Holy Week

The alternative epistle reading, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9, provides an interesting and potentially fruitful counterpoint to John’s passion narrative. Hebrews and the Gospel of John were both major sources of the eventual development of the doctrine of the two natures of Christ. There is, however, little indication of Jesus’ humanity in John’s account of his arrest and trial. There is no hint of the agony in Gethsemane portrayed in the synoptics, and throughout the story Jesus seems to be the one in control of the unfolding events.

This short section gives us an important insight into how the early Christians perceived the resurrection. In Romans 8, Galatians 2, John 14, and in Colossians 3, we see their conviction that Christ was a life-giving presence, the spirit indwelling in those who had never 'seen the Lord', let alone viewed the empty tomb. The new community 'was' in Christ because Christ 'was' in them.

What then shall we say about Easter? If bunnies and baskets are for us who can be against us? What will separate us from the love of chocolate? Diets? Cholesterol? Blood Pressure? No! In all of these things we are more than conquerors through denial that first duped us.

Well, if a little wine is good for the stomach, surely a little levity can’t be bad for the brain.

Preaching the Resurrection

The Christmas story and the Easter story are the most joyful of the Christian year. In the first we celebrate the incarnation, in the second the resurrection. These are among the most distinctive of Christian doctrines, perhaps the most distinctive.

The passion narratives in all four gospels are virtual minefields of problems for those who preach from a progressive theological stance. To begin with, they are riddled with passages and motifs that have fed anti-Jewish sentiments through the centuries. And, particularly when combined with the lectionary readings such as those from Hebrews and the Hebrew Bible, they can easily be read in such a way as to lend support to notions of atonement that call God’s essential goodness into question and stretch the limits of reasonable thought.

The alternative epistle reading, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9, provides an interesting and potentially fruitful counterpoint to John’s passion narrative. Hebrews and the Gospel of John were both major sources of the eventual development of the doctrine of the two natures of Christ. There is, however, little indication of Jesus’ humanity in John’s account of his arrest and trial. There is no hint of the agony in Gethsemane portrayed in the synoptics, and throughout the story Jesus seems to be the one in control of the unfolding events.

The passion narratives in all four gospels are virtual minefields of problems for those who preach from a progressive theological stance. To begin with, they are riddled with passages and motifs that have fed anti-Jewish sentiments through the centuries. And, particularly when combined with the lectionary readings such as those from Hebrews and the Hebrew Bible, they can easily be read in such a way as to lend support to notions of atonement that call God’s essential goodness into question and stretch the limits of reasonable thought.