Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Shalom



Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace.

But it connotates much more than that. Strong's Concordance says it also means: completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, and the absence of agitation or discord.

Shalom comes from the root verb shalom which means to be complete, perfect and full. The ancient Hebrew people used it as a greeting or a farewell (and as I understand many still do today) and they said in using it you are speaking into someone's life all the good things that it means.

Paul alludes to and expands upon this tradition in his letters using the phrase "Grace and Shalom(Peace)" as a greeting and a farewell.

But more than all that, it stands for the way God intended creation t be. 

The way things were in God's good garden.

In the ancient Jewish mindset God created things in Shalom and once that was broken He set about restoring Shalom.

The great prophet Isaiah told that one day God would send a liberator to Israel to set things right again, and he would be the "prince of Shalom".

God is still in the business of restoring Shalom!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pub Theology


Once a month for the past couple of months I have had the pleasure of getting together with a group of guys at Winslow's Tavern.We gather with the belief that good food, good drinks and good friends creates the ideal space for meaningful conversation. I like to call it Pub Theology.

Pub Theology is based on the belief that Theology is much more than a high academic pursuit, but rather a conversation. A conversation that happens, not locked high away in the library's of Academia; but rather in pubs, coffee shops, restaurants, smoke shops, parking lots, and public parks. A conversation that takes place, not between scholars and professors; but between regular people in every day settings.

Because good theology doesn't seek to escape from the world. It offers a better way of engaging it.

After all, what good is theology if it doesn't offer something to all of us non-scholarly folks?

Why should we care if we don't have a chance to add anything to the conversation?

To bring our story to the table?

And what good is theology if it's always hidden away in a church building?

We shouldn't be ashamed of theology. The theological conversation is a beautiful thing. We should do it in public. Good theology doesn't just happen in a church; it seeks to be the church, especially in the kind of places that Jesus would hang out. 

Theology should be an invitation. It should be a place where any one can come and gather around the table. Theology needs to happen at the local "watering holes" because that is where the people are. Every one from the curious waitress to the guy at the end of the bar who's had a few too many should be invited to be a part of the conversation. After all theology isn't just for the "us" crowd, it's also for the "them" crowd.

It's really about the "All-of-us-together" crowd.

Grace and Peace

Monday, November 28, 2011

To Be...



In Exodus 24 God says to Moses, "Come up on the mountain and stay here". Some Rabbi's will point out that "to stay" means literally "to be". So God is telling Moses to come up on top of the mountain and be on top of the mountain?

Sounds a little redundant doesn't it?

But God understands that Moses will spend all sorts of energy getting up the mountain, and then once he actually gets up there it is likely that  he will immediately start planning how he is going to down. And if he does that then he will never fully be on top of the mountain.

Then he just might miss it.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Evening and Morning




When I speak of a day I usually refer to it as moving from morning to evening but the creation poem in Genesis 1 uses the refrain "evening and morning". For my Jewish friends out there the Sabbath starts when the sun goes down on the sixth day of the week and ends when the sun goes down on the seventh day of the week.

Some Rabbis said that Moses is giving us a picture of the journey that God has all on. A journey that moves from night to day, from darkness to light, from ignorance to awareness of the harmony and rhythm of creation and our role in it.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Book Review: "God's Silence" by Franz Wright

"At some point, forever, I crossed
into a state where my words
became more real than I am (even to me)
Is that a good thing
or a bad thing, I
have absolutely no idea
but every day I thank God for this consciousness
that neither
one is real"
-from "The Beloved Illusory"

Franz Wright is the son of renown poet James Wright. In 2004 Franz's collection Walking to Martha's Vineyard won the Pulitzer Prize, making Franz and James Wright the only Father and son to win a Pulitzer in the same category.

God's Silence (2006) is an absolutely breathtaking collection of poetry. It is simple and yet profound all the while being deeply spiritual. These poems move from darkness to light and they climb and fall and take you along with them. It is beautiful and yet humble at the same time.  Langdon Hammer, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote of God’s Silence: “In his best poems, Wright grasps at the ‘radiantly obvious thing’ in short-lined short lyrics that turn and twist down the page. The urgency and calculated unsteadiness of the utterances, with their abrupt shifts of direction, jump-cuts and quips, mime the wounded openness of a speaker struggling to find faith.”

I posted "Love", one of my favorite poems from this collection, earlier and even though I have finished the book and written a review I may still come back to it and post some more poems from this collection. I can honestly say that I've enjoyed this book as much, if not more than any collection of poetry I've ever read.

You can purchase the book here:

Friday, November 25, 2011

Candle Liturgy



With the busy and often stressful Holiday season upon us I thought it might be helpful to share a very simple, yet powerful prayer liturgy to help you relax and get centered in the midst of all the hustle and bustle. All you need is a candle, matches/lighter and a quiet space to yourself.

Start off simply by thinking about all the things that might be stressing you out (you are probably already doing this anyway). Think about all the people you need to see, places you need to go and things that have to get done. But only think about it briefly, as in a couple of minutes at the most. Don't let it overwhelm you!

As you are thinking about all these things light the candle.

This is your Philippians 4:6 candle.

 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Once you light the candle imagine that the flame is climbing upward toward God and taking all of the concerns you were just thinking about with it. Don't think about those things anymore! For the rest of the liturgy you have to push them out of your mind. Know that even as you are not thinking about them the small flame is presenting them to God for you and that He is taking care of you. God can handle all your stressors, even when you can't.

Now simply breathe.

Take a deep inhale,

then a deep a exhale.

In the Greek, Hebrew, and almost every other ancient language the word for "Spirit" and the word for "breath" are the same.

