Hearing God’s Call and Following Jesus: Two Scriptural Retreats on being Christian in the Modern World 9781463211035

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Being Christian in the Modern World

Being Christian in the Modern World

PAUL S. RUSSELL

EUPHRATES 2006

First Gorgias Press Edition, 2006 Copyright © 2006 by Gorgias Press LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Gorgias Press LLC, New Jersey

ISBN 1-59333-318-8

EUPHRATES

46 Orris Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA www.gorgiaspress.com

Printed in the United States of America

The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him. All the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand. A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p. 12

CONTENTS Foreword .................................................................................................................ix God’s Call To Human Beings ...............................................................................1 Introduction ........................................................................................................3 Peter......................................................................................................................7 Jonah...................................................................................................................13 Solomon.............................................................................................................19 Isaiah...................................................................................................................25 Elijah...................................................................................................................33 A Short Reflection............................................................................................39 Discipleship ............................................................................................................41 Introduction ......................................................................................................43 Peter....................................................................................................................47 Andrew...............................................................................................................55 Women Disciples..............................................................................................61 Conclusion.........................................................................................................69 Hearing the Voice of God in Scripture..............................................................73 Introduction ......................................................................................................75 History................................................................................................................77 Inspiration..........................................................................................................81 Reading the Bible..............................................................................................85 Conclusions .......................................................................................................91 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................93 Bible Editions and Commentaries.................................................................93 Books of Prayers...............................................................................................93 Other Books......................................................................................................94 Index of Scriptural References ............................................................................97

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FOREWORD Christians love to read the Bible, or so we tell ourselves, but it is not always easy for us to draw help for our immediate troubles from what we read. We meet together in Bible studies, we read commentaries on our own, but we may still have trouble knowing how to respond to what we read and may be at a loss about where to go in the Bible for what we wish to find when we have a particular purpose in mind. This small book contains two series of Bible studies offered to groups of ordinary Christians in the hope that they will help them see how the figures of believers in Scripture, both those in the Old Testament and those in the New, can be models for them to follow in their attempts to heed God’s call to them and to follow after Jesus. One of the greatest difficulties for Christians in the world today, in my own experience, is that we often suffer from a sense of trying to live our lives on our own, without help. Scripture offers to us, however, not only instructions on how to lead a good Christian life but also examples for us to follow. I have tried to set out in the two sets of talks that follow both some of what the Bible tells us about how God calls us at different times and in different places in our lives, as well as some examples of believers gone before us who have heeded God’s call and lived their lives in an attempt to respond to it. Over the course of a number of years, I have very much enjoyed and very much benefited from reading books of sermons and studies of Scripture in an attempt to deepen my own understanding of how God relates to human beings and to keep myself focused on my own poor attempt to lead a good Christian life. I hope that this small volume will find some readers who will enjoy working through its pages or, even better, who will find it to be useful in helping them advance their understanding of what we can learn from Scripture about living a Christian life. With that in mind, I have also included, at the end of the book, a talk on reading the Bible and using the Bible as a Christian. It is useful to think of the whole big picture of the process of understanding and responding to the Bible, at the same time that we are doing it in a more focused way. I hope that the individual reader may ix

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find some food for thought there and the group leader some topics to discuss. It may, actually, be more useful, for some people, to read the last part of this book first. If anyone would like to look at the big picture first, I urge you to turn to “Hearing the Voice of God in Scripture” right away. For most of us, the impatient ones, who tend to want to get right into the Bible’s pages, I have put the particular first. In the Bible studies at the church that I attend (the Anglican Parish of Christ the King in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.), we often read things according to themes rather than taking books of the Bible whole. It may be that groups of Christians reading the Bible together would find this book to be useful to them, too, as a companion in short courses of Bible lessons following the two themes I have addressed. It might suggest for them different groupings of portions of Scripture to read together, and it might also help guide them as they move along. However little the help that we can offer each other might be, I think all Christians need to keep each other in their thoughts and prayers as we work out our lives as pilgrims here on earth. The authors whose books I have read over the past years have often been in my thoughts, and any readers that this little book has in the future have been in my thoughts, too. All I ask of readers is that they listen charitably to what I am trying to say rather than judging how well I say it (for who can speak in a manner worthy of Scripture?), and that they keep me in their thoughts and prayers, as I will keep them in mine. I have left these talks almost unchanged, since I enjoy reading lectures and sermons in the form in which they were delivered. I have tried to remove any particular references that might confuse readers who were not present when the talks were first delivered. I hope, however, that some of the flavor of the enjoyable fellowship of those occasions still remains. I would like to dedicate this volume to the members of the Anglican Province of Christ the King who first heard these ideas and were kind enough to receive them charitably. I hope and pray that our fellowship in the future is as much of a blessing to them as it has been to me in the past. [References to BCP are to The Book of Common Prayer (1928), which is the worship book used by the Anglican Province of Christ the King. All quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible, which is the scripture translation used by the Anglican Province of Christ the King.] Chevy Chase, Maryland

Advent 2003 • Lent 2006

GOD’S CALL TO HUMAN BEINGS

INTRODUCTION Our retreat topic is “God’s Call to Human Beings.” This requires a little explanation. We are all very used to the idea of “vocation.” Bishops talk about “vocation” all the time, both while discussing with individual people what sort of call from God they feel is active in their lives, and also while discussing with the Church as a whole what we should look for and expect from God in our lives. These ideas are part of what we are going to talk about in these few days, but only a part of it. If we believe that the world we live in is created by God and that God remains in active contact with it, then we should expect that God can and will, at certain times of His own choosing, make His wishes known and communicate His thoughts to some of the people who are living in the world. Any sort of contact between God and the world qualifies, in this sense, as part of God’s call. It is important to have this straight in our minds as we begin, because human beings are strongly controlled by their expectations. There are so many examples we can think of in our own lives in which what we saw or heard (and how we understood it) was more a product of what was already present in our minds than of what was actually happening around us. This sort of misunderstanding is something that we need to avoid when we are considering God’s call to us. Since God is not as easily available to us as we are to each other, we must be even more careful in how we understand Him when He speaks to us than we are with each other. We cannot turn to Him and ask Him for clarification as easily as we can turn to the person next to us and ask him to say something again. So, it is very important that we should make the greatest effort to try to understand Him correctly, the first time. We must be open-minded. Keeping this potential difficulty in mind, I am going to consider with you a number of figures who appear in the pages of Scripture whose lives can offer us examples of different kinds of calls from God that I think will be useful to us. I have tried to choose characters in Scripture whose circumstances and actions provide us with a variety of different ways in which God’s call can be active in a person’s life. This means, of course, that some of the most obvious people have been left out. I thought a lot about Moses (as anyone 3

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would who was talking about God’s call being active in people’s lives), but I thought, in the end, that there was too much about Moses and his circumstances that fit only him and not all of us in general. So I have left him aside. It might be a useful exercise, at some point, for you to consider Moses and how he might have fit into this way of thinking about God’s call if we had chosen to include him, but that is a topic for another time. We will discuss Peter, Jonah, Solomon, Isaiah, and Elijah. That is quite a diverse group! What I think they serve to show us, and what I will try to use them to show you, is that in every kind of human life, in every kind of human situation, and to every kind of human being, God’s call can be present and, I think, is seen to be present, if the person is willing to listen for it. There are many things about God’s call to human beings that we will not discuss (we cannot consider everything the Bible offers on this topic, even only what relates to our five people), but we will try to make use of what Scripture shows us in order to see how this is reflected in our own lives at present and how it might be reflected in our own lives in the future. The Bible is a great resource, an unparalleled resource, of history and worship and teaching. Though it is certainly a hefty volume, it is not so long that it cannot be mastered by, and familiar to, any Christian person who makes a conscious, firm decision to work at it. One of the things I hope to offer you is a spur to look in some parts of the Bible that may have grown a little dustier for you than they should have. I have read enough of the Bible, and I have read the Bible enough, to know that readers who pick it up and open it with an open mind and heart can expect, confidently, to be shown something that will benefit them. My hope is that this should happen to you and that you should be encouraged by it to turn more readily to the Bible and see there what waits for you and what you can be shown and told by God when you look into the Scriptures. Two words before I send you off: First, the lives we live have so little time for quiet and thought that this opportunity to have a little peace is even more precious than it might be Second, any discussion of God’s speaking to us and any talks that use the Bible should come with a word on Revelation. The experience of the Church, and the content of the Bible, clearly teach that God not only can but does make Himself and His will known among His creatures. Because we, alone among the creatures that dwell on the earth, are made in God’s image and have the ability to respond to Him intelligently, His communications are predominantly directed at us. It is not enough to say that God speaks to us, however; anyone who is married knows that the trick is not to say something yourself, but to get your spouse to listen to you. God’s Reve-

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lation to us and His call to us will be without effect if we are not disposed to listen for and to them. We will be considering not only how God calls us but how we ought to listen to Him. These two topics are inseparable. If we do our part, we will not miss what we ought to hear, and we will also have good reason to hope that we will grasp what God wishes to tell us. Prayer has been called “a conversation with God.” The “call of God” we are talking about is intertwined with prayer as much as it is with reading the Bible. If we pray and read the Bible and keep our ears pricked for God’s call as we ought, these three things will form a seamless whole and, like any braided cord, be stronger together than they are apart. We will close each chapter with a prayer from the Family Prayer section at the back of The Book of Common Prayer. This is one of the treasures of the American Prayer Book, and I hope that reading these prayers will spur you to turn all the way to the back of the book, now and again. The Lord be with you …

O

GOD of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength; By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 595)

PETER First we come to the apostle Peter. Modern Christians seem to think of Peter in two ways: either as the leader of the Apostles and the leader of the Church, or as the Denier of Christ. Neither of these roles is what we’re going to look at now. We are going to look at the very beginning of Peter’s time as a follower of Jesus, and to do that we’re going to look at the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John (1:15–42). John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. 19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. 24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; 27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32

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BEING CHRISTIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. 34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

This scene is very important for a proper understanding of the circumstances of the Ministry of Jesus and the circumstances of the Ministry of St. John the Baptist and for a proper understanding of what they were trying to do. It is also very important for a proper understanding of the motives and background and ideas of some of the apostles whom Jesus first called to follow Him. All of these people are down by the side of the River Jordan where John is baptizing repentant sinners. Remember, John is always spoken of as “a voice crying in the wilderness,” and it seems to be “in the wilderness” that he was baptizing people by the river’s edge. There is no scene in any gospel in which John is in a town or city, except, perhaps, when he is born and when he is in prison. If these people are listening to John preach, it is because they wanted to. They didn’t stumble across him on their way to something else. We should assume that everyone who appears in this scene had traveled there especially to see John and to hear his preaching. Jesus seems, clearly, to have gone there Himself in order to be baptized by His cousin. Peter and Andrew, the two brothers from Capernaum, seem to have traveled there to see John, also. Peter and Andrew, evidently, were deeply interested in religious matters and in learning about how to lead good religious lives. Even before they meet Jesus, they are already actively engaged in a religious quest.

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It is important for us to appreciate the meaning of the fact that Peter, who will become the leader of the followers of Jesus and one of the most important leaders of the first generation of the Church, is already a fully involved religious seeker when he comes in contact with Jesus. Jesus is the answer to Peter’s quest, but Jesus does not seem to have been the beginning of Peter’s quest. Let us take a moment to think about that. When a person comes face to face with Jesus in the Gospels, a person is coming face to face with God (John 14:9). This is what Peter has done. Peter has been searching for ways to make himself right with God, for a way to reach out to God and to find God reaching out to him. That is why he has come out into the wilderness to John. It is the common role of a prophet to make God present, and it is certainly a common thing for the forgiveness of sins to be an important part of God’s renewing His connection with us. John is a prophet who offers both of these things: both teaching and repentance. These are what Peter is come to seek: teaching and repentance, and Jesus is what Peter finds. The personal presence of God in Jesus so overwhelms Peter that he leaves John behind and follows Jesus from then on. (Notice, too, that John tries to make this happen, as a true prophet should. He does not try to keep his followers to himself, but rather tries to pass them on. He is the one who calls Jesus “the Lamb of God” [1:29].) Peter finds the answer to his prayer was something, Someone, he didn’t realize he was asking for. All through all four Gospels, Peter is represented as an eager, even reckless, follower of Jesus. He blurts out the answers to questions before understanding what the questions really mean (Mark 8:27–33). When he sees Jesus resurrected by the side of the Sea of Galilee in the twenty-first chapter of the Gospel of John, Peter is so excited about it that he leaps into the water to get to Jesus more quickly, instead of waiting for the boat to land. At the Transfiguration on the mountaintop, Peter suggests eagerly that he should make booths for Elijah and Moses and Jesus (Mark 9:2–10 and parallels). All of these are cases of Peter being an eager seeker who might have done better to be less eager and more reflective. But Peter is an eager person, and eager people act hastily. Peter is nothing if not consistent. When Peter comes, then, and finds Jesus by the side of the River Jordan, he is finding Jesus as much as Jesus is finding him. The calling of Peter is a call offered in response to a person’s eager quest, and that puts a very different light upon it. When God called to Jonah (as we will see later), Jonah seems to have been surprised, and not very happily. When God calls Peter, He is rapturously received. Peter is like the woman in the parable

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who sweeps out her whole house looking for the lost coin and when it is found she calls all her neighbors together so that they can rejoice with her. “See, the coin I lost is found, come and rejoice with me” (Luke 15:8–9). We cannot call ourselves, only God can call us. Still, we can seek Him; and if we seek Him, we have been told, we shall find Him. “Knock and it shall be opened to you, seek and ye shall find” (cf. Matthew 7:7–8). Peter is a knocker and seeker and, because of this, Peter is also a finder. He actually has much in common with St. Francis of Assisi, in terms of character and methods. Later in the Gospels, Peter misapplies his energy and falls short of his ideal when he tries to make Jesus safe by urging Him to avoid Jerusalem, with the result that Jesus says, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:21–23). At the end, Peter even denies Jesus three times (Matthew:26:69– 73). Yet, because Peter really does, deep down, want to find Jesus and be with Jesus more than anything else, that is where he ends up. Peter is our model in one great way: that is, that he, as much as anyone in the New Testament, lives up to the words of St. Paul:* This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)

That may be the only trait of Peter’s that meets the ideal, but it is a crucial one. Peter is a “rock” not because of his steadfastness (even Judas is never called “Satan” by Jesus, and no one else denies Jesus three times), but because of the steadfastness of his purpose. Peter, like all of us, has “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (cf. Romans 3:23), but he never gives up. Perseverance is an under-appreciated virtue in the minds of most Christians. We think that we can make ourselves over in an instant, or that God will snap His fingers and all our problems will vanish, but it is not so. Those who win through to the finish line of the spiritual life must be diligent as well as swift, determined as well as willing. Saints are sinners who never give up trying not to be sinners, and Peter is their patron saint, in that regard at least. When we think of him as a model, we should remember Peter as a seeker who never gave up looking and a disciple who never stopped trying to understand his Master. If Peter’s life is emblematic of any truth, it may be that God calls those who long to be called. He may also show us that God can meet us unawares before we are expecting Him. Peter seeks eagerly after closeness with God; and there, before he is ready, is God, standing in front of him, face to face. Peter’s life is * Of course, he does this before St. Paul writes Philippians.

