A wonderful missive and explanation from beginning to end. It proclaims the truth - the one truth and most all of us are at fault. Thank you for holding up the mirror, gently and kindly and causing us to reflect and take action. Bless you and all your readers.
Thank you Diana. I had never heard of "sword drills" among Christians!!! Talk about taking a single sentence out of context and making it mean something weird. ELCA Lutheran biblical hermeneutics moves from the Word of God as the Christ (the living personal word), the message of and about Christ (the spoken word), and finally the scriptures (written word).
Here's how I wove the text from Hebrews into the introduction to my sermon:
Our first reading from Hebrews begins with the declaration:
the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account (4:12-13).
When we hear the phrase “word of God” most often we think “Bible.” But in our reading, the Word of God is not a book, but a person! The Word of God is Christ Jesus who was, is, and always will be alive and active, like a two-edged sword able to judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, and to whom we must render account.
These two verses function like a content warning — one of those notices that appear on the screen before a movie starts, alerting the viewer to be prepared for potentially disturbing images, speech or ideas. Our reading from Hebrews is a content warning, crying out: Heads up! This gospel lesson will make you cringe and squirm and do mental contortions trying to convince yourself Jesus doesn’t really mean what he says.
I also go to the obvious “problem” first—Jesus’s words here can easily be seen as consistent with many of his other teachings. But I think we may be missing something—we are products of a culture, one that not only encourages wealth but sees it as obviously deserving of great reward. That’s “the way things work,” isn’t it?
But the teachings of Jesus conform well to a passage Diana also refers to—the first shall be last and the last first. Could we interpret that as saying that following cultural convention is an inadequate response to the teachings of Jesus? Jesus often points out that, in terms of the love of neighbor, for instance, social convention’s rule book isn’t what he asks us to follow. He wants the Kingdom, the Realm of God on earth. He’s prepared to empty himself as needed to achieve this reversal. So it seems to be what he asks of the rich young ruler. But he begins with a premise that was foreign even to that distant cultural mindset.
The clash between Kingdom values and cultural values is real and very powerful.
So many of the sentences in Mark's passage have layers of potential meaning.-- which is exactly the way wisdom texts pierce the soul and stretch you in new directions, with new nuances unfolding the more often you take these texts into your own self in deeper pondering.
Facets of wisdom shine at unexpected moments, especially when you add in the hints of Biblical Mystical teachings.
Consider, some of the possibilities loaded into these segments, and how they add richness to the important surface-textual (story-line) interpretation:
"Why do YOU call ME good? ... " (Ask and ponder what you want from me (Jesus), where are you'looking for answers, and what you lack, And the Source of All Good is a Mystical lesson)
"...<No one> is Good but <God alone.>" (includes rich layers of meaning from the Mystical Path and its Revelation. God is ONE. God's Essence is Good, and Source of All Goodness)
"You "know" the commandments." (Do you"know" them from within, and are "outward obedience" and " intellectual understandings of commandments", (or any Biblical Mystical Teaching), actually good enough reflections of the "True Knowledge? Does your life internalize them and both reflect and worship/honor the direct Source (God)? Do you "carry and have" "wisdom and sanctity" as if it's a "thing YOU made and possess? What's the Source and substance of your (worldly) knowledge (riches)?
"You lack ONE < thing. >" (includes a hint with the demonstration of Jesus;s Love, continues His message of Mysticism, and teases with the word , "thing" as in, "a rich man's" arrogance of "wanting to have all < things >" "(external things, intellectual, learned teachings) but living in poverty,, forever lacking and searching for the "that some-"thing" he's missing" -- a hint at the healing, restoring, fulfillment of human souls in the non-dualistic,/unitiive ONE, God''s Christ-in-All's direct Truth and Only Source).
"give to the poor AND you will have treasure in heaven" ("And" is such a powerful, nuanced word., .And "have" has its own Mysticism message when paired with "heaven")
"How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. .".. (Mystical hint about "effort")
"... For mortals, it is impossible..". ("effort", and "ego",, "confusion"" and "self-hatred")
"...but not for God " (God is Creator. Love. Grace )
."..for God, ALL-things are possible" (breathtakingly expansive, and inclusive -- Love and God's Free Gift of Grace within humans and throughout all of Creation)
Mysticism was a Biblical layer of Truth that was foundational to both Judaism' and Jesus's message. It's both heartbreaking and infuriating that it was erased from view over the last few centuries.
And that Jesus's egalitarian Wisdom Mysticism was subverted so easily, and so soon after his death. (Mary Magdalen was trivialized by the disciples already in the Gospels.) Jesus and His Mystical Teachings made the elites angrily uncomfortable, Right from the start, they set out to "fix" that radically egalitarian message of his....
Yes! I had a similar experience as a young medical student. Raised Catholic, only those called into vocation need relinquish all. But as a newly minted evangelical, I read that passage for myself. And then was taught not to take it so seriously. As an unlabeled Christian, I feel the tug and always will feel I fail to give 100%. But I work for justice every single day, and for my own discernment to grow.
Tremendous gratitude for The Cottage. I get so much out of it – how it stretches me.
Today, I particularly took your advice to listen to my homilist and see where he would go with this gospel. Actually, today we had a visiting priest from Atlanta. A young guy. I was even more stretched by his homily. This morning, from the reading on The Cottage (BTY-I very much miss your voice!) you emphasized a hard look at the possessions and the giving up of those possessions. I found this very convicting – and so appreciate the way you took this on. So, I was anxious to hear how this young priest (10 years ordained) would deal with the passage. He didn't hesitate to talk about giving up possessions ("stuff") and then, most of all, he went after these phrases in Mark: "Jesus, looking at him, loved him (and then after "sell what you own . . . ") he focused on the last line of this paragraph: "then come, follow me." And where the homilist went with this last line was to talk about love or union with Christ. In other words, that the purpose of giving up wealth was (certainly not having a bargaining chip to get into heaven but) to have this incredible union, love relationship that really was answering what the young man originally was seeking when he approached Jesus with his question. Bob O'Gorman
My reply is not about interpretation but words & images that prompted memories from long ago growing up in a small, rural Baptist church.
I participated in the sword drills as a youth. As an adult, I was a children’s leader. One of the extra tasks I did was teach both children & youth in Bible Skills & Drills. Vocabulary changed through the years but the skills remained the same. Those Scriptures I learned as a young person has helped me throughout my life.
I could mention so many examples. However, I may have been motivated to write my own Substack. Thank you.
It seems we “blessed” Americans interpret scripture in our own best interest (more metaphorical than literal). That is also true of “less-blessed” people who espouse Liberation theology (more literal than metaphorical). The question remains: what is in God’s best interest? Or whose best interest is best? In the Kingdom of God, the first will be last and the last will be first, but are they not all THERE at last anyway?
As a Christian and trained economist, I have two thoughts on wealth. First, I hold to the more common non-literal interpretation that Jesus was preaching spiritual transformation (rich people were viewed to be righteous and blessed by God for their good works). Second, there are many Christian billionaires who use their wealth to lift others. Their wealth generates funds from returns on investments. If they give away all their wealth their source of philanthropic funds are gone. A corollary to this is the complete philanthropic disposal of wealth at death which many of these billionaires choose to do.
In his most recent book, The Great Search, John Philip Newell points out that the "camel" in this famous parable is a mistranslation (p. 136). The Greek for "camel" and "rope" are very similar-- go figure!
"It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle...." is an immediately understandable image, isn't it. No need for esoteric knowledge of Jerusalem's Old City gates.
And yet, hundreds of years of scholars have just rolled right over this, preferring to get caught up in the confusing and nonsensical, and somehow sidestepping the impact of the obvious.
I think this is another way in which we tell ourselves, "Jesus didn't really mean what he said."
Years ago I learned that the gates to the city of Jerusalem that were accessible at night were referred to as “the eye of a camel” because a large animal like a camel could not twist (like a thread) to get into the “Holy City.” It has always been a meaningful metaphor. As I think about a human view of access to eternal life, I see the promise of Jesus’ words do speak to me in my middle class life. ( I need to empty my closets and give from my heart rather than from my wealth.
A wonderful missive and explanation from beginning to end. It proclaims the truth - the one truth and most all of us are at fault. Thank you for holding up the mirror, gently and kindly and causing us to reflect and take action. Bless you and all your readers.
I've noticed the same thing about my closet. Thanks for the reminder friend.
Ken
Thank you Diana. I had never heard of "sword drills" among Christians!!! Talk about taking a single sentence out of context and making it mean something weird. ELCA Lutheran biblical hermeneutics moves from the Word of God as the Christ (the living personal word), the message of and about Christ (the spoken word), and finally the scriptures (written word).
Here's how I wove the text from Hebrews into the introduction to my sermon:
Our first reading from Hebrews begins with the declaration:
the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account (4:12-13).
When we hear the phrase “word of God” most often we think “Bible.” But in our reading, the Word of God is not a book, but a person! The Word of God is Christ Jesus who was, is, and always will be alive and active, like a two-edged sword able to judge the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, and to whom we must render account.
These two verses function like a content warning — one of those notices that appear on the screen before a movie starts, alerting the viewer to be prepared for potentially disturbing images, speech or ideas. Our reading from Hebrews is a content warning, crying out: Heads up! This gospel lesson will make you cringe and squirm and do mental contortions trying to convince yourself Jesus doesn’t really mean what he says.
Me, too. And, I am too attached to stuff. It was a tough and thought provoking sermon and small group discussion yesterday.
I also go to the obvious “problem” first—Jesus’s words here can easily be seen as consistent with many of his other teachings. But I think we may be missing something—we are products of a culture, one that not only encourages wealth but sees it as obviously deserving of great reward. That’s “the way things work,” isn’t it?
But the teachings of Jesus conform well to a passage Diana also refers to—the first shall be last and the last first. Could we interpret that as saying that following cultural convention is an inadequate response to the teachings of Jesus? Jesus often points out that, in terms of the love of neighbor, for instance, social convention’s rule book isn’t what he asks us to follow. He wants the Kingdom, the Realm of God on earth. He’s prepared to empty himself as needed to achieve this reversal. So it seems to be what he asks of the rich young ruler. But he begins with a premise that was foreign even to that distant cultural mindset.
The clash between Kingdom values and cultural values is real and very powerful.
So many of the sentences in Mark's passage have layers of potential meaning.-- which is exactly the way wisdom texts pierce the soul and stretch you in new directions, with new nuances unfolding the more often you take these texts into your own self in deeper pondering.
Facets of wisdom shine at unexpected moments, especially when you add in the hints of Biblical Mystical teachings.
Consider, some of the possibilities loaded into these segments, and how they add richness to the important surface-textual (story-line) interpretation:
"Why do YOU call ME good? ... " (Ask and ponder what you want from me (Jesus), where are you'looking for answers, and what you lack, And the Source of All Good is a Mystical lesson)
"...<No one> is Good but <God alone.>" (includes rich layers of meaning from the Mystical Path and its Revelation. God is ONE. God's Essence is Good, and Source of All Goodness)
"You "know" the commandments." (Do you"know" them from within, and are "outward obedience" and " intellectual understandings of commandments", (or any Biblical Mystical Teaching), actually good enough reflections of the "True Knowledge? Does your life internalize them and both reflect and worship/honor the direct Source (God)? Do you "carry and have" "wisdom and sanctity" as if it's a "thing YOU made and possess? What's the Source and substance of your (worldly) knowledge (riches)?
"You lack ONE < thing. >" (includes a hint with the demonstration of Jesus;s Love, continues His message of Mysticism, and teases with the word , "thing" as in, "a rich man's" arrogance of "wanting to have all < things >" "(external things, intellectual, learned teachings) but living in poverty,, forever lacking and searching for the "that some-"thing" he's missing" -- a hint at the healing, restoring, fulfillment of human souls in the non-dualistic,/unitiive ONE, God''s Christ-in-All's direct Truth and Only Source).
"give to the poor AND you will have treasure in heaven" ("And" is such a powerful, nuanced word., .And "have" has its own Mysticism message when paired with "heaven")
"How hard it is to enter the kingdom of God. .".. (Mystical hint about "effort")
"... For mortals, it is impossible..". ("effort", and "ego",, "confusion"" and "self-hatred")
"...but not for God " (God is Creator. Love. Grace )
."..for God, ALL-things are possible" (breathtakingly expansive, and inclusive -- Love and God's Free Gift of Grace within humans and throughout all of Creation)
Mysticism was a Biblical layer of Truth that was foundational to both Judaism' and Jesus's message. It's both heartbreaking and infuriating that it was erased from view over the last few centuries.
