So What?
Throughout PreachingPeace.org we have
been asking a two-fold question: what does the Church (at its best) look like
and what does the Christian life look like. We have sought to address from
all the angles implied in the Gospel texts of the RSL the implications of
the life of Jesus for today.
We do not carry crosses very well as
modern Christians. Our instincts to retaliate run too deep. The “religion”
mistaken for real Christianity is shallow, troubled by false piety, full of
self deception, bearing the smell of the cancer ward, of impending death.
Would that it smelled of a cross-death instead!
We arrogate to ourselves Peter’s
commission without first experiencing the crisis initiated by Jesus. We are
not like Abraham, Moses or Isaiah or Peter or Paul, for we have nothing to
repent of (or so we convince ourselves), we are good and upright people, loyal
citizens and good neighbors. (Unless we expand neighbor to include all those
whose developing countries are gutted to sate our consumer appetite. And all
the while we demonize others, create scapegoats, justify our aggression and
then we go to church and learn how to do it all over again. This is Jesus?
What does Jesus have to do with the preaching of war? Of coercion? Of aggression?
Of hate?
Jesus invites Peter on a journey that
will be fruitful and efficacious for humanity. The metaphor is fishing. The
only legitimate hook used to catch fish for the kingdom of God is love, exemplified
in the Cross of Christ, that exclusive rejection of exclusion, the place where
‘God was reconciling the world to himself.’ As long as the Christian
churches preach God and violence together they will not be evangelical, there
is no good news in a holy, just, retributive God. There is good news in the
gospel of the Lord Jesus, and like Peter, we too are called to share that
which is truly liberating: the love of the Creator who has covenanted with
Israel. The forgiveness of God first, last, always.
Some Sermon Thoughts.
Having shucked the distorted version,
we preachers need to take seriously the work of evangelism that Jesus offers
in the reading for today.
The “evangelical” churches
(how I hate conceding that word to them!) have one thing right. They understand
that their fundamental job is to share their understanding of God (however
mistaken it may be) with others, not to sequester themselves as a comfortable
organization of insiders waiting to be discovered by those who stumble into
our midst.
Paul understood that imitation was the
key to passing the gospel from one generation to the next. The bait we use
as we fish for others is our willingness to imitate Christ in his sacrifice
for the sake of those who come after us.
Granted, this isn’t the kind of
sermon that’s going to produce huge numbers on its own, but then, that’s
not the purpose of the sermon. The sermon is for the already-initiated, showing
them how it is we share the riches of the Gospel with others.
Just because the “decade of evangelism”
was so mis-guided, and the 20/20 initiate is equally so, we mustn’t
abandon the task of evangelism as preachers.
If we don’t teach our folks how
to do real evangelism, we consign the word and the task entirely to those
whose understanding of God is still rooted in violence.
Anthropological Reading
“Do not fear. From now on, you
will be catching people.”
And with these fearful words, the attempt
by the Christian West to subjugate the world to and by way of its cultural
Christianity began. The imagery here is so vastly different from that of the
Great Commission in Matthew 28, where the inclusion of persons in ranks of
the initiated is a mere sidelight to the primary task of “discipling.”
(The task of baptizing is reduced to a dependent, participial phrase, where
the making of disciples occurs in the imperative.)
The non-coercive imagery of Matthew is
in stark contrast to the picture of millions of persons, trapped in the Western
cultural net, being dragged into the Church. This is, at least, the way that
this passage from Luke has been read in many corners of the Church to justify
her perversion of the task of evangelism. It is perhaps because this misplaced
resurrection appearance is separated from its Johannine setting that we are
able to make such an unfortunate leap. John, too, has an image of “capturing”
people. The “lifting up” of the Son will “draw all persons”
to him. This is more like the task of teaching implied in making disciples
or, as John puts it, “feeding his sheep.”
It is time to name the perversion of
evangelism that has plagued the Church for these many years. The bearing of
Good News to the world, the literal translation of evangelism, has been morphed
into the task of convincing those who are “outside” to come and
be “inside” with us. This image of evangelism finds its origins
in the differentiation that is an indispensable part of the scapegoating mechanism.
We must, if we are to recover real evangelism, abandon this way of doing inside/outside
thinking.
The “capturing” of people
must become something that is grounded in God’s undifferentiated way
of seeing, where we set before ourselves the task of telling God’s people
what has already been accomplished in/for them by Jesus. They are already
inside. Fr. Robert Capon uses the wonderful imagery of a party into which
all of us have been not just invited, but brought in, to describe this truth.
