Blind Faith

John 9:1-41

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth...

If you are a professional librarian, teacher or professor who reads this blog then you probably cringe at the fact that I use Wikipedia consistently as a reference. I will continue this dangerous practice in this post. In it's definition of Blindness, Wikipedia describes it as "the complete lack of form and visual light perception and is clinically recorded as NLP, an abbreviation for 'no light perception.'" In it's definition of Photography it describes it as "the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light... either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor." The tie that binds photography and blindness together is light. It actually doesn't tie them together but rather repels them apart, since photography requires light and blindness cannot perceive light. I included this extended prologue so that my introduction of Sonia Soberats would be that much more impactful. Sonia Soberats is a blind photographer. She was not always blind but rather lost her vision after losing her son to Hodgkin's Disease and her daughter to Ovarian Cancer in a three year span. She was left alone in a dark world. After these traumatic events she picked up photography and started to provide light to those with vision. She works with an assistant who sets up the tripod and camera but she is the one that provides the light that creates the image (using a process called light painting which has been used by other artists such as Pablo Picasso). Actually there are several blind photographers who are presently garnering fame with this same technique. Sometimes those who cannot physically process light can understand and share more about the beauty of light than the sighted can. Sometimes those with vision are the ones who live in the dark. In today's scripture reading we find Jesus (who described himself as the Light of the World) encountering a blind man who reveals the same truth.         

Blind From Birth                                                                  

 

...And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know”...

In every culture and age the blind have been known by their aid. This blind man in scripture was a beggar, receiving the aid of those who passed by. Today we see blind people empowered to work by the aid of a walking stick or a seeing eye dog. Jesus healed many in his earthly ministry. Yet this story of the man blind from birth stands out amongst the others. The author of the gospel has taken 41 verses to show us the story of the healing and its aftermath. It all starts when Jesus' Disciples ask him why this man was blind from birth. The prevailing thought of the day was that sin brought about sickness as judgment from God. Since this man was always blind the Disciples asked if the assumed judgment was due to some spiritual error of his parents. Jesus understood that life isn't as black and white as they thought: the chain of cause and effect has a nuance of shady gray. Maybe Jesus thought about the story of Job in the Old Testament, where all of Job's friends see his loss of health, fortune and family as the judgment of God for his sin. We as readers know that Job is suffering due to a wager between God and Satan (based on God's trust of Job's character) but Job is never given such an answer. His health and possessions are eventually restored but God is silent as to giving Him a reason. His answer is more of a "I have my reasons" response. In the end that is the answer to much of suffering in life: God has His reasons. Truly they are usually past our comprehension, hence the saying "the Lord moves in mysterious ways." Jesus had more insight into this particular case in specific, stating to his Disciples that "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me..." Maybe that is the answer to any suffering that we encounter as Christians and people of goodwill: God has allowed these things to occur so that He might be revealed through our good works. We are called to aid those in distress even as Christ once aided us in our spiritual distress.   

  Vision Test   

 

...They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”

He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”

The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out...

In between the general practitioner and dentist, in the hierarchy of medical professionals that people reverence, is the eye doctor. Just like the other two medics we visit the eye doctor yearly (or so) and go through a ritual that measures our health and sickness. The eye doctor puts us through a series of tests involving pictures of backwards letter E's and hot air balloons in the distance. In the ornate dance of attaining the right glasses, we go through several rounds of lying to him about being able to remember which lens is better... and he miraculously delivers the correct prescription! After the blind man was healed by Jesus the Pharisees put him through a series of tests. Spiritual tests are more like trials and this one takes the form of the constant back and forth of a classic episode of Matlock (minus the gray suit that Matlock wore everyday). Sometimes I think that my fellow American Evangelical Christians can go overboard on the whole "culture war" thing. We complain a little too often about suffering the ire of Hipsters due to our strange beliefs...yet when we do this for simple misunderstandings we cheapen the true persecution that our brothers in other countries (and throughout the ages) have suffered in real blood for their beliefs. Choosing to follow Christ always comes with repercussions... for you, your family and those around you. It should! Being spiritually healed by Christ makes you different, not better (you are still a sinner saved by Grace) but blessed in a unique life-giving way. Don't allow the persecution or misunderstanding that you go through be the catalyst of "us versus them" thinking on your part. Refrain from retreating to your own little Christian commune (be it real or imagined). Let this trial of your faith be a time of witness: through conviction, love and mercy. Share the Light that you once could not see. make the invisible God visible to them through your loving actions. Use it the Light to make beauty for those around you.

