In Acts 6.1–7, first reading for 4/24/05, we read that Hellenists — probably Palestinian Jews who spoke only Greek — complain because their widows weren’t being taken care of properly, as was apparently expected: the early Christians took care of their own. Did welfare workers ignore those who said, “No spicka da Hebrew?”
That’s when The Twelve named seven deacons — to preach the word, not apparently to take care of widows. Puzzling, this.
In 1st Peter 2.4–9, Peter, himself called once a rock, calls Jesus “a living stone” and urges his readers to become like living stones themselves, “built into a spiritual house . . . to offer spiritual sacrifices.” He further calls Jesus “the stone that the builders rejected” and calls readers “a royal priesthood,” essentially a new Israel.
There has been argument over several centuries about this rock-stone business, much of it aimed at firming up or undermining papal claims. We Catholics have learned to be circumspect on the point, but not all, to be sure, as neither have all Protestants, leaving us all to hope for the best, neither surrendering to nor lording over others.
In John 14.1–12, Jesus’ father’s house has “many dwelling places,” once “mansions.” This is a case of demystifying and gutting a translation. And what does it do to Teresa of Avila and other Christian greats who made much of mansions? It’s also going pedestrian with a vengeance. O Lord, take me into your dwelling place? Wouldn’t you rather enter his mansion?
A preacher might point out that this is Jesus as his most dogmatic: "I am the way and the truth and the life.” Not a way or a truth, etc. He’s very sure of himself here. Christians are to be not so sure?
Nor does Jesus hesitate to call God a father — he does it in this passage 12 times — which is more than some priests can manage with their beloved gender-neutral language, of which I would love to have examples right now but don’t. So more later . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment