(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
We, if we are Christian, are the Body of Christ. We are his physical representation in the world today. The life of the Spirit flows like blood thru us. It is the Wine of the New Covenant. In the Hands of Christ the meager and simple resources, bread and fish, are multiplied to satisfy the hungry and sick crowds.
“… all ate and were satisfied”
++ Lord, heal your Body. ++
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
Small party here tonight, so only one short comment. I got a picture of New Orleans when reading the first portion of today’s Psalm, especially in light of the storm described yesterday.
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
++ May God, the Creator of heaven and earth, heal and resurrect the people of New Orleans and all who suffer by water. ++
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
I love the imagery in the second half of our Psalm. I can picture the storm, the clouds turning day into night, the thunder and lightning. And yet, the God of the storm is also a safe haven and refuge from the storm. Lovely Paradox!
The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded
amid hailstones and bolts of lightningHe shot his arrows and scattered the enemies ,
great bolts of lightning and routed them.The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
A quick thought about dreams, which feature so prominently in Joseph’s life. Mike (I think) has asked why dreams don’t play a bigger role today. Seems a very good question, since Jesus promised young and old would have dream dreams and see visions. Yet by the testimony given today, few (if any) are experiencing dreams and visions.
Something seems to be impeding the work of the Spirit who gives dreams and visions. What do you think is blocking the flow? My current reading (which I’ll blog about after finishing a couple more posts from Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger) has some thoughts, but I’d like to hear yours.
Today’s Psalm is, indeed, a wonderful prayer. So, I repeat it here in full.
Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea;
listen to my cry.
Give ear to my prayer—
it does not rise from deceitful lips.May my vindication come from you;
may your eyes see what is right.Though you probe my heart and examine me at night,
though you test me, you will find nothing;
I have resolved that my mouth will not sin.As for the deeds of men—
by the word of your lips
I have kept myself
from the ways of the violent.My steps have held to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.I call on you, O God, for you will answer me;
give ear to me and hear my prayer.Show the wonder of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes.Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wingsfrom the wicked who assail me,
from my mortal enemies who surround me.They close up their callous hearts,
and their mouths speak with arrogance.They have tracked me down, they now surround me,
with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground.They are like a lion hungry for prey,
like a great lion crouching in cover.Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down;
rescue me from the wicked by your sword.O LORD, by your hand save me from such men,
from men of this world whose reward is in this life.
You still the hunger of those you cherish;
their sons have plenty,
and they store up wealth for their children.And I—in righteousness I will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
++ Lord, hear our prayer ++
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
I like Joseph. He’s an inspiring sort of guy. If anyone deserved to say, “To hell with it!” it was him. Yet, he doesn’t. He hangs in there and does the right thing. He’s honest to a fault. His is an example to which I can aspire.
I do have one question: Where does he get his character? Certainly not from his mom or dad. Nor his brothers. The whole lot of them were wags, though Reuben seems to have had a bit of integrity about himself.
I’m going to go with Dinah, his half sister. No particular reason jumps out from Scripture. I just think she had a hand in raising the baby of the family. And her horrific experience might have given her eyes to see beyond the moral ambiguity that surrounded her. So, Dinah it is.
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
Before we leave Jacob, let me share a song, Give Us Clean Hands by Chris Tomlin (iTMS)
We bow our hearts
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes
From evil things
Oh Lord we cast down our idolsSo give us clean hands
and give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another
Oh God let this be
a generation that seeks
Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob
I’ve always found this line interesting. Why “God of Jacob?” Is it just a stand in for the whole moniker: the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob? I don’t know what Tomlin was thinking, but here’s what I’m hearing.
Ours is the God of the dirty. Ours is the God of the double-crossing and the double-crossed. Ours of the God of the cheater, the swindler, and the liar. Ours is the God of the meth addict, the tax evader, the porn surfer, and the child beater. Ours is the God of the fallen.
But we know this… or at least we should. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that ours is the God of the dirty. That’s not the radical part.
This is. Look back at Jacob’s story. Did you pick up on the fact that Jacob never really turns his life around? Not completely at least. I mean we see moments, a prayer here and there, that shows he gets it. He gets who God is and what God’s about. But he never manages to shake loose from the dirt.
Don’t mistake this for license. God wants us to be clean. He wants to transform our lives, and set us free from the chains that weigh heavy on our souls. But God gets the fact that it’s hard… damn hard… even with Divine help.
And so I say it again.
Ours is the God of the dirty. Ours is the God of the double-crossing and the double-crossed. Ours of the God of the cheater, the swindler, and the liar. Ours is the God of the meth addict, the tax evader, the porn surfer, and the child beater. Ours is the God of the fallen.
Even if we never make it out of the mud, God is still willing to be our God. God always desires holiness, but God’s faithfulness is never contingent upon holiness.
++ All Thanks and Praise be to the God of the dirty ++
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In Chapter 5, Thinking Biblically about Property & Possessions, Sider turns his attention to our stuff. The first thing he does is remind us that we to not own anything. We are just stewards of God’s stuff. From the book:
How does the biblical view that Yahweh is Lord of all of life require a modification of the common belief that the right of private property is absolute and inviolable? The Bible insists that God alone has an absolute right to property. Furthermore, it teaches that this Absolute Owner places significant limitations on how his people acquire and use his property.
