For or Against, Us or Jesus

The accusation, “You are either with us or against us!” has been used for centuries to divide and conquer, to build commitment, to arouse emotion, to win elections, etc. Republican President George W. Bush and Democrat Senator of New York Hilary Clinton both used it in September 2001 to encourage the support of other nations for a US war against terrorism. Those and many other examples including Sarah Palin using the phrase to gain 2016 support for Donald Trump are in this Wikipedia article.

The Gospels include four similar Jesus quotes that seem, at first glance and without context, to be contradictory. Two declare that everyone is either with Jesus or against him and two declare that whoever is not against the church (the disciples or Jesus and the disciples) is for it. Here are the four quotes, pronouns in bold print:

“Whoever is not with me is against me.” – Matthew 12:30a NRSV

“Whoever is not with me is against me.” – Luke 11:23a NRSV

“Whoever is not against us is for us.” – Mark 9:40 NRSV

“For whoever is not against you is for you.” – Luke 9:50b NRSV

In the Matthew 12 and Luke 11 examples, Jesus uses the first person singular, referring to himself, and says, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” These are apparently slightly different versions of the same incident, accusations by the Pharisees that Jesus has cast out a demon using demonic power and a lecture by Jesus that no divided kingdom can survive. So, in these two cases, the statement that “whoever is not with me is against me,” may be a personal reference by Jesus about his power vs. demonic power, absolute perfection vs. total unrepentant depravity. His statement challenges us to follow him.

A lesson that might be drawn from the Matthew 12 and Luke 11 passages is that all lovers of Jesus, whether Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Church of God, Orthodox, Non-Denominational, Catholic, whatever, and whatever cultural background they brought to the Church, should be united in following Jesus and fighting demonic power instead of criticizing each other.

In Mark 9, Jesus uses the first person plural (98% of English translations), apparently referring to himself and the disciples, and  says “Whoever is not against us is for us.” In Luke 9, Jesus uses the third person plural (80% of English translations), apparently referring to the disciples, and says, “whoever is not against you is for you.”

Both the Mark 9 and Luke 9 examples are apparently slightly different versions of the same incident, complaints by disciples that they had seen someone they didn’t recognize casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Perhaps it was an egotistical personal concern of the disciples about a stranger in their territory. Only Mark adds an interesting comment about the reward due to anyone who offers a cup of water to one bearing the name of Christ.

A lesson that might be drawn from the Mark 9 and Luke 10 passages is that all lovers of Jesus, whether Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Church of God, Orthodox, Non-Denominational, Catholic, whatever, and whatever cultural background they brought to the Church, should be offering each other cups of water, figuratively speaking, instead of criticizing each other.

Either way, mutual criticism is not productive. So, perhaps all the various Christian lovers of Christ should be proclaiming the Gospel as they understand and have experienced it without criticizing those with different understandings and backgrounds. Eventually, “The truth will out.”

Below are handy links for reading the four Jesus quotes in context.

Matthew 12:22-32

Luke 11:14-23

Mark 9:38-41

Luke 9:46-49

Confession: I’m not an authorized interpreter of Sacred Scripture but am just making observations and suggesting possibilities. And, I’m not qualified to discuss translation of Greek pronouns but suffice it to say that they are more complex than English pronouns, well at least more complex than English pronouns used to be. That is probably the reason for some variation in the pronoun translations in the Mark 9 and Luke 9 examples.

Revision Note: December 11, 2024, I revised this post to include the phrase, “and whatever cultural background they brought to the Church,” in two of the paragraphs. The phrase was added after learning more about Our Lady of Guadalupe and the importance of that cultural tradition to millions of lovers of Jesus.

Comments, correction, and complaints are welcome.

“The Word of the LORD Came to Me”

This post may not be of much theological value but could come in handy in a game of Bible trivia. The phrase in the title above appears 61 times in the writings of the classical prophets in the NRSV Bible. It appears 49 times in Ezekiel, 10 times in Jeremiah, and twice in Zechariah.

There are a couple of other appearances of the phrase besides those in the classical prophet writings. In 1 Chronicles 22:18, the words are from dying King David explaining to son Solomon why he didn’t build a house for the Lord and why Solomon would do it. “But this word of the LORD came to me: You have shed much blood, and you have waged great wars. You may not build a house for my name, because you have shed too much blood upon the earth in my sight.” Well, to be completely honest and give credit where credit is due, David might have said that the word of the LORD came to him through Nathan the prophet. The interesting story is in 2 Samuel 7.

