"Reading the Bible Again for the First Time"
Session 8

"St. Joan of Arc Bible Study is an open and growing group that meets for fellowship and to discuss the Bible and other faith-centered literature. Our informal study group draws from biblical scholarship, historical perspectives, current events and personal reflections. We welcome honor and respect the personal ideas and spiritual journeys of all who join us."

Greetings

I don't know how we do it (the 'why' is increasingly clear), but we had another thoroughly enchanting evening at the old country church.

First we were delightfully surprised with the presence of one John and one Noel Anderson. John had been in the hospital for about ten days if I remember properly and now seems to be doing very well. We are very grateful and thanks for all those prayers and support.

Also, we did not have to wait until 8:05 for treats tonight and felt like we were in the central time zone again.

We began the evening with a divinely inspired meditation and then turned our attention to the evening’s facilitator whose task to cover the Gospels in one evening was truly...daunting. The following is his overview.

Reading the Bible Again for the First Time
-Marcus Borg

Chapter 8: Reading the Gospels Again... November 26, 2002

Background:

As we move into the New Testament, we note far less discontinuity then I had been led to expect. The writers were predominately Jewish and therefore well versed in the Hebrew Bible. The Bible was the common ground that they all shared: its images of God, its God-human relationships and its common history.

Even though Borg uses the term "Christian," he points out that the term does not appear in the New Testament. The early Christians saw themselves as working within the Jewish faith, not founding a new religion. The parting of the ways with the Jewish faith didn't really begin until near the end of the first century and wasn't complete for a long time. As late as the middle of the third century the majority of Christians were of Jewish heritage.

Some History:

From the last Book of the Hebrew Bible, 'Daniel' to the first of the Gospels was about two hundred years. The Jews regained independence in 164 BCE from the Hellenistic Empire. They were then incorporated into the Roman Empire in 63 BCE. After the Diaspora, the majority of Jews (80%) lived outside of Palestine. The total Jewish population was estimated at about six million. They were spread throughout the Mediterranean area. During this time, after the destruction of the temple, the synagogues became the center of religion.

The first century in common time was a time of unrest in the homeland. There was constant violence and unrest among the Jewish people. It was culminated by the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem about 70 CE.

The New Testament:

The New Testament was written in less then 100 years versus 2000 for the Hebrew Bible. It was written for an estimated total number Christians of about 7500 by the year 100. The authors were, in general, writing for people they knew. There are four categories of documents in the New Testament: letters (21), gospels (4), history (Acts), and an apocalypse (1).

Intro to the Gospels:

The Gospels are the primal narratives of the early Christian movement because they tell the story of Jesus. We do not know who wrote the gospels, the writers were anonymous documents. We are sure that the Gospels were written between 65 and 100 CE, by members of the community who were not original apostles or eyewitnesses to Jesus. They were names chosen by the second century Christians.

They were written as "public biographies." They do not discuss Jesus' personal life or early years except for the "birth stories" in Matthew and Luke. They preserved the movement's memory of Jesus and his message.

We can read the "historical" Jesus or the "canonical" Jesus, but we must distinguish which we are using. Otherwise Jesus becomes an unreal human. Borg covers the historical Jesus in his other books; here he tends to focus on the canonical Jesus. Historically he sees the pre-Easter Jesus as a Jewish mystic, healer, teacher of unconventional wisdom, social prophet and renewal-movement initiator. Post-Easter he sees Jesus as messiah. Borg emphasizes reading the Gospels as metaphorical narratives in late first century settings.

Each Gospel was written with its own theme for a specific audience and purpose. To develop the thematic sense of each, Borg focuses on the inaugural scene of each. The three synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke, appear to be written from the same source material. Matthew and Luke use the Gospel of Mark and an early collection Jesus' teachings called the "Q" document.

Mark:

Mark was written in about 70 CE when the temple was destroyed and the Jewish revolt crushed. It is referred to as the "wartime" Gospel.

Mark focuses on apocalyptic eschatology, "the divine end of things." Mark says "some of those alive now will see the second coming." Even though he talks that the end is near, he does not focus on the "kingdom of God." (Mark 9.1) Mark focuses on the "way of the Lord." Jesus' way involves dying to the old way of being and being born to the new way of being and resurrection. That "way" leads to the end of the domination system.

Matthew:

Written ten to twenty years after Mark, it points to a late first century community in conflict with other Jews. It is both, the most Jewish Gospel and the most anti-Jewish Gospel. After the temple's destruction, the Jewish community became more concerned with orthodoxy and less open to messianic Jews. Matthew's vilification of the Jews became the basis of anti-Jewish behavior to this day.

Ironically, he quotes the Hebrew Bible more than the other three Gospel writers. He quotes the Hebrew Bible forty times and alludes to it another twenty-one times. He traces Jesus to Abraham and restricts Jesus' message to the Jews (Matt 10.5). Matthew also parallels Jesus to Moses. His birth story echoes Moses, as does his escape to Egypt. He says "Jesus is the new exodus." He starts with "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" but then uses the Sermon on the Mount to say: Jesus is like Moses. Matthew says the messiah, Jesus, was the continuation of the Jewish traditions. It was a struggle within the Jewish religion. He says Jesus was the true Jew.