Spiritual Blindness

...Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

The key to vision is not only being able to see what is around you but also being able to focus. Problems with focus leads to a distorted view. After Christ restored the blind man's vision he asked if he believed in the Son of God, to which the blind man asked "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” His physical vision was intact but he needed a focal point for his spiritual vision. When Christ is depicted as healing the blind in any of the Gospels it is usually surrounded by displays of faithlessness of others surrounding him (often the Pharisees or even his own Disciples). This contrasts with the people of simple faith that Christ has just healed. It is used to show the distinction between physical and spiritual blindness. Both are conditions where Light cannot be perceived and Christ is presented as the remedy to both...yet, the spiritual blindness is treated as a much more serious condition. Obviously the Disciples were not fully spiritually blind (since they were Jesus' closest followers) but it may surprise you that the Pharisees (Jesus' fiercest adversaries) were not completely void spiritual perception. Jesus, the Disciples and the Pharisees were all Jews and recognized God as their spiritual Father and His Scripture as truth. Yet beyond those basic tenets of faith is where they differed. The Pharisees, although astute students of Scripture, could not see the running thread of mercy that weaved throughout it. They proudly practiced their faith in the working out of God's Word and Law and missed the physical manifestation of God's Word and fulfillment of God's Law: Jesus Christ. They had a type of spiritual vision of the Law but without the focal point of God's Law, which still left them legally blind. When I say these things about Jesus, I am not just speaking of Christ the religious deity to believe in but also the message of Jesus the prophet who preached peace. The two are not separate but rather joined together in a union that brings peace between God and mankind. This is the Light that the Disciples grew humble enough to accept. This is the Light that blind eyes were willing to see but sighted eyes became blind to. This is the Light that casts darkness upon your sins of the past but illuminates the God of forgiveness. He is the focus of God's Word.

Out of Darkness

 

There is one part of the story that I've left: my part. In my junior year in college as an art major I discovered that I was slowly going blind. I was diagnosed with Keratoconus: "a degenerative disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than the more normal gradual curve." While I was studying painting my perception of light and images was eroding. Over the years I visited several different doctors and specialists and eventually underwent surgery for the Holcomb C3-R procedure with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. Unlike the man blind from birth in the Gospel of John, I developed my problems with processing light later in life. However, much like the Pharisees in this story, I was born with a problem with perceiving spiritual Light. I imagine that  this sounds like your part of the story as well, because we were all born with Original Sin. Its our collective spiritually-genetic birth defect. God doesn't punish anyone by cursing their children with blindness, Down's Syndrome, Diabetes, Tay–Sachs disease or any other condition that genetics throw your way. Life just comes with its challenges. Yet we punish our children by cursing them with the ignorance of superstition, unacceptance and conditional love. We punish our brothers with persecution and judgment that comes from a heart not enlightened by the love of God. We punish our neighbors by not perceiving the Light of Christ and expressing it through humility and mercy. Blind Faith isn't about becoming blind to facts in following the Church and its leadership. It is realizing that we are blind outside of Divine illumination. It is locking arms with another believer in a community of support as you feel your way around a dark world while walking toward the Light. When we do not understand this Light in our daily interactions with God and His children then it is then that we have embraced darkness. Walk in the Light.
 