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never the same after that moment. It has ups and downs but, though he will deny Jesus, Jesus will never spurn Him. He calls him “Satan,” but He brings him along all the way to the tomb on Easter morning (when Peter runs to get there [John 20:3–4]). Peter wants to be with God more than he wants anything else, and God sees to it that he is not disappointed. God calls Peter, the eager listener.

O

GOD, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly; Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of Wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 595)

JONAH Jonah is a prophet whose prophecy is not highly regarded by Christians, nowadays. Since we are not Ninevites, saving Nineveh does not impress us very much. Besides, as a result of the peculiar history of the relations between politics and religion in the United States in the last hundred years, Jonah has come to be seen more as a bone to be fought over than as a book to be heeded for its teaching. But I would like to look at the Book of Jonah (1:1–3:3a) to see how Jonah is called and what that can show us about how God might call us. Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. 7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. 10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall

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BEING CHRISTIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. 14 Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. 15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. 17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, 2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. 10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. 3:1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.

I always think that’s very funny when I read the third verse of the third chapter and see that, after having gone through a storm at sea and being thrown out of the boat into the open ocean and then being swallowed by a great fish and spat up on the shore of the sea three days later, Jonah is not quite so ready to resist the call of God as he was at the beginning of the book. Obedience begins to look like the easy way out after all! What we meant to learn from this? Jonah shows us two things: First, the Book of Jonah shows us that, though it certainly is true that, in the normal run of things, human beings have the power and the “space,” as we might put it, to resist the will of God, still, there are times and circumstances in which God does not allow His will to be gainsaid. This time,

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when God wanted to save the people of Nineveh (or rather, to offer the people of Nineveh salvation), was one of those times. Second, we should notice what it is that God wants to do that Jonah doesn’t like. Jonah, who seems to be a good practicing Jew, objects to the forgiveness of God being offered to the pagans of Nineveh (3:10–4:4). And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. 4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah is not objecting to the will of God in a general way; he is objecting to the particular thing that God has chosen to do for Gentiles. This is particularly important. The Book of Jonah is about two things: the resistance of Jonah to God’s will, and God’s desire to offer an opportunity for repentance to the people of Nineveh. How can we make sense of these? It is important to see that this story is designed to stand on its own. It seems to come out of a void. The book tells us nothing about the particular time of its setting and nothing, really, about the particular sins of the people of Nineveh. They are being wicked, but the Bible is full of wicked people and people are wicked at all times and in all places, so that tells us nothing specific. Jonah seems, clearly, to be presenting us with general truths. In other words, Jonah is a book that teaches generally about God and His relations with human beings, rather than about His relations with the particular people who happened to be living in Nineveh at that time; and about God’s relations in general with those He intends to carry out His will, not just with the particular individual, the prophet Jonah. (As a matter of fact, we have a date for the life of Jonah from the Second Book of the Kings (2 Kings 14:25), which places him squarely during the reign of Jeroboam II, the son of Joash, as king of Israel. This would put him between about 791 and 749 BC, as we count years now.* This makes the absence of a dating more important, to my mind. If the author of Jonah, who seems not to be the * As Kenneth Kitchen says (On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 31).

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prophet himself since the book is cast in the third person, chose not to locate his subject in a particular situation, which was the usual practice for known figures, he was consciously making his tale a universal one of human relations with God. Taking the Book of Jonah as an exemplary story in that fashion is reading it as its human author intended, in my opinion. (That would, of course, also make it reading it as its Divine Author intended, too.) God calls to Jonah because he wishes Jonah to perform a particular role in God’s own working out of the salvation of human beings on earth. Because Jonah does not like the people who may possibly be saved, he tries to refuse this role and to remove himself from God’s presence. Both of these attempts turn out to be unsuccessful, to say the least. Jonah cannot escape fulfilling the will of God, and he also cannot escape God’s presence. Reading through the psalms would have told him how both of these efforts would come out, and the Church’s traditional emphasis on the reading of the Psalms is, among other things, designed to prevent us from repeating Jonah’s mistakes. It is worth taking the time to read Psalm 139:7–12 to remind ourselves that the predicament of Jonah is not unique in the content of Scripture, and that his sinful miscalculation is one that he should have known enough to avoid. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

The first thing we see in Jonah’s tale is that receiving the call of God is not always a good and desirable thing in the eyes of the person to whom it comes. The entry of God into our lives can be challenging and frightening, as well as comforting. The second thing we see is that it is not our place, and it is not possible for us, to judge the intentions of God. God’s will is His own will, and it is not to be reviewed by us, impeded by us, or avoided by us. All these things Jonah tries to do, and all of his efforts to do them fail. Jonah stands, then, as a counterexample of how to act in relation to God. God’s will is done whether Jonah likes it or not. As a matter of fact,

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God’s will is done by Jonah whether Jonah likes it or not. The call of God is powerful. The call of God is effective: it makes itself succeed. The call of God is God’s alone; none of us can stand in its way. It is a mistake of sentimentality to think that the message of the Bible is that God loves us like little babies wrapped in woolly blankets and gives us what we need and want before we need and want it. God does love us as a father loves his children, but we are not little babies who kick and scream and get all that they would like. When Jesus speaks of us as little children (see Matthew 18:1–6), He uses the word for children young enough to pick up but old enough to be disciplined. This is the stage of life in which we exist, as far as our relationship with God is concerned. We are conscious, rational beings. We can choose and decide and change our minds, but we are responsible for the decisions we make, responsible for our choices, and not always free to change our minds any way we might like to. God loves us desperately, as parents love their little children, but God wants us to be the best little children we can be, and that requires our assistance as well as His action. When God gives us a task to do, it is necessary for us to do it. When God makes a decision and informs us of it, it is our duty to further it as best we can. If we refuse this obligation, we are responsible for the consequences of that refusal, as human beings are responsible for any of their actions. This is a good thing, but a solemn thing, and one that we should take seriously. God’s call, like God’s love, is a sign of interest, a sign of affection, but also a sign of God’s expectations for us and for our behavior. God’s call was a challenge as well as an opportunity for Jonah, and Jonah failed the challenge the first time. God’s mercy is shown in the fact that He arranges for Jonah to have a second chance to answer the Divine Call; and God’s perseverance is shown in the fact that He arranges to have His will fulfilled in the manner He desires and with the human agent that He has chosen. God’s call is a judgment as well as a blessing. It brings with it responsibility as well as the reward of recognition. It is up to us to see that we measure up to this call and to show, by our responses and our actions, that we are worthy children of our heavenly Father.

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MOST loving Father, who willest us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of thee, and to cast all our care on thee, who carest for us; Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which thou hast manifested unto us in thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 596)

SOLOMON This chapter brings us to the consideration of Solomon, the greatest king and wise man in the Old Testament. Solomon stands as an example of the great heights—religious and civil, theological and practical—to which a person can aspire if he is living his life in accord with the will of God. (We should be aware, though, that Solomon never manages to be completely faithful to God.* At the end of his life Solomon is also, of course, an example of how even the most exalted and religiously successful person can fall into sin and separation from God if he does not continue in the path of righteousness.) That second part of Solomon’s story, which shows so well that no one can be said to have lived a good life until his life has drawn to its close, is not what we’re going to look at today. Our interest lies in the beginning of Solomon’s reign and in the successful part of his attempts to act according to the will of God (1 Kings 3:5–28). In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. 6 And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. 8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. 9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? 10 And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; 12 * See 1 Kings 3:3, 11:1–8, which blames his marriages to foreign women for his building pagan worship places and supporting their use.

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BEING CHRISTIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. 13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. 14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. 15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. 16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him. 17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19 And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. 26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

This is a very particular kind of calling that comes from God to Solomon. Solomon is beginning his reign over a prosperous and strong kingdom. Solomon is in the same situation as the servants in the parables whose master gives them money to invest (Matthew 25:14–30). What makes Solomon special is that he realizes that being given the kingship (his talent) is

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just the beginning of the process. What matters is what he will do with it. His prayer springs from this realization. In worldly terms, Solomon doesn’t seem to have very many difficulties. True, he may turn out to be a good or bad king, a successful or unsuccessful politician, but his place in life seems quite secure. This is an important point. While Peter was looking for God in order to know how to go ahead in life, Solomon is already set in his life. His active life is just beginning, but his place in this world is known to him. God’s call is not going to decide what place in life he will occupy but, instead, how he will occupy that place. When God says “Ask what I shall give thee,” He is testing Solomon. Solomon’s reply is not what most people hearing the story for the first time would expect. The king’s thoughts are not fixed on how to further aggrandize himself (and making himself more important might, after all, be a pretty fair description of a king’s purpose in life, as kingship is usually understood). Instead, Solomon’s request shows both a concern for the people he is to rule and a concern for them as God’s people: “who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” (1 Kings 3:9). Solomon proves himself to be a worthy ruler of God’s people through this double form of selflessness: he worries about the people and he worries about them as God’s people. What does this exchange tell us of God’s call to us? While Peter had been seeking God directly by seeking how to live a proper religious life, Solomon is seeking how to live his life in the world as God would want him to do it, which is a different, less obviously religious, goal. Despite being the king of Israel, God’s chosen people,* Solomon is the more secular figure in this pair. His call, set beside Peter’s, serves to show us that God calls the man of the world to live a particular life in a particular way just as he does someone who is living a life that is more obviously religious. We often make the mistake of thinking that being “religious” and close to God means being disconnected from the world. The case of Solomon shows us that that is not necessarily true. Religious people are those who live their lives in connection with God and according to the will of God, and this can be dome by someone who is active in the world’s concerns. Indeed, God’s call to Solomon seems to come because he is active in the * The word for the chosen people in the Greek Old Testament, for example at Deuteronomy 31:30, is ecclesia, the same word as that for the Church in the New Testament. The group that Solomon is ruling is the group that enjoys God’s special providential care throughout history, so relating to it is inescapably a religious matter.

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world as the earthly ruler of God’s chosen people. It may well be that God tries to call many people who are deeply involved in the world as a way to make His will effective in the world and Himself better known. Believers who are active in business and civic affairs have a special responsibility to keep their ears open for God’s call in the midst of their busy lives. Just as God’s reach and presence are not limited to only one sphere of life, so is His call not limited to some kinds of people or only people in some kinds of circumstances. God’s guidance and interested involvement reach out to all people in all the different kinds of lives they lead. But Solomon’s call should also remind us that God’s call is not just a means of passing along information; the presence of God is always a test, because it always casts a light on us that reveals us as we are.* The Bible says that “Solomon loved the LORD” (1 Kings 3:3) at the start of this chapter, and the story itself seems to be understood as proof of that fact. Because Solomon loved the Lord, the Lord appeared to him and offered him the chance to receive what he chose. Because Solomon was the kind of person to whom God would offer that great opportunity, he made use of it in a way that accorded with God’s intentions. It seems that if we are to hope for God to come to us, we must be the sort of people with whom He is well pleased. Wishing earnestly that He would come to us is a good first step. In the same way that God, in Jesus, met Peter when Peter was so earnestly looking for Him, so did God reach out to Solomon when he was entering a new stage of life and in need of guidance. (You should notice that Solomon prays as a result of God appearing to him in a dream, so the connection of prayer to the process of God calling us is underlined.) Solomon is prepared for God’s call, in the sense that he is attentive and reverent and prays for it, so he is granted it. This is a model for us to reflect on. We will return to Solomon again, later, with some suggestions. For now, keep in mind these ways in which Solomon has shown us new things: a call that is not a change of life but a new way of doing the same thing, a call that involves an active life in the world’s affairs rather than something specifically religious and a call that is closely connected to prayer. There are many things about Solomon’s call in this chapter for us to reflect on.

* This seems to be why James compares the encounter with Scripture to a person looking into a mirror at James 1:21–25.

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LMIGHTY God, whose loving hand hath given us all that we possess; Grant us grace that we may honour thee with our substance, and remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of thy bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 599)

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ISAIAH We come now to consider the case of the prophet Isaiah. * I want to consider Isaiah as an example of the believing person who hears the voice of God in a circumstance in which we often find ourselves, even today; that is, at worship. The first five chapters of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah show the prophet as the recipient and proclaimer of many sorts of words of God. In chapter 2, Isaiah proclaims in the second verse that the future of God’s house shall be a universal future: And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

In chapter 3, Isaiah announces that the mighty of the kingdom will not be strong enough to rule over the kingdom, and the children among them shall rule over them instead. That is, the prophet declares that the usual expectations of the people will be stood on their heads, upside down. In chapter 4, Isaiah says that the sufferings of the people of Israel will be so great that seven women will take hold of one man and say “We will support ourselves, just let us be called by your name” (cf. 4:1). This is meant to give the picture of such great degradation coming upon the kingdom of Israel that even the slightest bit of respectability will be bought by the people at a great cost, happily. And, in the fifth chapter, Isaiah tells us the parable of the vineyard, which describes God’s decision to treat the kingdom of Israel with Justice. (This is bad news for the Israelites, since the treatment they deserve is not very desirable.) And so we come, at the end of the fifth chapter, to a time when we have been told that the ultimate future will be that which God desires, the immediate future will be something which is dreadful for the people, and there is great uncertainty about what the people should do and about what Isaiah himself should do. * This was written to be the sermon at a service of Holy Communion.