Consider this reading Job 32:8.
"But it is the breath in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding."

If you want to understand God, contemplate on breathing.

It is a truly beautiful thing.

As you inhale you are being filled with God - all His grace, love and kindness.

As you exhale you are overflowing with God's breath. His grace, love and kindness are so plentiful that they spill out of you and effect everything and everyone around you.

In closing thank God for his grace, love and kindness and pray that your life will overflow with these things.

Then as you put out the candle thank God that your worries and concerns are being taken care of even when you are not concentrating on them. Ask him to help you remember that as you enjoy the Holiday season.

Happy Holidays,

Grace & Peace

Thursday, November 24, 2011

What is Truth?





It's very early in the morning. The Jewish leaders have taken Jesus from the High Priest and brought him to the palace of the Roman Governor Pilate. They stand out on the steps of the palace and call out to Pilate. So he awakens from his sleep and goes out to meet them. When he sees that they have a prisoner with them he asks, "Who is this? And for what reason have you arrested him?"


After finding out that the man was in fact Jesus, the Jewish revolutionary that he had heard so much about, he invites him to come inside to be questioned. Pilate had heard that some people wanted Jesus to violently overthrow the Roman government and establish himself as king, so he asked him, "Are you a king?"



 Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?"

Pilate said, "Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?"

"My kingdom," said Jesus, "doesn't consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But I'm not that kind of king, not the world's kind of king."

Then Pilate said, "So, are you a king or not?"
   
Jesus answered, "You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice."

Pilate said, "What is truth?"

What is truth?

This to me is one of the most pivotal, and powerful scenes in all of the Scriptures. 

Pilate may have lived thousands of  years ago, but he was well ahead of his time. He is struggling with the same exact question that many people are struggling with today. In fact this question may very well represent the single most important societal shift that we as the Church face today.

Welcome to the post-modern era!

What is Truth?

Is it objective?

Subjective?

Is it just an idea that we created?

Is it grounded in the laws of a Divine being?

How can we know?

What can we trust?

But what's so shocking about this scenario is not Pilate's way-ahead-of-his-time question. It's the way in which Jesus responds.

If you consider yourself a devout Christian how would you respond?

I think most of us would jump all over this opportunity right? This is a non-Christian sincerely asking this question. This is an opportunity to lay some gospel truth on this guy right? Time to tell him what he needs to hear in order to get in to heaven?

And what does Jesus say?

Nothing...

He doesn't say anything...

This was a golden opportunity, and yet it appears that Jesus blew it.

Jesus doesn't answer the question.

Or...

Maybe he just doesn't answer with words.

Jesus doesn't say anything but he does do something profound. He remains quiet, as the poets once wrote like a lamb being taken to the slaughter. Pilate watches this man, whom he recognizes is innocent go and be tortured and murdered. And why does he do it?

He does it out of love!

Jesus doesn't seem overly concerned about telling Pilate what he needs to believe as true in order to go to heaven one day. When Pilate asks "What is truth?" Jesus responds by demonstrating what it means to live out self-giving, sacrificial love.

The kind of truth Jesus is interested in is not some information that if believed will allow you to escape the world one day. It's a way of living in the world and embracing it. It's a willingness to sacrifice everything even your very life for the world.

It's showing radical, overwhelming, self-giving, sacrificial, recklessly extravagant love here and now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grace & Peace

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Poster Project



This is something exciting that I happened to stumble across today. I found out about this faith community in Houston, Texas called Ecclesia and I like what I am seeing. Ecclesia is a holistic, missional, Christian community.

As someone who values highly creativity I love it when churches and faith communities value it as well and incorporate it into their community life. So when I found the "Poster Project" on their website I just had to share it. All of these posters were created (at first as paintings) by the staff artist Scott Erickson and they reflect the core values of Ecclesia.

These posters are on sale and all the proceeds go to the new building project that Ecclesia is working on at 1100 Elder. To learn more about the building project check out this video:
http://vimeo.com/17980931

On to the posters:

1. "Together" poster
Poster Project | Together Art Print

This poster represents the value of community.

"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Ephesians 4:22-24

2. "Rise" Poster
Poster Project | Rise Art Print

This poster represents the value of Resurrection.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"
Luke 24:5

3. "Renew" Poster
Poster Project | Renew Art Print

This poster represents the value of Kingdom.

"Our Father in heaven, 
hallowed be your name, 
your kingdom come, 
your will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven."
matthew 6:9-10

4."Naaman" Poster
Poster Project | Naaman Art Print

This poster represents the value of obedience.

"Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy."
2 Kings 5:13-14

5. "Give" Poster
Poster Project | Hospitality Hand Art Print

This poster represents the value of Hospitality.

"“Come, all you who are thirsty, 
come to the waters; 
and you who have no money, 
come, buy and eat! 
Come, buy wine and milk 
without money and without cost. 
Why spend money on what is not bread, 
and your labor on what does not satisfy? 
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, 
and you will delight in the richest of fare. "
Isaiah 55:1-2

6. "Bless (orange)" poster
Poster Project | Bless Ship Orange Art Print

This poster represents the value of speech.

"Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts."
James 3:4-5

7. Alternative "Bless" poster
Poster Project | Bless Ship Art Print

This poster represents the same value as the one above it.

These posters are quite reasonably priced and can be purchased here:

If you want to learn more about Scott Erickson, the artist you can check out his really cool website here:

And if you want to learn more about Ecclesia Houston you can go to their main web site here:

I hope you all enjoy these works of art as much as I do!