The 4 Esdras instance can, I think, be ignored since it is from an apocryphal book sometimes labeled 3 Esdras, 5 Ezra, 4 Ezra, or 6 Ezra. It is in the Latin Vulgate Appendix as 4 Esdras. I have not even tried to find it, let alone read it.

But, back to the Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah instances. We are immediately reminded of these words from the Nicene Creed: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

Well, there is some mighty theological value, the reason we take the writings of the Old Testament prophets seriously and search for meaning in them.

To think about that issue in modern terms, I suggest that if a living, campaigning, politician says, “The word of the Lord came to me,” and then keeps talking, we should vote for a different politician.

So, here is the trivia question: What Old Testament classical prophet made greatest use of the phrase, “The Word of the LORD came to me?” (I know, I usually can’t remember what I just read either.)

The Glory of the Lord

Recent Mass readings from Ezekiel bring  the inspiring phrase, the glory of the LORD, to our attention. It shows up 41 times in the Bible, only 3 of those in the New Testament. It is in Ezekiel 10 times, more than in any other bible book. Here are the New Testament instances.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields,
keeping watch over their flock by night. 
Then an angel of the Lord stood before them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified. 
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. – Luke 2:8-10
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Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord
as though reflected in a mirror,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another;
for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
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With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches
for his proclaiming the good news; and not only that,
but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us
while we are administering this generous undertaking for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. – 2 Corinthians 8:18-19
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Below is the Strong’s Concordance explanation of the Greek word translated glory.

Lost in Translation Issue?

The Hebrew word translated glory in the Old Testament has a deeper meaning than the New Testament Greek Word or the modern English glory. It suggests weight, importance, worth, and value. At the website of a Christian organization in Israel, Firmisrael.org, there is a simple and well written explanation of the Hebrew word Kavod. I can’t improve on it, so I recommend it. Maybe we should always bow when hearing the Old Testament phrase The Glory of the Lord. Maybe we should always be capitalizing glory along with Lord.

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The chart below reveals the location of the 41 instances of the phrase in the Bible. Ezekiel leading the way.

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In the Catechism

The phrase Glory of the Lord appears three times in the Catechism, the first two in the section on Liturgy and the third in the section on prayer, none seeming to suggest the weight of the Hebrew word. The second one, incidentally, is especially provocative, reminding us that God “has neither a body nor a face.” Footnote 27 identifies St. John Damascene, De imag. 1, 16: PG 96: 1245-1248 as the source of that quote. In CCC-2676, the pertinent phrase is in the 11th line from the top.

Sinning Against Me?

The Gospel Mass reading for August 14, 2024 is Matthew 18:15-20. In the NABRE it begins with, “If a brother sins [against you]” and ends with “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” It seems to me that an issue is that the following verses, 15:21-22, include this phrase: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?”  There seems to be a good case that verses 15-22 comprise a pericope and should not be separated.

 

Supporting that case is the fact that, according to the footnote for 18:15 in The Catholic Study Bible NABRE, the bracketed “against you” is not in some of the oldest and most important texts. (Remember that there are no extant original versions off any of the Gospels.) So, perhaps “against you” has been erroneously added to later manuscripts to match up with “against me” in verse 21. (Maybe not all of those copiers were theologians.) I checked all the English translations of verse 15 on biblegateway.com and found that a dozen or so, the NIV included, do not say “against you.” Some that do and some that don’t point out the issue in footnotes. The simple answer is that we don’t know what the original said.

 

So, perhaps in the original there are two separate cases. The first is about sin against God observed in a loved brother, a fellow member of the Church, and how that sin should be addressed by a loving concerned friend. The second case is about appropriate responses to personal offenses. That seems reasonable since even some disciples apparently had a tendency to be self-centered and worried about how they would be treated.

 

An example of the first case would be a member observed stealing or committing adultery or swearing and a loving brother wanting to help the person repent and be forgiven. The second case is introduced by Peter’s question,  “What if my brother sins against ME?” That is answered by Jesus’s statement about forgiving seventy seven times. Just to make the lesson absolutely clear, the parable of the unforgiving servant follows.

 

That two-issues understanding even takes the mystery out of the verse 17 statement by Jesus that one who refuses to listen to the church, should be treated as a Gentile or a tax collector. That sounds like rejection or expulsion. But, wasn’t Jesus frequently accused of dining and associating with such folks and inviting them to believe?