New Testament Word & Image: Ephesians 5:8-14 & Dan Flavin's Light Art

 

Dan Flavin, Untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3

Ephesians 5:8-14

 

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.




Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 




And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.

But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says:

“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”

 

Psalms Word & Image: Psalm 23 & Early Christian Art

The Good Shepherd, c. 300-350, at the Pio Cristiano Museum, Vatican City

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Old Testament Word & Image: 1 Samuel 16:1; 6-7; 10-13 & the Dura Europos Synagogue wall paintings

Samuel anoints David, Dura Europos Synagogue, Syria

1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7 & 10-13

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

When they came, he looked on Eli′ab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”  And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.”  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

Blood & Water

Mother and Son, Dinh Q. Le

John 4:5-42

 

So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour...

 

If you are a regular reader of this blog (Justin, that means you) then you may remember that I briefly discussed the Woman at the Well in an earlier post about The Good Samaritan. Today I would like to discuss a particular element of the today's scripture reading. It is not just another narrative of Jesus preaching to a faceless sinner. It is not just a tale about Jesus' adventures in asking for water. It is one that has specific details and a universal application. The story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well speaks to so many other stories in history of two groups with a troubled past. The artist for today's post also speaks about two such groups. Dinh Q. Le is a contemporary photographer who splits his time divided between Los Angeles and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). His life and artwork have also been about the divide between the United States and Vietnam. His photographs are literally woven together mixing classic news images of the Vietnam war, the Hollywood representation of them, family pictures and some of his own recent pictures. Dinh Q. Le's work explores the hazy line between individual memory, collective memory and media narrative in the painful history of the Vietnam War. Ironically the greatest discovery to an American viewer may be that Vietnam has a more painful recollection of this conflict (known to them as The American War). Its ramifications continue to affect Vietnamese Americans and Vietnamese nationals to this day. I was born about 6 years after the fall of Saigon and the end of American military involvement in the conflict, however, this era was still rich in film adaptations of the conflict and public bitterness over the country's involvement in the war. Many of my junior high and high school classmates were children of Vietnamese immigrants. Their older siblings would have been making the same transition that Dinh Q. Le made when his family moved to the U.S. when he was ten years old. We don't think about the Vietnam War as much as we did thirty years ago, being that we have had other wars in the intervening years that have reshaped the American conscious just as much. However the lessons that can be learned from it can be useful in finding a healing future for us and other nations that we have had troubled histories with. These are the lessons that can be learned from Jesus and the Samaritan woman.      

 

 

Bad Blood

 

...A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw”...

 