Grace and Peace

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Book Review: "Oh Holy Night: The Peace of 1914" by Michael C. Snow




"They had saved something
from a gigantic wreck, and what they had saved
was immensely important – manhood and comradeship,
their essential integrity as men, their
essential brotherhood as men."*




It's Christmas Eve in 1914 and soldiers on both sides of WW1's western front have reached an unofficial truce in order to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Michael C. Snow weaves together history, poetry, letters, songs and Bible verses to recapture the heart of peace and kindness that arose between men who otherwise should have been bitter enemies on a Christmas day almost a century ago. But this book is more than just a retelling of historical happenings, rather it is a cry for peace and love, a prayer for God's will to be done "on earth as in heaven". It is a much needed reminder that love and peace can win out over hatred and violence.

I was personally moved by the letters from the soldiers telling of their eagerness and delight in sharing Christmas with their enemies. I can imagine them climbing out of their cold, muddy trenches and walking out into "no man's land" to shake hands with their foes. They said prayers and buried their dead, exchanged gifts and sang carols around the bonfire, they ate together and played soccer, and even had a communion service at an old farm. They were able to see the men across the battlefield, not as a demonic foe but as fellow human beings created in the image of God. In short, these young men exemplified what Christmas is all about.

This book a short and yet delightful read and I would definitely recommend it, especially with Christmas just around the corner as it would make a wonderful gift.

You can purchase the book here:

Michael C. Snow is a former Marine and a fifth generation farmer. One of his other books, "Love, Prayer and Forgiveness" can also be purchased at Amazon.com. He received his M. Div from Earlham.

You can learn more about him at his website:

*From Richard Aldington's novel "Death of Hero".

Monday, November 21, 2011

Poetry: "Love" by Franz Wright



"While they were considering whether to stone her -
and why not? - he knelt
and with his finger wrote
something in the dust. We are
as you know made from
dust, and the unknown
word
was, therefore, and is
and forever will be
written in our flesh
in gray folds of memory's
flesh. En 
archē ēn ho Lógos:"

-"Love" by Franz Wright ("God's Silence", 2008)
This poem is from the poetry collection I am currently reading, "God's Silence", and while I haven't finished the book yet this poem was just too good not to go ahead and share. Once I finish the book there may be a review in the works but for now just enjoy!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Sabbath



When the Israelite people were slaves in Egypt they worked every day. When the sun came up they started making bricks and they continued making bricks until the sun went down. In Egypt your worth as a person was based on how many bricks you could make. You had to meet the quota.

Then God liberates the people of Israel. He sees the oppression that they are living under and He does something about it. So they are led up to the base of a mountain. And on that mountain God gives this command, to take a day out of the week and rest from working because in the creation story God took a day and rested.

This command is a reminder of creation.

On God's mountain your worth is not based on how many bricks you can make.

On God's mountain you have inherit worth as a part of God's creation.

You rest because God rested, and the creation story reminds you that you are created in God's image.

We still need the Sabbath. We still need to be reminded that we are human beings not human doings. We need to know that our worth comes not from our bankroll, our social status or our achievements. Our worth comes from God.

Grace and Peace

Friday, November 18, 2011

Defending God



I was recently reading a blog in which the author said that he could not support a well-known emergent pastor because he felt that that pastor did not make defending God a central priority in his writings.

This really got me thinking. Why is it that Christians have made such a big deal about defending God. You don't have to look very far on the internet to find someone who considers themselves to be a doctrine defender. Someone who will, without any apparent reserve, verbally assault a popular Christian writer, speaker or pastor who they do not disagree with about every single issue. (All though if you examine more closely you will likely find that they agree about much more than they disagree) And what's worse is that many people who claim to be defending Christ seem to go about it in such an un-Christ-like way.

For me this is very problematic and it raises some serious questions.

1. Is it okay to say awful things about people who disagree with us as long as we do it in the defense of God?

A lot of people seem to have this idea that God makes exceptions for our un-Christ-like, unloving, and often down right hateful attitude as long as we are defending what is right and true. But it seems to me that in Jesus' life what he accomplished was equally important as the way in which he accomplished it. (selflessness, sacrifice, and radically inclusive love)

2. Is it okay to not practice humility as long as we are talking about our doctrinal ideas?

I'm not saying that our doctrines are not important. In fact I think the ideas you affirm about God are very important. So the problem is not the ideas that we hold but the way in which he hold them. Do we hold them so tightly that our hands are clinched around them like fists? Because the problem with making a fist is that you are then more inclined to strike someone with it. I think if we are honest about our own limitations and frailty then we can admit that we probably get it wrong just as much as anyone else. And then it just seems silly to respond violently to everyone who disagrees with us.

3. Is the point of Christianity to affirm all the right doctrinal ideas?

One of the major themes of Paul's writings is this idea of being transformed into a new creation. So maybe the goal of Christianity is not doctrinal correctness but Christ-like transformation. I personally don't think God would be very impressed with someone who somehow managed to get all the doctrines exactly right, and yet didn't show selfless love to the poor, hungry, and oppressed. (Paul might say this is like being a "clanging cymbal") That's why when Jesus talks about the sheep and goats in Mathew 25 he doesn't sort them based off of their views on atonement theories or hell. Instead they are sorted by how they treated the poor, the hungry, and the homeless.

4. Does God need for us to defend Him?

We really do worship a big God! In fact God doesn't really need us to defend Him or prove His existence does He? Notice that the Biblical authors spend very little effort making concrete doctrinal statements about God; And even less time trying to defend His existence. They seem to be more interested in poems, songs and narratives that tell the stories of all sorts of different people from all sorts of different settings relating to the one true God. It's as if the Bible isn't a collection of writings that  merely tells you all about God, but rather one that invites you to experience Him first hand!

