So What?
Well once again we are back to the basics
of the gospel. Why? Because we have this natural tendency to clutter things
up, to complicate them with our traditions. The time has come for us to be
quite frank about the nature of the Gospel of the Living God, the God who
fulfills his promises, who keeps her word, who is the true and only source
of all love, healing, compassion, mercy and forgiveness. This is the God borne
witness to in the Gospel of Matthew, indeed in all four gospels. This One
is the maker of heaven and earth, of things seen and unseen. This good and
gracious Abba loves us all so dearly and yearns for us to share in that love
with one another and with all the creation.
We have so much to share, we have been
given the blessing of all the ages in Jesus Christ. His presence with us,
in us, and through us, is The source of life for a world caught up in the
deception of darkness, in the bondage of death. It is Jesus, the Master of
the Spirits, the giver of the Holy Spirit who proffers light as freely as
the sun rises every morning. Jesus gives of his self, continuously from eternity
to eternity and he does this for our benefit. How then can we not freely share
his story? How then shall we preach? Is the gospel we are preaching light
in darkness? Is the gospel we are proclaiming life in death? And if it isn’t
all we need to do is ‘repent, for the kingdom of our Abba is right here,
right now.’
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of this world will grow
strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.
Anthropological Reading
We are reminded today that the gospel
is good news. There is a gospel being proclaimed from pulpits today that is
not good news, it is a dysangellion, a bad news that is a falsification of
the gospel announced in the New Testament. In our recent travels around the
southern United States we had the occasion to observe hundreds of billboards
and church signs. The vast majority of these indicated that what was being
preached was a mixed message. Accept Jesus as your Savior or go to hell. Some
were put in this straightforward language, others were more muted, but they
all indicated the same thing, hell was the reward for not joining this or
that particular congregation’s doctrinal stance.
Our text today contains the familiar
Markan refrain, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Repentance
is grounded in the good news that God has come, the good God, the God of life
and light, the God of peace and reconciliation, and the God who will ultimately
display the true divine character in the forgiving Jesus. This God comes to
bring light, to heal the brokenhearted, the lame, the blind, to give hope
to the disenfranchised. The fact is, Jesus mentions hell only to the religious,
the church going, the better than thou crowd. There is no mixed message for
the sinners, there is only good news, God is with us, God is on our side,
God has come to liberate us from the bondage of our darkness.
We have sought to stress this singularity
of good news on PreachingPeace.org. In Epiphany the Gospel of Matthew announces
this singularity quite clearly and it is done as the fulfillment of age old
promises, promises made by ‘the God who cares’ (Frederick Holmgren).
In His Bible Studies on Isaiah, Tony Bartlett has stressed the newness, the
freshness of this good news and just how Jesus fulfills Isaiah’s promise.
Today, America is a land ‘living
in darkness’, ‘living in the shadow of death.’ More so under
the guise of freedom and democracy and in the name of Jesus, we have become
a death dealing land, marching armies around the globe to protect our vital
(sic) corporate American interests and investments. Worse yet, is that we
do this in the name of the Prince of Peace, in the name of Jesus. As though
Jesus cared about corporate profits or political positions, as though Jesus
would bring justice at the end of an M-16 or an Abrams tank.
We are living in darkness, a darkness
greater than that of ‘Galilee of the Gentiles.’ Our darkness is
seductive; it sells the sweet dream of American ‘values’ (really
meaning we value our own interest at the cost of everyone else.) Our darkness
is us and in the leaders we elected who spout the value of family while sending
off our sons and daughters to die. Our darkness is in a structure that says
all should cast a vote while discouraging some and failing to count the votes
of others. Our darkness offers hope and justice at the end of a gun or a rope
or a lethal injection. Our darkness promises security in the accumulation
of weapons of mass destruction and the disintegration of civil liberties.
Our darkness brings truth in the form of lies, in the rhetoric of corporate
owned news outlets and preachers bettering their lot in life. In short, America
is no beacon of light, it is but a flickering candle in the wind.
And still, Christian preachers continue
to preach hellfire and brimstone to those who do not think the way they do.
Hell appears to be our great motivator, we fear the ultimate darkness without
realizing that we are in it NOW. Just listen to the TV and radio preachers
or read the tracts passed about. Go to the Bible book stores and peruse the
literature found and purchased by an unwitting populace. We preach fear Sunday
by Sunday without realizing that in the gospel ‘perfect love casts out
all fear.’ Where Jesus is present and proclaimed there is no fear, ‘the
kingdom of God is at hand.’
