The Son of Man
Satan
- not personal names
titles? roles?
What does Jesus mean by the Son of Man?
Monday, 2 March 2009
The Godly Play version
'Well, never mind. Change your names anyway.'
Sometimes Abram would go out to the edge of the desert and look out across the sand and into the sky. Then God came so close to Abram, and Abram came so close to God, that he knew what God wanted him to do. God wanted Abram and Sarai to move on again to another new place.
Abram and Sarai did what God said. They went into the desert to the west of Haran and walked toward Canaan. They went with all their sheep, their tents and many helpers. Abram’s brother’s son, Lot, also went with them. This time there was no river to show the way or to give them water to drink.
They finally came to a place called Shechem. Abram climbed up a hill and prayed to God, and God was there, so Abram built an altar to mark the place. Then they went on.
Next they came to a place called Bethel. Abram prayed again and God was there, also. Abram built an altar to mark this place, too. God was not just here or there. All of God was everywhere.
Then they went on to Hebron to make their home, near the oaks of Mamre.
One night God brought Abram outside. He looked up into the sky. God came so close to Abram, and Abram came so close to God, that Abram knew what God was saying. ‘You will become the father of a great family, and Sarai will be the mother. The members of that family will be as many as there are stars in the sky and grains of sand in the desert.’
Abram laughed. He and Sarai were very old. God’s promise sounded impossible, but God said to change their names anyway. Abram was to be Abraham and Sarai was to be Sarah.
Lent 2 readings
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’
Mark 8:31-end
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’
Mark 8:31-end
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Saturday, 25 October 2008
A Last after Trinity 2008
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my word shall never pass away.
How do you think of the novel, Mrs Fitzgerald?
Long silence. I suppose I think of the novel... as something oblong.
Vincent Taylor, The Text of the New Testament, second edition, 1963, 18 shillings net, second-hand copy, according to the flyleaf once the property of Illegible McGoughlin:
the original autographs of the New Testament which it has pleased God not to protect from the accidents and fortunes of scribal transmission.
The solidity of the book: the fluidity of the text. Books are solid, oblong, portable, can prop up tables, stop bullets (allegedly), in political or personal extremity can light fires. They can get lost. They can be rediscovered during building work: 2 Kings 22. The people return from exile to a book. One of the reasons why books are oblong in the first place, and not cylindrical, is the way Christians spread round the Mediterranean in the first century.
At the same time, the fluidity of the text: manuscripts, battles over hand-copied bibles (to every cow its calf, to every copy its book), misreadings, well-meaning emendments, untranslatable verses, and ordinary misprints (‘printers have persecuted me without a cause’, Ps 119, 1702). Whereas ‘Now Barabbas was a publisher’ is not a misprint but an exasperated remark by a Scottish poet.
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my word shall never pass away.
Non-endings. Mark: women running. Matthew: the Great Commission. Luke: waiting for the Spirit. John: the world could not hold the books that would be written.
‘... in the interests of truth.’
The word made its mark. Broadcasting House was in fact dedicated to the strangest project of the war, or of any war, that is, telling the truth. Without prompting, the BBC had decided that truth was more important than consolation, and, in the long run, would be more effective. And yet there was no guarantee of this. Truth ensures trust, but not victory, or even happiness. But the BBC had clung tenaciously to its first notion, droning quietly on, at intervals from dawn to midnight, telling, as far as possible, exactly what happened. An idea so unfamiliar was bound to upset many of the other authorities, but they had got used to it little by little, and the listeners had always expected it.
How do you think of the novel, Mrs Fitzgerald?
Long silence. I suppose I think of the novel... as something oblong.
Vincent Taylor, The Text of the New Testament, second edition, 1963, 18 shillings net, second-hand copy, according to the flyleaf once the property of Illegible McGoughlin:
the original autographs of the New Testament which it has pleased God not to protect from the accidents and fortunes of scribal transmission.
The solidity of the book: the fluidity of the text. Books are solid, oblong, portable, can prop up tables, stop bullets (allegedly), in political or personal extremity can light fires. They can get lost. They can be rediscovered during building work: 2 Kings 22. The people return from exile to a book. One of the reasons why books are oblong in the first place, and not cylindrical, is the way Christians spread round the Mediterranean in the first century.
At the same time, the fluidity of the text: manuscripts, battles over hand-copied bibles (to every cow its calf, to every copy its book), misreadings, well-meaning emendments, untranslatable verses, and ordinary misprints (‘printers have persecuted me without a cause’, Ps 119, 1702). Whereas ‘Now Barabbas was a publisher’ is not a misprint but an exasperated remark by a Scottish poet.
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my word shall never pass away.
Non-endings. Mark: women running. Matthew: the Great Commission. Luke: waiting for the Spirit. John: the world could not hold the books that would be written.
‘... in the interests of truth.’
The word made its mark. Broadcasting House was in fact dedicated to the strangest project of the war, or of any war, that is, telling the truth. Without prompting, the BBC had decided that truth was more important than consolation, and, in the long run, would be more effective. And yet there was no guarantee of this. Truth ensures trust, but not victory, or even happiness. But the BBC had clung tenaciously to its first notion, droning quietly on, at intervals from dawn to midnight, telling, as far as possible, exactly what happened. An idea so unfamiliar was bound to upset many of the other authorities, but they had got used to it little by little, and the listeners had always expected it.