When I look at the life of Jesus this way of understanding God becomes especially evident to me. I don't see Jesus spending a lot of time sticking up for certain doctrinal beliefs or trying to prove that God exists. Instead I see Jesus sticking up for the the people on the margins of society like widows, lepers and even prostitutes. It seems like Jesus' idea of defending God is actually to stick up for the people that God loves, and yet the rest of the world has turned their backs on. After all, isn't that the whole point of the story that Jesus tells in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats?





Thursday, November 17, 2011

Thoughts on Creation Care




"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—  if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."
- Paul's letter to the Collosians 1:15-23 (NIV)



“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?”
— St. Augustine (354-430)

“Any error about creation also leads to an error about God.”
— St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

“Now if I believe in God's Son and remember that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before. Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, as I reflect that he is Lord over all things. …God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”
— Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“What can be seen on earth points to neither the total absence nor the obvious presence of divinity, but to the presence of a hidden God. Everything bears this mark.”
— Blaise Pascal (1623-1620), 

“Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence; but let him endeavor to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred by neglect. Moreover, let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved. …The creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite and the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells us of God.”
— John Calvin (1509-1564)

“True Godliness doesn't turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavors to mend it. …We have nothing that we can call our own; no, not our selves: for we are all but Tenants, and at Will, too, of the great Lord of our selves, and the rest of this great farm, the World that we live upon.”
— William Penn (1644-1718)

“They (the creatures) encourage us to imitate Him whose mercy is over all His works. It may enlarge our hearts toward these poor creatures to reflect that not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which is in heaven.”
— John Wesley (1701-1791), 

“We have seen that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate Himself in an image of His own excellency. ... When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous (rain)bow, we behold the adumbrations of His glory and goodness; and in the blue sky, of his mildness and gentleness.”
— Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

“This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings,
And round me rings
The music of the spheres.
“This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong
Seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.“
— Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901)

“The dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness are contrary to the order of creation. …A given culture reveals its understanding of life through the choices it makes in production and consumption… a great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed, including the education of consumers in the responsible use of their power of choice…”
— Pope John Paul II (1929-2005)



“Folks, our Lord and Savior put a human face on poverty long before we did. And his concern for the degradation of creation is inextricably linked to his concern for those whose options for life have been severely degraded as well. The poor! So what do we do until He comes? What leadership do we bring? I think we do what He would have done.”
— Bob Seiple, president of World Vision and past president of Eastern College and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Earth is crammed with heaven
And every bush aflame with God
But only those who see take off their shoes.”

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet








Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Book Review: "Insurrection" by Peter Rollins

"To believe is human.
To doubt, divine."

Peter Rollins is a controversial and widely-sought after author, blogger, and speaker with a PhD in philosophy from Queens University, Belfast. He is  a research associate with the Irish School of Ecumenics in Trinity College, Dublin. He is also the founder of ikon, a faith group that has gained an international reputation for blending live music, visual imagery, soundscapes, theatre, ritual and reflection to create what they call ‘transformance art’.

His latest work is simply dangerous. There is no way around it, If you are not careful this book will wreck you. The introduction says, "There is a fire inside the building; Please step inside" and it captures quite nicely what Pete's new book is all about. He sets fire to beliefs and traditions and burns away the bulk that many would call "christianity" in order to get back to something central - what I call the Jesus Event.

In the likeness of Bonhoeffer, Pete evocatively wrestles with the idea of a "religionless Christianity" and his unassuming, critical approach has done as much to re-align my thinking as any book has in a long time.

I strongly recommend this book, but it's not for the faint of heart. 

To purchase a copy:

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Mary



This school year I am leading my youth group through the Gospel of Luke. It's been very exciting! Whenever we read a story from the Bible we try to understand it in light of the bigger story - the story of God fixing the good creation. So when we got to the encounter between the angel and Mary I couldn't wait to talk about it.

We talked about how Mary was a young Jewish girl living under fierce Roman oppression. We imagined what it would feel like to grow up hearing the stories of the one true God, who cared deeply for His people, and yet looking at the world around you it seemed like God was nowhere to be found. We imagined how it would feel to be told you were God's chosen people and yet when you look around you are slaves in the land that God had supposedly promised you all the way back in the time of Abraham. We imagined hearing the stories of God liberating His people from slavery in Egypt and yet seems to be doing nothing about His people being slaves to Rome. And to make things worse the Emperor, Caesar Augustus was making all these claims that he was the "king of salvation", "the son of god who brought peace", and the "savior of Rome" and God isn't doing anything about it.

We talked about Herod, the Jewish King whose allegiance was to Rome. He was a violent and murderous King and our records of him suggest that he had unbelievable wealth and the people under his rule probably lived with 80-90% taxation.

We talked about how the angel appeared to Zechariah (the religiously righteous priest) who didn't seem to get it, and then to Mary (the unwed teenage girl) who did seem to get it. The angel tells Mary that God has chosen her to give birth to a son who will be called Great and the kingdom of David will be given to him. To which Mary, appropriately responds with, "What!? How can I have a son if I've never even slept with a man?"

Then we got to this verse:

The angel answered, 


   The Holy Spirit will come upon you, 

      the power of the Highest hover over you; 
   Therefore, the child you bring to birth 
      will be called Holy, Son of God.

In this verse when the author, whom we will call Luke, says "the Holy Spirit will come upon you" and "the power of the Highest hover over you" he uses the same language that the Septuagint (the Greek translation of what we call the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible) uses to describe the spirit of God hovering over the waters all the way back in the creation account in the book of Genesis. For a person reading this who was familiar with the Septuagints creation account (Which we can presume is most if not all of Luke's original audience) this poetic symbolism would have been impossible to miss.

