Justice Delayed 2.0

Indeed or Kinda, Sorta

March 25, 2013 By 1 Comment

by Russell Rathbun

Gospel Reading (Take 2): Luke 24:1-12

For Sunday, March 31, 2013—Easter Sunday

Luke’s Jesus said more than he would rise on the third day rise again. Jesus said he came to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Why didn’t he follow through on that promise too?

Indeed!

“Christ is risen,” which is short hand for the world has been redeemed, death has been overcome, all that Jesus told us would happen through out the story, has happened. All the questions have been answered. Jesus, our savior wins. [Read more...]

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Proclaiming What?

January 15, 2012 By 16 Comments

What is the good news Jesus proclaims?

by Russell Rathbun

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:14-20

For Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012: Epiphany 3

I have spent a lot of time with Mark.

Its absence of a birth narrative, its ambiguous ending, the breakneck speed with which its author moves through the story, are all intriguing to me.

Mark leaves a lot of questions, which, I obviously like a lot. But in all the study of the book I have never noticed the most obvious question before—what is the good news of God?

Assuming Salvation

I have just assumed that the good news was Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to save humanity from its sins and reconcile creation to the Creator. But when I read this pericope this time through I got hung up on verses 14 and 15.

Jesus comes to Galilee proclaiming the good news. If he is proclaiming the good news, it is obviously not his death and resurrection. It seems like it must be something that is available or accessible at that point in the narrative. 

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Go Ahead, Judge a Book By Its Title

November 27, 2011 By 11 Comments

The Beginning of the Good News

by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Gospel Reading: Mark 1:1–8

For Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 Year B—Advent 2

I love that Mark’s gospel starts by saying: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, son of God.”

Look, Ma, no Verb!

Grammar geeks might notice that there is no verb in that sentence. It’s more like it’s the title of the book: The Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, Son of God. If it were titled just The Good News about Jesus Christ, Son of God then the book might be read as the beginning, middle, and end of the good news. If it had been titled The Beginning of the Good Short Story of Jesus Christ, Son of God then it would not be news. What makes it news is that it is something new that is external to us that we have to be told. The idea that it’s also the beginning suggests much more good stuff to come from this Jesus Christ, Son of God.

Raise Your Mug and Say “Yea!”

The term gospel was the term for the news flash that an announcer proclaimed about a victory that the empire or the king had won. It was a pronouncement of Good News. Something big had happened that had changed everything and this sort of announcement was one that elicited a response.

It’s sort of like if the owner of a crowded bar yells, “Drinks are on the house!” Everyone raises their mugs and says, “Yea!” So here, Mark’s account of the Gospel greets us with surprising gusto as we settle into the second week of Advent—the second week of waiting on the coming of God.

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Is Radical Resistance Possible?

February 13, 2011 By 15 Comments

Is the Sermon on the Mount practicable or is it an impossibility that turns us to the grace of God?

by Russell Rathbun

Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:38-48

For Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011: Year A – Epiphany 7

In the context of the Roman Empire, the Sermon on the Mount is a radical proposal for resistance. Written just years after Titus (who succeeds his father as Emperor during this period) destroys Jerusalem along with the temple, it is a call not to arms but an invitation to a nonviolent reorientation of civilization. There is only one problem; it might depend on our ability to be perfect.

It is Practicable

The Sermon on the Mount has a long and complex history of interpretation, which basically breaks two ways (forgive the obvious and simplistic). One major thread says the Sermon on the Mount is the Gospel. Its content is the message that Jesus came to proclaim. It is three chapters of how we should live our lives. It is Practicable.

One can actually live according to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, even go beyond the Law of Moses. I will not only refrain from murdering someone, I can come to point where I don’t even feel hatred, think hateful thoughts. I can turn the other check and love my attacker.

It is Not Practicable

The other thread says it is not possible to live out these − that, in fact, is the point. It becomes The Law, revealing God’s grace to us. It is a set of impossible teachings, which convicts us of inability to do any damn good, so we must depend solely and completely on the Grace of God, given through Jesus the Christ.

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Out of Nowhere

January 17, 2011 By 17 Comments

Why is it so important to the author of Matthew’s Gospel that we know what happened in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali?

by Russell Rathbun

Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:12-23

For Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011: Year A – Epiphany 3

Let’s get started!

It is Gospel go time. After six weeks of looking forward to, and then doting on the baby Jesus (however briefly), half of which were spent being reassured that John the Baptist was not the Messiah, we can finally get on with it. John has been arrested and we can put him away until the summer solstice (his feast day, and you don’t want to miss out on celebrating the feast day of a man whose head was served on a platter at a feast).

This is the introduction, the declaration, the thesis statement, the beginning of what we are all about. This is a full portion of scripture this week. There is geography, quotes from Isaiah, the calling of disciples and the inaugural proclamation of the Good News. This is one of those weeks where a preacher sort of has to just pick one.

I’ll have “Geography” for $50, please.

The land of Zebulun and Naphtali – Zebulun and Naphtali!? Who are these guys? They sound like a Jethro Tull album and a bar of hippie soap or maybe a hillbilly Italian law firm (apologies to classic rock aficionados and those who self-identify as hippies, hillbillies or Italian lawyers). Zebulun and Naphtali are two of the twelve tribes of Israel. They are sons number two and six of Jacobs. Their mothers are Leah and Bilhah respectively.

But why does the proclamation of the Kingdom of God start in the territories granted to these two centuries earlier? Zebulun and Naphtali? They are to the tribes of Israel what Thaddeus and Bartholomew are to the disciples. Why does the incarnation of the word of God not start in Jerusalem, but instead begins out in the Gentile countryside?

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Kinda Sad

October 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

Can the privileged citizens of the empire proclaim the gospel of the oppressed?

by Russell Rathbun

Epistle Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

For Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010: Year C – Ordinary 30

This is kinda sad. When the Epistle readings are all full of ethical demands and righteous declarations, I find them a bit off-putting and uninspiring. They never really grab me; they turn me off. Not that I always need something zingy in the text to engage me, but I do like something that feels alive.

2 Timothy Feels Alive

After looking at this week’s Epistle lesson, I went back and read the whole letter. It is beautiful and sad. It is Paul, in jail, facing his impending execution.

There is poetry in this letter.

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.

There is a real, vulnerable person here. It is unfortunate that the Lectionariers left out verses 9-15, almost the best part of the whole book. Paul seems a little scared and lonely. He names those who have deserted him.

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Don’t Look Back (Unless You Do)

June 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

Is the kingdom filled only with those who are not worthy? Maybe — the wavering, the weak, the salt of the earth.

a reading by Russell Rathbun

Luke 9:51-62

Theologians Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger in, what I assume is a commentary on this text, exhort their listeners to “walk and don’t look back,” on Tosh’s 1978 record, Bush Doctor. Perhaps they were also noting the clear allusion to Genesis 19:26, in which the angels counsel Lot and his family not to look back at the evil city they are fleeing as God rains down fire to destroy it. But Lot’s wife for some reason can’t help herself, she turns her head, looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt, from which, I assume, we get the common term, Salt of the Earth, referring to someones work-a-day, unassuming goodness (there is also a slight undertone of maybe the person is not that smart, good, kind, but not that smart). Well, that might not be exactly right and it was Smokey Robinson wrote the song for the Temptations in 1965, although I have only heard Peter and Mick’s version.

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