This blog provides a meditation on the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news:
Hugo Chavez re-elected in Venezuela: voice of the poor decisive
Chavez: can he keep his integrity?
Acts 22:30-23:11
Paul before the Council
30 Since he wanted to find out what Paul* was being accused of by the Jews, the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire council to meet. He brought Paul down and had him stand before them.
23While Paul was looking intently at the council he said, ‘Brothers,* up to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.’2Then the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near him to strike him on the mouth.3At this Paul said to him, ‘God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?’4Those standing nearby said, ‘Do you dare to insult God’s high priest?’5And Paul said, ‘I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, “You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.” ’
6 When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection* of the dead.’7When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.8(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)9Then a great clamour arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, ‘We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?’10When the dissension became violent, the tribune, fearing that they would tear Paul to pieces, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force, and bring him into the barracks.
11 That night the Lord stood near him and said, ‘Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.’
The defenceless Chrst: Rouault
Perhaps Luke’s narrative exaggerates the readiness of Roman officials to meditate in the religious disputes of their conquered peoples. This episode shows Paul, who has completely rejected his Pharisaic status, using it to gain himself some support in the Sanhedrin. Perhaps he is obeying Jesus’ command to use the wisdom of snakes and the mildness of doves. In any case, in Luke’s opinion all this trouble is merely a means whereby God will arrange his transfer to Rome. In the end of the day, what is for Roman officials a minor incident in a remote province, is for Luke a means by which the great apostle can preach the gospel in the heart of the empire. In his version of history it is the protagonist’s defencelessness which makes him useful to God.
This can be true of any person of faith.
Luke 6:39-49
39 He also told them a parable: ‘Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?40A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.41Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s* eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?42Or how can you say to your neighbour,* “Friend,* let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s* eye.
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;44for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.45The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.
The Two Foundations
46 ‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you?47I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.48That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.*49But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.’
built on sand?
These are three marvellous teachings of Jesus, all of which bear on the intergrity of discipleship.
1. Discipleship is first of all a way of personal conversion. There is a temptation to skip this and move into the role of leading others. Sensitivity to the faults of others is seldom matched with a equal sensitivity to one’s own. Jesus comic image of the log in the eye laughs at this pretence.
2. Conversion means a change of character. It is not simply adding good deeds to one’s repetoire of behaviours. A genuine encounter with God’s loving justice in Jesus always issues in what the scripture calls metanoia: a complete re-orientation of the self. Good deeds are done by good people.
3. A merely emotional attachment to Jesus can seem like discipleship even to the one who feels it. But Jesus points out that when such discipleship is put under pressure, it is revealed as having no secure basis. Hearing and obeying the good news is the only foundation for true discipleship. (It’s interesting that Luke gets the housebuilding parable right. It’s a question of foundation. Matthew suggests that being built on sand is insecure. This is nonsense. Think of the pyramids. Jesus, a housebuilder himself, would never have made such a mistake.)
Anyone with a knowledge of religious communities, or of their own behavour as believers, knows how shrewd Jesus’ advice is. Human capacity for self-deception is boundless and can distort faith into arrogant leadership, superficial amendment of life, or shallow emotionalism. Living with Jesus’ wisdom is not easy but it saves us from our worst follies.
We should also note that this teaching is given in a vivid and humorous form which is one of the marks of Jesus’ sanity. If religious teaching seems too hysterical to be true, it probably is.
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