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At this point, Isaiah goes into the Temple to worship, and the greatest religious event of his life greets him there (6:1–13). In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, 12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

Let’s take a moment and consider what it means for this experience to be granted to Isaiah at the moment that it comes. Isaiah has constructed his book without placing this experience first. It could, logically, be considered the introduction to his book as a prophet, since it is clearly an account of his prophetic call, but it seems that Isaiah, guided by the Holy Ghost, wants to show us the circumstances in which this occurs because he thinks these circumstances are important for his readers to understand his prophetic call properly. As we noticed, the long-term future of the chosen people of God, and the near-term future of the chosen people of God, have both been clearly described by the Holy Ghost through the mouth of Isaiah in the first five chapters of the book. At that point, when the immediate difficulty seems to be how the people of God will be able to navigate the short-term difficul-

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ties in order to bring themselves, in a faithful state, to the bliss of the longterm future, Isaiah describes his call to be a prophet and purification for the prophetic role among the chosen people. What do we know about Isaiah at this point in the book? We know, I think, that he is a faithful Jew, for he is worshiping in the Temple. What does that mean? It means, to begin with, that calling Isaiah as a prophet is not a way for God, necessarily, to draw Isaiah closer to himself. In other words, I don’t think it makes sense to think of the calling of Isaiah as being for Isaiah’s own religious benefit. Those who benefit from his call, it seems, are those others of the chosen people, and those of us in later generations, who heed this call of God through Isaiah and obey the teachings He communicates to us by it. At the time when Isaiah is called, God has in mind the future of all of His chosen people. One of the most striking elements of this prophetic call is Isaiah’s reaction to it of insisting on his own unworthiness. Though he certainly is aware of being a faithful person in an unfaithful age, Isaiah shows no signs of thinking that this grants him particular powers or qualifies him for special treatment. When Isaiah sees the Seraphim around the Lord and the Lord sitting on the throne (which seems to be either the altar in front of the Holy of Holies or the building containing the Holy of Holies itself), his first reaction is fear. “Woe is me! for I am undone” (6:5). After this, one of the seraphims brings a live coal from the altar to touch his lips with it and declares that his sins are purged away. Only at that point does God say, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (6:8). This is important for the point I want to make. Isaiah is a faithful person when he arrives in the Temple, but he is not called immediately upon his entrance into the Temple to worship. Isaiah seems already to be in the process of worshiping when he receives a vision of the Lord and the seraphim; and only then, after having been purged of his sin, is he the recipient of God’s call. If we try to understand this scene in terms of our own religious lives, it will be easier for us to understand one of the things I think we’re being shown about how God calls people. Under the old dispensation of the Old Testament, the forgiveness of sins was commonly available only by offering sacrifices at the Temple.* The offering of some kind of sacrifice, which would vary according to time and circumstance, was necessary for a person to be established in a complete and open relationship with the Lord. If we’re to understand Isaiah as going into the Temple for an ordinary course of worship, we would expect that he * Leviticus 6 discusses this system.

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would make some kind of sacrifice as a part of that visit. (People certainly did go up to the Temple to pray, and Isaiah may have been doing just that, but it is noteworthy that he is standing in the interior of the Temple looking at the altar and at the door to the Holy of Holies. He is, at the very least, present in the part of the Temple where the most important sacrifices were offered.) Isaiah, however, does not tell us that he performed the sacrifice. I think that is because this scene takes place either before his sacrifice has been offered or without his intending to offer one. Because of this, when Isaiah sees the Lord and the seraphims he is literally “a man of unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a people of unclean lips,” (cf. 6:5), because, however faithful he might be, he is not in what we would call, in modern terms, “a state of grace” or “right with God.” There are two things going on here. On the one hand, Isaiah is tested at the beginning of this encounter. The sight of God does not move him to self-congratulation, but rather to awe and reverence. He is not drawn to think that he is being rewarded for his extraordinary virtue; but rather, he is worried that he has stumbled into something of which he is not worthy. God’s call does not come to him until he has demonstrated a final time that he is worthy to receive it, and this feeling of humility is that evidence. The second thing we see here is that, once God has chosen Isaiah as the person He will call and the person through whom He will communicate with His chosen people, He makes Isaiah worthy and able to perform that role. (You noticed, I hope, that the means of making him worthy came from the altar. There is a topic for another sermon in that, and I invite you to reflect on it for yourself.) The call of Isaiah comes unexpectedly to him when he is faithfully engaged in the process of living a normal religious life. God needs an extraordinary man to speak for him in an extraordinary time, but the man he chooses to perform this role does not seem to have been extraordinary before he was chosen. We might remember, at this point, the fact that Moses himself, despite his interesting infancy and childhood in the house of the Pharaoh in Egypt, does not seem to have been particularly remarkable religiously or theologically or personally before he received the call in the burning bush in the third chapter of Exodus. (After all, he needs God to provide his with a spokesman to help him: Aaron [Exodus 4:10–17].) God is able to make ordinary people do extraordinary things, if He wishes. Isaiah is a suitable recipient of the call of God not because he is especially learned or has a history of religious leadership, but rather because he is a faithful, religiously active worshiper of God who is reverent and willing to be used as God’s instrument in the world. When I say he is tested at the

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moment of his call, I mean that the test he undergoes is a religious one, not a theological one. God seems to be tapping Isaiah to see if he will “ring true.” He does, and he becomes the greatest of the prophets. I don’t expect to be a prophet. I don’t expect to lead God’s chosen people in perilous times, though I think that the times we live in are perilous in many ways. (Anyway, every time is perilous in some way.) How is the call of Isaiah to teach me anything? How is the call of Isaiah to teach you anything? Well, what have we been shown in this scene? When God speaks to people, He speaks to people who are listening. When God uses people, He uses people who are obedient and willing to be molded. Isaiah is in the Temple, focusing his attention on God, when God’s call comes to him. Isaiah is willing to be used and molded by God so that he can be God’s own good servant. The world Isaiah lived in was confused, and God’s chosen people seemed, in their own eyes, to be few and scattered. In the midst of all these distractions, it doesn’t seem to be by chance that the person God found to call, the person whom God found who was listening to Him, was in the Temple at worship. We are a collection of people who are trying to be faithful in a world which seems, sometimes, not to be very interested in Faith and not to be very interested in God. How can we be faithful and how can we be the servants God intends us to be? At the beginning of the sixth chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah is going about his usual, faithful routine and finds that God confronts him and changes his life forever. It also happens that God changes the lives of all His chosen people, forever, through the person and the life of Isaiah. All people, I think, who hold fervently in their hearts and hopes a prayer that God’s kingdom will become more and more present in the world feel that they should be doing something great and remarkable and unusual in order to support this prayer and move God’s Kingdom along. The example of the prophet Isaiah may show us something different, however. The person whom God called at this critical moment in the religious history of the world—that is, in the history of the salvation of the world— was not someone who was trying to do something remarkable. God did not call someone who was already a great religious leader. God did not call someone whom the world expected Him to call. God did not call someone who expected to be called. God called someone who was worshiping faithfully for the sake of faithful worship. When our archbishop is asked for help by someone who seems bewildered by life, he often sends that person to church to worship. More than

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once, when I have been with older priests who know much more about religious life than I do and much more about the Care of Souls than I do, I have heard them reply to people’s questions by saying, “You need to be sure to go to church.” I think this is the teaching of the Scripture; it certainly is the teaching of our portion of Scripture. One of the chief reasons for the Church’s interest in the Bible is that the Church believes that spending time with Scripture affects people. It also believes that the Bible can teach people how they should spend their time. One result of time spent with the Bible and in prayer (and you should notice that all our services include both Scripture and prayer, and the prayers are almost all composed of Scripture) is that, over time, by worshiping this way, we learn more about God and, naturally, draw closer to Him. Siblings as they grow, no matter how different they may be, learn to know each other, deep down, because of the time they spend together. God is a person, too (this is a crucial fact), and we will learn to know Him best by spending time with Him. Since Isaiah was commonly in the Temple and so grew close to God, who can be surprised that God came to him at a time of worship? God speaks from His heart when He knows that Isaiah is listening, just as any person would. Because God knows Isaiah, He knows that Isaiah is the right person to address, and Isaiah shows the accuracy of God’s knowledge by how he responds to the call: with reverence, with willingness, but with real concern about his worthiness. If we would like to hear God’s call, if we would like to “pursue” Him, we must get to know Him and spend time in His presence. Does it ever occur to us that both the prophetess Anna and the prophet Simeon, who recognize the true identity of the baby Jesus in the Temple in the Gospel according to St. Luke (2:22–39; he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” and she “departed not from the Temple”) were in the Temple when they did so? It might well be that if we were to be found at worship with our attention fixed on God and our own ideas of ourselves in order, we too might hear God’s voice. It certainly is worth a try. Readying ourselves for God’s call is only living a good religious life, after all, which we should always strive to do.

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LMIGHTY God, who alone gavest us the breath of life, and alone canst keep alive in us the holy desires thou dost impart; We beseech thee, for thy compassion’s sake, to sanctify all our thoughts and endeavours; that we may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without thy blessing. And grant that, having the eyes of the mind opened to behold things invisible and unseen, we may in heart be inspired by thy wisdom, and in work be upheld by thy strength, and in the end be accepted of thee as thy faithful servants; through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen. (BCP, 594)

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ELIJAH Elijah was the sort of prophet who needed no introduction. I know that this is so, because, when he appears for the first time in the Bible at the beginning of the seventeenth chapter of the First Book of the Kings, he is given no introduction. And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab …

This is all the introduction Elijah receives. As soon as he has entered the story, he is off to the wilderness by the Jordan where he is miraculously fed by ravens. From there he goes on, still in the seventeenth chapter, to feed the widow of Zarephath, miraculously, by providing her with a cruse of oil that shall never fail and a barrel of meal that shall never run out. So, already in the first chapter in which Elijah appears, the point has been clearly made that, where Elijah goes, the presence of God goes as well. In the eighteenth chapter of the same book, Elijah engages in a contest with the priests of Baal in order to demonstrate the reality of the God he worships and the falseness of Baal whom the other priests worship. They call down the fire of Baal all day long on the altar they’ve created, and nothing happens. They gash themselves with knives, they dance around (this, by the way, is perfectly historically accurate),* and nothing happens. Elijah, on * A note on 18:27 by Mordechai Cogan says: “They gashed themselves, as was their custom, with swords and spears until blood spilled over them. The shedding of blood is associated in biblical sources with rites of mourning, probably an expression of extreme grief, and was outlawed for Israelites. … By analogy, the Baal prophets in a moment of great distress resorted to a bloody rite in the hope that it would move Baal to action, thus extricating them from their predicament” (I Kings, 441). He then quotes a line “in an Akkadian wisdom text from Ugarit that refers to ‘ecstatics drenched in their own blood’.” This makes perfectly clear that the behavior of the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings follows well-known lines. James A. Montgomery notes: “This bloody rite is frequently referred to in the O.T.: Hos. 7:14, Mic. 4:14, Jer. 16:6, 41:5 (a case of actual practice of the rite ascribed to Jeremiah’s co-religionists), 47:5 (the rite ascribed also to Philistia); the

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the other hand, asks people to fill barrels of water and pour them on his sacrifice and on the wood for burning it, three times, and the water runs over the ground and fills the trench around the altar and still, when Elijah calls down the fire of God, down it falls and consumes the burnt sacrifice. And the response of the people when they see it is to fall on their faces and to say, “The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God” (18:39). So, Elijah has shown us that he is a real prophet of a real God and all should be well; but it isn’t. And that is the point at which the chapter we will examine begins: chapter 19 of the First Book of the Kings. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time. 3 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. 5 And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6 And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 7 And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 8 And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mouncustom is proscribed by the Law (Dt. 4:1, Lev. 19:28)” (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Books of Kings, 302–3). He then continues by providing some extrabiblical references to the practice. All these show that what we see in this odd scene is a plausible event in the time and place Elijah lived. The actions of Elijah were intended to make a vivid point by challenging what the prophets of Baal were known to practice, at certain times.

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tains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 14 And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 15 And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. 17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. 18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. 19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? 21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

I have in my mind the idea of Elijah as an example of a faithful person, under threat, to whom God speaks in time of need. We have discussed already how the earlier chapters show the closeness of Elijah to God, as evidenced by the fact that God is with him and supports his actions when it is necessary. In those early chapters, Elijah calls out to God and He helps him, but here, in Elijah’s time of desperation, God comes to Elijah unbidden. Elijah’s past relations with God have been completely successful. He has performed miracles and has helped the righteous in need. He has delivered the word of the Lord to the king of Israel. Still, Elijah finds himself alone, in flight, and under threat. He has no one to whom he can turn. In that extremity, God calls out to him, and that is why he is useful for us to think about.

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Elijah stands as the example of the faithful person to whom God draws near in a moment of abandonment. When there is no one on whom he can count, when there is no one who will stay with him, when his faith in, and allegiance to, God has brought him into desperate straits, God, Himself, stands by Elijah. This is one of the most striking examples of Divine self-revelation in all the books of the Bible. Together with Moses and the burning bush and with the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountain, God’s self-revelation to Elijah stands as one of the purest examples of God’s closeness to a human being who is open to Him and yearning for Him. It is all the more striking that this should happen at a crucial moment in Elijah’s life. It does not seem to have been at obvious crises either in the life of Moses or Jesus (or perhaps it would be better to say: in the lives of Jesus’s followers, since He was revealing Himself to them) that those other events occurred; but, for Elijah, God’s appearance seems to be in response to Elijah’s needs rather than as a part of the larger working out of the will of God in the world. This tells us something very important about how God relates to human beings. We have seen in earlier discussions how God can call out to those who seek, like Peter; to those whose cooperation He wants, like Jonah; to those who are entering on a new phase of life, like Solomon; and to those who come to Him in worship, like Isaiah. Now, we see that God also comes to those who have been faithful to Him and find themselves alone and at risk, for His sake. God comes to Elijah and shows Himself to Elijah, as much as God’s nature and human nature allow, and sends him into the future: with tasks to perform, faithful people to rally, and a companion to enjoy and to train as his successor. God’s faithful servant will not be left alone, though he had seemed very much alone at the beginning of chapter 19. In times of hardship and times of despair, in times of faithful certitude that seems to be shared by no one else (Elijah), in times of seeking for closeness to God (Peter), in times of an unwillingness in the face of what God asks of us (Jonah), in times when we know we have a great task ahead of us but fear that we are not up to it (Solomon), and when we come to God in worship and prayer because we want to be with Him and to let “our restless hearts find their rest”* in Him (Isaiah); in all these times, and more, Scripture shows us that God will come to us.

* See Augustine, Confessions, p. 3 of Chadwick’s translation.