The history of Vietnamese and American relations is based in blood. Blood spilled on a battlefield of good intentions that became clouded by the fog of war. The United States entered the Vietnam War with the intention of aiding the South Vietnamese government against the Vietcong of North Vietnam. It was seen by Washington as fighting off part of the greater Communist threat in Southeast Asia. Like the Korean War before it, the Vietnam War was in effect a proxy war between the Democratic Pacific powers (which includes the United States) and Communist China and the Soviet Union. It was an extension of the Cold War. For Vietnamese Americans it is a different story of blood. It is the bloodlines of families that were separated by political refugees fleeing the civil war between North and South. In seeking asylum in America they not only left their homes but their other family members In Jesus' day the Jews and Samaritans didn't get along. It wasn't based upon a prejudice of ignorance but rather one of familiarity. They had a shared history. This history was one of division, difference and mistrust. The fact that Jesus had travelled through the country of the Samaritans was a taboo in itself: his striking up a conversation with her went further beyond the pale. The beginnings of this bad blood between the two groups was based on blood...not the type that you spill in battle but the type you share with biological relatives. Jews and Samaritans were estranged relatives. The Samaritans were partially Jewish and partially Gentile. They were a people group that had arisen during the Babylonian exile when some Palestinian Jews who remained in the homeland intermarried with the people of the land. In addition to this the Samaritans did not accept anything in the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) beyond the Torah (first five books of Moses). This being the case they worshipped God on Mount Gerizim and rejected the Temple in Jerusalem (which was the center of mainstream Jewish worship/sacrifice). This combination of perceived bad genes and bad theology made dealing with a Samaritan an anathema to Jews of the time. Christ performed no physical miracle in this story (yes he did prophesy, but he seems to have done that on a number of occasions) but him having a dialogue with this Gentile woman was revolutionary enough for the Disciples to take note of and the Gospel writer to include. The revolutionary act was to show love and friendship to one's ethnic/national enemy. To see them as a fellow human being... but even more than that: a familiar human being... as a neighbor, as a friend, as brethren. The Jews and the Samaritans never had any physical armed conflict...only a cold war. They "had no dealings" with each other. When actual war comes into the picture between two groups the hatred, misunderstanding and coldness can be much worse. Jesus did not hold back his opinion on the matter of the theological differences between Samaritans and Jews but he also did not hold back his love. Jesus' solution to the Jews and Samaritans not having "dealings with each other" was to deal with one. He served as a mediator between the Jewish and Samaritans by offering a personal friendship that went beyond the hardships of the past. He was someone who as knowledgeable of both what had happened and what could be developed. I remember back in high school when one of my Vietnamese friends showed me pictures of their Summer trip to their grandparents. Unlike other classmates this wasn't a trip to Baton Rouge, La. or some other local state, it was a trip back to Vietnam. These bi-cultural kids were integral in communicating healing to both countries. They were both fully Vietnamese and fully American. They revealed a future that could be developed between both countries beyond the hurt of the past. They were Americans that would have dealings with Vietnam and Vietnamese who would understand what it was like to be an American. The solution of dealing with two groups with bad blood is to create a third type of person in the situation. One that can be a friend, brother and neighbor to all parties involved. One that can show a new way to all involved.    

 

 

Good Water

 

...Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He”...

 

Before the America's involvement in the Vietnam war, the two countries didn't have that much of a relationship. Southeast Asia (or Indochina as it was once referred to) was largely a domain of French colonialism. The only thing that America and the United States shared was that one could consider them Pacific countries... and even that is a stretch since Vietnam is actually bordered by the South China Sea (the Philippines are border between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea). Both countries are considered "Pacific Rim" countries, so their is that general maritime connection.  Even though they may not share much in the literal water, the United States and Vietnam can share much in Jesus' metaphorical treatment of water. The thing that united the Jews and Samaritans was water and time. The well of Jacob united Samaritans in their shared history in the Old Testament Patriarch. Yet with that it also showed the other historical differences (and differences in viewing history) that divided their dealings in the present. Yet the "living water" that Christ promised to the Samaritan woman was the spiritual refreshment that would unite the futures of the Jews, Samaritans and the whole world. As Christ promised, the hour would come when access to this spiritual water would not be determined by geography or the errors and prejudices of the past... in fact it would wash those considerations away. This living water is the irrigation of the Kingdom of God. It is the knowledge that God has made all men brothers through the blood of His dear Son. It is the mind of Christ that looks past the trespasses of the past and imagines ways to foster peace.

 

 

Strange Fruit

 

...And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?” The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him. In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors”...

 

