are the ways that you ought to behave, but rather, live by the Spirit and these are the ways that you definitely will behave.  Life in the Spirit leads to such behaviours as naturally as trees bear fruit.  For Paul, being guided, - 'keeping aligned' - by faith, by the spirit, by the cross is to experience a life of freedom, without needing to follow any external direction.  Living by the law is, in contrast, a form of enslavement.  (From: Paul's Necessary Sin  : The Experience of Liberation, page 56)

This book was a present from a friend who, a few years ago, attended a conference led by Timothy Ashworth, at Woodbrooke, the Quaker College in Birmingham, where Ashworth lectures.  Ashworth, with other authors such as Crossan , seeks to return to the 6 authentic letters of Paul and re-examine his writings in the light of modern scholarship.  This is a technical book but full of exciting insights.

We need to take time to understand what Ashworth is saying.  Usually, we think we have two options: license, to which the churches provide an alternative, morality.  These are not opposites; license and morality come from the same source.  They are both used by imperialists to control people.  Our consumer society is an example of the former.  The most familiar Christian morality has its origins, according to Crossan, in imperial Rome.  Christianity offers an alternative, although you wouldn't know it to hear the claptrap about Christian values.

Lent 40: Gerard Manley Hopkins

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs -

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.  (God's Grandeur, verse 2)

Thomas Gradgrind  might have scorned this poem - what on earth does it mean?  It certainly doesn't deal with facts.  I have returned to it many times and find it speaks to me at some level, although its message is bounded by its own words.  It is about the grandeur of God, seen despite the best efforts of humanity to obscure it.  Beyond that no explanation is possible.

We are told by those who have been there that encounter with God through meditative prayer cannot be put into words.  Perhaps this is Hopkins' attempt?  Can we express ours in some way?

Lent 39: Charles Dickens

Thomas Gradgrind, sir.  A man of realities.  A man of fact and calculations.  A man who proceeds upon the principles that two and two are four and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over.  Thomas Gradgrind, sir - peremptorily Thomas - Thomas Gradgrind.  With rule and a pair of scales, and a multiplication table always in his pocket, sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to.  It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic.  You might hope to get some other nonsensical belief into the head of George Gradgrind, or Augustus Gradgrind, or John Gradgrind, or Joseph Gradgrind (all suppositious, non-existent persons), but into the head of Thomas Gradgrind - no, sir!  (From: Hard Times , chapter 2)

This is from the famous chapter where a horse is defined as 'Quadruped.  Graminivorous.  Forty teeth ...' and we learn horses should not be featured upon wallpaper as we would never find a horse in fact walking across our walls.  This chapter is brilliant satire and is as much alive today as it was in Dickens' time.  This is another perspective on the trends addressed by Isaac Watts in his hymn .

Margaret Thatcher told us ' there is no such thing as society'.  You don't accept this is a fact?  I think you'll find that by and large you live as if it is a fact.

 

Lent 38: Robert Pirsig

There's an old analogy to a cup of tea.  If you want to drink new tea you have to get rid of the old tea that's in your cup, otherwise your cup just overflows and you get a wet mess.  Your head is like that cup.  It has a limited capacity and if you want to learn something about the world you should keep your head empty in order to learn it.  It's very easy to spend your whole life swishing old tea around in your cup thinking it's great stuff because you've never really tried anything new, because you could never get it in, because the old stuff prevented its entry because you were so sure the old stuff was so good, because you never really tried anything new ... on and on in an endless circular pattern.  (Lila , page 33)

This post should be about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance but my copy has disappeared in mounds of books and for now is beyond my reach.  Lila is almost as good.  This idea has stuck in my mind since the early nineties when I first read Lila.  We write things down to help us forget.  Most people think it's to help us remember but the notes we make clear our minds for something new.  These days we use blogs to help us forget!

We read blogs and books and we're impressed at how much the author knows.  Of course, it shows how little the author knows; their text is now forgotten through the act of writing.  Just as I remember only this thought from Lila, I am united with the author in forgetting the rest of the content.  So long as we have books and blogs no-one need remember anything ever again!

Lent 37: Blaise Pascal

One must know when it is right to doubt, to affirm, to submit.  Anyone who does otherwise does not understand the force of reason.  Some men run counter to these three principles, either affirming that everything can be proved, because they know nothing about proof, or doubting everything, because they do not know when to submit, or always submitting, because they do not know when judgement is called for.  (From: Pensees , 170)

I must have read this about 1980, soon after I first became a Christian.  I am not in the same place as I was then, although I find this collection, of what amounts to seventeenth century blogs, fascinating.  I suspect few if any modern blogs will stand the test of time as successfully as Pascal's.

These pensees, thoughts, are simply jottings.  Scraps of a busy life.  This paragraph illustrates Pascal's view that life is contradictory.  It only makes sense, if we believe mutually exclusive things about everything ... and then perhaps life does not make sense at all ...

Lent 36: John Betjeman

And "Tea!" she said in a tiny voice

"Wake up!  It's nearly five."

Oh!  Chintzy, chintzy cheeriness,

Half dead and half alive!  (From: Death in Leamington, in John Betjeman Collected Poems )

Nurse is not aware.  'She' will never again drink tea.  I'm not keen on poetry; although I've always thought I should be more interested in it.  My 1976 copy of the Collected Poems, a present from a friend, has however, been read on and off over the years.  Death in Leamington has been a favourite, not just because it is the first in the book!  It evokes something of another world and its gentle irony sticks in the mind.  The third line above seems deeply ironic.  It feels like a life ended and a life wasted.

We do not know the identity of the dead person.  She's dead and so has no identity.  Nurse is alone although she is not aware of the fact.  Most of us have to face the reality: 50 years after our death, we will not be remembered.  Maybe a Facebook profile deep in some memory bank but in time even the memory banks will fail.  Ultimately we are all alone, just like nurse.