NextSunday Contemplations

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Readings for Sunday, June 9, 2024
1 Samuel 8:4-20, (11:14-15)
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35

Artwerx: artist unknown
https://bible.art/meaning/mark-3:35

https://renew.org/who-were-jesus-brothers/
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And we have also arrived at one of Jesus’ basic insights which, by Mark’s account, is expressed as his first “parable,” or riddle. When Jesus is accused — Satan’s basic principle of power — of having his power come from Beelzebul, he turns their accusation into a riddle:

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”

And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables:
♦“How can Satan cast out Satan?
◊ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
◊ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
◊ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.” (Mark 3:23-26)

Jesus is not here denying that Satan does cast out Satan, which is the usual reading of this riddle. No, Satan casting out Satan is precisely what the scribes from Jerusalem have just tried to do to Jesus — though they, of course, don’t see it that way. The scribes see themselves as doing God’s work, not Satan’s work. But, in accusing Jesus with being of Beelzebul, (which is another of Satan’s names), they are not only manifesting the nature of Satan by definition (Satan means "the accuser"), but they also use the mechanism of “Satan casting out Satan.” They are acting out the ultimate principle of satanic power, namely, the joint accusation they bring against Jesus, as an attempt to cast him out by identifying him with one of Satan’s names. They think they are doing God’s work, but Jesus’ riddle cleverly suggests otherwise.

What Jesus is trying to help us to see with this riddle is that “Satan casting out Satan” is precisely the shape of all our unholy human interactions since the foundations of our world.

Jesus is not challenging the reality, because, Satan does cast out Satan. The mechanism which generates a kind of peace within human community is activated by the majority doing the work of Satan by accusing a minority of being the "satanic" trouble-makers, the tempters, and so they justify the violence of casting them out. And the traces of violence by the majority are veiled, or justified, to themselve by the idolatry of seeing their satanic casting-out as something commanded by God. Whatever the accused said or did is labled violence against the community, but the violence of the community against the accused is seen as a righteous or sacred act in obedience to higher powers.

Thus, rather than challenging the reality, Jesus is affirming the reality of Satan casting out Satan yet he is also challenging the outcome: this mechanism will never result in a lasting peace as we think, but always end with a divided house that cannot stand. And later, in his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection, Jesus’ obedience to his Father will challenge that idolatry: what we mistakenly see as God commanding us to cast out Satan is actually Satan casting out Satan.

The God of Jesus, the God who is Love, would never ask us to base our relationships in acts of force or isolationism. But Satan tricks us into thinking that he is God, and so we continue to play his game.

The outcome of “Satan casting out Satan” needs to be challenged because humankind has unwittingly put its faith precisely in this kind of unholy interaction based on accusation and sanctioning violence. Meanwhile, we have remained blind to seeing that our form of "peaceful communion" is based on the violence of Satan casting out Satan.

Through his riddle Jesus is inviting us to recognize our unholy, and relationally destructive actions are unholy — as commanded by an accuser, Satan, not God, the one who is always extending an invitation to unity, love and peaceful coexistence — and as always, the road of accusations and condemnation is doomed to fail, always doomed to end in division. All our attempts at culture and community are, at their foundations, based on a being over against someone else, so that all our human communities ultimately end in division. Calling attention to how these satanic powers have operated is thus the first step in their reign coming to an end. And Satan falls from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18).

God’s Holy Communion in Jesus Christ, represents the coming of God’s reign based on love and inclusion rather than another form of sanctioned of sacralizing violence. God’s reign comes through its opposite, that is to say, through the righteous suffering of religious violence at the hands of an accusing humanity in the cross, which serves, in the end, only to reveal the powerlessness of such violence by raising this Jesus from the dead.

One of the things I enjoyed most about my RBC Bible Study group was our ability to follow a question off the pages of the curriculum and explore questions rising from our collective curiosity.

As I pore over the questions raised by the curriculum for this Sunday's conversation I find myself questioning (rejecting) the presuppositions posed by the questions.... Without delving into that quagmire, let me simply share a few thoughts that helped settle the dust raised in my process.