Luke is connecting what God is doing here in Luke 1 with what God did long before in Genesis 1. The God of creation, the one true God of Abraham and Moses, is once again doing something new! The same God who created an entire universe that is pregnant with possibilities is now creating something new within a literally pregnant young girl.

But here is where it gets really good!

Then the angel says, "Oh, by the way He will be called the Son of God". Which is a not to subtle way of saying that this means the 'Son of God' is not Caesar. It's almost like God is saying, "Caesar and Herod and the Romans may think that they are living large and in charge but this is My house!"

Monday, November 14, 2011

Book Review: "elegy on toy piano" by Dean Young


"When something becomes ash,
There is nothing you can do to turn it back.
About this, even diamonds do not lie."

I've decided to mix it up and review a poetry collection tonight. And with good reason, this book is spectacular! This was my first experience with this poet and I am officially a fan. In fact, I am looking forward to purchasing more of his works soon. Dean Young has published around  a dozen books and has been featured in numerous magazines and internet poetry sites. 

This particular work not only has amazing cover art (as you can see) but is a very lively read. A surreal collection that paints a fine line between being delightfully playfully and dark. It's all over the place, to say the least. I especially enjoyed the following poems: Alarm Clock, True/False, Elegy on toy Piano, and Ghost Grease (which starts off with maybe my favorite line from the eentire book "It's eschatology kegger night")

If you are a poetry lover (or you would like to be one) I strongly recommend this book!

To purchase this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Elegy-Toy-Piano-Pitt-Poetry/dp/0822958724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321320796&sr=8-1

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Progressive Restoration



I once heard it said that if you take sin out of the Bible you would be left with a pamphlet. And that pamphlet would contain four chapters: Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22.

So in the first chapter of Genesis we see this beautiful poetic tale of Elohim (God) forming, weaving and creating a new world. And it feels more like a song than a narrative. Elohim creates things, endows them with Elohim's presence and blesses them and calls them tov (good). Then the Creator looks at all of this beautiful, dynamic, living creation and calls it tov me'od (very good).

In the second chapter we are given a different account of the Elohim's creation. This account deals specifically with the creation of humankind. In this story Elohim forms both a man and a woman human in Elohim's likeness. Elohim also creates a beautiful garden with rivers and trees with fruits and places the two humans in it. And there they live, and love and eat from the vegetation and live in harmony with their creator who loves them and their creator dwells among them. There is a Hebrew word for this: Shalom.

So it would seem that Elohim's original plan was to hang out with a bunch of naked vegetarians in and organic garden all day!

Fast forward now to the end of the story: Revelation 21. And what is the scene there -

"'I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'
He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'”

So it would appear that in the end things are once again right in the world and Elohim is once again dwelling among Elohim's people. A beautiful city is coming down from heaven and it sounds amazing. No death! No mourning! No more pain! 

Everything is made new! Shalom is restored!

And if you read on it gets even better. Apparently this city has a river running down from the very throne of Elohim, and there are trees and fruits and all kinds of people from all different places. In fact if you pay attention it starts to remind you a little bit of the garden from Genesis 1.

Except it's no longer just a garden - Now its a big, beautiful organic garden-city!

Creation is progressing, changing, living and growing. It's dynamic not static. So even without sin in the story creation is going somewhere rather than staying still! Apparently all along it has been pregnant with possibilities!

And so there we have it- two stories that literally frame the rest of the Bible. Everything else that unfolds in this massive work of literature fits in between these two book-ends.

This is how the whole story begins: in Elohim's good garden.

And

This is how the whole story ends: in Elohim's good garden-city.

This is ultimately not a story of Elohim abandoning, forsaking and destroying the good creation; Rather this is a story of Elohim fixing what has been broken. In this story Elohim is renewing, restoring and reconciling all of creation and doing so through Jesus. The writer of Romans says this:

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."

Oh, by the way - this has profound implications. 

As followers of Jesus this means that what we are called to is participation. Elohim is alive and active and in the business of reconciliation and restoration. Elohim is doing something - and as followers of Jesus we get to be a part of it. We get to participate. We get to work, alongside Elohim, towards a new kind of creation (which in a way is actually a very ancient kind of creation) that is all about harmony, and goodness, and love.

In other words what we do matters.

Here!

Now!

It really does matter!

As NT Wright says:

"Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one's fellow human beings and for that matter one's fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world - all of this will find it's way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make."

One



"You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, Slave nor Free, Male nor Female, Black nor White, Rich nor Poor, Republican nor Democrat, Conservative nor Liberal, Orthodox nor Heretic, Catholic nor Protestant, Fundamentalist nor Emergent, Citizen nor Alien, Capitalist nor Communist, Gay nor Straight, Beautiful nor Ugly, Married nor Single, Theist nor Atheist, Religious nor Non-Religious, American nor Iraqi, Christian nor Muslim, Terrorist nor Freedom Fighter, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
-Galatians 3:26-29 (Re-interpreted from the NIV)

"Here Christianity is not yet another positive identity/worldview/mythology that can be placed alongside all others but is rather the name we give to the act of laying these down. The Christian community is not then distinct because it embraced yet another identity, but rather is unique in the way that it's members lay down the various identities that would otherwise define them." - Peter Rollins (Insurrection)

Saturday, November 12, 2011

The Violent Wedding Feast




This is a paper I wrote for my New Testament class last semester. I'm interested in comments, critiques, and questions.
The Parable of the Wedding Feast
Matthew 22:1-13(NIV)
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.
13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“This is a giant mess of a parable…”
-Shane Hipps, Teaching Minister at Mars Hill Bible Church[i]
                In the twenty second chapter of Matthew’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus we find what could very easily be described as one of the most disturbing and perplexing teachings Jesus ever told.  In it we see the story of a king who invites a large crowd to the wedding banquet of his son, and upon the rejection of his invitation the king responds with gruesome violence by killing the invited guests and burning down their city. Then the king invites anyone and everyone from off the streets and has his servants bring them into the banquet hall. Upon their arrival the king notices that one of the guests is not properly dressed for an occasion of this magnitude. He orders his servants to bind the man’s hands and feet and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.[ii] But What’s most disturbing about this story is that, according to the classical interpretation, apparently this violent and vengeful king is meant to be understood as representing God and this story is meant to reveal to its audience some truth about what the “Kingdom of Heaven” is like.
Which raises some important questions like what truth should be learned from this understanding of this story? Or maybe the better questions would be: Has this story been misunderstood? Is it possible that there is a different way of reading it? A better way? And if so what is this story really about?

