Over the last several weeks I have run into what is often called “The Parable of the Sower” from the Gospel According to Mark (It’s also in Matthew and Luke, but this month, it always seemed to come up in Mark). If you ever had any exposure at all to stories from the Bible, you probably remember this one; on its simplest level, it tells of a man sowing seed, somewhat randomly. The seed falls on four different kinds of dirt, and the story explores what happens to that seed in each. The link to the story is here: Mark 4:2-9. But what does it all mean? And why did Jesus say it that way at all? Well, as our good fortune would have it, Jesus’ followers asked those questions too, and He told them. We can read it right there in Mark. No need for fancy interpretation, “…move along, nothing to see here, it’s all been explained….”
However some of us can’t leave well enough alone. Here’s my addition… Continue reading
Tag Archives: Biblical interpretation
Thinking about Dirt
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The Last Post of This Story
“You give and take away, blessed be the name” Popular worship song by Matt Redman (Listen here)
“ …The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21
“…Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil (or disaster)? Job 2:10
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One of the more difficult things in theology is how we are to understand the existence of evil; particularly, since we Christians affirm that God is all good, all loving, and all powerful – that God is One, and has no rival equal but opposite dark force who fights for evil while our God fights for good. No, we are forced to wrestle with Isaiah 45:7 “I make light and create darkness. I make blessings and create disasters. I, the LORD, do all these things.”
I say it is difficult, but it is not beyond our depth. At least, it is not beyond our depth when we are just talking in the abstract, in the absence of the screaming pain of real, fresh loss. But that is when we must talk of these things, so that we may be equipped when the waves threaten to overwhelm us. If we avoid wrestling with the problem until the day of trouble, we will be like a swordsman who avoids learning about his sword and shield until the enemy is upon him. Here on the Gulf coast, we are in the early days of Hurricane season. If we wait to prepare, to think about what must be done, until the wind is howling around our doors, how shall we stand? The time of need is too late.
I long to write more exploring the idea; but today, that is a diversion and a temptation. I need to be more personal.
“And the Word became flesh…” “The Gospel According to John” Chapter 1 (cont.)
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'”)16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. Continue reading
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“In the Beginning” – “The Gospel According to John” Chapter 1
In case anyone should stumble upon these notes while trying to learn something about “The Gospel According to John” and of the Christ John presents, I feel compelled to again offer an apology and an explanation. My posts on this topic as part of a project of writing through this account of the Gospel, with the primary end in view as the revelation of my own ignorance, and clarification of my own thought. I am no scholar, as will be painfully obvious. Nor am I a cleric. But I have discovered that one of the best ways to learn something is to try and explain it for someone else. To that end, I welcome your input in these writings; your questions, your comments, and (most helpfully), your challenges.
1 In the beginning was the Word, Continue reading
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“The Evolution of Adam” byPeter Enns: some early thoughts
I have been very slowly reading through The Evolution of Adam by Peter Enns. I am nowhere near the end, not even up to the meat of his topic, which I understand is to involve an examination of Pauline soteriology, how sin and its consequences entered into humanity via the sin of our one proto-elder, and that we are saved from sin and its consequences through the action and sacrifice of Jesus. I understand that Ennis intends to look at this teaching in light of current thought about evolution, with an expected absence of a unique common “Adam,” and also of current academic thinking about the nature of the Old Testament scriptures. The topic interests me greatly. Continue reading
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The Cleansing of the Temple: The Gospel According to John, Chapter 2:13-17
Paul Zahl wrote once that the Holy Spirit interacting with mortal man is very analogous to the interaction between living magma and the environment at the surface.
Magma, (Lava when it gets to the surface of the Earth) is about as close to an irresistible force as can be found in nature as humans experience it; it devours or melts all in its path. The only thing that can contain it is the interaction itself. The same interaction inevitably cools the lava, so that it becomes as the other rock, and even a dam or plug against a fresh outpouring.
The Temple was to be the place where man could look to God. Continue reading
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The Wedding in Cana, Water into Wine: The Gospel According to John, Chapter 2
(This is written as an early Lenten exploration, as described in an earlier post – I encourage you to comment!)
The Wedding at Cana
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Continue reading
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Write a Commentary for Lent
I have begun a new project, one that is so far above me that it embarrasses be to mention it. I would not, except I have found that when I don’t confess my plan, I am likely to shrink back. When I don’t make my thoughts public, I am free to make them sloppy. So I am writing my own commentary on “The Gospel According to John”
Continue reading
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Is the Bible the “Word of God” or is it a human book?
I had a thought last week during a Bible study class on Deuteronomy. The leader of the group is a thoroughly “Bible-Believing” Christian. He is highly educated, with advanced degrees in Biblical scholarship, and is thus immersed in current academic understandings of the authorship of the ancient texts of the Hebrew scriptures.
This presented a challenge, and something of a threat, to some members of the group, who understood the Torah as being of Mosaic authorship, and any move away from that as a move away from Divine inspiration.
Now, I have no dog in that fight. But the ideas expressed had a familiar ring to them. Continue reading
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Thoughts about the Baptism of Infants
Bill Pratt, at “Tough Questions Answered.org” has an interesting post and poll asking about infant (or paedo) baptism
I encourage you to visit his site for this, and many other excellent discussions. But I wanted to bring at least some of my thoughts over here. In general, I am not fond of getting off into the “family squabbles” inside Christianity. I would rather stay with what sets us apart from those who are not Christian. But these internecine differences can point up more fundamental issues, such as how we read Holy Scripture, that are worth some thought.
Having spent my formative spiritual years as a Baptist, and my parenting (now grandparenting) years as an Anglican, this is an issue that has captured no little attention form me, and I think I have come to some terms with it. Continue reading
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Random Musings 