Bible portraits: Nicodemus (Part 1)

Evenings in Jerusalem can be the most perfect times. The heat of the day has passed. The merchants have closed up their stalls in the marketplaces. The crowds have left the streets. And beneath the starry sky all is quiet, interrupted only now and then by the tromp, tromp, tromp, tromp of Roman soldiers marching in formation in the distance.

This particular evening was one that I was destined to remember. I had made an appointment to meet with one of the pilgrims from Galilee. But I move ahead too quickly. Allow me first to tell you something about myself before I share my story.

My name is Nicodemus. I am one of a brotherhood we like to call the chavurim, the companions. Perhaps you might know us better as Pharisees, the “separate ones”. No one really knows where that name came from and, while we did not choose it for ourselves, it suits us well and we wear it proudly. For we are determined not to be like the ordinary, run-of-the-mill people of this land, or like the Sadducees, who boast of their wealth and cozy up to our Roman overlords. By contrast, we strive to live by the fullest rigors of the Torah.

To join the chavurah you must stand before three witness and take a solemn oath that you will observe every detail of the Law. It contains more than six hundred individual commandments and we are careful not to overlook a single one of them. Not only that, in many cases we proudly go beyond the simple demands of the law, to ensure that we stand in no danger of contravening them.

So, for example, in the case of the Sabbath, we have spent years carefully defining what does or does not constitute work. To write two letters is work; to write one is not. To put up a building is work; to destroy one is not. To tie a knot to tether a camel or moor a boat is work; to tie a knot that can be undone with a single hand is not. I could go on and on, but I fear I would only bore or confuse you in doing so. Yet I want you to understand that for us this is more than a mere diversion. It is our life’s work. It occupies our thoughts and our actions day and night. It is our calling to keep our nation pure from the influences of the heathen. It has been said that if for one day every Jew could live in obedience to the Law the kingdom of heaven will come—and we in the chavurah yearn to bring that day to pass.

In recent months, however, I have begun to wonder whether our strictness can ever really bring that to pass. I wonder whether we might not be guilty of keeping men and women away from the kingdom of heaven rather than nearer to it. All these rules can be too heavy a burden for an ordinary person to bear—and even in us the result is more often the opposite of what the Torah is really intended to produce. It is written that Moses was the humblest man who ever lived. And the prophets instruct us that what the Almighty desires is that we should walk humbly with him. Yet so many of our brotherhood are puffed up with spiritual pride.

This may explain why we have never been a large group within Israel. We do not number above 6000 in all. Even so, our influence is far greater than our numbers might warrant. In recent generations we have been well represented in the Sanhedrin. For the past few years I myself have been one of its seventy- one members.

While the Romans may think they have us under their thumbs, most Jews see us and not them as their government. I will admit that our powers are considerably less than they were before the Romans took possession of our land. We may have no authority in political matters, yet we continue to be the supreme council in all matters of religion—and for all Jews, not only here in Palestine, but everywhere in the world.

Meditations for Lent

I was amazed when my son told me that if you “google” “Lent meditations”, you will come up with this at the top of the list:

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

On the wall of our garage there hangs a flashlight which I keep for emergency use. Quite often when I go to use it, however, I find that the batteries are dead!

Psalm 119 tells us that the Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. Unlike my flashlight, however, its batteries never run out! The gospel, the apostle Paul affirms, is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Although originally written thousands of years ago, the Scriptures can still speak to us today with power and relevance.

The twenty-eight meditations which follow are proof of that. Each one is a testimony that God is able to address our twentieth-century needs clearly and powerfully through his word.

It is with a great sense of privilege that I present this series of Lenten devotions, prepared by members of our congregation. They demonstrate the rich variety of ways in which God is touching and transforming lives at St Paul’s. They are not arranged in any particular order, nor do they follow any particular overall theme. Each presents a personal perspective on God’s word.

I hope that you will enjoy them and savor them. Even more, I hope you will take time to read, study and apply the passages of Scripture on which they are based and which have brought such meaning to the lives of twenty-four of your fellow parishioners.