His imagery focuses on getting people who are at the party to come in from
the porch where they can hear the music better. (Parables
of Grace)
We have become so conditioned to the
coercive way of understanding these words about “capturing” people
they no longer startle us. They should. Those of us devoted to sharing the
real Good News of Jesus need to challenge vocally and visibly the distortions
of the task Jesus entrusted to us by the falsely evangelical within our churches.
Historical/Cultural
This appears to be one of the few texts
in the gospel tradition that justifies itself as a post resurrection narrative
retrojected into the life of Jesus. As such it is difficult to interpret as
other than a ‘call narrative’ perhaps more akin to those of Abraham
and Moses or even Isaiah. If we frame this narrative not in terms of ‘theologia
gloriae’ (a theology of glory) which has been exposed as a ‘mythic’
or sacrificial rendering of this text, then we are left to ask what is going
on in the text. What is exposed is Peter’s deep self-awareness that
will be in sharp contrast to what will occur in Acts 10 where Peter is asked
to consider what it means to value the ‘other.’
A sacrificial reading of this text has
supported all the various versions of the post-Constantinian Christian myth.
A sacrificial reading of this story stands behind the conversion by coercion
of the fourth century, the Crusades, pogroms, Inquisitions. It also stands
behind the modern Calvinist work ethic, capitalism, just-war theory and all
forms of hegemony, as well as the influence of Protestant missions. When this
text is read from the perspective of the persecutor, we ultimately fail because
we do not see a) that this ‘calling’ will especially in Luke,
be a call to carry a cross and b) if we believe that the narrative of John
21 and our text today stand in some relation to the other then we also did
not see Jesus’ prophetic announcement to Peter about his cross.
A paragraph from "Luke's Use of
Matthew" on this pericope. (p. 94)
This story does not appear anywhere in
Matthew and may come from Luke's nonMatthean tradition. Another version of
this story is found in Jn 21:1-11. Luke may have chosen this account over
the call of the4 four in Mt 4:18-22 because no explanation is given in Matthew
as to why these great leaders should have left their work of providing for
their families and become disciples of an itinerant prophet. Luke's account
of the stay at Simon's house (Lk 4:38-39) and the miraculous catch of fish
(Lk 5:1-11) not only provided reasons for the three disciples to follow Jesus,
they anticipated Simon's leadership role in the early Christian community
(Acts). Despite Simon's disclaimer of sinfulness (Lk 5:8), he is singled out
my Jesus as the leader of his mission.
Either
this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual
issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.
Introductory Articles
We will add articles as we are able,
or as users of the site request them, so if you have suggestions for additional
pieces, please write to us!
"Introduction
to Mimetic Theory"
"Mimesis"
"The
Scapegoat"
"The
Pillars of Culture"
"Jesus"
"The
Four Gospels"
A Brief Introduction
to Luke
What's New:
What's New? on Preaching Peace. (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling) |
New Article!
Preaching
Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Termintator 3, Lord of the Rings 3,
and Matrix 3
Is 6:1-8,(9-13)
Ps 138
1 Cor 15:1-11
Lk 5:1-11
(Isaiah 6:1-8)
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high
and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance
above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with
two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another
and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is
full of his glory." The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices
of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe
is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people
of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken
from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and
said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and
yoursin is blotted out. " Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here
am I; send me!"
(Isaiah 6:9-13)
And he said, "Go and say to this people: 'Keep listening, but do not
comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.' Make the mind of this people
dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look
with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and behealed." Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And
he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without
people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the LORD sends everyone far
away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth
part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose
stump remains standing when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-11)
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed
to you, which you in turn received, in whichalso you stand, through which
also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed
to you--unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as
of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he
was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he
appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five
hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though
some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last
of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least
of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church
of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has
not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them--though
it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I
or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
(Luke 5:1-11)
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd
was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at
the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing
their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and
asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught
the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."
Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught
nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had
done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.
So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And
they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon
Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me,
Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed
at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John,
sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do
not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had
brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
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
Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?: Native American Prophecy and the Mimetic Theory presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
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 to Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
Essay on Mimesis and Dominion to The Dynamics of Violence and the Imitation of Christ in maximus Confessor (St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly)
"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
"Jesus and the Gibeonites: Reading the Bible from the Perspective of the Hidden Victim" by James Warren.
Mark Heim's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement
Kate Layzer's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement (and inspiration for Mark Heim's hymn!)
Alan Cork, "Transformation" in L'Arche: A Mimetic Account presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
"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
