A Fresh Perspective

According to the Synoptic Gospels the disciples apparently had a preoccupation with the pursuit of greatness. Such an interest would be applauded by any business executive or sports coach in our comparative and competitive society. But not by Jesus. Here’s Mark’s account: Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you  arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (Mark 9:33-37). One could read this to mean that Jesus is not against the pursuit of greatness, rather, he is redefining what constitutes greatness. One could turn Jes...

Too often scripture is contrasted with tradition on the basis that scripture is the word of God while tradition is of human origin. Not so. In its biblical and theological usage tradition simply means “what is handed on.” In this sense our Christian scriptures are part of our Christian tradition. Paul tells the Corinthians, “I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you” (1 Cor. 11:2). In 2 Thessalonians Paul or someone writing in Paul’s name says, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter” (2 Thess. 2:15). Paul is referring to the teachings and practices he passed on to the churches. So tradition is not bad. Tradition is necessary. There would be no Christian community without Christian tradition. The biblical and theological meaning of tradition includes our sacred texts, our sacred practices, and the ways we ...

The written documents that constitute our Bible are snapshots of an evolving, developing, dynamic faith frozen in time. The faith reflected in these written sources thrived in an oral culture that did not depend on written materials. Writing materials were expensive and few could actually read and write. So the stuff of faith – stories, poetry, wisdom sayings, etc. – were passed down orally. This oral tradition was flexible, fluid, and easily adaptable to different situations and historical contexts. This process meant that faith was constantly on the move – changing, growing, branching out into new forms, and always finding fresh expressions in different settings. Consider one example: The various ways the Jesus saying, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first,” is interpreted and employed with other Jesus sayings in the Gospels. In Mark it occurs in a context where Jesus assures Peter that those who have left much to be his followers will gain much, ...

Martha Sterne, in her little book, Earthly Good: Reflections of Life and God , tells about the time an old friend morphed into an unacceptable person. Mrs. Caldwell, who Martha knew was a teacher somewhere, lived a few doors down. She would stop by their house from time to time with treats. She taught her little songs, how to play canasta, and took a wonderful picture of her and her cat. Mrs. Caldwell, says Martha, had fat sausage curls all over her head, just like Aunt Pitty-Pat in Gone with the Wind . And on each cheek was a small, bubblegum-pink, perfectly round circle of rouge. Martha says that she knew Mrs. Caldwell was very beautiful because she loved her and showed it. Well, the years went by. They moved to a new neighborhood. Martha says she worked very hard in junior high to become cool and achieved a kind of fragile success. Then on the first day of her sophomore year in fourth period class guess who turns out to be her algebra teacher? Mrs. Caldwell – complete with saus...