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We are not the servants that God deserves; but still, He uses us. We are not the worshippers that God deserves, but He listens to us and answers our prayers. We are not single-hearted enough to find Him, but He still makes Himself known to us. As A. W. Tozer says at the close of The Pursuit of God, it “is not what [we do] that determines whether [our] work is sacred or secular, it is why [we do] it” (p. 118). Thank goodness, it is also true that it is not how worthy our actions actually are that matters, but how honestly we try to make them worthy and how much of ourselves we put into them that matters. As Tozer says: “Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” If we take care to listen for God’s call, we may find that He is already calling. Certainly, we have seen that He calls in all kinds of situations to all kinds of people, but only to people who are willing to listen. The famous declaration: “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth,” which God says in Psalm 46:10, seems to enshrine what Elijah took away with him from Mount Horeb. It is not surprising that it calls forth in that Psalm the response, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” The character of God is such that a response of awe and dependence seems natural to those who meet Him. This encounter of Elijah with the Lord on Horeb is meant to teach us at least two things: 1) We need to submit ourselves to the knowledge that He is God and we are not (a hard thing to do); but also 2) If we are not “still,” we cannot know that God is God and will never be able to listen to His call. Only those who sometimes are still will be able to hear God’s call. Elijah was in the midst of a frenzied time in a busy life. He was fleeing for his life with determined people after him and no obvious place to run to. He had no reason to think that his pursuers would not be able to find him, no reason to think that he would be able to return to his vocation of acting as God’s spokesman among the Israelites, and no reason to think that his efforts would lead to anything but failure and a grim death far from the eyes of anyone who would be compassionate to him. He might easily have given way to self-pity and despair. Instead, he is alive enough to the presence of God to be as close to Him as a human being on this earth can be! Instead of this being the lowest point in his life, it becomes Elijah’s greatest moment of joy because of his lively faith and ready hearkening to

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the voice of God outside his little cave. It is easy to fall into the temptation of despair when things go wrong and God seems far away, but Elijah stands as the example of the believer who kept his ears pricked for the voice of God when many would have ceased hoping. His faithfulness was rewarded. In our consideration of these figures in Scripture, we have tried to prick our ears up for that voice. If we heed it, the call of God can enrich our lives so that we may enjoy ourselves and each other and the world around us, more and more each day. That is God’s hope for us: that we may have life and have it more abundantly (cf. John 10:10). Let us each strive to listen for God’s call as He tries to show us how to do just that, and let us remember the need for stillness in our lives, or at least for stillness in our hearts and minds, from time to time, or we will never have a chance to listen.

M

OST merciful God, vouchsafe us, we beseech thee, the direction and assistance of thy Holy Spirit. Reform whatever is amiss in the temper and disposition of our souls; that no unclean thoughts, unlawful designs, or inordinate desires, may rest there. Purge our hearts from envy, hatred, and malice; that we may never suffer the sun to go down upon our wrath; but may always go to our rest in peace, charity and good-will, with a conscience void of offence towards thee, and towards men; that so we may be preserved pure and blameless, unto the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 590)

A SHORT REFLECTION

There are a few things I would like to say at the end of this first section of the book about how people have tried (and should try) to be responsive to God’s call to them. When I first wrote and delivered these talks, and when I composed the following set, too, I took for granted a few basic ideas that I would like to lay out for you now. Because these meditations were designed to be given as talks to groups of people who had been engaged in and reflecting on Christian life for some time, I did not think it was necessary to begin at the beginning. Now, however, since I do not know who will read this book or how it will be used, I think it may help to sketch out a few basic points. (Anyone who wants to may skip these few lines and proceed directly to the next part, of course.) Christians read the whole Bible as one continuous story of God’s relation to the world. It is in the sense that the Bible is all about that one story that it is “one book,” since it was written by many human hands over many years, very differently from how a book is usually produced. It is this conviction that the Bible is all about one thing that makes a set of talks like the ones you have just read possible. They treated Old and New Testament people together as if they formed one group because Christians think that faithful people, trying to love and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Who is also the Father of Jesus, are one group. Without that idea in mind, the talks you have just read make no sense. This idea, of course, is so basic to Christianity that it is almost never discussed, but every Christian worship service that reads from both the Old and New Testaments assumes that this idea is true. The General Epistle of James (a favorite of mine) says (1:17): Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Christians have always thought that one of the things this means is that what pleased God in an Old Testament figure will please Him in a New Testament figure or in a believer who is living now. If this is right (and I am 39

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convinced it is), then the basic idea on which this book, and the talks it contains, are based is a true expression of the teaching of the Bible and the convictions of the hearts of Christians. I do not think that there is anything new in these pages, but I do think that what they try to say is true.

DISCIPLESHIP

INTRODUCTION

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LMIGHTY God, in whom we live and move and have our being, make this retreat as a field which the Lord hath blessed, that whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely, and of good report may here for ever flourish and abound. Preserve in it an unblemished spirit, enlarge it with a wider usefulness, and exalt it in the love and reverence of all its members as an instrument of thy glory, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (A. S. T. Fisher, An Anthology of Prayers, no. 17, altered) A retreat is for taking a short time to pause in one’s daily life to focus on the things that are often lost in the shuffle and bustle of our modern lives. The “silent” part is to allow us to focus on the pause we are experiencing and to reflect on our lives while we stand, for a brief while, outside of their normal course. One of the most engrossing parts of our lives is our busy interaction with those around us. Silence is meant to give us a chance to rest from that and to turn our minds within. (Let me tell you a secret that Americans find hard to believe: retreats are practical. Our culture equates busyness with activity and movement with progress. For an American, sitting down and thinking in order to get ahead is a contradiction in terms. This is not true for a Christian, though. Our lives as believers are complicated dances of balancing our relations with God and our families, with the Church and our businesses, with our communities and our nation and ourselves as individuals. Every now and then we need to sit down and catch our breaths and see where we are in the dance.) The topic Discipleship is meant to help us see more clearly where we are in our relations with Jesus Christ. How this aspect of our lives fits in with the rest of what we do is a topic for another time, though we cannot avoid it entirely. We will turn our minds to the question of how we are meant to conduct ourselves as disciples of the One True Teacher. If we can come to a better understanding of that question, that will be enough to have accomplished. Perhaps the oldest tradition in Christian teaching is that of using individuals as examples of how Christians ought to conduct themselves in their 43

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daily lives. This is the purpose of declaring people to be “saints” and of writing their lives down for others to read. The earliest example used was, of course, Our Lord Himself. This is already being done in the New Testament, where we can read in The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (2:3–12): Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

The fact that the best-selling book in history after the Bible (I am told)* is The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis shows that the appeal of this approach has not yet died. We are not going to speak about imitating Christ here, though. We will be looking, instead, at the portraits of His disciples in the New Testament to see various ways in which Christians have been disciples of Christ in the past and in which Christians might decide to be disciples in the future. Let’s close by having me tell you a few things about disciples that you should consider. “Disciple” is a Latin word. A disciple is someone who is learning while being taught. This is different from being a “student,” which is someone who is “striving” at a task. You can be a student of a subject on your own, in the public library, but you can only be a disciple if you have a teacher. The Greek word used in the New Testament is μαθητής, which talks about the same relationship between teacher and pupil that “disciple” does. This is important (if you will forgive an old teacher of Latin and Greek), because it tells you that a disciple is always someone who is in a personal relation* This is the sort of claim that can never be verified, but the fact that I have heard it from a number of people is certainly evidence that The Imitation of Christ has been very widely known and published.

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ship with a teacher. You can’t get a whole lot of people together who want to learn and make disciples out of them by combining them into a group, and you can’t be a “disciple” on your own. You have to have a teacher. In the Church, the teacher is always Jesus, and the disciples are His also. (This helps explain why we are talking here about “disciples” instead of “apostles,” who are people who are “sent out” to perform some task. All Christians are called to be disciples of the Lord, but not all are sent out on any particular mission. We are all “disciples,” but only a few of us are “apostles.”) Still, there is more to being a disciple of Jesus than having an individual connection with Him. All the gospels make very plain that Jesus’s followers were not just a formless group of individuals gathered around Him, but that they had organization and a planned shape. The whole group of disciples were led by, and exemplified by, the Twelve who were the closest to Jesus. Even among the Twelve, it is easy to see three groups of four that were commonly listed in the order of their closeness to the Lord.* “Peter and Andrew, James and John” are the first four and are easily recognized as a subgroup by anyone who listens to the gospels being read aloud. What does this pattern mean? It means, first of all, that Jesus was putting together a structure among His followers even while He was calling them to Him. He was forming a group of followers as well as gathering a collection of people to be His followers. (Can you see the difference?) This is important for our ideas of what is appropriate for His followers in our own day, as well as in His. Those who are good disciples take to heart what their teacher teaches them, in matters both great and small. This double aspect of being taught by Jesus—that it made one into a person attached to Him and also made that person a part of a larger group that was organized by Jesus—is something we will return to before we are through. For now, you should begin to consider what it means for you in your own situation. You are called to follow a teacher, Our Lord, but to do so as a part of a group. We are individuals gathered together, but also parts of a group. (And our group, by the way, extends beyond those who read this—even beyond those who are still alive with us on earth, because it is a spiritual group, not a geographical or temporal one.) The disciples we will study are a part of the same group we ourselves participate in. We must look at them as examples, but also as fellow members; as models, but also as companions in our own attempts to follow Jesus as we live in the world.

*See John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, 3:130.

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L

ORD God, we believe in thee, help thou our unbelief; we love thee, yet not with a perfect heart as we would; we long to serve thee, yet not with our full strength; we trust in thee, yet not with our whole mind. Forgive our past disloyalties; accept our present purposes, and grant us thy blessing, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Fisher, Anthology, no. 26)

PETER

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E humbly beseech thee, Almighty God: that like as thou hast stablished us on the rock of the confession of thy holy Apostles; so thou wouldest in all our trials and adversities preserve us stedfast in the same, through thine only Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. (People’s Anglican Missal, 505) The first of the disciples we will look at individually is St. Peter. There is much more in the gospels about Peter than about any other of the followers of Jesus. This seems to be true for two reasons. First, the gospels and the early Church were not really very interested in the followers of Jesus as individual people; they were interested in Jesus. The stories about the followers that survive do so because they teach something about Jesus or something about discipleship. There is no reason to think that passing along personal historical information about a particular follower of Jesus, however important that person was in the life of the Church, was of much concern to any gospel writer. John, for example, never tells us who “the Beloved Disciple” is. We have to guess and turn to the tradition of the Church outside the Bible to find suggestions. In the gospels, we are often given names of people present at important events, but these rarely seem to be complete lists. This seems to indicate that the writers were not concerned with recording the presence or absence of particular people except when it helps us understand more about Jesus and how to follow Him. Second, Peter seems to stand as a representative of all the disciples, even of all the followers of Jesus, in many of the stories recorded about him. That is, these stories do not seem to be meant to tell us something about Peter that is not true of the rest of us; but rather, to cast light on the relationship of Jesus toward any disciple in a like situation. This does not mean, of course, that these stories did not actually occur as they are told. I think it means, rather, that they became a part of the Church’s memory of Jesus and a part of the gospels because they shed light on Jesus, not on Peter. Peter would naturally figure in many tales of Jesus because he was with Him so closely, for so long.

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This last fact, that Peter was thought of as representative of discipleship, makes Peter especially helpful for our purpose. Since we are concerned with making use of what the gospels show us about the disciples to see how we can be good disciples ourselves, it is comforting to know that the Church has always thought that this is one of the primary purposes for these stories having been included in the gospels in the first place. We are not making inappropriate use of the Scripture, then, but are reading it in one of the ways the authors (and Author) intended. We have a number of passages to look at that relate to Peter. The best way to approach our task seems to me to be to look quickly through them and then to consider what they add up to as a collection. 1) John 1:35–42: Peter meets Jesus through his brother Andrew: Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. 2) Luke 5:1–11: Peter joins Jesus at His call: And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the

DISCIPLESHIP fishes which they had taken: 10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

3) Matthew 14:22–33: Peter imitates Jesus (and fails in faith): And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

4) Matthew 16:13–19: Peter knows Jesus: When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

5) Matthew 17:1–4: Peter misunderstands Jesus: And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured

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BEING CHRISTIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

6) Mark 14:26–31, 53–55, 66–72: Peter denies Jesus: And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. 28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. 29 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. 30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all. … 53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. 54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. 55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none. … 66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest: 67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. 68 But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew. 69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. 70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilæan, and thy speech agreeth thereto. 71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. 72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

7) Mark 16:1–7: Peter is reconnected to Jesus (by God): And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. 5 And entering into the sepulchre, they

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saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. 7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

8) John 20:1–10: Peter runs to Jesus: The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. 6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Of course, there are many other passages we could look at, but these are enough for our purposes. They show us the outline of the personal relationship between Peter and Jesus that is “discipleship,” as the gospels portray it. As we look back through this collection of stories, what is it that we take away as an impression of Peter as a disciple? Peter is only a mixed success as a disciple of Jesus, despite being chosen as the leader of the group. One of the central tasks of the disciple is, surely, to learn the lessons the Master is teaching and to begin to apply them in the manner the Master expects. Disciples of Frank Lloyd Wright, I presume, produce buildings in his style or in the tradition of his style. Disciples of St. Augustine wrote books and letters echoing his ideas and protecting his reputation. Disciples of Knute Rockne, I assume, exhorted their teams to greater triumphs on the field with stirring speeches. As a member of the same class of people, “disciples,” Peter must be judged as having been a not very successful disciple, at least during the life of Jesus. This point contains two very important facts for us to consider. First, Peter’s days of great success come after Easter morning. It is only in the light of the full understanding of Jesus that comes with the Res-

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urrection that Peter is able to begin to be what Jesus wanted him to be. That realization is crucial for us, because it shows us that our own discipleship can only be intelligent and successful if it is lived out and understood in the light of the Resurrection of Our Lord from the dead. Second, this point is important because it shows us clearly that being a disciple of Jesus is not something that only those who get it right right from the start are able to do. This is a primary message of the career of Peter up to the discovery of the Risen Lord, three days after the disaster on Golgotha. Think of the outline of Peter’s drama: he meets Jesus and is called. He imitates Jesus by walking on the water, but, even while doing that miraculous feat, his faith fails him. Peter figures out who Jesus is and then seems to lose his conviction of that truth. Peter claims a special urge to be near Jesus (I spared you the painful scene at the Last Supper where Peter asks Jesus to wash his head as well as his feet, so he can be even closer to Him than the rest of the disciples [John 13:4–11]—it is not a scene I like to revisit more than I need to) and then publicly, and famously, denies Him three times. Throughout this whole sad tale, Jesus keeps calling Peter to Him and Peter keeps coming and then falling away. The discipleship of the chief of the disciples, the Rock on which the Church will be built, is one of recurrent, grand claims and public, humiliating failures. Still, through all this, neither Jesus nor Peter gives up on Peter. Jesus keeps on calling Peter and Peter keeps on trying to follow Him. The portrait of Peter in the gospels is not out of line with the way the Twelve disciples, as a group, are depicted. One of the most remarkable features of the gospels, and one of their traits that makes them seem to many scholars, purely on historical grounds,* to be based on true historical memories of that time, is that they do not make heroes out of the heroes of the Church. The followers of Jesus are presented in the gospels as being foolish, and dense, and petty and cowardly and confused. At most of the important moments during Jesus’s ministry, when all experienced readers of the New Testament know exactly what is going on and what they are being shown, the disciples show no understanding of, and little interest in, anything beyond their own personal interest. So, we see James and John sending their mother to ask Jesus about arranging special seats at the Head Ta* I agree that this trait supports the historical reliability of the gospels. It seems unlikely that stories making the heroes of the Church look bad would be invented by the Church. This is not, however, the only reason I trust the gospels!