Luke-Acts:

Luke wrote a two volume set, the Gospel of Jesus' mission to the Jews and Acts, which explains the spread of Jesus' message to the Roman Empire. The Gospel starts in Jerusalem and ends in Jerusalem, and Acts starts in Jerusalem and ends in Rome.

Luke's Gospel focuses on the Spirit. The Gospel starts and ends with the Spirit. Acts starts and ends with the Spirit. Jesus consistently promises to send the Spirit to his followers. The post-Easter Spirit allows everyone to hear the message. Luke says Jesus is the Spirit-anointed social prophet. This same Spirit anoints the early Christians to their mission. The Spirit therefore was the reason for both Jesus' mission and the movement.

John:

The church recognized that John's Gospel was different was recognized as soon as around 200 CE. Clement of Alexander called it "the spiritual gospel." John is different because: John is both the wordiest and the most symbolic of the Gospel writers. For example he refers to Jesus as "the Word made flesh," "the Light," "the Lamb of God" and the "bread of life." He also uses " The Jews" as a negative term.

John's inaugural scene is the most symbolic. At the wedding of Cana, Jesus takes the most common time of celebration and turns it into a metaphor of God's relationship with the Jews. God is the Groom and Israel is the Bride. Jesus makes sure that the celebration continues.

Metaphorical narratives:

Borg distinguishes between two levels of metaphor; intrinsic and historical. Intrinsic metaphor is the basic meaning to be learned from the story, without any need to know the historical or cultural background of the story. Historical metaphor is the additional knowledge to be gained through knowing the historic and cultural basis of the story. Borg then goes on to give us several examples of metaphors from the gospels. He does not believe particular historical events are behind these metaphors. They speak to the significance of Jesus and his vision.

Walking on Water:

There are several stories of Jesus walking on water and calming the sea. (Mark 6.45-52, Matt 14.2-33, John 6.15-21) Some possible intrinsic metaphorical meaning can be: We then add the historical association from the Hebrew Bible that when the Hebrews wanted to stress God's power, they spoke of God's mastery over the sea. From this historical basis we can see that the metaphor was also meant to show that Jesus had the power and authority of God.

Feeding the Multitude:

The story of Jesus feeding the multitude is in all four gospels. (Luke 9.10-17, Matt 14.13-21, Mark 6.30-44, John 6.1-14) The gospels all use the same basic story, but John adds a long theological discourse by Jesus that "I am the bread of life." I will treat the synoptic story separate from John.

The synoptic intrinsic meanings can include:

When we position the story into the Hebrew culture, the feeding of the Hebrews in Exodus with manna in the desert, we can see that the story was meant to teach us that Jesus is the new Moses, the leader of the Jews into the promised land.

John's story adds the long "I am the bread..." treatise. Clearly this is also metaphorical. John is saying that Jesus answers our hunger and thirst for justice and meaning. The metaphor also connects to the Wisdom/Sophia of Proverbs to mean that Jesus is asks us to partake in the wisdom of God. John's discourse asks us to become one with Jesus. He also explicitly refers to the Exodus and says Jesus is the new Moses.

Sight to the Blind:

While there are synoptic stories of Jesus restoring sight to the blind, Borg focuses on John's story. John devotes his ninth chapter to this story. The first part of the chapter is about the healing and the second part to the man's interrogation by the Pharisees and the Jews. John makes the intrinsic metaphors explicit. Jesus is the light of the world. Without Jesus, we are blind. Enlightenment is required for salvation. The move from darkness to light is to move from death to life.

The interrogation requires a historical perspective. To be expelled from the synagogue was to be thrown out of the Jewish religion. It was a social, religious and cultural isolation. John was saying that Christians were facing expulsion if they saw the light.

Jesus as "the Way":

In John 14.6 Jesus says "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." This has been a very troubling text because it says salvation is exclusive to Christians. Borg defines the "way" as dying to the old and being born in the new is the only way to God. Jesus is the "truth" of how a person is to see God and the real "life" in how a life in God looks. Jesus is not a set of beliefs, but how a person is to see God.

Borg goes on to say that John's statement must be seen in a historical context of the time it was written. It was a time of bitter conflict with non-Christian Jews. John was saying stay within the community of Jesus, do not go back to the synagogue.

Conclusion:

The gospels portray Jesus as one with God and sharing in the power of God. Borg says the gospels are our primal narratives. He says Jesus is all of this without saying God is only known through Jesus.
Thank you for sharing your marvelous organizational and presentation skills.