Parables and the Kingdom

Before we can understand this particular story we have to recognize what kind of story Jesus is telling. Jesus is teaching in a particular story-telling style called a ‘parable’. Harris describes a parable as “a short story in which something spiritual is compared to something familiar to the audience”.[iii]  Many times when you hear the purpose of a parable described the assumption is that the story-teller is trying to make something spiritual easier to understand. The problem with this assumption; however, is that many times when Jesus tells a parable this doesn’t seem to be the case.
In fact many times when Jesus tells a parable, His audience seems to be more confused by what He is trying to say. It seems like after hearing a parable from Jesus you would walk away with more questions than answers. His teachings are so perplexing that occasionally He has to explain things to His disciples and at one point when He stops teaching in parables the disciples exclaim, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.”[iv]
So it appears that Jesus has no intentions of making things easier to understand. He never breaks His teachings down into six easy steps and a practical application. Instead it would seem that Jesus is trying to get His audience to struggle with what He is saying. He is trying to get them to go deeper than just the surface level. He is trying to engage His audience and challenge them to think, to question, and to respond.
Another characteristic of Jesus’ parables is that they deal with the “Kingdom of God” or as the author of Matthew puts it “Kingdom of Heaven”. In fact, Jesus devotes more of His teaching time to the “Kingdom” than any other subject and He even says of Himself that “proclaiming the Kingdom” is the reason He was sent.[v] Yet He almost never speaks clearly about this kingdom, but instead hides truths about it in parables so that those who “have ears to hear” can hear and understand what He is saying.
There is only one occasion where Jesus really speaks clearly about the Kingdom. One of the Pharisees asks Jesus when the kingdom of God would come and Jesus’ response shows that the Pharisee has assumed too much. Jesus responds, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”[vi]
Jesus, who knows the hearts of all men[vii], knows that the Pharisees are expecting the Messiah to come and lead a physical, violent revolt against the Roman Empire and establish a new Empire or Kingdom of God. They are looking for physical signs of the Kingdom to take place and the revolution to begin, but the revolution that Jesus is talking about is an entirely different kind of revolution, and when He talks about it He speaks in the present, not future tense. Jesus says you are not going to see it coming no matter how hard you look for it because the Kingdom of God isn’t out there somewhere and it isn’t coming sometime in the future it is inside of you right now.
Finally, when understanding the Kingdom of God it is important to realize that the kingdom language Jesus used would have a much different effect on its original audience than it does on us today. Brian McLaren writes,
“As we’ve seen when Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, his language was charged with urgent political, religious, and cultural electricity. But today, if we speak of the kingdom of God, the original electricity is largely gone, and in its place we too often find a kind of tired familiarity that inspires not hope and excitement but rather anxiety or boredom.
Why is kingdom language not as dynamic today? First, because in our world, kingdoms are a thing of the past. They’ve given ways to republics and democratic republics. Now authority resides in constitutions, parliaments, and congresses. Where kings exist, they are by and large anachronisms, playing a limited ceremonial role in relation to parliaments and prime ministers, evoking nothing of the power and authority they did in Jesus’ day. When people hear the “kingdom of God,” we don’t want them to think “the anachronistic, limited, ceremonial, and symbolic but practically ineffectual rule of God”! If there is any electric charge to the language of the kingdom today, it is the faint current of the quaint and nostalgic, conjuring knights in shining armor, round tables and chivalry, damsels in distress, fire-breathing dragons, and Shakespearean thees and thous that doth go running hitherest and witherest. In Jesus’ day, kingdom language was contemporary and relevant; today, it is outdated and distant.
In addition, for many people today, kingdom language evokes patriarchy, chauvinism, imperialism, domination, and a regime without freedom. Not a pretty picture- and the very opposite of the liberating, barrier-breaking, domination-shattering, reconciling movement the Kingdom of God was intended to be! So for these and other reasons, if Jesus were here today, I am quite certain he wouldn’t use the language of kingdom at all… which leaves us wondering how he would in fact articulate his message today.”[viii]