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ble at the Banquet in the Kingdom of Heaven right after Jesus has just warned His disciples that He will be scourged and crucified when they go up to Jerusalem (Matthew 20:17–29).* Not only that, but when the other disciples hear of this, they do not say, “How can you talk about that when our Master is telling us about His approaching doom?” No, they are angry that the sons of Zebedee might have arranged for something special that they are going to miss out on! This is the group of which Peter is the very appropriate leader before the revolution of Easter throws the whole world upside down. This mixture of insight and obtuseness, of loyalty and self-concern, of yearning for closeness and cowardice seems to have been generally true of all of the Twelve disciples, to some degree. The marvel in this situation, and the lesson in the stories, is that Jesus does not send this unimpressive group away and get Himself some people who are worthy of Him. Instead, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, who turns away from Him, He makes the group over into a group that is worthy of Him. The material is so unpromising that it takes His death on the Cross to do it; but in this way the need for, and the benefit of, that sacrifice are made clearer for us to see. The strengths and weaknesses of Peter cast into brighter light the graces he is afforded by God in the course of his discipleship. Peter’s perseverance and real love of Jesus are the fulcrum on which the Lord places the lever of His loving sacrifice in order to boost Peter into the relationship with God he wants. This is a careful example of persistent human effort being made successful by God’s meeting it and overwhelming it with Grace. From the call of Peter, all the way to his being forgiven by Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in the 21st chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, all the initiative is on God’s side, but there is real and necessary engagement on the part of Peter, as well. This is how we “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling,” as St. Paul said in Philippians 2:12: by struggling on and trusting in God’s help to see us through. The discipleship of Peter teaches us not to give up in the face of our own failures, no matter how often they may be repeated. It also teaches us not to expect that the day will come when we will be able to save ourselves because we will have progressed so far in holiness. By watching Peter failing and failing his way through the gospels, we see ourselves struggling after Jesus: always falling short but never giving up, always misunderstanding but never ceasing our attempts to comprehend, always being too afraid to commit ourselves as we should but always too committed to walk away. * This is a shocking failure of common politeness as well as of faith.

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The gospel writers make use of Peter to show us that, if we can make our failures like his failure, God will make our success like his success. Successful discipleship requires the utmost dedication on our part but cannot succeed without the Grace of God added to that. It is easy to see that one of the purposes of the writers of the gospels was to show us the outline of discipleship in the person of St. Peter. With God’s help, we can aspire to be glorious failures, just as he was.

O

GOD of Love, who art the true sun of the world, evermore risen and never going down, we beseech thee mercifully to shine into our hearts, that the night of sin and the mists of error being driven away, and thou brightly shining within, we may all our life long go without any stumbling in the road which thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through thy Son our Saviour, Christ the Lord. Amen. (Erasmus, in Fisher, Anthology, no. 53)

ANDREW

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LMIGHTY God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we, being called by thy holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 226) St. Andrew is a suitable person for us to look at next for a number of reasons. He is one of the innermost circle among the twelve, with Peter and James and John. He is often left out of consideration among the disciples because of his brother’s prominence and because he is often not mentioned in the gospel stories as being present at moments of interest. I think there are reasons for thinking that Andrew is an important model of discipleship for us, however, and I would like to try to convince you to agree with me. Let’s look at some passages that feature Andrew and see what we can discover about him. 1) John 1:35–42: Andrew presents Peter to Jesus: Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

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2) Luke 5:1–11: Andrew joins Jesus (this fishing operation that Jesus interrupts is clearly a family business owned by two families. We will say more about that later.) And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

3) Mark 1:29–33: Andrew lives with Peter: And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. 32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.

4) Mark 13:1–4: Andrew asks for information about the future (Andrew is there at the end and expecting to meet the future in Jesus’s orbit). And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! 2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when

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shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

5) John 12:20–22: Andrew is close to Jesus (this may also show that the twelve disciples had different characteristics to appeal to different groups and connect with them better). And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: 21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. 22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

6) Acts 1:12–14: Andrew is a leader in the Church: Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphæus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

A quick consideration of these passages shows us that Andrew has left more of a rounded profile in the gospel record than we usually think. These points, at least, seem to be made about Andrew by different writers at different times: 1) Andrew is a disciple who stays close, personally, to Jesus. In the first chapter of John’s gospel we saw that he introduced Peter to Jesus and in the twelfth chapter we saw that he was the gateway to Jesus for people coming in search of an audience with Him. 2) We saw that Andrew was a member of a family that was an important presence in the Church. Not only were both he and his brother Peter members of the twelve disciples, but other members of his family also had important encounters with Jesus and Jesus seems to have been accustomed to spending time with them. (You notice that, in the story in the first chapter of Mark that we looked at, Jesus was in Andrew’s house after they had been in the synagogue, and only then did the sickness of Peter’s mother-inlaw enter the story. They are not presented as going there in order to heal her, but rather her healing seems to have been the result of Jesus already being in the house—a very different picture. This may be the only time in the gospels that Jesus is in someone’s house for what seems to be an ordinary occasion. All the events that spring to mind, especially the dinners, seem to have been special, formal, almost public, occasions. Think how

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often there is grumbling among the Pharisees who are watching Jesus eat with sinners. That certainly sounds like the dinners were displays of some kind: an extended part of Jesus’s ministry of teaching.) This incident may be valuable for its offer of a glimpse of Jesus in a rare moment off duty. (Any Christian minister would not be surprised to see that Jesus turns out not to be off duty after all!) 3) It is remarkable to the careful reader how often stories are recorded in the gospels that feature Peter, James, and John without any mention of Andrew’s presence. While it is possible that he was there and not named, it seems more likely to me, especially because “Peter and Andrew, James and John” is such a usual grouping,* that he is not mentioned because he was absent at those times. Where did Andrew go? Answering that question requires a little thought about how the lives of the people who became Jesus’s followers were actually lived, in practical terms. In the story of the calling of the first four disciples in Luke, we noticed that the four were fishing in boats together on the Sea of Galilee. We also noticed that Zebedee was fishing there, too. This is made clearer by Mark when he says of James and John (1:19–20): And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

The family business was fishing, and this business supported two families, each of which seems to have given two adult males, at least, to be members of the twelve disciples. These were not wealthy people, and families were large in those days. (We saw how Peter’s mother-in-law was in his house and the house was shared by Andrew and his family too.) How many people depended on those men for their sustenance? When I worked in the Anglican Church in Canada, in northern Newfoundland, in 1980–81, the people in my churches were all fishermen who worked from small boats with hand-hauled nets much as the disciples did. They were the only people I have met who actually knew what was going on in the fishing scenes in the gospels and who understood what the background of that part of the story really was. This is what they said about Andrew’s absence when I asked them: When we first see Peter and Andrew, James and John, they are fishing close in to the shore with Zebedee and the hired hands. Two boats, two men in each boat (one to row and one to handle the nets), and the hired * E.g., Mark 3:16–18, 10:2, 13:3; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13.

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hands on the beach cutting and cleaning the fish for sale. That is a fully operational fishing business of this type, working on a pretty large scale. We should notice (as those Newfoundland fisher folk noticed) that Zebedee is never along with Jesus when he travels. He is at home running the fishing business and supporting those who are following Jesus around as He teaches. Zebedee’s absence is evidence not of a lack of interest, but rather of a necessary willingness to keep things going so others can be off with Jesus. Andrew, they thought, was absent so much because he was the member of the Bar Jona family (Matthew 16:17) who stayed home to be the principal of the firm present to supply a fair share of the labor and to see that the hired hands did what they should. In other words, Zebedee, for his sons, and Andrew, for his brother, perform the same role that Martha does for Mary in the famous story about them (Luke 10:38–42). If Martha didn’t do all the work, Mary couldn’t sit around listening to Jesus. This suggestion, which I have thought about for twenty years and find completely convincing, casts a very different light on Andrew’s role in the group of the disciples and, so, in the Church. (I also think that it makes it likely that Andrew was the older of the two. Among the Christians, Peter is always mentioned first because he is the most important for us, but Andrew stayed home, which was likely to have been because he was their father’s heir and so had primary responsibility for the family’s property and practical well-being.) If this is correct, Andrew’s absence becomes part of his family’s support of the Church, part of their membership as a group in the followers of Jesus. Andrew, then, looks like an important member of the group of Jesus’s followers. Not only is he close enough to Jesus to serve as an introducer of others (beginning with his brother Peter), and not only is he himself close enough to Jesus to be one of the inner four among the twelve disciples, but he is also willing to step back away from his Lord to make it possible for Peter to fulfill the special role to which he had been called. We can see from this that a great deal of forethought and practical planning was necessary to make it possible for the Church to function, even during Our Lord’s own lifetime! Because the focus of the gospels is so centered on Jesus, we are not told any of the details of how things were organized among the group to make its functioning and continued existence possible, though we are told (John 13:29) that Judas Iscariot kept the group’s finances and (Luke 8:2–3) that some of the women who traveled with Jesus offered financial support for His ministry. Andrew’s career in the service of Jesus should turn our attention to the variety of ways in which we might be called on to act: some of them high profile, like Peter’s star turn among the

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Twelve, and some of them so low profile that only God “Who sees in secret” (Matthew 6:1–6) can tell that they are being done at all. There is much more that can be said about Andrew, my own favorite among the Twelve (if one can have a favorite saint), but we should leave that until later. For now, let us reflect on the different ways in which people have always served in the Church: sometimes seen, more often unseen.

H

ELP us this day, O God, to serve thee devoutly, and the world busily. May we do our work wisely, give succour secretly, go to our meat appetitely, sit thereat discreetly, arise temperately, please our friend duly, go to our bed merrily, and sleep surely; for the joy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. (Fisher, Anthology, no. 207)

WOMEN DISCIPLES

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GOD, who bestowest divers gifts and graces upon thy saints: We give thee humble thanks for the examples of thy servants Mary and Martha, the friends of our Saviour Jesus Christ; and we pray thee to give us grace to love and serve thee and others for his sake, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen. (Calendar and the Collects [Lesser Feasts and Fasts], 125) Jesus had a number of female followers who were very close to Him and who are remembered with reverence in the gospel tradition. This was, in fact, one of the things that He was known for during His lifetime, and Christianity has always given to women a prominence that other religious traditions open to both sexes have not. There certainly were female prophets among the Jews, as Miriam in Exodus 15:20–21, Deborah in Judges 4–6, and Anna in the Gospel according to St. Luke 2:36–48 show us, but prophets are always oddities and cannot fairly be used to map out what the rankand-file members of the people of Israel would have thought was expected of them or appropriate for them. (As a matter of fact, most religious traditions in human history have limited their membership to only one sex. In a variety of religious traditions, women have had their own gods and religious rites at which men have not been welcome, and men have had theirs that have excluded women.) Even in Judaism, which people like to think is very close to Christianity, women, traditionally, to this day, have no public religious duties at all. It is perfectly possible for someone to be a completely observant, Orthodox Jewish woman and never attend a single public service of worship. Christianity has never been like that; men and women have always been equal members in the Church. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,” says St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians 3:28. That fact, however, is not why I have chosen to look at female disciples of Jesus. I have said before that the gospel record is focused on Jesus and really is interested in Jesus to the exclusion of all others. Because of this fact, it is difficult for us to see as much of those around Him as we might sometimes like to do. Having looked at Peter and Andrew, we have come to the end of 61

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the disciples who figure prominently in the stories in the Gospels. James and John are often present, but they are always in tandem and have little to show us that we have not already seen. Most of the others are just names to us. There are long and full traditions about some of them in early Christian writings, and these writings could teach us much about the early Church and its thought, but I am not convinced that they are dependable guides to information about the actual disciples themselves. So, we will turn to disciples of Jesus who were not among the twelve, and the women are prominent among these. With the exception of the Twelve, the disciples of Jesus seem to have operated in some ways as a group of adults of different families who were gathered into one functioning body, and to have acted in some ways as an extended family acted in that time and place, with Jesus serving as the head, the father. (This explains, for one thing, why they were all together for the Passover meal the night before He was arrested, a time when most Jews would have been off doing family things with their relatives.) Still, the women form a useful group for us to look at, because they are recorded as doing a number of things in the course of following Jesus and these things can shed some light for us on how we might act as followers, too. After all, we are studying the disciples of Jesus not out of a purely academic interest in them. We want to see what we can learn about how we can be better disciples ourselves. What would be the use of gathering information about a wide variety of followers of Jesus, each of them probably appearing in only one story? We want to know how we can form our lives into the shape of good Christian discipleship; for that, we need models who themselves followed that pattern. The women disciples of Jesus were a relatively stable group who followed Him over the long haul of His active ministry, as far as the gospels show us. By following them as they go, we can combine different incidents in which they appear into a useful mosaic that can take its place alongside the careers of Peter and Andrew as another possible shape that discipleship might take. So, it is because of that need for more information that we should turn to the women as examples now, not because their discipleship is necessarily different in nature from that of men, but because it is recorded in ways that make it available to us for consideration. (Let me say, before we begin, that I think that the variety we will see when we look at what the women did is one of the most important things for us to notice.) 1) Luke 10:38–42: Mary and Martha: Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And

DISCIPLESHIP she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

But along with this we must also notice John 11:1–2: Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

2) Luke 8:1–3: The circle of women around Jesus: And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, 2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, 3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

3) Mark 7:24–30: The Syrophoenician woman: And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid. 25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. 27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. 28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.

