Because the Bible is inspired, we should not listen to the readings as "true," but rather as "shockingly true."
But viewing them as "shockingly true history" is to misunderstand them. For example, in Acts 22, Paul is speaking to the Jews of Jerusalem in Hebrew. He tells them,
- 6 "On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
- 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
- 8 I replied, 'Who are you, sir?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'
- 9 My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me." Acts 22:6-9.
Re-read the line in red. The ones with Paul on the journey to Damascus "did not hear the voice." Simple enough.
Okay, now turn to Acts 9:7: 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Acts 9:7.
There it is -- in Acts 9:7, inspired Luke's "shockingly true history" of Paul's conversion squarely contradicts inspired Luke's "shockingly true history" of Paul's words in Jerusalem at Acts 22:6-9. But wasn't Paul, himself, inspired as he spoke in Jerusalem?
If Paul was inspired, he was not being inspired to get his facts straight, so that he erred, right?
Or, inspiration sometimes inspires lying.
But that would contradict other verses...
- 1 Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's chosen ones and the recognition of religious truth,
- 2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who does not lie, promised before time began... Titus 1:1-2.
I believe that it does -- frequently.
Very frequently.
In any event, throw out any preconceived notion that the Bible is "shockingly true history," but retain your belief that the Bible is "shockingly true religious teaching." It is.
Let us now discuss the readings for this coming Sunday...
Reading 1
After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news
to that city
The names "Paul and Barnabas" do not appear in the original text. The lectionary writers inserted the names to inform listeners that Paul and Barnabas are the ones being discussed.
and made a considerable number of disciples,
they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships
to enter the kingdom of God.”
These words of Paul and Barnabas contrast rather sharply with Christ's words, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Matthew 11:30. Perhaps Christ Himself would resolve the contrasting concepts by saying, "The grace of the Spirit will will make the many hardships an easy yoke and a light burden."
They appointed elders for them in each church
An exercise of the Sacrament of Orders.
and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord
in whom they had put their faith.
Prayer and fasting aren't just "unimportant holy stuff." Pray regularly, and fast sternly, and all of your problems will evaporate! Try it!
Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.
After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God
for the work they had now accomplished.
This is a reference to Acts 13:1-3, where the actual words of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, are actually quoted -- "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
And when they arrived, they called the church together
and reported what God had done with them
and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles."Door" is a Biblical type, or symbol, symbolizing "Christ." See Index Verse, John 10:9: "I am the door." They reported how God brought the people to Christ.
Many view the Psalm at Mass as a "breather," as an "interlude," as "pious, sing-songy nonsense." That is a thorough misconstruing. The Psalms are part of the Bible. They come FROM the Book of Psalms which is a separate book IN the Bible. They are no less inspired than the words of Jesus Christ Himself in the Gospels.
R. (cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
Think: How does this relate to the reading we just looked at? Answer: God, in His mercy, spreads the Church among His people.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
It took me some time to learn to pray. I have stopped incessant begging, begging, begging, and now I preoccupy my prayers with praising God, with thanking Him, and only asking for things one (1) time.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
It's interesting that in our society those who bring up God make others uncomfortable.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them make known your might to the children of Adam,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading 2
Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
The "sea" is a Bible type or symbol symbolizing
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
In the Old and New Testaments, God's people, the Church, are viewed in the feminine, as Christ's "bride."
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people
and God himself will always be with them as their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away.”
The One who sat on the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new.”Gospel
- 31 When Judas had left, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
- 32 (If God is glorified in him,) God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once.
- 33 My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you.
- 34 I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
- 35 This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
33 My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you.
The verse contains one of Jesus' uses of of the term, "the Jews." John's gospel uses the term like that -- as though Jesus and his listeners weren't Jewish and Jesus were anti-Semitic -- dozens of times. In fact, what was probably going on is that John meant "Judaeans," meaning, "The core crowd of our people living mostly in and around Jerusalem who are simply unable to apprehend that Jesus is the Messiah." It probably wasn't meant to imply "Jews as opposed to Gentiles." But to our modern eyes and ears, especially after centuries of anti-Semitism crowned by the brutal murder of 6,000,000 Jews in the Holocaust, the term can be very disconcerting and distracting.
So, to avoid ruining the reading, they left it out.
Okay, back to the reading...
- 31 When Judas had left, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
- 32 (If God is glorified in him,) God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once.
- 33 My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you.
I think this: Because Judas was on his way from the Last Supper to betray Jesus, Jesus was saying, "Okay, guys, it's death time!" How could Jesus' death "glorify" God? Many Catholics and Protestants really have no idea. Here is the answer.
God is "extremely" everything that He is. He is "extremely loving," "extremely sovereign," and "extremely just." That's about the best way to think about God.
Extremely loving God, overflowing with love, decided to create beings to love and be loved by Him. That required that we have free wills, like God, because love isn't love unless it is freely entered into.
But "extremely sovereign" God's immense sovereignty requires that we be less than God -- otherwise He begins to violate sovereignty by creating "excessively-God-like" beings. So, we are significantly less than God -- in fact, helpless unless He helps us, and utterly dependent on Him.
Because we are less than God, without more we are just "sin machines." In our helpless, needful state, we are ongoingly tempted to rebel by not having ultimate faith in God's love by designing our own cures for our insecurity -- by breaking the rules and sinning.
Without more, we will always sin, in response to our state. Eve's sin is a hypothetical showing how we would handle every single moral question in this state.
The cure is grace.
But grace is a "stairway to Heaven." A free ticket to shaking hands with God.
God's extreme justice responds to the concept of free grace in this fashion -- "Whoa!!! Hold up!!! There are no freebees in life -- no pennies from Heaven!!! No 'something for nothing'!!! No way, no how!!! Forget it!!! SOMEONE has got to pay the price exacted by God's Own extreme justice for this grace!!!"
So, God's Own "God-ness," His Own being, requires a severe payment for grace.
God the Son, in response, raises His hand, and says, "I will!!! I volunteer to pay the terrifying price exacted by Our Own justice for this grace, so that these humans We love so much can have the internal power to rise above their sin-seeking nature and seek to shake hands with Us, instead."
God the Father, in response, says, "Beloved Son, Whom I love above all, I lovingly accept Your gift of love, and lovingly offer You up to suffer horribly and die to pay the price exacted by Our Own justice for these humans We love."
So, Christ's extraordinary sacrifice paid the necessary price for the final ingedient we need -- grace -- to shake God's hand, in love. By volunteering to do this, He made His Father extremely happy and proud, and so "glorified" the Father and the Son -- the Father, for giving up His only beloved Son to syffering and death, and the Son, for paying the terrifying price...
34 I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
- 35 This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
Be "extremely loving," like God.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment