Tuesday 10 March 2015

Bible Notes 15th March - 26th April by Barrie Morley

March 15th   Lent Four
 
The choice of set readings today is between those for Lent four, and  others for Mothering Sunday.   These notes stick with the theme of Lent.   The RCL always focuses on the fourth gospel during both Christmas and Lent/Easter.   This gives us some great material but robs us of the treasures of the other three gospels at this season.  Would you agree that it might be a good idea sometimes to stick with the Gospel of the Year (Mark this year) throughout Lent?  
For the sake of faithfulness to the G.Ro.W. concept the following thoughts are based on the RCL passages mainly from John.
 
John 3:  14-21   Nicodemus is a Jewishscholar.  However after the conversation between him and Jesus, Gospel writer John wants to widen our understanding of Jesus' work by pointing out that Jesus the Jew is in fact the universal saviour.  'God so loved  THE WORLD'.   John also brings one of his other favourite themes into this passage - Light (v 19-21)
 
POSSIBLE WORSHIP THEME.   This Lent can we 'Big up' the fact that our Lord is universal Saviour?
                                                       This passage makes uncomfortable reading becuase it is true that we tend to hide our bad deeds away in dark corners, (vs 19-21) What is the Gospel/Good News for us when we have things in our lives that we would rather keep hidden away in darkness?    
 
 
 
March 22nd Lent 5   John 12: 20-33
 
It's generally accepted that John's Gospel was written from Ephesus in what is now modern Turkey.  A Gentile setting, and yet a Gospel peppered with descriptions of places in Jerusalem that reveal a Jewish background.  So, here is a Gospel which comes out of an older faith but is 'New' (another  favourite concept in this Gospel).
 
POSSIBLE WORSHIP IDEA.    What can we Christians learn from our Jewish rootes?
                                                    What is 'new' about our faith?
 
 
 
 
March 29th  Lent 6  Palm Sunday  Mark 11: 1-11    (or John 12:  12-16)
 
William Barclay draws our attention to the triumphal entry of the Jewish hero and saviour of the nation Simon Maccabaeus  generations earlier.  Barclay thinks the crowd's  'Hosanna -  Save now' shows an expectation that Jesus would be the next triumphant liberator of the Jewish state.   Cranfield however notes how Mark presents this 'triumphal entry' in a low key way.   'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' is a quotation of Psalm 118:  26.  This passage also reflects Zechariah   Ch. 9   Cranfield thinks their is no obvious recognition by the crowd of Jesus as Messiah.
SO...in worship this week will you 'Big up' praise to King Jesus,  or  focus on the humble, misunderstood Saviour about to be 'enthroned' on a cross of torture?   Perhaps there is room for both themes in a whole act of worship.
 
It may seem strange that if Jesus' entry was high profile, and the crowd was loudly acclaiming him as saviour the Romans took no action against him.   However the city would be packed with pilgrims for what was a religious festival, and many Psalms would be sung.   The average Roman soldier would understand neither the religion nor the language of the Jews and so the whole occasion seem odd,  but not threatening -simply a tolerable outburst of national and religious fervour.   Only the Jewish priests and scribes saw what they took to be a threat to their politics,  and status.   
 
For six years we lived in the North East of England and would spend some days off at South Shields with its North Sea ferries, splendid market, wonderful park with a steam railway, and beaches.   I thought I knew the town fairly well so was puzzled on returning years later to spot a statue on Ocean Road which I could not remember.  It appeared to be one more Victorian monument to a General standing beside his mighty, noble steed.  Why hadnt I seen this before?    However, on drawing nearer it became apparent that this soldier was not dressed in officer's uniform but in the crumpled dress of a private soldier.  His beast was not a war stallion but only a donkey, front legs apart, head bent, nibbling a scrap from the earth.    Then I read the inscription.   'John Simpson Kirkpatrick - the Man with the Donkey'.
This  statue was a recent additon to the town honouring one of South Shields most famous (yet long unsung) heroes.  John Kirkpatrick had been the 'donkey man' on South Shields sands before joining the Australian forces in the First World War.  He served in the Medical corps and beneath the blazing Turkish guns at  Gallipoli.  He bravely rescued many wounded men before being shot himself.   If it had not been for an administrative error he might have been awared the VC, but is honoured in Australia and now,  his native town.
 
Think of the parallels between him and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Neither were fighters, but men of peace.  The mission of both was to hea.  They were both saviours.  Both were humble, lowly, and their work cost both of them their lives.
We honour John Simpson Kirkpatrick and people like him, and we too seek to follow in the way of an even greater roll model, our  'man with the Donley' the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
 
 
April 5th  Easter Day  Mark 16:  1-8      (or John 20:  1-18)
 
The so called short ending of Mark.   The Greek of verses 9-20, plus the style and content lead many scholars to think that one or two more passages have been added by  different editors or authors.   
 
