"'Who do you say I am?' Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God?'" Matt. 16:15&16
MY FATHER
I could justly be accused of taking things out of context in the Gospels. I won't deny it. I do. My reasoning is quite simple; namely, you don't know the actual context of a message that has been editorialized (tampered with). What follows the above italicized quote is Jesus' response to Peter found only in the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not reveal to you by man, but by my Father in heaven." Matt.16:17.
The story of Jesus asking his disciples this question is found only in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Mark 8 and Luke 9 the story ends with Peter saying, "You are the Christ of God" or simply put, the Messiah. In Mark & Luke Jesus simply warns them not to tell anyone about him. In others words, he says, "Don't say this- Don't talk about it," and moves on to another topic. The prolonged response of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew seems to be a theological insert emphasizing Peter's primacy as Jesus' main man. In my opinion, it is putting words in Jesus' mouth, which happens elsewhere in the gospels; namely the Gospel of John.
The story of Jesus asking his disciples this question is found only in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Mark 8 and Luke 9 the story ends with Peter saying, "You are the Christ of God" or simply put, the Messiah. In Mark & Luke Jesus simply warns them not to tell anyone about him. In others words, he says, "Don't say this- Don't talk about it," and moves on to another topic. The prolonged response of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew seems to be a theological insert emphasizing Peter's primacy as Jesus' main man. In my opinion, it is putting words in Jesus' mouth, which happens elsewhere in the gospels; namely the Gospel of John.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
In the Gospel of John, the question of who is Jesus is nowhere to be found. By the time John is written, Jesus is understood to be the only-begotten Son of God. In fact, Jesus says so himself in one of the most famous verses in the Bible, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." This is Jesus talking about himself in the third person. My point about the Gospel of John is that few, if any, of the statements assigned to Jesus can be taken literally as something Jesus said.
In the Gospel of John, the question of who is Jesus is nowhere to be found. By the time John is written, Jesus is understood to be the only-begotten Son of God. In fact, Jesus says so himself in one of the most famous verses in the Bible, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." This is Jesus talking about himself in the third person. My point about the Gospel of John is that few, if any, of the statements assigned to Jesus can be taken literally as something Jesus said.
If you were to read John as literature, without having been indoctrinated as to its being the "quintessential" gospel, Jesus comes across as an egotistical narcissist. If any one of us had to listen to a person go on about himself as "I am" this and "I am" that and "My father and I" are this and that, we'd be running away as fast as we could. People who talk like that are diagnosable.
The reason for this type of egotistic discourse on the part of Jesus is that the Gospel of John is a theologized gospel about Jesus. Saying the Gospel of John is editorialized would be an understatement. It's putting words in Jesus' mouth that Jesus didn't say. I can say this with a degree of certainty because what Jesus is purportedly saying in John is found nowhere else in the other gospels.
The Gospel of John is very important in understanding the history of theology that develops around Jesus as the Christ, and I will be revisiting John in future posts, but John is theological work about Jesus. For instance, John does not contain any of the parables of Jesus or other teaching moments recorded in the other three gospels. John mentions miracles and has Jesus making long discourses about himself. John also makes a point of differentiating Christianity from Judaism, which reflects the religious turmoil between these two religious communities at the time the Gospel of John was written.
The Gospel of John is very important in understanding the history of theology that develops around Jesus as the Christ, and I will be revisiting John in future posts, but John is theological work about Jesus. For instance, John does not contain any of the parables of Jesus or other teaching moments recorded in the other three gospels. John mentions miracles and has Jesus making long discourses about himself. John also makes a point of differentiating Christianity from Judaism, which reflects the religious turmoil between these two religious communities at the time the Gospel of John was written.
In John 1 the creation story is rewritten to reflect a world created by and for Christ. In John's creation story the world is not good only it's creator is (Compare it to Genesis). The world is dark and confused and needs saving because there is no original goodness in and of itself. The only good is the light of Christ, and the only people who can consider themselves children of God are those who believe in Christ as that light. The Gospel of John is literally about gatekeeping (See John 10).
John 1 presents a troubling context and premise for Christianity. There are clearly those who are in and those who are not. This is why I believe salvation theology has the potential for violence. The implication can be drawn that those who don't believe are throwaways; that they are damned. In fact the Gospel of John has Jesus saying this in John 3:18. The indoctrinated will point that Jesus says things like this to prompt us to go out and save the poor bastards from eternal damnation. This message is simply wrong and I believe it sets the stage for violence done in the name of Christ.