 

So, the simple bottom line for Matthew 18:15-22 seems to be, if someone offends me, I should forgive and forget. If someone needs spiritual assistance, I should offer help and pray for them. I like that understanding. Besides, I don’t recall cases of anyone sinning against me. Maybe I have just forgotten.

More than a Meal

Introduction

Yesterday I delivered Meals on Wheels, a short route that time with only seven stops. The last stop was to see a gentleman who is 102 years old. I’ve delivered to him for at least two years. He used to meet me at the door with a welcoming smile and tell me how glad he was to see me. Now he is bedridden, barely able to talk, wondering why he is still alive. The last few times I have delivered to him, I have taken a half pint of ice cream as an addition to the meal we provide. He says he loves ice cream. I don’t know for sure that he still enjoys it, but I still take it, along with a half pint for his care-giver, a hero in my opinion. I love and enjoy these sobering and inspiring visits.

The History

Ash Wednesday 2021 was coming up and I was wondering what to give up for Lent. Giving up time to take on a new or expand a current service activity has always appealed more to me than giving up some food, beverage, or normal routine.

I had been aware for some time of Meals on Wheels (MOW). I have a clear memory of being engaged in a Home Works of America project at the home of an elderly woman and seeing a man deliver a meal to her. She was sitting on the porch and he just placed the meal on the banister near her and turned and left. No interaction at all. I had the thought that I would certainly take a very different approach if I were an MOW deliverer.

So, in the winter of 2021, I decided to volunteer and showed up at the Senior Resources Millwood Street headquarters on Ash Wednesday looking for information. The volunteer coordinator had a group of sorority girls from the University of SC being briefed for their one-day service project. I joined them, got the essential information, and took on a route. I had trouble finding some of the addresses and had little idea about what to say to the recipients, but I enjoyed it and decided to make it a habit.

The Statistics

I’ve been delivering now for 39 months and have delivered about 4700 meals. My engineering background almost guaranteed that I was going to keep some records of the activity. Here are the statistics, not to brag (some others do more), but just to give my opinions and observations some credibility.

More than a Meal

Getting involved is justified by the joy that comes from interactions with recipients, showing and receiving some love and respect, and getting better and better at delivering More than a Meal (The organization motto). Real success is in the joy that comes from brightening the days, in some small ways, of the meal recipients. More on that later.

Routes and Clients

MOW Routes vary and clients come and go on a weekly basis. Necessary information about the individuals and where to find them is on a phone APP that works like a charm and is a joy to use.

Not all clients are destitute. Some are just elderly, have lost the ability to take care of themselves, and need assistance. Some are truly destitute and live in places volunteers may be uncomfortable visiting.

Some clients are joyful and greet volunteers with smiles and thanksgiving. Some are depressed or worried or just unhappy. Some have family members around, perhaps taking care of morning and evening meals, and some are completely alone.

Most are elderly, and it is not unusual to find that a client has died or moved to assisted living or hospice care or been admitted to a hospital since the last visit. Such changes are sources of sadness for volunteers who have gotten acquainted with them.

Some clients will never be seen or engaged. They will leave instructions about where to leave the meal. Those are always disappointing but just something to get used to.

Volunteers are reminded every day they serve that so many people are in worse shape than themselves.

This Post

My motive for this post is to encourage interested folks to give MOW a try. Here are suggestions for those who will do so.

Relax and Take Your Time –  This process is about more than delivery of a meal. A little chat can do a world of good for both volunteer and recipient.

Remember the Clients and Call Them by Name – Start with a smile and address first or second time clients as Mr. Mrs., or Miss Last Name and tell them your first name. After a few visits, switch to Mr. or Mrs. or Miss First name. A little later it may be comfortable to use the first name. “Hi Mary or Hi Bill, I always love to see your smile.”

Show You Care with Compliments and Questions – If there is a nice yard, pretty flowers, new paint on the house, colorful dress, or good house-keeping, compliment them. If they are smiling, thank them for the smile. If they are waiting at the front door, thank them for being ready. Ask how long they have lived there or if they have some children or other relatives nearby. Tell them the food smells good and you hope it tastes good. If they say they love you, tell them you love them.

Listen to the Clients, Even Their Longwinded Stories – Be willing and able to spend a few minutes with the client. After five minutes or so it is fine to say that other clients are waiting on their meals and offer a warm goodbye. Some clients will talk for thirty minutes if there were time and patience. Of course many clients don’t want to talk or be friendly. They just want the food and that is OK.