4) Luke 23:55–24:3: The Burial of Christ: And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had pre-

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BEING CHRISTIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD pared, and certain others with them. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

What do we see in these passages, which deal with everything from a bare list of people’s names, to a story of individual faith, to an uncomfortable moment between two sisters, to the melancholy duty of properly disposing of Jesus’s body? Let us take the stories in the order in which we approached them first. The story of Mary and Martha shows us the contrast between the practical assistance needed to keep the Church going (Martha) and the contemplation and direct religious connection between the believer and Jesus that marks the summit of the religious experience of the Christian soul (Mary). It is an important thing to notice, and crucial for a proper understanding of this story, that Mary and Martha do not represent different stages in the life of the soul, with Martha being on a lower level and Mary on the higher one that Martha cannot reach. Rather, they seem to be meant to show us two different ways in which Jesus’s followers can legitimately act out their calling.* It is true that Martha’s service makes Mary’s discipleship possible and so stands in a supporting role to it, but it is important to remember that we also saw Mary performing active services for Jesus. She had not “progressed” beyond the point at which that kind of practical action was expected of her. Indeed, it would probably be better to say that her reflection on, and closeness to, Jesus gave her the understanding to know that anointing Jesus with the perfume was the right and proper thing to do. If that is so, then, in that case at least, her contemplation and religious closeness made the active service possible and was its preparation instead of the other way around. It seems clear that, if we take these two ways of relating to Jesus as a disciple as complementary to one another, rather than mutually exclusive, we will be on safe ground. They are pieces of the same puzzle, rather than separate rungs on a ladder. We saw, also, that the women provided financial support for the company as they traveled around with the group made up of Jesus and His followers. This shows that they were free enough to take time away from their usual pursuits to dedicate to their religious development and also that they, at least some of them, were rich enough to be able to offer money for the * It is interesting to note that Meister Eckhart, the great medieval mystic (ca. 1260–1328), thought that Martha represented the more advanced stage and Mary the more backward (see “A Sermon on the Contemplative and the Active Life,” in Late Medieval Mysticism, ed. Ray C. Petry, 193–99).

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support of the ministry without beggaring themselves. The romantic notion that the first Christians were all simple, penniless peasants is certainly wrong. (How would Judas have been the keeper of the purse [John 13:29] if there was no money in the group to take care of?) The most reasonable assumption for us to make about this group is that the women performed the usual duties of women in that society for the group as it traveled and that they managed themselves the way we would at a reunion of an extended family: informally, but with some organization; in a friendly manner, but not as if the group were full blood relations. They would certainly have been very careful about the relations between the men and the women, partly because of concerns of ritual purity and partly because modest women in that culture (as they still do today) guarded their privacy with great care and circumspection. The fact that no hint of sexual scandal attaches to Jesus even in hostile records (the Jews never seem to have accused Him of sexual promiscuity) shows that this must have been very scrupulously followed indeed.* The discipleship of the women in this regard was a mixture of the common behavior of their time and place and the special abilities their class and personal situations allowed. On a modern Church retreat, the women may work in the kitchen, but taller men are called in to get things down off the top shelves. If there is a woman who can play an instrument, or a man who can cook, they may well find themselves being called on to do that with no one thinking anything of it. (I am no great chef, but when I am at my parents’ house, I make the tuna fish salad, having been officially declared [by my sisters, for selfish reasons, I am convinced] to be the best at it thirty-five years ago and having been unable to pass that duty along to anyone else. I am presently training my children to take my place.) The monetary support of the women should be seen in this regard. If they were from wealthy families, as Joanna the wife of Chuza was, they would naturally have put more than their share into the common purse. It would be a strange rich person who did not, just as it would be a strange tall person who refused to get a pot down from a high shelf because he thought his “gifts” lay elsewhere. The point in all this is that the arrangements seem to have been practical, as their time and place regarded practicality. The Syrophoenician woman in the next selection is interesting because she is an outsider who arrives with her faith in Jesus already in place. If she has no previous connection with the group, and Jesus’s byplay with her * I hardly need to say that modern novels and movies about Jesus that speculate about marriages for Him or extramarital sexual adventures are reflections of the character of our society and its interests, not of any knowledge of Jesus from His own time.

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strongly supports that idea, she must make herself known through her statements. When she does that, she is accepted as one of the group, rewarded by Jesus, and remembered in the gospel as an example to be followed. This shows us that, already during Jesus’s life, the basic requirement for membership in the group of His followers was faith in Jesus and a religious attachment to Him. Even though this woman came from a very different slice of society than the rest of the disciples, once she had made herself known to Him, Jesus held her up to them as a model. The group is functioning in this story according to its own logic. This is different in many ways from how other people around it order their affairs (which is the source of some of Jesus’s difficulties in the gospels), but we can see what they are up to as we look at them. Finally, we come to the Burial of Jesus. This is the first thing we have seen the women do that was really “women’s work.” Because touching a corpse made a man unclean, and because these people were all in Jerusalem for the Passover, which required a man’s presence at the Temple for a lot of liturgical activities, the women were the only ones who could take care of tending Jesus’s body in readiness for its burial. It was the custom for women to do this anyway, and it would have been most unusual for a man to have been involved in it. (The women would probably not have permitted that to happen, since it would not have been “fitting,” just as a man would not be welcome in a birthing room in almost all parts of the world even today.) What is really important about this custom for us is that, because of the way in which the Resurrection was discovered, it made the women who went to the tomb the primary witnesses of the Church’s central proclamation. The emphasis that the Acts of the Apostles places on the witnessing of the followers of Jesus to His Resurrection makes clear how central this task was to the group’s understanding of what their responsibilities were.* Thus, those women, as a result of doing their practical duty as members of the group of Jesus’s disciples, found themselves being central actors in the theological endeavor of the Church. That is why some of their names are recorded; that is why the stories of the Resurrection emphasize why they were there and who they were. (I should say in passing that the manner in which they actually acted as witnesses is not clear to us. We have no record of them preaching publicly as the male disciples did; and, since the prophetess Anna is reported as having publicly prophesied about Jesus when he was presented in the Temple as a baby [Luke 2:36–38], we should expect to hear of it if it happened. The likeliest solution is that they per* See Acts 2:32, 3:15, 5:32, 10:41, etc.

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formed this most untraditional vocation in a rather traditional way: by telling their story within the group [this is how it gets into the gospels] and by witnessing personally to interested people. This is, then, another instance of the practicality of their discipleship: they must have always acted in ways that focused attention on Jesus rather than on themselves. In our own time and place, we might need to approach that task a bit differently, but the goal and pattern remain the same for us and are quite clear.) The Church was founded on the witness of its members, prominent among whom were these women who were just performing their traditional roles in the group and found, as a result of that, that they were thrust into a most untraditional position for women: that of performing important religious proclamation. The point of this is that God chose those women as witnesses and placed them in that role through His approach to them in the course of their practical duties. What happened to them during the day-to-day drudgery of group membership resulted in their taking on central roles in the Church’s defense of its belief. Those of us who seek out glamourous places in the Church for ourselves sometimes find ourselves eclipsed by those who have put themselves in the background, as Pope Innocent III discovered when he dreamed of St. Francis of Assisi holding up the Church by himself while all the “princes of the Church” watched and could do nothing to help. “The first shall be last and the last first,” we are told (cf. Luke 13:30), and the women in the garden on Easter morning offer us a good example of that. Today, these stories of the saintly women following Our Lord around Galilee and all the way to Jerusalem challenge us to be willing to serve not only in extraordinary ways, but also in ordinary ones. No one praises the wealthy for supporting the Church (we like to look for the widow and her mite), but the Church cannot live without that support for long. No one praises the musically inclined for playing the organ (instead, we criticize their choice of hymns). No one praises the tall people for fetching down the pots from the high shelves (instead, we complain that dinner is always late on parish retreats). But every now and again, someone who is just doing what is expected (often something not very pleasant or interesting) finds himself (or herself) thrust into a special situation of which he (or she) had no warning. St. Maximilian Kolbe giving himself over to death in Auschwitz in 1941 to save the life of a young husband and father springs to my mind, as do the words of Isaiah, who, while praying in the Temple, saw the vision of the Lord seated on the Tabernacle: “Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8b). The true disciple of Jesus is the one who is willing to follow wherever the Master leads and to learn and put into action whatever lesson the Mas-

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ter teaches. Let us pray that we can be disciples of the sort that those women were so long ago when the Church stood or fell on their willingness to follow and serve in whatever ways were needed: in actions both exotic and dull, adventurous and domestic, unheralded or remembered by the Church down through the ages. No one of us knows what service will turn out to be the most important. Perhaps that is why God treats all who are willing to work in the vineyard as good and faithful servants, worthy of reward (Matthew 20:1–16). We don’t know how our own service will add up; we only know that we are called to offer it.

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ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed Son did sanctify Mary Magdalene, and call her to be a witness to His Resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may be healed of all our infirmities, and serve thee in the power of his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen. (Calendar and Collects [Lesser Feasts and Fasts], 122)

CONCLUSION

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GOD, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly; Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of Wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 595) We have come to the end of our short studies of various disciples of Jesus as they are reflected in the gospels. I hope that this has spurred you to think a bit about the disciples when they appear in the lessons we read at worship and when you read the Bible on your own. A number of things seem pretty clear about them, as we look back on what we have seen. 1) The disciples are defined by their relations with Jesus. The inner twelve are special because of their special role as intermediaries between the larger group and its Master, a role Andrew fulfilled when he brought Peter to Jesus. The women in the garden take on their most important role in the Church because of their first encounter with the Lord on Easter. 2) Success, for a disciple, is found in staying close to Jesus, in both body and soul, and in following Him, both in profession and in action. Judas Iscariot is close physically but strays spiritually. Peter falls and returns, more than once. The women and the Beloved Disciple, who are brave and loyal enough to stand at the foot of the Cross, stay close even at the darkest time. Who is the ideal to follow in that list? 3) We also saw, interestingly, that membership and helpful discipleship may sometimes require the disciple to be physically absent from the group, as Andrew was while he was keeping the home fires burning, and as the apostles (first the Twelve and then the Seventy) were while they were sent out to preach (e.g. Luke 9:1–10, 10:1–20). Just as the priest and the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) should have stopped on their way to the Temple to help, if they were going to be really close to God, so did Andrew and Zebedee need to stay away from Jesus if they were to fulfill their duties within the larger group of disciples. Some consideration of what they were giving up so others could enjoy it might 69

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give us more appreciation for their sacrifice. (It certainly makes them seem different to me.) It is a useful subject for reflection when we think of Lent and self-denial. What did we see in these stories that showed us things of interest about the whole matter of discipleship? A) We saw that disciples are individuals with a personal connection to Jesus that is peculiar to themselves. One might have a full understanding of Jesus at the same moment that the others are lost and confused: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” said Peter (Matthew 16:16), while all the rest just stood there with their mouths hanging open. Disciples can benefit from each others’ presence, but they are independent agents. B) The disciples are part of an organized group: different members have different duties; some are closer to Jesus than others. No one’s membership seems to be fuller than another’s, though each one is a member in his or her own way. C) An individual is not locked into one role for the whole course of his or her membership. We saw variety in the careers of Mary, of Andrew, and of Peter. People can be active and contemplative, like Mary; leaders in understanding and failures in faith, like Peter; present and attentive and absent and supportive as parts of their discipleship, like Andrew. D) Membership in the group of the disciples is not limited to those who are fully advanced in the faith, and it is not taken away from those who fail in their attempts to live up to their faith. This is not to say that there are no rules and expectations: Judas does not go on to a long ecclesiastical career after his betrayal, and Jesus makes very clear that a great deal is expected: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Still, it is clear that disciples who try to be good disciples are allowed to stay and try some more, as Peter does so often. This call to be Jesus’s disciple is not a calling that demands perfection, but it is a calling that demands serious commitment. E) The best disciples are those who stand by their Master until the end. Our Lady and the women and the Beloved Disciple at the foot of the Cross; the women daring to go back to the tomb to tend Jesus’s body even though they thought it was still guarded; even Peter’s unwillingness to leave Jesus despite the fact that he can’t bring himself to claim Him as his teacher— all are, in their ways, incidents of loyalty acted out at the cost of great daring. So Peter, in his own confusing, turbulent way, is both failing and succeeding at the same time!

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In the end, then, as we should have expected, Discipleship is simple: the good disciple is the one who is true to his Teacher in whatever ways the circumstances of his life, and the requirements of the place in the Church (his fellow disciples) occupied by him, allow and require. Some successful disciples take roles of leadership, and some take roles of service. Some change from one role to another, while their fellows may be set in a single path for the whole course of their religious lives. There seems to be no single pattern, even at the very earliest stages of the life of the Body of Christ. (We must remember, too, that at the time at which we have been looking, there were probably not more than a very few hundred people that even a very loose definition would allow to be called “disciples” of Jesus. The situation in which we live out our own Christian lives is necessarily much more complex because the religious body in which we live it is so large. We are used to thinking of our little piece of the whole Church as being a minnow, but we are a whale compared to the Church that Peter and Paul knew!) So, as we look forward to the future as Christians, we must expect the unexpected. We do not know what the morrow may bring, but we do know that it will require dedication and perseverance on our part. As long as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus we cannot go astray, for the only true path for the Disciple is the one that leads to his Master. May we all, with the help of God’s Grace, finds ourselves able to tread that path from this day forth, forevermore.

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MERCIFUL God, by whose servant Joseph the body of our Lord and Saviour was committed to the grave with reverence and godly fear: Grant, we beseech thee, to thy faithful people grace and courage to serve and love Jesus with unfeigned devotion all the days of their life; through the same, thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (the collect for July 31, the Feast of St. Joseph of Arimathea, Calendar and Collects, 126)

HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE

A Lecture prepared for the Synod of the Diocese of the Western States of the Anglican Province of Christ the King April 1995 and revised and delivered to the Synod of the Diocese of the Eastern States June 2001 further revised 2004

INTRODUCTION “Hearing the voice of God in Scripture” is what we all yearn for, because Christian reading of Scripture is practical and religious and designed to make us closer to God. However, few of us ever seem to accomplish it. It is possible that we hear the voice of God more than we benefit from it, since Adam and Eve certainly heard God in the Garden but did not respond to Him (Genesis 3:8). We may hear the voice of God and not heed it, as they did. Still, “hearing the voice of God in Scripture” is certainly something for which we all strive and which should receive our greatest attention and effort. In order to address such a large and important topic without losing our way as we go along, it will be necessary to work through things methodically. We can talk about particulars after we have set the groundwork, but we must organize first, if we are to make any headway. We begin with History.

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HISTORY What is in the Bible as we have it, and where did these things come from? The Jews had sacred writings before Christ was born; we hear Him read from them in the Gospels, after all (e.g., Luke 4:16–37). Their Torah (or “Law”), however, is not the whole of what we call the Old Testament, but only the first five books of it: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These are the heart of the Bible for Jews. They divide the rest of their books into “Prophets,” which include some of our historical works, for example, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, and “Writings,” which accounts for the rest. Christians have also read the Greek version of the Old Testament called “the Septuagint,” which contains some things that do not appear in the Hebrew. When you consider the Latin, Greek, and other Christian traditions alongside the Hebrew one, Christians read a more varied collection than Jews tend to use. The dimensions and contents of the Scriptures of groups in the biblical tradition have varied through time.* Some groups have been quite constant in their canon (the Samaritans have always had the shortest Scriptures, using only the first five books of our Old Testament). Some groups have changed their canons over time: Jews have generally retreated from using Jewish books written originally in Greek to using only those written in Hebrew and Aramaic. There are signs of a view among Jews that places the first five books on a separate level than the others.† Some groups have never had a single canon of Scripture: Christians seem always to have had variety in their Bibles, though the core has been shared and quite constant. Variety remains among Christians in the present day on this point. The current Old Testament used by Anglicans and Roman Catholics, which is * A very useful and clear discussion of this topic with lists of the books used by different groups can be found in Lowell K. Handy’s Educated Person’s Thumbnail Introduction to the Bible, 1–15. This would be a useful book to study for those who want to pursue this topic in more depth. † Pamela Tamarkin Reis mentions her father expressing this view to her when she was young (Reading the Lines: A Fresh Look at the Hebrew Bible, 4).