What shall we say then? We must announce
the tidings that Jesus brought, that the gospel writers, Peter, Paul and other
anonymous writers bore witness to, namely, that God is good, that God brings
light into darkness, that God raises the dead to life, that in God ‘there
is no shadow of turning’, that our Abba in heaven has a human face,
the face of Jesus our Lord.
Historical/Cultural
Much has been written concerning Matthew’s
fulfillment citations, their function and their theological aim. It is essential
when reading the gospel of Matthew to recall that Matthew has a very specific
hermeneutic, as J. Andrew Overman has pointed out, found in Matt 22:34-38.
Even the difficult text of 5:17-20 must be interpreted in the light of the
Sermon on the Mount and the character of God shown therein.
Matthew’s community is perceived
as ‘liberal’ and Matthew’s hermeneutic use of the Hebrew
Scriptures is to demonstrate the validity of interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures
in the light of love. Without this overarching love as the wellspring and
omega point, Matthew’s fulfillment citations become nothing more than
tired midrash or attempts to prove that the ‘Old Testament (sic) talks
about Jesus.’ Matthew’s gospel does not set about to demonstrate
the validity of the Hebrew Bible, he lives within a community for whom that
is not necessary. Rather, he seeks to show the appropriate way to understand
these sacred texts in the light of the revelation of the character of God
in Jesus. Any preaching use of these fulfillment citations to prove the continued
authority of the Hebrew Bible in all of its parts goes against the Matthean
hermeneutic, which is quite nuanced.
Either
this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual
issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.
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Isaiah 9:1-4
There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he
brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in
the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond
the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness--
on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you,
but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been
reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers
and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul,"
or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or
"I belong to Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized
none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were
baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond
that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send
me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so
that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message
about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God.
Matthew 4:12-23
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left
Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun
and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might
be fulfilled:
"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
has come near."
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea-- for they were
fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish
for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he
went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother
John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called
them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming
the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among
the people.
Occasional Articles
As with the Introductory Articles, we
will add other articles as time permits or as our readers request. If you
have a suggestion for anything, please let us know.
Michael Hardin
Michael's Essay for a Celebration Volume honoring Rene Girard
Michael's Response to Willard Swartley's Covenent of Peace at the November Colloquium and Violence Meeting
Does
Peace Make A Difference? - Michael's essay in response to Rick
Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan (which somehow never mentions peace).
An Analysis of Rick Warren - Michael's response to "The Purpose Driven Life."
"The
God of Pat Robertson" - a response to Pat Robertson's words
to the people of Dover, PA.
"A
response to Charles Stanley's "A Nation at War"
"Must
God be violent? A Diagnosis and Prescription for Modern Christianity"
The
Scapegoat: Christologies in Conflict - A Study in Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Biblical
Testaments as a Marriage of Convenience: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
Finding
Our Way Home: A Brief Note On The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
"Does
The Passion of the Christ Preach the Gospel?"
A
sermon for the holiday devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King. (requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
GRASPING
GOD: Philippians 2: 1-11 in the Light of Mimetic Theory
Essay on Brethren Life & Thought
Essay on Mimesis and Dominion
"EcoSpirituality"
Or What Happens When You Sit Down With A French Literary Critic
Jeff Krantz
Mighty
One or Crucified Messiah? Competing Christologies and the Chiastic
Structure of Mark's Gospel
There's
No Such Thing as the Rapture - A sermon preached at the Church
of the Advent, Westbury (requires Acrobat Reader)
Holy
Scripture and the Consecration of Gene Robinson - a response
to the request of the Windsor Report for a Scriptural rationale. (requires
Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
Worship - The Redemption of Desire by Jeff Krantz
Myth
and Film - a piece written for the City of Angels Film Festival
The Stations of the Cross - Rewritten by Jeff Krantz
A Dramatic Presentation of the Stations of the Cross for Youth by Barb Fabijan-Waddell
Escaping
the Power of "My" - A NonViolent Approach to Stewardship
Preaching
Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and the
Matrix
V
for Vendetta - The Name Says It All A review of the movie.
Essays, Sermons and Liturgical Pieces by Friends of Preaching Peace
"The Wisdom of God's Peace" a sermon by Jim Amstutz, co-pastor of Michael's church.
Girard's Christology - Per Bjornar Grande
Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and Rene Girard - Matthew Patillo
Comparing
Plato's Understanding of Mimesis to Girard's - Per Bjorner Grande
C. Frank Terhune, an Easter Sermon: "God's Big But" (no kidding!)
Gerald Biesecker-Mast's paper from Theologia Pacis on Pacifist Gospel Epstimology.
An essay by the Rev. John Hill on Mimetic Theory and Catechesis