The Wedding Feast

So now that we have some context in which to understand parables and the Kingdom we can look further into the specific teaching that Jesus gives in the twenty-second chapter of Matthew. While Jesus is teaching in the temple courts in the city of Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the people come up to Him and start questioning His authority. Jesus responds with a tough question of His own, one that the chief priests and elders do not answer. So Jesus tells them that until they are willing to answer His question He will not answer theirs.
Then Jesus tells three stories to the religious elite, all of which are in the form of parables. After telling the first two, which we now know as the Parable of the Two Sons and the Parable of the Tenants, the religious elite realize that Jesus is using these parables as a way of condemning them and their ancestors. They try to find a way to have him arrested but they were too afraid because Jesus was popular with the people. Then he tells them a third parable, the Parable of the Wedding Feast.
This parable, with all its violence and odd details, has proven to be one of the most disturbing teachings of Jesus and because of that it seems that much has been assumed about it.  Shane Hipps observes, “The way that this is classically understood is that the ‘king’ is God, that the servants who went to invite the guests are the prophets and Jesus, the first set of guests are the Jews, and the banquet is heaven…  God sends Jesus and the prophets to the Jews; the Jews reject, and apparently kill the servants and then the king decides to go out and invite anyone off the streets, as many people as he can find from the streets, which many interpret to be the gentiles, the rest of the people who aren’t Jews.”[ix]
Most scholars rightly point out that this parable seems to be a continuation of the theme that Jesus is carrying through the two parables directly before this one. Carter points out, “In the third of three parables (21:28-22:14), Jesus continues to announce God’s punishment of the religious elite and their rejecting city (22:1-14).”[x] And Byrne follows suit saying, “Jesus presumably told the parable as a comment on the lack of response he was getting from the religious establishment (those first invited), contrasted with the positive response from those on the margins. With these he was already celebrating the joy of the Kingdom (9:10-17).”[xi]
Smith says, “It is fairly obvious that it must have been addressed to the professedly religious who were failing to respond to the call to repentance, the final summons to the heavenly banquet, and that the men from off the streets have their counterpart in the tax-collectors and sinners. But care must be taken not to misinterpret the story. The parable is not meant to teach that God had not from the first wished the sinful to be his guests. The mission of Jesus to the outcasts was certainly not undertaken because others had turned a deaf ear to the good news of the Kingdom. But the story is told from the point of view of the critics on that mission. Granted that they are right in thinking of the heavenly feast as prepared for themselves, they still must not be surprised if their places are filled by the men they so greatly despise!”[xii]
Towards the end of the parable is when the story starts to get especially problematic. The king sees that one of the guests who was brought in off the streets is not in proper wedding attire. When the king questions the man about his wardrobe the man is speechless. This is reasonable to understand, because he was literally just brought in off the streets. He has no idea that he is going to be attending a wedding on this day, and when the invitation comes it appears that he is not allowed time to go home and change into his finest clothes. So why would the king be so offended that he is not properly dressed? In fact, one could presume none of the guests that have been brought in off the streets are properly dressed, and it appears for whatever reason the king is singling out this one person.
Even more disturbing than that is how the king responds to this individual. Rather than asking the man to leave, the king has him bound hand and foot and thrown into the darkness where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth”, which seems to be an extreme and violent response to this situation. Shane Hipps asks, “Now how many of you at the end of this parable are like, ‘If this is what the kingdom of Heaven is like is there a way I can get a pass?” and then he adds, “If God is the king it would appear that God is a narcissistic sociopath, because the king exhibits these kinds of behaviors”.[xiii]
                Byrne does not see these details as anything to be overly concerned about saying, “While people still hear the parable as a story, it is probably best to make clear from the start that it is an allegory through and through and that we should not be too dismayed by all the aspects that fail to add up.”[xiv]
                And H. H. Halley claims that it is just merely adding a warning to the parable. He says, “God’s Elect nation, for its shameful treatment of God’s messengers, was now to be cast off, and other nations called in. Also, it is a sort of double parable: having a warning for the newcomers, that they be careful, lest they meet the same fate.”[xv]
                Still it appears that these random acts of violence and lack of any sort of forgiveness seem to be opposing the nature of a loving, forgiving God. Is this the image of God that Jesus really meant to stir up when He was telling this story? Is this how we are supposed to understand the Kingdom of God? Or has this story been misunderstood? Is there a better way to read this?
                “There is one Greek word that betrays [the classical understanding, and conveys] that this is something very different than all the other parables” says Hipps.[xvi] In all the other parables Jesus tells He uses the phrase “the kingdom of heaven is like x” and in all the other parables the Greek phrase He uses literally means “is like”. Matthew 22 is the only time we see Jesus use this same phrase but in a different tense and a different voice. Verbs can be past or present tense and active or passive. In all the other parables we see an active present tense verb, but in this case we have a past tense, passive verb. So in all the other passages the Kingdom is doing the action (it is like) but in this passage the kingdom of heaven is receiving the action (it has been made into).
                Another point of interest about this parable can be found in the original Greek. According to Hipps where our English translations say the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king, the Greek uses a very specific word for king. The word that is found in the Greek literally means a “human king”. It is not the same phrase that would be used for a divine king, or God as king.[xvii]
                So according to the literal translation of this parable it would appear that what Jesus is actually saying is that the Kingdom of Heaven has been made into a human kingdom with a human king. Jesus is not telling the religious leaders what the Kingdom is like; He’s calling them out on what they have tried to turn it into. He knows they want the Messiah to be a human king who will ride in with power and overthrow the Romans and rule over Israel like David once did. He knows they have come to believe that violence and hatred are the ways in which they hope to achieve their victory. The religious leaders of Israel are trying to twist and contort the message of Jesus into a message that suits them and as the narrative unfolds it becomes increasingly clear that they will use the same kind of violence that Jesus warns against here when they have him tortured and crucified.
It’s also worth pointing out that in this story the king is throwing a wedding feast for his son, but one crucial guest seems to be missing. Nowhere in this story do we see the son. It would appear that the one person for whom this feast is being thrown is not present. This feast is supposed to be all about the king’s son and yet it would appear that in the midst of all his violence and spontaneity the king in this story has entirely missed the point.
                This parable is not a comparison, then but a contradiction for the religious leaders of Israel to ponder over. Jesus tells two stories prior to this one to show what the Kingdom is like and how they are going to miss out on it, then He turns it around and shows how they have tried to distort and corrupt the Kingdom by turning it into something that it isn’t. They can’t seem to understand that this Kingdom is not coming in physical power that they can see, but it is rooted within you.
                But this leads to another question. If the king is not the hero of this story then who is? To understand that we have to reference back to the thirteenth chapter of Matthew in which Jesus tells some parables to his disciples and a large crowd. He tells what we know now as the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Mustard Seed, and the Parable of the Hidden Treasure. In all three of these particular stories there is a common factor, the field. The field in these stories is always the location of the Kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of heaven can be found out in the field.
                So going back to the Parable of the Wedding Feast we see an interesting detail. When the invitation to the feast is first sent one man ignores it and returns to his field. What happens to the man who goes to his field? He is neither murdered nor murders, neither goes to the feast nor gets kicked out. This man returns to his field and he avoids all the violence and despair surrounding this wedding feast. It would appear that maybe this man knows something. Maybe he recognizes that this feast is missing the point and so he returns to his field.
                Finally it’s worth noting that in Luke’s account we have basically the same story except for some crucial differences.  For starters, in Luke, Jesus uses the Greek phrase for “is like” (present, active) which contrasts the past, passive verb used by Matthew. This indicates that in Luke’s account he is not giving an “anti-parable” or contradiction parable but rather a comparison parable. Secondly it is worth noting that Luke’s parable leaves out all of the violence and chaos that make Matthew’s account so much of a mess. In Luke’s account the guests miss out on the feast, which is not specifically a wedding feast, but the king does not respond with violence. Finally, in Luke’s account, the time and location differ noticeably from Matthew’s account. Matthew’s version appears late in the ministry of Jesus but Luke’s appears much earlier. Also Luke’s account happens as a conversation with some Pharisees at one of their homes but Matthew’s account happens outside the temple as the climax of a scene which takes place a day after Jesus clears the temple for apparently a second time (it seems they went back to the corrupt dealings after His first temple clearing at the very start of His ministry) and immediately follows two other parables in which Jesus calls into light the corrupt and wicked ways of the Pharisees.
                So it appears that Matthew’s account may actually be an entirely different instance, in which Jesus refers back to a previously told story about what the kingdom is like, but in this situation He expresses the ways in which they have corrupted even his earlier message about the kingdom and how they have even tried to provoke the movement of Jesus into a violent-earthly kingdom. Which is exactly what they wanted Jesus’ kingdom to be like all along, and they were sorely disappointed when they realized the kingdom Jesus was preaching was an entirely different kind of kingdom; a kingdom that was misunderstood by the religious elite during the time Jesus was on earth and in many ways a Kingdom that is still misunderstood by religious people today. A Kingdom that wouldn’t be found in temples, palaces, churches, cathedrals and the banquet halls of kings but instead in the fields, on the mountains, and in the wilderness outside. This is all a very Jewish way of saying that it was for the whole world and refers all the way back to the prophet Isaiah, the Exodus from Egypt, and even the Garden of Eden.