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smaller than that used by some Christian groups, is larger than the Hebrew Bible because it contains books that were originally written in Greek. Most Protestants, following the lead of Martin Luther, have gone back to using just the Old Testament books that began in Hebrew, so their Bibles are a bit shorter than they would have been six hundred years ago. This helps explain why Bibles on sale can have varied contents. There are different collections on offer because Christian people use slightly different books. Most Jews at the time of Christ did not read the Scriptures in Hebrew any more. They read either an Aramaic paraphrase called the Targum or a Greek translation called the Septuagint. Aramaic is a language related to Biblical Hebrew in much the same way that Italian is related to Spanish. (It is still spoken in the Middle East and among the communities of emigrant Christians who have moved to other parts of the world in search of a safer home. Middle Eastern Christians are rapidly leaving their native lands for sanctuary in Europe, Australia, or North America.) The Septuagint, which was produced by Jews living in Alexandria in Egypt about 200 BC, was especially revered. The legend, a Jewish legend, said that seventy rabbis had been summoned by the Pharaoh Ptolemy to make a translation of their Scriptures for Greek-speaking people to read and that they had each gone into a room apart to do the work, but when they came back again—all their translations were identical! Clear proof of the work of God in guiding them, the Jews thought. Consequently, the Septuagint (the name means “seventy,” for the seventy rabbis) was especially revered in the ancient world as a dependable source of divine Revelation. What does this mean? This means that when the Christians were choosing what books to read in their worship and to use for their teaching, they had quite a range of possibilities, even within the Jewish tradition. As a matter of fact, the different Christian groups chose whatever was the set of books in use among the Jews of their language group. After all, to begin with, almost all Christians had been born and raised as Jews and had been led by their understanding of that faith to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They chose for their Scriptures the books responsible for their faith. Notice, however, that Christians have a broader idea of “Scripture” than Jews do. We treat all the Jewish books we have kept in our Bible as being equally inspired. That is what the famous quote from St. Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy (3:16–17) really means: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

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St. Paul is stating this Christian principle of the larger collection of Jewish writings all being equally inspired. When the teaching of the Church was being worked out and the creeds written and early councils held, the Bible that the vast majority of the Church in the Roman Empire was reading was the New Testament in Greek and the Old Testament in the Greek of the Septuagint. Aramaic-speaking Christians were not central to this process; Hebrew-speaking Christians may well not have existed. We don’t know. The Scripture that was read in the Church and was quoted in the New Testament and was studied for a greater understanding of the identity of Jesus Christ was all in Greek. That is an important thing to remember. We will speak more about it later. So, what is this book we read and preach from? It is a collection of writings, most written before the birth of Jesus, chosen by the Church over the course of several centuries (though there was general agreement on its contents as early as we have evidence of its use by Christians), and designed to offer information and instruction about God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son. The faith precedes the books, always remember that, too. Each book that was chosen to be in this collection (and there were many more books that were not chosen—many of them survive to the present day) was chosen because it was thought to add something to the Church’s knowledge or ability to proclaim its beliefs.* Scripture has no other purpose than that. It is the Church’s book, in every sense of the phrase: it was written by the Church,† it was chosen by the Church, and it was preserved by the Church.‡ Every book of Scripture can only be understood as part of the whole collection of books that the Church, led, we believe, by the Holy

* It is important to know that the Church did not just collect any writings it could find. The survival of books that were not made part of the Scripture is clear evidence of a conscious sorting process. † We must think of the children of Israel as the Church before Christ—the early Christians clearly did, and it is crucial to Christian self-understanding to keep that in mind. The theological word for the Church, ecclesia, is the word used in the Septuagint for the children of Israel: “the chosen people” of God. “Ecclesia” means “chosen group” or “select group” or “congregation” in the Septuagint Old Testament, for example, at Deuteronomy 31:30. ‡ The Church was careful about how it preserved its Scripture. The codex, a book bound at the side with its pages lying flat, may have been invented by Christians to protect the writings and to make them more compact for portability and ease of concealment from persecutors. Christians were certainly the first group to use codices (the plural of “codex”) widely for literary or religious works.

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Spirit, chose to be read and preached and taught in worship and times of instruction to all those who wished to know and follow Jesus of Nazareth. Let us take a commonly used example: the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon is a series of wedding songs. They are romantic, sometimes erotic, sometimes somewhat mystical. Many people go their whole lives without hearing more than a few lines from them. Many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, have real difficulty figuring out what they are doing in the Bible in the first place. The answer is that they are there as allegorical or symbolic poems about the relationship of Israel to God and the individual soul to God. This is how they were read in the early Church from the very beginning, and by the Jewish rabbis before Christ, and this is why they were chosen to be a part of the collection. You can hear very strange ideas put forward by some people about what these poems should mean for Christians, but all those ideas ignore the fact that each piece of the puzzle of Scripture was chosen to fulfill a particular purpose in it. The canon of Scripture is always the context in which the individual books should be read, and each book as a whole is always the context in which the individual verses are to be read. The Bible is a library and, insofar as it will serve as a source of Revelation for us, it must do that as a library. This is a very important principle. The Bible makes sense as a whole and only as a whole.

INSPIRATION Now let us discuss the inspiration of Scripture. “Inspiration” means, in Latin, “breathing in” or “breathing on.” It refers to the Holy Spirit, of course, the “Breath of God.” The hymn “Breathe on me, Breath of God” is a prayer for inspiration from the Holy Spirit. When the Church claims that Scripture is “inspired,” it means that it holds those writings to be reliable expressions of the self-communication of God to the world. The writers of these works were humans working as humans, but they had the assistance of the Holy Spirit in guiding them and aiding their expression and thoughts. The Church itself, also, was inspired in choosing these books for its collection. Just as producing a work that accurately speaks for God is the act of someone under the influence of the Spirit, so is the recognition that this has been done. Part of the inspiration of Scripture lies in the Church that receives and reveres it. How else could we be certain that the right books, and all the right books, are contained in the scriptural collection? What does it mean to say that the Scripture is “the Word of God”? Does it mean that it is a divine thing, not of this world, plunked down inside this world as evidence of God Who created the world? Christians do not think so. (Actually, that is a fair description of what Muslims think about the Qur’an.) The Church has always recognized that the Bible is a human thing as much as it is a divine thing. Early Christian writers sometimes speak about the Bible in the same way they do about Jesus Christ: “fully human and fully divine.” It is important to realize that this means fully human. The Bible is as much human speech as it is an expression of the Word of God. That will be a crucial point to keep in mind when we turn to trying to make sense of Scripture. What does the Church believe it possesses in the Bible? This is a most difficult question to answer. Many Christians have tried and failed, through being betrayed into saying too much or being too confident of having grasped the mystery of the Revelation of God in the Bible. We must be cautious. In Scripture, the Church believes that it has

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BEING CHRISTIAN IN THE MODERN WORLD 1) a record of the history of the relation of God to the world, especially to His chosen people, Israel; 2) a record of the life and teaching of God’s Son, Jesus of Nazareth; and 3) a record of the development of the community of followers of Jesus and of their understanding of what it really was that they had seen and heard when they saw and heard Jesus.

(1) is what we call the Old Testament, (2) corresponds to the gospels, and (3) to the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles, and the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of St. John the Divine. The idea of the Bible being a “record” of God’s revelation rather than the revelation itself, strictly speaking, is an important piece of Christian thinking about the Bible. We must draw a distinction between the appearance of God to Moses in the burning bush and the account of it in Exodus 7. We must draw a distinction between the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountaintop before Peter and James and John and the account of it in Matthew 17.* These are not the same things. What we hold in our hands when we pick up a Bible is a record of Revelation, guarded by the inspired Church and created by people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit as they worked. It is, in some ways, a second-hand revelation for us, since it is the record of how God related to other people, after all, and it is, in some ways, a first-hand revelation for us, since it can reveal God to us if we approach it properly and with the right disposition. Let us think about that distinction for a moment. Muslims hold that the Qur’an is a first-level revelation. What was revealed to Muhammad was the collection of words that are found in that book. The words are the revelation. They can never be translated, because that would involve changing the words. Thus, every Muslim must learn Arabic in order to have access to the revelation as it has been received. We have already seen enough to realize that that is not the original Christian view of the revelation contained in Scripture. Remember, from the beginning Christians used a variety of books and used them in whatever languages they were comfortable with. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6, we see clearly that the Church in Jerusalem was divided between the Hebrews and the Hellenists: that is, between Christian Jews who worshiped in Hebrew (or maybe Aramaic) and Christian Jews who worshiped in Greek. No one had a sense that those who used the Septuagint translation were * It is also recounted in Mark 9 and Luke 9.

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more removed from the Word of God than those who read the Hebrew. On the contrary, we saw that there was a legend that gave that particular translation a special aura of trustworthiness! This would have been unthinkable among Muslims. You might ask why Jews work so hard at learning Hebrew now when they did not feel the need to do so so much closer to the time when it was their usual spoken language. The answer is that, when it was discovered that the Septuagint contained translations of some special passages of Scripture that tended to support the Christian interpretation of the prophecies—for example (Isaiah 7:14), Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel

—the Jews stopped using it and began to attack it as being false. They made other translations into Greek and other languages but began to retreat into the use of Hebrew in their worship as a reaction against being too much like the rapidly growing group of Christians whom they considered, and still consider, to be misguided. Christians, on the other hand, with the exception of the Western Church (which became attached to St. Jerome’s translation of the Bible to a degree not known elsewhere), have remained interested in what the Biblical books say rather than in the words they use to say it. Modern Western, mostly American, literalism (which many people mistakenly call “fundamentalism”) is an innovation: a new thing, rather than a traditional approach. Generally, Christians have been distinguished from Muslims and Jews by their concern with the message contained in the Scripture rather than their interest in its medium. (I should say, as a note, that all major modern translations of the Bible into English are mixtures of a translation of the Hebrew text and the Septuagint and ancient versions in other languages, as their introductions and notes always make clear. So, the practice of using all the available versions of Scripture continues in the Church, even when we are not aware of it. What makes the King James Bible so important for us is that it was the first widely available Bible in the West that was made with reference to the Hebrew and Septuagint instead of from Jerome’s Latin version. In that respect, it is a very modern, and a very ancient Christian Bible.) I realize that this is a hot topic among American Christians, but I am willing to say this because it does not involve any value judgment or taking sides on my part. I am merely reporting to you what we know of what happened during the early history of the Church and its relationship with the collection of books we now call “the Bible.” What to make of that relation-

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ship and history is a theological question; what that history was is a known historical record. For now, we must press on, or we will never reach our goal.

READING THE BIBLE Now that we have considered something of what the Bible contains and how we came to possess it, we can begin to talk about ways to benefit from having it. If we are to hear the voice of God in Scripture, we must first take it off our shelf and read it, or hear it being read to us in worship. I think we all agree that just having it in the house is not enough to achieve the desired result. So, if we are going to read it, it had better be a Bible that we can understand and that will be comfortable enough for us to use, so that we use it more nearly as often as we should rather than as often as we have. We live in an age of abundance, in Scripture resources as well as in other things. I was raised with a King James Bible in my room. It is the Bible I read when I read for devotion. It is the one that sticks in my head and that I remember quotations from; it is, of course, the Bible that we all use in public worship in the Anglican Province of Christ the King. The King James Bible is the one I love. It is not, however, the best Bible there is, either in terms of accuracy or ease of use. Since the time the King James (or Authorised) Version was finished, our knowledge of the text of the biblical books has greatly advanced, and our knowledge of the languages involved has advanced as well. We can do a better job of producing in English what the authors wrote than was possible four hundred years ago. The King James Bible is often literal in the extreme, giving us sentences that are not really English, as well as leaving the meaning unclear. The Letters of Paul the Apostle are particularly difficult. Many a seminarian is surprised to find that a lot of passages in St. Paul are easier to follow in Greek than in the English he has grown up with! Assuming that you own and have access to the King James Version of the Bible, I suggest the following three translations to supplement your Scripture library: 1) For just reading the New Testament and for carrying a Testament around in your pocket, I suggest J. B. Phillips’s translation.* It is modern, * The one on my shelf is called The New Testament in Modern English, revised student edition.

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clear, and tries to be faithful to the sense of what is said while not flattening it out more than necessary for clarity. Like all modern translations, it loses some of my favorite passages from King James, but I try to remind myself that understanding is my goal, not literary rapture. I can always read the King James Version if I want to. The Revised Standard Version is also an excellent Bible to use, offering a text in the King James tradition with the benefit of modern scholarship and translated from better texts than the men who produced the King James Version had at their disposal. Its reliability and popularity have made it a fixture among English-speaking Christians.* 2) For a complete Bible with the Apocrypha (that is, the whole Bible as the Church used it until Luther came along), I suggest the New American Bible.† It is Roman Catholic, and the non-Roman reader must keep that in mind, but the introductions to the books are excellent. It has marvelous notes at the foot of the page, especially for historical background. There is a lifetime of learning in it for every Christian. It’s in paperback, too, if you like that. (I think it is important to have an English version of the Apocrypha available to you when you are doing serious Bible study, if only to be able to see the passages there that parallel those in the universally accepted books.) 3) The other complete Bible I suggest is the English Standard Version, which is very new.‡ It is readable and clear and is also the product of some of the best minds around. To me, it feels more like a “Bible” than the New American, perhaps because it seems, to my ear, to contain more echoes of the King James Version, when appropriate, but I am very prejudiced and unreasonable about these things. In the end, choosing a Bible, as long as you have a good one in hand, is a matter of instinct. It must fit your taste and be something you want to pick up. If you don’t like it, you will not read it. If the King James Version is the only one you will read—then read it! Will God withhold His voice from you because you like Shakespearian English? I bet He won’t. The Bible is an ancient collection of ancient books. If you wish to understand it, you must know something about where it comes from. It is true that the more you know, the more you will be able to understand, but it does not follow that you will not be able to learn what is most necessary if you are not an expert. I do not think you need to do any language study to * The one presented to me by my parish church when I was 10 is called The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments: Revised Standard Version. † The one on my shelf is called The New American Bible including the Revised Psalms and Revised New Testament. ‡ The one on my shelf is called The Holy Bible English Standard Version.