As you may well imagine many questions and observations were fueled by the overview. We wondered what Borg's definition of Messiah is as he never explains it. We wondered if he ever explained some of the sayings attributed to Jesus in John's gospel such as Jesus being the only way to the Father, etc. Someone in our small group pointed out that Borg does state on page 216-217, his position..."In short, for John the way or path of Jesus is the path of death and resurrection understood as a metaphor for the religious life. That way - the path of dying to an old way of being and being born to a new way of being - is the only way to God." "...The way of Jesus is a universal way, known to millions who have never heard of Jesus."

"The way of Jesus is not a set of beliefs about Jesus. That we ever thought it was is strange, when one thinks about it." Borg mentions salvation as a "path of transition and transformation from an old way of being to a new way of being." But some of us in small group wondered if the writer of John's gospel was speaking metaphorically when he spoke of Jesus being the only one anointed by God to save us from bad stuff. More on that later.

We wondered why Jesus can only be considered divine or a Master or the Teacher if one believes in a physical resurrection. Someone brought up the fact that the remarkable teachings of Jesus came during his life and that there were no more 'enlightened' or 'higher' teachings after the resurrection. Was a resurrection put in the Gospels simply to fulfill scripture? Is that the criteria we use to judge the greatness or validity or divinity of our best teachers by how well they fulfill (Hebrew) scripture? We were kind of hoping we could move away from that whole idea. In essence it doesn't matter if Jesus rose or sank or ascended horizontally. We know he was with God by the life he lived and the light he shed on earth. And it is through that life and those teachings that we learn that we too, are / can be, one with God. That the I AM, in each one of us, is the "door" through which access is given to all the blessings of the God Kingdom. This is our heritage. That the Christ means more than the man called Jesus goes without contradiction. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

In general there was some inspiring, angering, dangerous and original thinking and discussions taking place that are not going to please the Papacy when they get wind of it.

Well at 8 pm we promptly made our way to the treat and beverage counter. We were extremely lucky tonight in the treat department as two wonderful souls brought treats to share! Seems there was a little confusion in whose turn it was. Nothing wrong with that kind of confusion, eh?

By popular demand, the recipe:
Rita's Old Family Favorite Mocha Chip Bars
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar - packed
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract
2 Tbsp dry instant coffee
1 tsp water
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add egg and beat well. Add the next 6 ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. Dough will be very thick, like cookie dough. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Press into a 9x13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting I don't really have a recipe for this so will have to wing it...

3-4 Tbs butter - browned (cook on low heat until the butter just begins to turn color. Don't overheat)
2 tsp vanilla (more or less, to your taste)
1 cup powdered sugar
Milk or Cream to thin

Stir first three ingredients together then add milk until frosting is the consistency of a thick glaze.

ENJOY!

When we finally pushed our way to the object of the ooooohhhs and aaaaahhhhs and a few flying elbows, we did indeed understand the possessive and googgling behavior exhibited by the normally compassionate crowd.

At first glimpse one thought, wow, butterscotch, carmel or something like that. It wasn't until you actually put one of these delicate pieces of cake into your mouth that you realized it was even better. These were mocha treats! How richly compelling, combining two favorite flavors in the whole wide world together in one beautiful bar. We have a dense and moist cake-like substance baked with luscious chocolate chips and what else I do not know. Was the coffee/espresso in the cake or in the lovely golden frosting on top? What are you trying to say? I don't know if there is vanilla bean involved or what but the glaze is like butter and sugar and shortening and all things nice and the whole thing fairly melts in the mouth with the bits of chocolate the last to go leaving a feeling of utter bliss. These are the type of bars that require parental permission! Thank you cousin for sharing your baking skills with us.

As an accompaniment we dined on one of our perennial favorites, chocolate chip cookies and of course the new and highly improved gourmet coffee provided by our beloved Parish! We were in Heaven.

We finally fled to our 4 small groups and really had smashing experiences. We talked about our own personal experiences in being dead and coming back to life. The transformation to seeing things in a new and more beneficial way. We also talked about what it was that helped us out of the darkness and on to that path. Was it a person, a book, the bible? One of us mentioned that they see God beaming out of a person in their life and realize it is the same God in them waiting to be realized in ourselves. These wonderful souls may not even know how they have touched our lives and that we saw in them something so good we wanted it and somehow the simple living of their lives gives us permission to let our own lights shine. What affirming and life giving bread! We felt so good after our small group sharing we said a little prayer of thanksgiving that really lifted our spirits and re-enforced our feelings of lightness.

We closed with a reading from that truly remarkable book, "Instrument of Thy Peace" by dr. Patton.

My sister, Nanette, in addition to having a mass growing on her brain, was in an auto accident tonight. She is in a lot of pain but we think she will be ok in a couple of days. Nothing broken. On December 4, she has her third MRI to see if the mass is growing as fast as they think it is. In all likelihood she will have to have brain surgery to remove it from her pituitary gland. Please add her and our family to your prayers. We all appreciate it so very much.

For next week Bob will lead us through "Reading Paul Again" You don't want to miss it!

Peace is Upon Us
Rik Murray
(612) 872-8694
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