Do Something Special and Unusual When There is an Opportunity – In one case I had given a lady’s no fish meal to someone else by mistake. I asked her if she would like a hamburger, and that brought a big smile. So I drove to a nearby Sonic Drive In, bought a burger, and took it back to her. She always reminded and thanked me on subsequent visits. One house I referred to Home Works of America and they came and did some repairs. If a homeowner is not home on the first try, I often call or come by later in the route before giving their meal to somebody else.  Sometimes they have been away for a short time and are back home. They really appreciate the second try.

Give Thanks for the Opportunity and Pray for the Clients – What we are doing is more important for us than for the client. If we don’t deliver, somebody else will. Our satisfying job is to deliver more than a meal in various ways at various times consistent with our skills and interests. Pray for the clients between visits.

Acknowledge Caregivers – Caregivers, professionals or family members, are heroes. Acknowledge and thank them for what they do. An elderly lady invited me in for a chat with her disabled husband and their joyful caregiver. That was a fun visit.

Drive Safely and Defensively

Maps, GPS systems, client lists, and U-turns, not to even mention coffee and music, can be distractions. Be careful, and always expect the other driver to do the wrong thing.

The MOW Organization

For information about Meals on Wheels America and opportunities to serve, go to their website. Enter a zip code to find out what is going on in your community. In Columbia, SC, the key contact is Senior Resources, 2817 Millwood Ave, 29205. Service opportunities are available daily, once a week, once or twice a month, or once in a while. It’s a good way to spend a lunch hour.

I’m already looking forward to seeing my 102 year old friend again and hoping he will be suffering less.

 

 

The Bible Creation Stories

The two creation stories in the first two chapters of Genesis are theological treasures worthy of considerable study and contemplation. They differ from each other in starting point and order of creation, presumably because they are based on two different oral traditions passed down in different parts of the world and originating at different times. Scholars consider the Genesis 2 story to be much older than the Genesis 1 story.

We have learned much about the universe God created so our 21st century viewpoints about how that creation occurred are certain to be different from the viewpoints and understandings of a people occupying a tiny part of the universe, their known world, thousands of years ago.

Excuse me for making a statement that may upset some readers, but I have no trouble considering that God, outside of time and space as we know them, may have created this universe through an evolutionary process. I think it is fair to say that the methods in Genesis, by speaking and by hand, are examples of anthropomorphism, the assignment of human qualities to God, a considerably different process from what it means to say that God created us in his image. It seems more appropriate to consider that creation statement as referring to spiritual and perhaps mental image rather than to physical image. What ever the means of creation, The God-Inspired theological truths are the same. It was definitely not “atheistic evolution.”

The creation information chart below was first designed during a 2003 Old Testament Theology course at the Columbia SC Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Recent revisions were cosmetic and formatting changes to improve readability. The fundamental information remains the same.

Please take a look and do a little contemplating. I welcome comments and observations.

John 3:16 – Gospel in a Nutshell…with Context

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)

Importance of Context

Richer understanding of these beautiful, encouraging, and famous words from the Gospel of St. John results from consideration of context, an essential step in correct interpretation and understanding of Sacred Scripture. Writers of the books of the Bible did not divide them up into chapters and verses. The divisions we commonly see in current English versions are only about 600 years old. So, St. John might be quite disturbed to find that Christians are going around quoting that single statement from his theologically deep and profound story of Jesus’s encounter with Nicodemus, taken from his even deeper and more profound Gospel, often not even knowing from whence the sentence came.

OT – NT Connections and Paragraphs

Speaking of verses and chapters, and the OT connections, some translations even go so far as to add paragraphs. I’m not a student of typology so have never given serious thought to those OT connections with Moses and with Abraham and Isaac, connections that were very important to first century Jewish understanding of who Jesus was and to correct understanding of the meaning of this encounter with Nicodemus. The online New American Bible, Revised Edition shows verses 14 and 15,  a reference to Moses and the serpent, at the end of a paragraph and John 3:16 as the beginning of a new paragraph. Given the apparent only son sacrifice connection between God/Jesus and Abraham/Isaac, I believe I would begin a new paragraph with verse 14. But, that is just an idea of course.

The Whole Story

We can be easily misled and even build heresies on single “verses” pulled out of context and perhaps even by single books pulled out of context. John 3:16, correctly understood, is true, the Gospel in a nutshell, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Where are the Beatitudes and the Our Father? They are not in the Gospel According to St. John.  And with only John’s Gospel, we learn nothing about the birth, baptism, temptation, or transfiguration of Jesus Christ, and find no mention of repentance. So, in seeking the whole truth, we have to consider the Sacred Scriptures in their entirety.