Thomas J. Oord introduced me to an idea I initially rejected, but as I kept coming back to his proposition -- it just resonates with truth and especially with personal experience as a better explanation of God's role in our lives and even in the history of God's people. He presents an exciting and, I believe, a desperately needed adjustment to our ideas about God.

Do you blame God for the pain and suffering in this world? Are you ready to reconcile your sense of a loving God with the tragedy and abuse you have experienced, heard about, and observed? Would you like to know what to say, and perhaps more importantly what not to say to hurting people? Like these questions, the title of Thomas Oord’s book, "God Can’t" is attention-grabbing but make no mistake, this book is neither dime-store nor armchair theology.

In this book, Oord makes accessible a profound contribution to Christian theology which offers good news to us today. He relates his deeper wisdom and life-long scholarship on a level all of us can understand and benefit from. "God Can't" re-opens the door to divine relationship for countless numbers of people who have left the church, or never entered, unable to reconcile evil with a God who they have been told is both all-powerful and all-loving yet who has failed to prevent suffering and abuse.

In "God Can’t" Oord offers a solid solution to the problem of evil. God’s essential nature is love, which Oord defines as acting intentionally to promote overall well-being. He defines evil as useless and pointless pain and suffering. Because a loving God could never allow abuse and evil, Oord concludes God simply cannot stop evil by acting alone. God can use suffering to inspire or reveal good but God does not cause or allow it. Rather, God is continually working to heal to the utmost in every moment, given the circumstances of life, the past, and our free will choices.

This is quite a radical shift from the concept of God we have been taught in many Christian circles, this is a God with whom we can give and receive love without fear, a God worthy of our devotion because this is a God with whom we can join in the tasks of restoration, recreation and reparation.

Oord makes his case using real-life stories, explaining scripture, challenging problematic dogma touted by the well-meaning, and correcting misconceptions about God which inflict more harm than help. Oord’s concept of God calls us to listen for the divine aim and respond by participating with the divine in works of grace. If you are looking for a bible study book, "God Can’t" is not it. However, Oord addresses some of the bible passages often used to portray God as a vengeful judge, a detached creator, or a controlling parent. He shows us a very different God of compassion and empathy relentlessly working for our best, and demonstrates the consistency of this image with the Bible and its overarching message of love.

While this book includes a clear message comprehensible to anyone, if you seek a more in-depth approach, I encourage you to next read Oord’s earlier book, "The Uncontrolling Love of God". His other publications offer nuance to his central theme of God as love, affectionately earning him the title of “Dr. Love” among his university students and colleagues. This seminal text should not be confused with "Uncontrolling Love: Essays Exploring the Love of God". The book of essays demonstrate the application of Oord’s views by others with varying degrees of success and show us the journey to revising our ideas about God is anything but a simple straight line.

Be advised, truly absorbing the meaning of Oord’s message in "God Can’t" will cause some dissonance. You may experience guilt from having expressed unhelpful opinions, such as “Everything happens for a reason” and “It’s all part of God’s plan” to yourself and others who have lived through abuse and tragedy. You may have to take responsibility for your role in creating a better world. More than anything, though, you will feel healing begin in your soul and in your life and you will find encouragement and hope. You will see God and the world more coherently. You will find your ideas about God becoming more emotionally and intellectually rational and you will be able to feel and experience God’s grace in a new way.
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For further understanding:
http://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/blog/archives/god_cant_-_and_the_bible_says_so
and
http://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/blog/archives/creatio_ex_creatione_a_natura_amoris_an_new_doctrine_of_creation

ADVENT CONTEMPLATIONS
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--THE HOPE OF ADVENT 2021--

Advent 1 - 28NOV - The Spirit of the Lord
---Isaiah 11/1-9

Advent 2 - 05DEC - The Lord Looks on the Heart
---1 Samuel 16.4-13; Micah 5.2

Advent 3 - 12DEC - God Will Be the Shepherd
---Ezekiel 34.11-16

Advent 4 - 19DEC - Let All God's Angels Worship Him
---Hebrews 1.5-2.3a

26DEC - The Word Became Flesh
---John 1.1-18