It is the first in a series of simple, brief meditations produced by members of my former parish, St Paul’s Church, Halifax, Nova Scotia, more than a dozen years ago! The rest are here.

Bible Portraits: The Tempter (Part 2)

I thought I might have nipped it all in the bud before there was any chance of a mishap, had my servant Herod not fouled it up and lost track of him. But, as I have told you already, I can be patient when I need to be and so I bided my time till the perfect moment should arise.

That opportunity came only a short while ago. Thirty years and more had elapsed. He had gone out into the wilderness, to be alone with the Lord God (he has the audacity to address him as “Father”) in fasting and prayer. They are such fools, these humans! To undergo such deprivation when it will get them nowhere!

There comes a point when your hunger can be such that the little round rocks on the desert floor can begin to appear as loaves of bread. That was the very moment at which I came up behind him and whispered in his ear, “If you really are God’s beloved child, sharing his power and like him in so many ways, surely he does not want you to starve like this? Why not command one of these rocks to become bread? Look! There are so many of them around. Do you really think God will miss one of them? Do you suppose he will mind you having a tiny snack out here? And if he does, what kind of god is he anyway? It all sounds rather sadistic to me. Surely God wants you to have some small pleasures in life? After all, if you don’t look after yourself, how are you going to be of any use to him or to anyone else?”

He did not even look around. Without a gesture, without a hint of emotion, he picked up one of those hot rocks, held it in his hand and said to me, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Clever response. I knew the words were not his own. Someone had done too good a job on him as a child, teaching him from that cursed book they call scripture. I had lost round one. But I know their “scriptures” as well as they do. And I have often used them to my advantage before.

So that was exactly what I did. I took him to the temple, to its very top. “Do you really believe those scriptures of yours?” I asked him. “Then how about this one: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’? Or this: ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone’? Surely you are familiar with these? If you really believe them, why don’t you jump? Or maybe you don’t really believe that God will come through for you.” It’s not a line of argument I’d use with an ordinary person. A lot of them say they believe the scriptures, but when their so-called faith puts them in the face of danger or death, it invariably takes a back seat to self-preservation. Every once in a while, though, you come across a fanatic, someone who really lives what they believe. This one was clearly one of them. He was just the type to take the leap…

Or so I thought. Coolly he looked down on the hard paving stones below. Then he turned to me. There was a clarity and an honesty in his eyes that I had never seen in another human being. At that moment I almost began to fear. “It seems to me,” he retorted, “there’s a scripture you’ve ignored: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Appealing to his appetite hadn’t worked. Neither had challenging his faith. Clearly I had to take another tack. I took him up onto a mountaintop. It seemed as though the whole world stretched beneath us. So much of that world was mine already, but I will not be satisfied until I have it all, right to the very last wretched man and woman. As we gazed down into the valley below, I made him an offer that I thought no human being could refuse. For as I look into their hearts, I know that, like me, in their own pathetic ways they all want power of one kind or another. “All this I will give you,” I said to him, “if you will bow down and worship me. It will all be yours, to do with whatever you will.”

As he turned to me once again a shaft of bright sunlight shone into the valley below. There was no quaver in his voice. Nor did he did not shout. He merely spoke the words, but with such firmness and authority as I have never heard before. “Get away from me, Satan! For the scripture says, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.” I will admit to you that I was truly shaken. I have not seen such strength in a man. I had no alternative but to turn and go.

Looking back for one last glimpse out the corner of my eye, I could see angels coming to his side. So that was the trick! The Lord God had his hand upon him! No matter! It only makes me all the more determined. Indeed I have only begun. He will see. I will come upon him with such fury that he will wish he were never born. I will make him curse the very god whom he calls Father, in whom he puts such trust. I will not be satisfied until I take the whole world as my prisoner, until I ascend to the tops of the clouds and make myself like the Most High, until I ascend to heaven and raise my throne above the stars. That is my destiny, and I will have it no other way. I will be God!