SO what does this lection as it stands, and this ending which many take to be the ending where Mark always intended to stop say to us as we worship the risen Christ?    I guess there would be plenty of tears in that resurrection garden.  Many women find tears a more 'natural' expression  of emotion than some men.  Mary Magdalene comes across as an emotional person in the Gospels, and no doubt, in bereavement tears mixed with embalming spices on the way to the tomb.   And when she and her companions found it empty?  No mighty angels....no risen lord thought to be the gardener...no earthquake...only an empty little rocky tomb and a man who gives them a message that seems to confuse them even more, so that they run,  not in joy but bewilderment and terror (v8)    No doubt there would be more tears when they told the story to the men. 
 
      The Good News as Mark presents it remains hidden and mysterious from start to end of his Gospel.  When, 30 or forty years after the event, Mark records the good news his target audience include slaves, Christians whose hope of the return of Christ has not yet been fulfilled, and a community under suspicion as persecution kicks in.   Once more the glory of the resurrection has to be searched for under the dark clouds of difficulty.
 
     And today?    For many British Christians in traditional denominations the glory of the Lord has to be searched for.  To most people around it is now what it was in Mark's time - a secret.
 
CAN WE PROCLAIM THE RESURRECTION AS GOOD NEWS WHICH IS STILL AS MUCH A SECRET TO MOST PEOPLE AS IT WAS IN MARK'S TIME - BUT, PRAISE GOD IT STILL GOOD NEWS FOR HARD PRESSED PEOPLE?   
 
WHERE AND WHEN ARE WE LIKE THOSE WOMEN AFRAID?  HOW DOES THE 'SECRET' NEWSOF THE RESURRECTION HELP?
 
IN THE BIBLE THE GLORY OF GOD IS SOMETIMES OBVIOUS, (e.g.) ACTS 2, BUT AT OTHERS IT HAS TO BE SEARCHED FOR.  HOW DOES MARK'S MESSAGE OF THE HIDDEN GOOD NEWS HELP US IN OUR CHURCHES AND OUR SECULAR SOCIETY TODAY?
 
 
 
April 12th   Easter 2   John  20:  19-31 
 
 A different account of Jesus bestowing the Holy Spirit on his followers than in Acts 2.
 
'Sceptic.'  Thomas is finally convinved - and that by hard physical evidence.
 
POSSIBLE WORSHIP THEMES
 
Thomas comes across as a rational, some might say sceptical person.  His cool head needing hard evidence before his heart can be warmed.     In our worship leading and preaching do we cater for all personality types?
 
What is the gospel for folk who seek evidence before they can find faith?
 
 
 
April 19th  Easter 3 Luke 24:  36b-48
 
 Luke's words here remind us of Matthew's in chapter 28:  16-20.  Both passages begin to talk of a mission to 'all nations' (vs 47-48).   This passage has the feel of a transition from bewildered and frightened disiples shortly after the Resurrection to confident evangelists.  This makes it hard to understand why the RCL has omitted v 49.   There are also echoes of John 21 where once more Jesus eats with his followers.   So all in all one gets the feel of a common tradition used by several of the gospel writers.
 
WORSHSIP AND PREACHING IDEAS
 
   'A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have'.  Do some of us overemphasise the spiritual side of the faith and neglect the physical implications of it?  Christians believe in the resurrection of the body - not the immortality of the soul.
 
Jesus, who was more than a spirit, ministered to people's physical and emotional needs as well as their spiritual ones.
 
April 26th  Easter 4      John 10:  11-18
 
The RCL takes us back in imagination from the joy of Easter to the gloom of the approaching passion where Jesus speaks of laying down his life.     However Jesus is still our shepherd after the cross and resurrection.   His flock now is universal comprising both Jews and Gentiles. (v16) 
 
POSSIBLE PREACHING POINT.
 
What does this passage have to do with the Easter season?  Christopher Burkett, editor of 'The Preacher' magazine sees in it a reference not only to the church but all of humanity.  The Good Shepherd offers a promise of safety and a bright future.  But this promise is offered at the cost of the Shepherd's own life.   One preaching and worship topic might be the promise that is offered us because of the cross and resurrection.
 
 
Barrie Morley   March 2015
 
 
 Commentaries used.
'Historical tradition in the Fourth Gospel  C.H. Dodd
John (Tyndale N.T. Commentaries              C.G. Kruse
'Meeting God in Mark.                                  R. Williams
'Christian Discipleship the hard way'.         D. English
The Gospel according to St. Luke                 A.R.C. Leaney