Translation Difficulties

Another issue, even with single verses, is difficulty in translation of ancient Greek and Hebrew into meaningful modern English language. The Greek word usually translated “believe” really means trust and goes far beyond mere intellectual belief. Below is what a Bible Greek dictionary says about the word and about the following little three-letter Greek word which is translated “in” or “into” and, according to the Greek Bible dictionary, “denotes purpose and sometimes result.” One could say that since the verb can be translated “believe in,” the verb plus the preposition gives double emphasis much as when Jesus proclaims “I Iam” or “Amen amen.” All three examples are characteristic of the Gospel of John.

And here is what the subject verse looks like in Greek, the two key words being highlighted in yellow. More information HERE.

It is interesting to see how various translators of English versions have handled that little highlighted Greek phrase. Of fifty-six versions checked, fifty-two translate it as belief in or on. The Amplified Bible hedges the bet a bit by translating as “believes and trusts.” The Amplified Bible Classic Edition adds parenthetically “(trusts in, clings to, relies on).” The Contemporary English Version translates as “has faith in.” The New Life Version translates as “puts his trust in.” The Complete Jewish Bible translates as “trusts in.” So, even without looking at the Greek, insights can be gained from considering how different translators have handled the problem.

A Simple Example

To take a simple example to illustrate the difference between believing that and believing in or into, it is one thing to believe that global warming is real but something entirely different to “believe into” global warming which might result in getting off the grid and going 100% solar, giving up driving, beef, air conditioning, moving to higher ground further north, shutting down the churches as unjustified energy consumers, etc. In Bible Greek terms, in John’s Gospel, believing in or into something means a change in one’s life. (I’m not suggesting that we all “believe in” global warming. I think that is, or at least should be, more political than religious.)

Occurrences of That Two-Word Greek Phrase

An interesting fact about the two-word Greek phrase highlighted above is that it never occurs in Matthew, Mark, or Luke but occurs 14 times in John, once in 1st John, and once in Acts. For the really curious, here are all sixteen occurrences, NABRE English but based on a search of the Greek Phrase.

believe in verses

Pushy Atheists and Weak Christians

“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

– G. K. Chesterton

What made me think of that Chesterton quote was an article, Atheists Debate How Pushy to Be, in the October 16 New York Times. The article reported on an early October Los Angeles Council for Secular Humanism conference of folks opposed to religion. Well-known heroes of the group are Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Bill Maher. During the conference, such deep questions as, “How publicly scornful of religion should we be?” were dealt with. There was also discussion on “alternative ethical systems” that do not depend on any deity. There was tension and discord. Humanists interested in seeking common ground with religious people were accused of being “accomodationists” while the most militant atheists were tagged “confrontationalists.” It almost sounds like a description of a group of “religious” folks meeting. (I think that is actually what they are.)

 

Of course skeptics get much of their energy and inspiration from religious folks such as Rev. Ronald Allen who, in an attack on homosexuality, offered us this challenge in a Letter to the Editor of The State Newspaper today: “Think about it: If any word in the Bible is wrong, then every word in the Bible would be suspect, and the Bible would not be the word of God. But God cannot be wrong, and his word cannot be wrong, whether we like what it teaches or not.” I just can’t believe that persons who take such simplistic views of the Bible are reading it carefully and paying close attention to the words. I think they must be reading it looking for confirmation of what they already believe and completely missing or ignoring anything that challenges what they believe. And such statements make great fodder for the critics and encourage them to be even more pushy.

 

But back to the work of the LA anti-religion conference. Of course it is quite easy to have a system of ethics without any reference to God or religion. Any group of people can get together and decide what rules they will live by and what the consequences of breaking the rules will be. But, they, like many Christians, would be missing entirely the point that Christianity is not about rules and ethics. Christianity is about a personal relationship with Christ, dying to oneself and giving up everything to be one with Jesus in loving service to others. If you missed that, go back and read the New Testament again and then join me in confession and penance. If all Christians really lived as Jesus calls us to live, it would take all the wind out of the sails of the atheists, humanists, and skeptics.  It would be a permanent fix for many of the world’s problems. Shame on us for not doing just that.

 

I may sound a bit radical here, but just blame it on The New York Times from whence the idea came.