Heavenly Father,
our enemy the devil prowls about like a roaring lion,
seeking to devour us.
Protect us, we pray, by your mighty power,
that we may resist his wiles and stand against him,
and that we may be faithful to the One
who was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin,
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Bible Portraits: The Tempter (Part 1)

I am not accustomed to disappointment. By and large I like to think of myself as a patient individual. Yet I will frankly admit that there are times when even I can lose it—especially with those stubborn types who will not bend to my methods of persuasion.

However, let me begin at the beginning, and tell you a little about myself—so that you may lay your fears aside and see that I am not nearly as nasty a character as my detractors have made me out to be.

What you see now is not what I once was. I was the most beautiful and wise of all creatures. There was none that excelled me, none that could be compared with me. The most precious of gems—name them if you will, carnelian, olivine, jade, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise or emerald—none of them equaled me in splendor. When I roamed the universe the stars would bow before me. The angels held me in awe. I was the very definition of perfection. I was a god.

One day as I roamed through Eden my eyes fell upon the Lord God (that is the incredibly pompous name he likes to go by) kneeling on the ground, sifting a pile of dust through his fingers. As he molded it, the dry dust began to take shape—a trunk, arms, legs, a head. Then, as I watched on, I saw him bend low and breathe into this creature of dust. What had been dry earth took color. Its chest began to heave. The eyes opened and looked about inquisitively. The Lord God took it by the hand and it rose to its feet.

I will never forget that moment, as the Lord God stood back and looked at the creature he had made. If you ask me, there was nothing special about it, rather ordinary, not much different from a baboon. Incredibly I could see in the Lord God’s expression a look of pride—no, far, far worse than that, of delight, of love. At that moment I knew that my position of supremacy was threatened. The Lord God was giving to it the glory and honor that were rightfully mine. It had none of the beauty or intelligence of an angel. Yet it, not I, would have authority over the creatures of earth—the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea. What was I to do?

I chose my moment carefully. It was obvious to me that they were stupid, gullible creatures, yet I wanted to have every tactical advantage. Catch them off guard, subtly misrepresent the Lord God so as to undermine their trust in him, overstate the pleasures of doing what he had forbidden. It would not take any more than that for me to regain my position of superiority and disgrace those interlopers. Perhaps the Lord God would be so angry that before they did any further damage he would wipe them out altogether. After all, he himself admits that he is a jealous God.

In the end it went considerably more easily than I could ever have imagined. They fell for my line without objection, almost without a thought. And yes, the Lord God was every bit as angry as I had predicted. He cursed them and he cursed me—which is why I look the way I do, but I will overcome that. He threw them out of my garden. But here is what really annoys me. Before he shut them out, I saw him stop for just a moment and give them each an animal skin to cover their nakedness and keep them warm. There was a look of wistfulness, of sorrow, in his eyes. At that moment I knew that he still cared for them, still loved them, foolish, disobedient and vile as they were. And I knew that my task was still unfinished.

If the Lord God would not destroy them, I could find ways to make them destroy themselves. With Cain it was jealousy, with Lot greed, with Jacob his competitiveness; with Moses it was his fierce sense of justice, with Naomi her grief, with David his virility, with Solomon his riches, with Elijah his independence. I could name you ten thousand more, all favorites of the Lord God, and one by one I brought them down. Yet in spite of all their failures, their disobedience, their rebellion and sometimes even their outright hatred towards him, he continued to love them, to yearn for them, to desire them for himself. Now you tell me. Is that any way for a god to behave?

I share all of this with you because I am now in the midst of facing my greatest challenge. I have been watching him since his birth in Bethlehem three decades ago. From the beginning I knew he would be dangerous. His name alone was a giveaway—Jesus, Yehoshua, “The Lord is our salvation”. Ha! Little do they know! One day it will be to me that they cry for mercy. And let’s see if they get it!