Lost Books
Nehemiah's talking about a book that had been lost. This is the rediscovery of the book. Coming home to the book (look at how important it is that everyone understands) is coming back from exile.
There was a lost book that was discovered when Josiah was rebuilding the Temple. 2 Kings 22.
Lost books. The library of Alexandria. Books you lend to people. Books you once had and books you can't quite remember. Books out there propping up tables, left on trains, adrift in the world.
There was a lost book that was discovered when Josiah was rebuilding the Temple. 2 Kings 22.
In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, 4‘Go up to the high priest Hilkiah, and have him count the entire sum of the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; 5let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the Lord; let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, 6that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house. 7But no account shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.’That was before the exile. Nehemiah is about returning from exile. During the exile, when the land was lost, the exiles remembered their story and again rediscovered the book. Bits of books they already had, bits they put together, bits that were their own history.The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’ When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. 9Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, ‘Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the Lord.’ 10Shaphan the secretary informed the king, ‘The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.’ Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.
When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, 13‘Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.’
Lost books. The library of Alexandria. Books you lend to people. Books you once had and books you can't quite remember. Books out there propping up tables, left on trains, adrift in the world.
the original autographs of the New Testament which it has pleased God not to protect from the accidents and fortunes of scribal transmission(Vincent Taylor, preface, The Text of the New Testament, 1963, second-hand copy, 18s net, formerly the property of Illegible O'Loughlin, 1969)
Thursday, 23 October 2008
A Last after Trinity; Bible Sunday: readings
Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 8-12
all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose;
and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen’, lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
Colossians 3:12-17
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Matthew 24: 30-35
Jesus said:
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose;
and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen’, lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
[omitted in the passage as set by the lectionary - because of the names?]
So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, ‘Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.’ And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.Colossians 3:12-17
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Matthew 24: 30-35
Jesus said:
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven” with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Creation 5
The word Jesus uses for ‘perfect’, in the alarming teaching ‘Be perfect as God is perfect’, is τέλειος, and it means complete, finished, something that has done what is was supposed to do or become what it is supposed to be. If I go home today and pick apples and make the perfect apple crumble, that is a teleios apple crumble and the apples are teleioi. They have become completely what they are supposed to be, at least from my point of view. Which makes it interesting that from the apples’ point of view they aren’t perfect, they aren’t even apples any more in any way that an apple might recognise, because I’ve eaten them.
So Jesus is not saying to the crowds Be nice or Be nicer or Go further or Do more or even Be different. He is saying Be everything. Be everything you are supposed to be. Find everything you are, do it all, get there, finish the race. Be perfect.
And to illustrate this - as a model - he points them towards God. God is perfect. That doesn’t mean God is exceptionally good at everything or always keeps his room tidy. It means God is completely God, is everything God can be. I am that I am, says God, introducing himself to Moses. God is perfectly God, God is completely God: God is.
That’s one thing we know about God. God is. The other thing we know is the whole story that says that for God, being God means loving us. And not just us here but also the apples in my crumble and the planet Jupiter and the centipedes in my compost heap and all the people I particularly dislike. That’s what the first reading is about. Something perfect might be something complete in itself, something that didn’t need anything else. But God is perfectly God, and it’s not that sort of perfect. God pours himself out in love; being God means doing that. This is not the perfect calm of a lake: this is a torrent, a waterfall, Niagara.
Jesus is talking to the crowd about other people. How they could be towards other people. He is saying Be towards other people the way God is to other people. Don’t be nice to the nice ones and disapproving to the nasty ones. Love them. Not because that will do them a lot of good, but because you need to be perfect. You need to be everything that you are, the way God is everything God is, and you cannot do that by closing up inside yourself and being perfectly cut off; or by judging other people and being perfectly right; you have to do it by loving people. You may end up unrecognisable to yourself or your friends, the way the apples ended up unrecognisable as apples. But you will have become the person God is pouring himself out to make.
So Jesus is not saying to the crowds Be nice or Be nicer or Go further or Do more or even Be different. He is saying Be everything. Be everything you are supposed to be. Find everything you are, do it all, get there, finish the race. Be perfect.
And to illustrate this - as a model - he points them towards God. God is perfect. That doesn’t mean God is exceptionally good at everything or always keeps his room tidy. It means God is completely God, is everything God can be. I am that I am, says God, introducing himself to Moses. God is perfectly God, God is completely God: God is.
That’s one thing we know about God. God is. The other thing we know is the whole story that says that for God, being God means loving us. And not just us here but also the apples in my crumble and the planet Jupiter and the centipedes in my compost heap and all the people I particularly dislike. That’s what the first reading is about. Something perfect might be something complete in itself, something that didn’t need anything else. But God is perfectly God, and it’s not that sort of perfect. God pours himself out in love; being God means doing that. This is not the perfect calm of a lake: this is a torrent, a waterfall, Niagara.
Jesus is talking to the crowd about other people. How they could be towards other people. He is saying Be towards other people the way God is to other people. Don’t be nice to the nice ones and disapproving to the nasty ones. Love them. Not because that will do them a lot of good, but because you need to be perfect. You need to be everything that you are, the way God is everything God is, and you cannot do that by closing up inside yourself and being perfectly cut off; or by judging other people and being perfectly right; you have to do it by loving people. You may end up unrecognisable to yourself or your friends, the way the apples ended up unrecognisable as apples. But you will have become the person God is pouring himself out to make.
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