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hear God’s voice, and I do not think that you must enroll in classes or join study groups. I have taken and taught classes and belonged to study groups, and they can be very good things, but I do not believe that they are necessary things. Christians have always read the Bible as individuals for devotional reasons, and the constant popularity of the practice argues for its success. If you have one of those modern Bibles I mentioned, or something similar, you will have enough to work with. Before you begin to read, get yourself situated in the Bible: What book are you reading? When was it written? Who was it written for? God speaks as much in Jeremiah as He does in Matthew, but if you don’t know the different situations of those two books, you are doing all you can not to understand what they can reveal to you. Use a concordance to help yourself. (A concordance looks like a dictionary but, ideally, lists every time a particular word appears in the Bible, so you can see all the places it appears and the ways in which it is used. Marginal notes can help, and many modern Bibles have partial concordances included with them, but a full concordance is the most useful.) Remember that it MUST be a concordance for the particular translation you are reading. If you are stuck on a word or phrase, the best way to sort it out is to look for other times it appears in the book you are reading and see how it is used there. If that does not help, then look at other times it is used in parallel books: for Jeremiah, other prophets; for Matthew, other Gospels. If that does not work, look in the rest of the Bible. Very few problems make it past all those steps. Read the whole Bible.* Most of us read only the parts we know or the parts we like. How is God to speak to you, if you listen only to what you want to hear? If you can’t face reading through the whole Bible, read through the whole Psalter. The greatest thing about the Psalter is that it contains every sort of emotion and relationship between God and the singer (or reader) in such a short space. The Book of Common Prayer marks it to be done every month. If you do that, you’re doing a lot; you’re also following one of the most traditional forms of Christian devotion. What about people who want to tackle more than just the Psalms, though? First off: each book of the Bible is a complete whole—you should read them entirely when you read. (This is a very important point. I think that people should avoid reading plans that take little pieces of Bible books * At present, I am using and am a great admirer of: Leslie B. Flynn’s Through the Bible in a Year! I like it because it takes books as wholes and because it follows the historical sequence of the times to which the books refer. You can read the record of God’s relation to the world in something like the order in which it happened!

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and jump around to try to keep you interested. It seems likely to keep you confused!) If you start with the Gospels (and you should, I think), you should read them all the way through. They are each short enough to be read in one evening. Try to read each book as much as a whole as you can. It may take you a few days for Isaiah or Genesis, but you will benefit much more by being as persistent as you can. The human authors and the Holy Spirit produced them as written works with characters and messages peculiarly their own. You cut yourself off from much of what Scripture can reveal to you if you do not approach it as it was meant to be approached: book by book, not line by line. Remember that each book, as it stands in the Bible, is a part of the whole Scripture, as well. Each book has its place in the collection, as well as its own meaning apart. (By “apart,” I mean as an individual work on its own. I do not mean apart from the Church and the Christian tradition of Bible-reading and interpretation. Let me stress that point again: the theological meaning and force of Scripture come from its place in the life of the Church as the Church receives it. I do not deny that the Holy Spirit can speak to an individual through the Scripture separately from the rest of us [in fact, I know people whose lives were changed in just this way], but this is not what the Bible, as a collection, is primarily for.* The reawakening of interest among all kinds of Christians in the tradition of Christian Bible interpretation is a clear witness that this [reading as a part of the community of the faithful] is recognized by all as the best way to approach the Bible.†) The meaning of each book of Scripture is seen in the context of its place in the sacred collection. The collection of scriptural books itself is one of the most valuable guides for the Church as it tries to discern the Word of God as it is inherited from our brothers and sisters before us. This is the conviction that lies behind using a concordance to study the Bible. The ideal approach is to use the Bible to understand the Bible. It is asking God to explain to you the parts of His Word that you cannot grasp on your own. How do we relate to the Bible? Where do we fit in and how can we fit the Bible into our own lives as an active presence, not just as a lesson to be learned? Well, every Christian is always trying to progress in his relationship * The best discussion of this important point I have found is Joseph T. Lienhard, The Bible, the Church, and Authority: The Canon of the Christian Bible in History and Theology. † The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series being published by InterVarsity Press is just one example of this interest. The Church’s Bible series, just getting underway from Eerdmans Publishing, is another. Both of these can be very helpful.

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with God. As we watch God relate to the people in the Bible, we see ourselves reflected in their triumphs and failures, mostly in their failures. You will notice that most of the people in the Bible aren’t doing too well. This is one of the ways in which the Spirit provides teaching for us that we can understand. We see our own mistakes played out before our eyes and are able to see things we would deny were there, if we were looking at ourselves. As a group, we are Israel, and we can see ourselves in their follies and sins; and, as individuals, we can see ourselves as parts of the group and also as standing in the same dilemmas as the characters in Scripture. We lust, like David after Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11); and are cruel, like the Unforgiving Servant in the parable (Matthew 18:21–35). We are disobedient, like Adam and Eve (Genesis 1–3); and self-congratulatory, like the Pharisees (Luke 18:9–14). The heroes of the Church, the saints, are those who are able to put themselves honestly and completely into the Scripture to let God speak to them. Let us take two famous examples. The first is from the Life of St. Antony by St. Athanasius: the first saint’s life to be widely read in the Church. The number of people whose lives have been changed by reading this work is more than I can say. The action begins in a small village in Egypt in the late 200s AD:* [Antony] was left alone, after his parents’ death, with one quite young sister. He was about eighteen or even twenty years old, and he was responsible both for the home and his sister. Six months had not passed since the death of his parents when, going to the Lord’s house as usual and gathering his thoughts, he considered while he walked how the apostles, forsaking everything, followed the Savior, and how in Acts some sold what they possessed and took the proceeds and placed them at the feet of the apostles for distribution among those in need, and what great hope is stored up for such people in heaven. He went into the church pondering these things, and just then it happened that the Gospel was being read, and he heard the Lord saying to the rich man, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. It was as if by God’s design he held the saints in his recollection, and as if the passage were read on his account. Immediately Antony went out from the Lord’s house and gave to the townspeople the possessions he had from his forbears. … And selling all the rest that was portable, when he collected sufficient money, he donated it to the poor, keeping a few things for his sister. [emphasis added]

* Athanasius, The Life of Antony and The Letter to Marcellinus, trans. Robert Gregg, 31, §2.

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Skipping over about nine hundred years, we move to Italy, to the little city of Assisi, north of Rome.* One day when [Francis] was devoutly hearing a Mass of the Apostles, the Gospel was read in which Christ sends forth his disciples to preach and explains to them the way of life according to the Gospel: that they should not keep gold or silver or money in their belts, nor have a wallet for their journey, nor two tunics, nor shoes, nor staff (Matt. 10:9). When he heard this, he grasped its meaning and committed it to memory. This lover of apostolic poverty was then filled with an indescribable joy and said: “This is what I want; this is what I long for with all my heart.” He immediately took off his shoes from his feet, put aside his staff, cast away his wallet and money as if accursed, was content with one tunic and exchanged his leather belt for a piece of rope. He directed all his heart’s desire to carry out what he had heard and to conform in every way to the rule of right living given to the apostles. [emphasis added]

These two examples could hardly be bettered for how clearly they stress the fact that these people were open to having their lives changed because they reacted to the Scripture as if it were addressed directly at them, specifically. Other people were present at those times and did not receive the same message as Antony and Francis; but perhaps they were not meant to. The real thrust of the examples is the serious, personal engagement of these two men with the Word of God as it confronted them. That is our model.

* St. Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis, 3.199, in The Soul’s Journey into God—The Tree of Life—The Life of St. Francis, trans. Ewart Cousins, 199–200.

CONCLUSIONS Taking these different strains of thought as parts of one whole, we can see what our discussion is suggesting we should do when we approach the Bible. 1) We should get to know the Bible itself, as much as we can. We should learn enough of its background to be able to make sense of it. We should take the trouble to approach it as its nature demands: as a complete whole, but as a library made up of discrete, separate writings, too. This all means that we should take the Bible seriously enough to learn to understand how it speaks and to meet it on its own ground. Any other way of approaching it will only distort its meaning. 2) We must read the Bible honestly with ourselves in mind. When we see our own situation reflected in a passage, we should take note. When we hear our weaknesses described or corrected, we should recognize that that fact means that we, personally, are being addressed by that part of the book. 3) We should take the Bible to heart as something given to us, made for us, and spoken to us. Christians who realize that the Bible they read is God speaking to them will receive it reverently and with full attention. They will try to mold themselves to the teachings they meet there, and they will find the humility to admit to themselves when they fail to meet the standards God sets before them. If you are not, at times, exultant while reading the Bible, if you are not sometimes ashamed and stricken to the heart, if you are not often overwhelmed with gratitude at the love of God, I do not think you realize what you have in your hand or are hearing as it is read to you. Christians who reads the Bible with mind and heart open are placing themselves consciously and intimately in the presence of God. It is a frightening thing to contemplate, but who could wish to be anywhere else? All the things I have tried to say add up to nothing more than trying to respect the Bible for what it is and for the sake of Him Who gave it to us. If we can treat the Bible with respect, and if we can make ourselves dedicate to it even some of the time it deserves, we will, I believe, find ourselves drawn ever closer to God and into ever more intimate contact with Him. 91

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Do not delay in starting yourself on this path! You will never regret a moment of the time you spend on it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLE EDITIONS AND COMMENTARIES The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated out of the Original Tongues: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised by His Majesty’s Special Command; appointed to be read in churches, “authorized King James Version,” 1611, orthography periodically revised. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments: Revised Standard Version. New York and Glasgow: Collins’ Clear Type Press, 1952. Philips, J. B. The New Testament in Modern English, revised student edition. New York: Macmillan, 1972. The New American Bible including the Revised Psalms and the Revised New Testament. Nashville: Nelson, 1987. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles, 2001. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998– . Church’s Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2003– .

BOOKS OF PRAYERS The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal 93

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Church in the United States of America Together with the Psalms of David. New York: Seabury, 1928. The Calendar and the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for the Lesser Feasts and Fasts and for Special Occasions prepared by the Standing Liturgical Commission on the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1963. Fisher, A. S. T., ed. An Anthology of Prayers Compiled for use in School and Home, by A. S. T. Fisher, M.A., Late Abbot Scholar, Christ Church, Oxford, 2nd ed. London: Longmans, Green, 1935. The People’s Anglican Missal in the American Edition. Athens, Ga.: The Anglican Parishes Association, 1988.

OTHER BOOKS Athanasius. The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus. Translated by Robert Gregg. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980. Augustine. Confessions. Translated with an introduction and notes by Henry Chadwick. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Bonaventure. The Soul’s Journey into God—The Tree of Life—The Life of St. Francis. Translated by Ewart Cousins. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press. 1978 Cogan, Mordechai. 1 Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible 10. New York: Doubleday, 2001. Flynn, Leslie B. Through the Bible in a Year! Garland, Texas: American Tract Society, n.d.; . Handy, Lowell K. The Educated Person’s Thumbnail Introduction to the Bible. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1997. Kitchen, Kenneth A. On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2003. Lienhard, Joseph T. The Bible, the Church, and Authority: The Canon of the Christian Bible in History and Theology. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1995. Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, vol. 3: Companions and Competitors. New York: Doubleday, 2001.

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Montgomery, James A. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings. International Critical Commentary. New York: Scribner’s, 1951. Petry, Ray C., ed. Late Medieval Mysticism. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957. Reis, Pamela Tamarkin. Reading the Lines: A Fresh Look at the Hebrew Bible. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 2002. Tozer, A. W. The Pursuit of God. Camp Hill, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1982.

INDEX OF SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES Genesis 1–3 ...........................................89 3:8.............................................75 Exodus 4:10–17....................................28 7 .............................................82 15:20–21..................................61 Leviticus 6 .............................................27 19:28 ........................................34 Deuteronomy 4:1.............................................34 31:30 ................................. 21, 79 Judges 4–6 ...........................................61 2 Samuel 11 .............................................89 1 Kings 3:3...................................... 19, 22 3:5–28 ......................................19 3:9.............................................21 11:1–8 ......................................19 17:1...........................................33 18:27 ........................................33 18:39 ........................................34 19 34 Psalms 46:10 ........................................37 139:7–12..................................16 Isaiah 1–5 ...........................................25

4:1.............................................25 6:1–13 ......................................26 6:5...................................... 27, 28 6:8.............................................27 6:8b ..........................................67 7:14...........................................83 Jeremiah 16:6...........................................33 41:5...........................................33 47:5...........................................33 Hosea 7:14...........................................33 Jonah 1:1–3:3a ...................................13 3:10–4:4...................................15 Micah 4:14...........................................33 Matthew 6:1–6 ........................................60 7:7–8 ........................................10 14:22–33..................................49 16:13–19..................................49 16:16 ........................................70 16:17 ........................................59 16:21–23..................................10 17 .............................................82 17:1–4 ......................................49 18:1–6 ......................................17 18:21–35..................................89 20:1–16....................................68 97

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20:17–29..................................53 25:14–30..................................20 26:69–73..................................10 Mark 1:19–20....................................58 1:29–33....................................56 3:16–18....................................58 7:24–30....................................63 8:27–33......................................9 9 .............................................82 9:2–10 // ..................................9 10:2...........................................58 13:1–4 ......................................56 13:3...........................................58 14:26–31, 53–55, 66–72........50 16:1–7 ......................................50 Luke 2:22–39....................................30 2:36–38....................................66 2:36–48....................................61 4:16–37....................................77 5:1–11 ............................... 48, 56 6:14...........................................58 8:1–3 ........................................63 8:2–3 ........................................59 9 82 9:1–10 ......................................69 9:23...........................................70 10:1–20....................................69 10:25–37..................................69 10:38–42........................... 59, 62 13:30 ........................................67

15:8–9 ......................................10 18:9–14....................................89 23:55–24:3...............................63 John 1:15–42......................................7 1:29.............................................9 1:35–42............................. 48, 55 11:1–2 ......................................63 12:20–22..................................57 13:29 ................................. 59, 65 13:4–11....................................52 14:9.............................................9 20:1–10....................................51 20:3–4 ......................................11 21 .............................................53 Acts 1:12–14....................................57 1:13...........................................58 2:32...........................................66 3:15...........................................66 5:32...........................................66 10:41 ........................................66 Romans 3:23...........................................10 Galatians 3:28...........................................61 Philippians 2:12...........................................53 2:3–12 ......................................44 3:13–14....................................10 2 Timothy 3:16–17....................................78