The Week of March 31, 2014

Read The Bible In A Year:

Exodus 14-16
2 Chronicles 1-9
Psalms 52-54
Proverbs 14-15
Mark 13-14

The Revised Common Lectionary:

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11:1-45

Did Jesus Exist?

A quotation from Bart Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth:

Because of where I teach, almost all of my students come from conservative Christian backgrounds and already have both a vested interest in and a firm set of opinions about the subject matter. That makes biblical studies unlike almost any other academic discipline in the university, and it is why courses in the field are perfect for a liberal arts education. Students who take courses in other areas of the humanities... do not usually hold fixed ideas about the subject. As a result, they simply are not shocked by what they learn.... [Their] opinions [about biblical studies] can be challenged in class, and when they are, students are forced to think. Since one of the goals of a liberal arts education is to teach students how to think, courses in biblical studies are perfect.

Particular Examen

A quotation from Thomas Dubay's Seeking Spiritual Direction: How to Grow the Divine Life Within:

Particular Examen. Ideally suited to what we have just remarked is the practice promoted in many religious orders of a daily checkup on one specific virtue to be acquired or fault to be overcome. At a regular time each day a person, lay or religious, examines how he or she has done during the previous twenty-four hours regarding a fault (impatient reactions or idle words or coldness toward another) or a virtue (temperance at meals, thinking before speaking, recalling God's presence). Then, for a few more moments, the particular individual plans specifically how to improve on that point during the next day. The examen closes with a brief prayer for success. Fidelity to this exercise obviously is a great aid to steady growth.

The Passion of Jesus

It's very interesting that the word "passion" continues to be used by Christians to describe the last moments of the life of Jesus. The language is traditional and comes from the use of the Greek verb paschein in the New Testament, which means "to suffer". The word is used frequently in the New Testament, including thirteen times in the synoptic gospels. Although nine of those instances are descriptions of the suffering that Jesus will endure at the end of his life, it is not used in the same way that we might use "The Passion" today to encapsulate both the suffering before Christ's death as well as the death itself. For instance, Mark 8:31 puts the following on the lips of Jesus:

The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chiefs priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise up.  

There's a distinction there between the suffering he expected to endure and his actual death. This understanding is supported by the other four usages of the verb paschein in the synoptic gospels, which all describe the suffering of other people in circumstances that will not lead to death. But it didn't take long before Christians began describing the period of suffering between the garden of Gethsemane and the crucifixion as "The Passion" and this usage was clearly understood by Christians for several centuries.

Of course, the English word "passion" (which comes from the Greek paschein and Latin passio) is used very differently today. We rarely if ever use it to describe suffering outside the context of Christian theology. Instead, we use the word to describe intense feeling, usually positive, especially though not exclusively in romantic contexts. No one would question me being, say, passionate about my wife, but I could also be passionate about my work or my faith so long as I have a deep felt sense of my commitment to both.

It seems to me that this new meaning is having a significant impact on our understanding of the suffering and death of Jesus. Because we describe the suffering and death as "The Passion" we can't help but hear it as being deeply connected to the love that Jesus has for humanity, perhaps even as an expression of that love. This certainly isn't a bad thing, but it's a connection that's made so easy for us because of the way our language has developed, which is certainly a happy accident!

It also leads me to wonder. If we understand the word "passion" in this way it seems to me that we could use it more broadly for the life of Jesus as a whole. We could easily understand the entire ministry of Jesus as "The Passion", an expression of the deep felt sense he had about his purpose in the world and the love that he had for all people. I say that not to take away from the very real suffering he endured at the end of his life, but rather to highlight the fact that the suffering is intimately connected to the way he lived.

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Matt Redman

This song is already extremely popular in part because of its wonderful chorus, but I wanted to highlight it because of the first verse. The idea that we rise each day to sing God's song in the world is a beautiful metaphor for the Christian life. It speaks to a playful, dynamic, and yet structured life with God. The last line in the verse is a prayer for faithfulness: "whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes." Remembering that faithfulness to God is the definition of a successful day strikes me as being particularly helpful for Christians living in a world where success is so often measured differently!

The Week of March 24, 2014

Read The Bible In A Year:

Exodus 12-13
1 Chronicles 10-29
Psalms 49-51
Proverbs 12-13
Mark 10-12

The Revised Common Lectionary:

1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14John 9:1-41

The Week of March 17, 2014

Read The Bible In A Year:

Exodus 4-11
1 Chronicles 1-9
Psalms 46-48
Proverbs 10-11
Mark 7-9

The Revised Common Lectionary:

Exodus 17:1-17
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42