The limitations on the rights of man as steward are shaped by the principles of Jubilee, Sabbath, Tithe, and Gleaning.
Chapter 6, Structural Evil & World Hunger, is a long chapter that gets fairly complex. This notion of structural evil is one that doesn’t get much play in some circles – whether we’re talking about poverty or racism or any of the world’s other myriad problems. For some, the systems are neutral shaped only by the individuals working within them. I would have to say that position is naive at best and complicit at worst.
Sider, however, does well to demonstrate that the world is not as innocent as some want to believe. Founded in the evils of imperialism and nurtured thru the greed of rampant nationalism and corporate profiteering, there are evil structures that ought to be opposed and deposed.
One more installment on Sider’s practical suggestions.
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
The saga of Jacob continues, only now he is called Israel. Interesting to see how he and Esau has changed over the course of two decades… and how they have stayed the same.
++ LORD, be a refuge for the poor. ++
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Chapter 4, Economic Relationships among the People of God
After making the case that God has a particular concern for the poor, Sider turns the lens inward to the church. What principles ought to govern the behaviors of Christians towards one another?
Sider begins by reviewing some distinctive traits of Torah economic law, specifically the Jubilee Year, the Sabbath Year, triennial Tithe, and the prohibition on gleaning. Next he looks at the example of the early church found in the Gospels, Acts and witnessed to in Paul’s letters. Sider’s thoughts are well summarized with this statement from a later chapter: “The essence of Christian community is open accountability to and far-reaching liability for our sisters and brothers in the body of Christ.”
His assessment can be summarized by the previous statement from that later chapter: “I am thoroughly convinced, however, that the overwhelming majority of Western churches no longer understand or experience biblical koinonia to any significant degree.” The grand statements of transformed Kingdom-economics that flow throughout the Biblical texts are a slap in the face the modern, Western church.
Again, allow me to close with an extended quote from Sider’s treatment of 1 Corinthians. (My emphasis of the last sentence in bold.)
Why was Paul so concerned with the financial problems of the Jerusalem church? Because of his understanding of fellowship. Koinonia is an extremely important concept in Paul’s theology. And it is central in his discussion of the collection.
Koinonia means fellowship with someone or participation in something. Believers enjoy fellowship with the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 1:9). Experiencing the koinonia of Jesus means having his righteousness imputed to us. It also entails sharing in the self-sacrificing, cross-bearing life he lived (Phil. 3:8-10). Nowhere is the Christian’s fellowship with Christ experienced more powerfully than in the Eucharist. Sharing in the Lord’s Supper draws the believer into a participation (koinonia) in the mystery of the cross: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation [koinonia] in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation [koinonia] in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16)
Paul’s immediate inference is that koinonia with Christ inevitably involves koinonia with all the members of the body of Christ. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17; see also 1 John 1:3-4). As seen in Ephesians 2, Christ’s death for jew and gentile, male and female, has broken down all ethnic, sexual, and cultural dividing walls. In Christ there is one new person, one new body of believers. When the brothers and sisters share the one bread and the common cup in the Lord’s Supper, they symbolize and actualize their participation in the one body of Christ.
That is why the class divisions at Corinth so horrified Paul. Apparently wealthy Christians feasted at the Eucharistic celebration while poor believers when hungry. Paul angrily denied that they were eating the Lord’s Supper at all (1 Cor. 11:20-22). In fact, they were profaning the Lord’s body and blood because they did not discern his body (1 Cor. 11:27-29).
But what did Paul mean when he charged that they did not discern the Lord’s body? To discern the Lord’s body is to understand and live the truth that fellowship with Christ is inseparable from membership in his body where our oneness in Christ far transcends differences of race or class. Discernment of that one body of believers leads to sweeping availability to and responsibility for the other sisters and brothers. Discernment of that one body prompts us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Discernment of that one body is totally incompatible with feasting while other members of the body go hungry. Those who live a practical denial of their unity and fellowship in Christ, Paul insists, drink judgment on themselves when they go to the Lord’s table. In fact, they do not really partake of the Lord’s Supper at all.
Once we understand the implication of Paul’s teaching on discerning the body in the Lord’s Supper, we dare not rest content until the scandal of starving Christians is removed. As long as any Christian anywhere in the world is hungry, the Eucharistic celebration of all Christians everywhere in the world is imperfect.
I venture Sider was gentle with the word “imperfect.” He could very easily have laid judgment similar to that which Paul passed on the Corinthian church; and he would not have been wrong.
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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)
More Jacob. More double-crossing, and betrayal. Would it be inappropriate to say, “Oi vey?”
Yeah, it would. We should never give up on someone; God doesn’t. I think I remember reading somewhere that love hopes all things… or something similarly “naive”. 
As Mike notes, here at the end of chapter 32 we begin to see change happening in Jacob: gratitude and remorse for example. (Perhaps I’m being generous, and Jacob is only fearing for himself. I am optimistically reading regret for his earlier treatment of Esau into his prayer.) Perhaps most interesting is how the change seems to have been wrought. Thru two decades of double-dealing and backstabbing between Jacob and Laban, God continued to bless Jacob.
“I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups. Save me, I pray….”
It truly is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.
++ I will sing to you, LORD, for you have been good to me. ++
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