We reap the fruit of those who have labored before us... We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us... there are many ways to state the truism that we are affected by the things that our ancestors have done. Sometimes this fruit that we reap is sweet. The Apostles reaped the benefits of the laboring of the Prophets of old and Christ who went before them. The fellow Samaritan townsfolk who heard the Samaritan woman's witness of Christ reaped the faith wrought from her encounter with the Word Incarnate. We reap the Gospel that the Apostles labored to spread long before our time. Sometimes the fruit that we reap from our ancestors can be bitter like lemons. Earlier generations left us a fairly mangled situation in our relationship with Vietnam: whether it be the colonialism of the French or the shortsighted policeman of the world policies of Cold War America. What are we going to do with this fruit that they left us? Are we going to learn from the sins of the past? Is the Gospel going to shine in the darkness? Are we going to make lemonade from these lemons? That is the greatest question that the images of Dinh Q. Le asks of us. The Vietnam War is one among many similar stories: The genocide and disenfranchisement of Native Americans during the years of the Indian Wars, the treatment of Muslims worldwide in the post-9/11 era (including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars). Centuries worth of acts of war, imperialism and prejudicial disassociation between nations and ethnic groups has been placed in our laps and we are challenged to engage it in a Christ-like way. It naturally appears to be a bad thing (and yes it is based on the results of bad things) but it is actually a calling. God doesn't just call Christians to have faith but rather to have faith that produces deeds... deeds that are done in a fallen world and that reconcile the fallen world back to God. The fruit that Christ said that the Disciples/Apostles had inherited was the living out of the Gospel. The living out of the Gospel is what establishes the Kingdom of God on Earth. It is the fruit that we too are called to share with our neighbors and enemies.  

Surprise Conclusion

 

...And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

 

This narrative ends with a surprise conclusion. Many of the Samaritans look past the shared history of hurt that they shared with the Jews and accept this Jewish Messiah. They accept the Gospel with gladness at a time when Jesus and the Disciples faced much rejection at home. The Samaritans understood that Jesus wasn't only the Savior of the Jewish people but also the "Savior of the world." They saw past the fact that the messenger looked like their enemy and heard the message of truth and love. The surprise of the post-church age in Europe and much of the Western world is that the "Third World" has taken up the missionary call. It can be seen in the scores of young Vietnamese priests and nuns who serve in American archdioceses and religious orders. In similar fashion their are now several American Episcopalian churches that a overseen by African Anglican bishops and mission fields worldwide are filled with Korean Pentecostals and Presbyterians. All of these Third World churches are the results of missionary efforts centuries earlier from European and American missionaries. In the tradition of African American slaves, the earlier converts in these countries were able to look beyond the evils of their Western oppressors and find the God who came to love all people as His equal children. They could see Prince of Peace beyond the fog of war. As time passes by the strength and energy of the Body of Christ is to be found in the Global South. In conclusion the lesson to be learned from the story of the Samaritan Woman at the Well is one of blood, water and fruit. Christ who has given his blood and washed from our sins, has done so that we can produce the fruit of his Holy Spirit. In doing so we make peace with our former enemies and repair tattered relationships with Christ-like thinking and giving. More than often God surprises us by revealing that He has been creating the same changes in our former foe. It only starts when we take an honest inventory of the mistakes of the past and make an honest effort at peacemaking.  

 

 

 

New Testament Word & Image: Romans 5:1-8 & Salvador Dali



Salvador Dali, Christ of Saint John of the Cross

Romans 5:1-8

  

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;  and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.









Salvador Dali, Corpus Hypercubus





For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Psalms Word & Image: Psalms 95 & Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett, I Have Given The World My Songs

Psalm 95

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.

Elizabeth Catlett,Sojourner

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.

Elizabeth Catlett, Harriet

 Today, if you will hear His voice:

“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,^[a]

As in the day of trial^[b] in the wilderness,

When your fathers tested Me;

They tried Me, though they saw My work.

For forty years I was grieved with that generation,

And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,

And they do not know My ways.’

So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper

Old Testament Word & Image: Exodus 17:3-7 & Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater (Kaufmann Residence), Frank Lloyd Wright

Exodus 17:3-7

 

And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”



And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”



And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

St. Patrick's "Breastplate" Prayer

Saint Patrick window, Goleen Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

The Glow

The Transfiguration mosaic, Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, Israel

Matthew 17:1-9

 

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light... 

