Word to the Wise
Friday, April 3, 2009 - Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent
[Jeremiah 20:10-13 and John 10:31-42]The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God."
Scripture scholars debate about what Jesus really meant. Did he really claim to be God in the sense that the audience understood God to be? If the Gospel of John is any indication, he certainly touched a raw theological nerve and nearly got himself stoned on more than one occasion. I admit that sometimes the scholarship that I admire so very much reminds me of those folks in the Vatican who "sanitize" what the Pope says in person when they publish it "officially." It's a bit like the Washington, DC, Press Secretary, who comes along with: "What he REALLY meant to say is......." We do have to pay attention to the "hermeneutical challenge," i.e. how to interpret what was written long ago in categories that may be understood in the present day! But I think the drama in the Gospel of John, like all great drama, has enough meaning to transcend the costumes and scenery. We don't have to dress like medieval Danes to appreciate Shakespeare's HAMLET! The first scripture for today gives us Jeremiah and his agonizing over his fate as a prophet. He knows he has upset a lot of people and they are plotting to get rid of him. He's not paranoid - his enemies do come after him! Jesus' preaching (and the subsequent preaching of the early Christian community about him) was bound to upset the religious "powers that be" - especially in Jerusalem. His actions in "cleansing the temple" convince them that he is dangerous! We are told that the plotting goes on almost from the first moment he sets foot in Jerusalem. As onlookers or "spear carriers" in the drama, where do we stand? Are we like the guards who say, "No one has ever before spoken like this man?" (He DOES make some very dramatic claims - he seems to be saying he is God!) Do we have a stone in our hand? Are we courageous enough to stand with Jesus - at least at the bottom of the cross? Or are we like the disciples who run away in fear? Which costume are we wearing? AMEN
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