More tomorrow…

A Mountaintop and a Hilltop

A brief reflection on the Transfiguration, from Bishop Tom Wright:

In fact, the scene at the transfiguration (as it’s normally called) offers a strange parallel and contrast to the crucifixion (Matthew 27:33-54). If you’re going to meditate on the one, you might like to hold the other in your mind as well, as a sort of backdrop. Here, on a mountain, is Jesus, revealed in glory; there, on a hill outside Jerusalem, is Jesus, revealed in shame. Here his clothes are shining white; there, they have been stripped off, and soldiers have gambled for them. Here he is flanked by Moses and Elijah, two of Israel’s greatest heroes, representing the law and the prophets; there, he is flanked by two brigands, representing the level to which Israel had sunk in rebellion against God. Here, a bright cloud overshadows the scene; there, darkness comes upon the land. Here Peter blurts out how wonderful it all is; there, he is hiding in shame after denying he even knows Jesus. Here a voice from God himself declares that this is his wonderful son; there, a pagan soldier declares in surprise, that this really was God’s son.

[Matthew for Everyone, Part 2, page 14]

The Conversion of St Paul

Today (January 25th) is the date on which the church annually marks the Conversion of St Paul. Here is a quote from a book I have been reading recently, Conversion in the New Testament, by Richard Peace:

Whatever else one might say about Paul’s conversion, it must be conceded that it had a momentous impact on the church. “No single event, apart from the Christ-event itself, has proved so determinant for the course of Christian history as the conversion and commissioning of Paul” [F.F. Bruce]. From that event sprang the ministry of St Paul. From the ministry of St Paul came the Gentile church. From these churches Western Christianity emerged as it is known today. “The importance of Paul’s conversion and of the consequences he drew from it can hardly be exaggerated. He made the free development of Gentile Christianity possible…” [H.G. Wood]. Furthermore many consider Paul’s conversion to be a central “proof” for the validity of Christianity. As F.F. Bruce writes: “For anyone who accepts Paul’s own explanation of his Damascus-road experience, it would be difficult to disagree with the observation of an eighteenth-century writer [G. Lyttleton] that ‘the conversion and apostleship of St Paul alone, duly considered, was of itself a demonstration sufficient to prove Christianity to be a divine revelation.’”

Whatever the wider impact, Paul’s conversion was for him the most crucial event of his life. His vision of the risen Christ while on the Damascus road literally stopped him in his tracks, turned his whole life around, and launched him in a totally new direction. From a Pharisee of the Pharisees, bent on the destruction of the church, he became a tireless evangelist, planting churches around the Mediterranean, despite great personal hardship and suffering. In fact, this very change in Paul himself is a further demonstration of the resurrection of Jesus. It has been asserted that nothing less than an encounter with the living Jesus could have accounted for so radical a change in Paul that he became willing to head up the Gentile mission of the church.

A prayer on the anniversary of Roe v Wade

Eternal God, author of life, and giver of all that is good:
for the gift of human life
and for the wonder of being created in your image,
for the fatherly care you extend to all creation,
and to us in particular,
we praise you, we thank you, and we bless you.
Help us to hallow the life you have entrusted to us,
especially those who are yet unborn,
that they may live to see the light of day and give you glory.
To that end we implore you
to extend your hand of protection
over those threatened by abortion,
and to save them from its destructive power.
Look with compassion upon mothers
who are driven by distress and delusion
to seek the lives of their own offspring.
Ease the burdens of all women with problem pregnancies
and bring healing to all affected by past abortions.
Give courage to all fathers,
that they may never give in to the fears
that may tempt them to facilitate abortions.
Work in the hearts of those
who turn their training in the healing arts
to the purposes of death.
Enlighten the minds and strengthen the wills
of those who frame and implement the laws of our land,
that they may use their powers to guard the sanctity of life.
Guide our efforts to educate and serve,
that we may conduct them in the spirit of humility and love
that will win minds and hearts to accept the truth,
and enable us to minister to those in need.
Bless our families and bless our land,
that we may have the joy
of welcoming and nurturing the life of which you are the giver.
All this we ask for the sake of your unbounded love. Amen.