And that Jesus's egalitarian Wisdom Mysticism was subverted so easily, and so soon after his death. (Mary Magdalen was trivialized by the disciples already in the Gospels.) Jesus and His Mystical Teachings made the elites angrily uncomfortable, Right from the start, they set out to "fix" that radically egalitarian message of his....
Yes! I had a similar experience as a young medical student. Raised Catholic, only those called into vocation need relinquish all. But as a newly minted evangelical, I read that passage for myself. And then was taught not to take it so seriously. As an unlabeled Christian, I feel the tug and always will feel I fail to give 100%. But I work for justice every single day, and for my own discernment to grow.
Long time reader; first-time responder.
Tremendous gratitude for The Cottage. I get so much out of it – how it stretches me.
Today, I particularly took your advice to listen to my homilist and see where he would go with this gospel. Actually, today we had a visiting priest from Atlanta. A young guy. I was even more stretched by his homily. This morning, from the reading on The Cottage (BTY-I very much miss your voice!) you emphasized a hard look at the possessions and the giving up of those possessions. I found this very convicting – and so appreciate the way you took this on. So, I was anxious to hear how this young priest (10 years ordained) would deal with the passage. He didn't hesitate to talk about giving up possessions ("stuff") and then, most of all, he went after these phrases in Mark: "Jesus, looking at him, loved him (and then after "sell what you own . . . ") he focused on the last line of this paragraph: "then come, follow me." And where the homilist went with this last line was to talk about love or union with Christ. In other words, that the purpose of giving up wealth was (certainly not having a bargaining chip to get into heaven but) to have this incredible union, love relationship that really was answering what the young man originally was seeking when he approached Jesus with his question. Bob O'Gorman
I find your musings profound & thought provoking.
My reply is not about interpretation but words & images that prompted memories from long ago growing up in a small, rural Baptist church.
I participated in the sword drills as a youth. As an adult, I was a children’s leader. One of the extra tasks I did was teach both children & youth in Bible Skills & Drills. Vocabulary changed through the years but the skills remained the same. Those Scriptures I learned as a young person has helped me throughout my life.
I could mention so many examples. However, I may have been motivated to write my own Substack. Thank you.
It seems we “blessed” Americans interpret scripture in our own best interest (more metaphorical than literal). That is also true of “less-blessed” people who espouse Liberation theology (more literal than metaphorical). The question remains: what is in God’s best interest? Or whose best interest is best? In the Kingdom of God, the first will be last and the last will be first, but are they not all THERE at last anyway?
Thank you so much for this hard truth to contemplate. I love Sunday Musings! My spiritual food for thought and life!
Ouch.
As a Christian and trained economist, I have two thoughts on wealth. First, I hold to the more common non-literal interpretation that Jesus was preaching spiritual transformation (rich people were viewed to be righteous and blessed by God for their good works). Second, there are many Christian billionaires who use their wealth to lift others. Their wealth generates funds from returns on investments. If they give away all their wealth their source of philanthropic funds are gone. A corollary to this is the complete philanthropic disposal of wealth at death which many of these billionaires choose to do.
In his most recent book, The Great Search, John Philip Newell points out that the "camel" in this famous parable is a mistranslation (p. 136). The Greek for "camel" and "rope" are very similar-- go figure!
"It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle...." is an immediately understandable image, isn't it. No need for esoteric knowledge of Jerusalem's Old City gates.
And yet, hundreds of years of scholars have just rolled right over this, preferring to get caught up in the confusing and nonsensical, and somehow sidestepping the impact of the obvious.
I think this is another way in which we tell ourselves, "Jesus didn't really mean what he said."
Years ago I learned that the gates to the city of Jerusalem that were accessible at night were referred to as “the eye of a camel” because a large animal like a camel could not twist (like a thread) to get into the “Holy City.” It has always been a meaningful metaphor. As I think about a human view of access to eternal life, I see the promise of Jesus’ words do speak to me in my middle class life. ( I need to empty my closets and give from my heart rather than from my wealth.
Thank you for your honesty. I preached this morning and referenced you a couple of times, and read Malcolm Guite's poem at the start.