 

When I was a kid I thought that Jesus' head glowed in real life. I read a lot of those Bible story books for kids that featured paintings of the Masters in which Jesus always had a halo. I didn't understand that this was just an artistic tool to communicate holiness/sacredness. In my childhood mind I thought that Jesus walked around glowing 24/7 like The Last Dragon. This being the case I just couldn't understand why those around him didn't understand that he was God incarnate...I mean he is glowing people! I would have at least have expected them understand that there was something special about him. What would you think if someone you knew just started shining and emitting light? In today's reading we have a case where this occurred. The Bible never speaks of Jesus walking around with a consistent halo on but it does discuss an episode in which three of his disciples saw his face shine, his clothes whiten and two dead prophets carry on a conversation with him as the voice of God spoke from above. As they found themselves in this fantastic scene they were left with the task of sorting out what it all meant.

 

The Chapel of Moses, Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, Israel

The Shining

 

...And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.  Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”...

 

As was often the case, Peter was the first to speak out. Seeing that the spirits of Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus he offered that they should three tabernacles to honor these three great men of God. Later on in history the Franciscans would build the church that is pictured in these images at the location in which they believe the Transfiguration occurred. Similar to Peter's proposal, they built three chapels in it to honor Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Actually the "chapel" to honor Jesus is the main altar of the church... and technically all of the altars (like the altars in any Catholic church) are dedicated to the sacrifice of Christ (despite whatever particular imagery may be above it). This is because the Franciscans understand something that Peter did not quite grasp in this story. Jesus is greater than any of the great prophets of the past. Jesus was whom they prophesied about. The conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah was not a meeting of equals for just like the Disciples, Moses and Elijah two were in need of the grace that Christ would purchase on the cross. But there where significant reasons for Moses and Elijah to be present at this moment.

Moses was the Law-giver. The first five books of the Old Testament are the Torah, the Law. Not only is Moses similar to Jesus in that he heard from God, gave directions concerning the Law and freed God's people but Moses was also the first miracle worker described in scripture (I guess you could sort of consider Sampson's feats miracles). Specifically these miracles are called signs and wonders. They are wonders wrought as a sign that the message proclaimed from these men was from God. Often times when God was revealing something new to humanity he did it through miracle workers to validate there claims of speaking for God. When you consider the time span that the narratives in the Bible occur in, miracles and God speaking didn't occur that often. That is why they were wondrous when they did occur. Except for a few exceptions Scripture records three pairs of consistent miracle working prophets (I use the phrase "pair loosely here): Moses and Aaron (with Joshua), Elijah and Elisha and Jesus and the Apostles (with the Apostolic generation of 1st century believers). The final similarity to Moses is his shining face. Exodus tells us that after Moses would go and speak to God on the mountain his face would shine, so he would wear a veil when talking to the Israelites. The significance of Jesus' shine and speaking to Moses was to show that not only was he authorized to speak authoritatively concerning the Law but he also was in conversation with God Himself.  

 

The Chapel of Elijah, Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, Israel

I Hear Voices

 

...While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid... 

The Jewish Bible (the Christian Old Testament) is referred to as the Tanakh in Judaism. It is a acronym using the first Hebrew letters of each subdivision of the Scriptures: "Torah ("Teaching", also known as the Five Books of Moses), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings")—hence TaNaKh." Elijah was seen as the greatest of the prophets. Scripture holds that he was taken into heaven upon a fiery chariot and did not see traditional death. This being the case he has long been associated with being the foreteller of the Messiah. Jesus taught that John the Baptist (Jesus' forerunner) played the role of Elijah in announcing the Messiah's arrival. Being a prophet, Elijah not only spoke for God (and performed signs and wonders) but also heard from God. The most popular one of these instances is when Elijah is fleeing persecution and hears God's voice in an unexpected way... as a still small voice. When God speaks from Heaven to Jesus' disciples it wasn't just to announce that Jesus was the Messiah (symbolized by Elijah's appearance) but that He was God's very own Son. God implored the disciples to listen to Jesus because he was not just the Law-giver or one of the Prophets but because he was the very Word of God in flesh.  