The author or authors of the Gospel of John is/are using the literary conventions of the day to present a thesis on Jesus as the savior of the world. It's purpose is clearly to say something about Jesus in an authoritative manner by presenting it as something Jesus actually said.
The one story I resonate with in the Gospel of John is John 8, the adulterous woman, which is not considered original to John (see my post on Forgiveness). I think it probable that someone other than the author(s) of John inserted it to soften the tone of this gospel in an attempt at correcting its unforgiving theology. In fact, you don't hear much about forgiveness in this gospel. If memory serves me, I don't believe the word is used. Read the Gospel of John and check it out for yourself.
[ Correction: I found one verse, depending on the translation one uses, in John 20:21 "Whose soever sins ye remit (forgive) they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. Still a matter of who's in an who's not.]
[ Correction: I found one verse, depending on the translation one uses, in John 20:21 "Whose soever sins ye remit (forgive) they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. Still a matter of who's in an who's not.]
OUR FATHER
Setting aside Jesus' reply to Peter in Matthew and the entire Gospel of John for the moment, one will find that, for the most part, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke depict Jesus as talking about God as our Father or referring to God as your Father. This is very important in understanding Jesus' message. In these gospels Jesus never portrays himself as the only-begotten Son of God. He doesn't deny that he is the son of God, but he does not attach "only begotten" to it. That only occurs in the Gospel of John.
In fact, Jesus extends this relationship to every one, making us all siblings of each other and Jesus. The clearest example of this is when he teaches his followers how to pray. In Matthew and Luke we have what is known as the "Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father." In my opinion, this prayer is the most authentic teaching we have of Jesus. It embodies Jesus' complete theological perspective to ministry. It forms the ultimate Christian Credo.
In fact, Jesus extends this relationship to every one, making us all siblings of each other and Jesus. The clearest example of this is when he teaches his followers how to pray. In Matthew and Luke we have what is known as the "Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father." In my opinion, this prayer is the most authentic teaching we have of Jesus. It embodies Jesus' complete theological perspective to ministry. It forms the ultimate Christian Credo.
The first two words, "Our Father" says it all with regard to how Jesus saw God, himself, and every other person. We are, every one of us, children of God. We all have an equal claim to this with Jesus. Paul will later confuse this issue by calling us heirs through adoption as found in Romans 8 and Galatians 4. I don't find the concept of adoption anywhere in Jesus' teaching. It's an unfortunate choice of words on Paul's part. Don't get me wrong. I like Paul and will talk more about him. I'm just not an "inerrant scripture" type of guy, but that's a topic for another day.
The Our Father or The Lord's Prayer embodies the central thesis of Jesus' ministry which is to forgive. In this prayer we ask for forgiveness and can expect forgiveness on the condition that we forgive the sins or the wrongdoings of others done to us. The two are connected. Don't expect forgiveness without being forgiving. Nothing could be plainer than that. As followers of Jesus, that is our daily mission.
In this one prayer is contained the entire teachings of Jesus: God is our Father. The kingdom of God is here and emerging. Our needs are met in doing the will of God; that is, in forgiving as the means for paving the way to redemption and avoiding the allurement to do evil.
Jesus clearly understood what the 5th Century church father, Prosper of Aquitaine, meant in his famous statement, "Lex orandi, lex credendi - The law of prayer is the law of belief, or we believe as we pray or we pray as we believe - How true... How true! It's too bad Prosper wasn't around during the Council of Nicea.
Jesus clearly sees all of us, himself included, as God's children. We are all incarnations of God and we will all return to earth from which we were made and to the God who breathed us to life. God is our Father and Jesus is our brother. This is all there is to it, and that is saying a lot.
Until next time, stay faithful.
Jesus clearly understood what the 5th Century church father, Prosper of Aquitaine, meant in his famous statement, "Lex orandi, lex credendi - The law of prayer is the law of belief, or we believe as we pray or we pray as we believe - How true... How true! It's too bad Prosper wasn't around during the Council of Nicea.
Jesus clearly sees all of us, himself included, as God's children. We are all incarnations of God and we will all return to earth from which we were made and to the God who breathed us to life. God is our Father and Jesus is our brother. This is all there is to it, and that is saying a lot.
Until next time, stay faithful.
No comments:
Post a Comment