bible blog 710

April 13, 2012 · by · in Uncategorized · Leave a comment

This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:

North Korean missile falls into the sea

oops

13The Lord said to Moses:2Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.<!– 11 –>

The Consecration of the Firstborn

11 ‘When the Lord has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and has given it to you,12you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your livestock that are males shall be the Lord’s.13But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem.14When in the future your child asks you, “What does this mean?” you shall answer, “By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.15When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborn to the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.”16It shall serve as a sign on your hand and as an emblem* on your forehead that by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.’

This is another example (see blog 709) of how God’s deliverance of the people from Egypt becomes an “eternal event” which doesn’t slip into the past but is actualised over and over again in the custom of the people-in this case, the sacrifice of the first-born animal, and, by proxy of animal substitution, first-born human children. Such sacrifices existed in the customs of other peoples at the time, so we may guess that the Israelites reintepreted existing custom for the new purpose of celebrating God’s “mighty deeds.” I have a slightly uneasy feeling nevertheless about this custom. It’s almost as if they knew God could be a killer and proper sacrifices would make sure he didn’t kill their first-born. The status of the first-born male child as belonging to God has profound echoes in Judaism-think of Isaac or Samuel-and even within Christianity-think of Jesus.

He Qi

Luke 24:1-12

The Resurrection of Jesus

24But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,3but when they went in, they did not find the body.*4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.5The women* were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men* said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.*6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’8Then they remembered his words,9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.*

The resurrection: Zacek

The day of rest is over, it’s the first day of the week when everyone gets back to work, and some women disciples are stunned to find that the stone at Jesus tomb is rolled away and shining messengers tell them that Jesus is risen. This is a version of the one story which Mark gives of the rsurrection. Luke copies it but in a subtly different register. He keeps the terror of the women but gives it a more ordered form-they bow with their faces to the ground while Mark’s run terrified away. Luke’s women tell the other disciples, whereas Mark’s are silent. Luke’s messengers ask the crucial question, “Why look for living amongst the dead?” and they remind the women that Jesus had foretold his suffering and death. There is a delicacy in the Gospels’ portrayal of resurrection. Of course resurrection involves the body of Jesus-his risen presence is bodily-but the relationship between the dead body and the raised body is left respectfully unexamined. The risen body of Jesus has the marks of the nails and the spear which identify him as the crucified one, but He is not always immediately recognisable by his disciples. St.Paul speaks of the mortal body being “clothed with immortality” and envisages two kinds of body, one mortal, one immortal, each with its appropriate “glory”. How did the mortal body of Jesus become immortal? A careful reading of the gospels produces no answer to this question. My answer is that it’s the same for Jesus as for us: the mortal body is left behind, dust to dust, and the new body is created by God. If the bones of Jesus were to be discovered in Israel, it would make absolutely no difference to my faith in the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
Perhaps I should try to say why it’s important to my faith to believe that God does not interfere directly in the affairs of his creation. I believe that all God’s interventions are through his creatures. So when people talk about miracles they mean unexpected goodness which happens in and through God’s creatures. God does not play dice with the universe: his wisdom  has established its rules and He does not break them. Why do I want to say that? Well, my daughter has just begun work as a minister. In her first week she’s been dealing with a man dying of cancer and the death by suicide of a young man. I’ve dealt with similar human suffering throughout my ministry.

If God does sometimes intervene, why the hell doesn’t He intervene more often?

My answer is that God has given total freedom to the universe to be itself. If human beings are to have free will, that freedom has to be given to every atom in the universe. God works amongst his creatures by persuasion and inspiration but not by inteference. There are no exceptions, he has no favourites. That’s the nature of God’s love. So I can’t believe that God stooped to any hocus-pocus with a dead body in the case of his son Jesus.  But if we are “with God”, and I believe the dead are with God, we are no longer part of this universe and no longer subject to its rules.

Wise readers will be able to spot all sorts of problems with his view, some of which I’ve noticed myself. Still, it’s all part of my struggle to make sense of my Christian faith and  my commitment to scientific truth, and may therefore be some help others engaged in the same struggle.

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