The write of the book of Hebrews starts off by stating: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds." It basically says God spoke through the Prophets in the past but now He speaks through the words of Christ. You may have noticed that I play softball on this blog. I give a few details on the particulars of what I specifically believe, but as a whole I try to find the good that is in the body of Christ in general. You may know that I am a Baptist, but I usually don't get into too many things that would cause unnecessary division. Sometimes I reveal a little more, not in an effort to demonize another believer with different beliefs but rather to highlight what I think a particular scripture may be showing. Theologically I am what you would call a Cessationist. Cessationism basically states that the sign gifts (miracles, prophecy, tongues, etc.) were for a specific purpose (the initial revelation of God's word) and when that purpose was fulfilled the went away... hence the "cease" part of "cessation." If I were in the position to rename theological notions I would re-brand "cessation" as "graduation." The sign gifts were like classes that you go to every week day for 12 years or more. They are not your life vocation, but they teach you about your future life's vocation. Once you have been taught you graduate into the working world. The sign gifts were an instructional period in Church/Salvation history but now we have graduated into a period in which we work the things that God has taught/revealed to us. Even though the future outside of school may be frightening a graduation is always a time to celebrate and never a time to be scared.

Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, Israel

Don't Be Scurred! (*intentionally misspelled)

...But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only...

After the transfiguration Jesus looked upon the three of his disciples that had just witnessed the mind boggling event. He saw men who had just witnessed a miracle a mystery and a calling. He gave them the gift of Comfort. This is the gift of faith, hope and love that remain past any spiritual gift. It is also the same gift that we are called to offer the world. It isn't parting the Red Sea, making fire fall from the sky or raising the dead but it is miraculous. We live in a world devoid of faith, hopeless and loveless. We live in a world of violence. We live in a world with orphans, widows and prisoners. We live in a world too often short of opportunity, resources and friendship. A world like this doesn't need anyone else to walk on water... it needs a kind hand to give it a cup of water at a hospital bed and strong arms to dig a well in a barren land. You don't have to pray to God to give you miraculous powers to move mountains. The ministry that he has called you to he has prepared you for. He has prepared you by making you a normal person with a few non-miraculous talents...but with a miraculously saved soul, a transformed mind and an open heart. This is the vocation that Christ calls you to...and the only one that exists. It is a ministry with great need and few workers. It is intimidating but you should not be intimidated because Christ goes with you. So “Arise, and do not be afraid”... or in other words, get up and go to work!

The dual level nave, Church of the Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, Israel

Conclusion & Context

...Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”
 
The Franciscans built the nave of the Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor with two levels. One level is in the depths of the building in an area where many older churches have catacombs and/or relics of saints. This feature is usually a testament to the "foundation" of the church being built upon the saints and forefathers of the faith. The other level is the main floor where we see the mosaic of Christ floating in mid air in the Transfiguration. The Christian message in itself is based on the dual structure of a "depth" and grounded part that looks up to the heavens. When Christ consoled his disciples after the Transfiguration he admonished them to keep the event a secret until after his crucifixion and resurrection. It was after Jesus' resurrection and appearance to the apostles that they started making sense of everything he said and did. Everything in Scripture and Christian practice must be viewed through this very same lens. The point of it all (what we believe, what we do, how we live) is all because of what Christ did for us. He embraced the death of the cross so that we might be free from the punishment of sin...but then he conquered death so that we might embrace eternal life. This was the greatest of his signs and wonders, Not only did it show that God authorized his message but it showed that He was Almighty God Himself. It shows us that we have nothing to fear... not even death itself. Christ was once in the depths (dead) but he rose and confirmed the truth of eternal life to his disciples before ascending into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Therefore, each believer should heed his commission to "Arise, and do not be afraid.” We arise to shine the message of faith, hope and love that Christ has written on our hearts. Faith and hope which continually abide and love which will never cease.