[i] Hipps, Shane. (speaker)(2010, November 7). “Returning to the Field” [Podcast]
Mars Hill Bible Church. Grand Rapids, MI. Retrieved April 4, 2011 from Mars Hill Bible Church iTunes Podcast.
[ii] Matt. 22:13 (NLT)
[iii] Harris, S. L. (2009). The New Testament: A Student’s Introduction (pg. 472)
New York: McGraw Hill
[iv] John 16:29 (NIV)
[v] Luke 4:43 (NIV)
[vi] Luke 17:20 (NIV), Due to the troubling nature of this truth some interpretations attempt to use the phrase “among you” rather than “within you”. However, this is probably a bad translation. The Greek word Jesus uses here is the same word He uses when he describes how the Pharisees clean the outside of the cup but not the inside. So taking the “among you” interpretation seems to assume that Jesus accused the Pharisees of not cleaning among the cup, which doesn’t make any sense.
[vii] John 2:24 (NIV)
[viii] Mclaren, B. D. (2006). The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that could change everything. (pg. 138-139)
Nashville: W Publishing Group.
[ix] Hipps, Shane. (speaker)(2010, November 7). “Returning to the Field” [Podcast]
Mars Hill Bible Church. Grand Rapids, MI. Retrieved April 4, 2011 from Mars Hill Bible Church iTunes Podcast.
[x] Carter, Warren. (2000). Matthew and the Margins: A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading. (pg. 432)
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books
[xi] Byrne, Brendan. (2004). Lifting the Burden: Reading Matthew’s Gospel in the Church Today. (pg. 163)
Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.
[xii] Smith, B. T. D.  (1937). The Parables of the Synoptic Gospels: A Critical Study. (pg. 203)
Cambridge: University Press.
[xiii][xiii] Hipps, Shane. (speaker)(2010, November 7). “Returning to the Field” [Podcast]
Mars Hill Bible Church. Grand Rapids, MI. Retrieved April 4, 2011 from Mars Hill Bible Church iTunes Podcast.
[xiv] Byrne, Brendan. (2004). Lifting the Burden: Reading Matthew’s Gospel in the Church Today. (pg. 164)
Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press.
[xv] Halley, H. H. (1965). Halley’s Bible Handbook: New Revised Edition. (pg. 444-445)
Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library.
[xvi] Hipps, Shane. (speaker)(2010, November 7). “Returning to the Field” [Podcast]
Mars Hill Bible Church. Grand Rapids, MI. Retrieved April 4, 2011 from Mars Hill Bible Church iTunes Podcast.
[xvii] Hipps, Shane. (speaker)(2010, November 7). “Returning to the Field” [Podcast]
Mars Hill Bible Church. Grand Rapids, MI. Retrieved April 4, 2011 from Mars Hill Bible Church iTunes Podcast.