![]() ![]() Our world has been made strange by the advent of a God whom almost nobody expected. To get one’s good news from the Fourth Gospel is willingly to enter a luxuriant figurative world where few things are as they first appear. John’s gospel is a rich, almost too rich, for the interpreter. In four long chapters (John 13:1-16:33) the Word-Made-Flesh, God-With-Us turns away from instruction of the world to host a farewell supper with his disciples where he tells them how to live once he is physically absent from them. I propose to allow John teach us on Thursday. The liturgy of the church generally lets Luke, Matthew, or Mark handle Holy Week through Maundy Thursday, then turns to John for Good Friday and the Passion. This book on Maundy Thursday’s mysteries is meant to increase enjoyment of this holy mystery rather merely to explain it. We can spend a lifetime attempting to plumb the depths of such a mystery and never exhaust, much less consume the meaning. ![]() A meal in which a piece of bread is called “my body broken for you,” a cup of wine designated as “my blood shed for you” is almost too rich a metaphorical feast. In intensifying his whole ministry at a meal, Jesus leads us into a world that is thick with subtle, secret meaning. The predictable, dull world is rendered strange, and even at a meal Jesus, though unarmed, is extremely dangerous. Jesus joins us at the table and, whenever Jesus shows up, hold on to your hat corpses rise from the dead and we are shocked that God is more active than we imagined. God isn’t just good and great, God is on the move toward us. And welcome to the truth about what God in Jesus Christ is up to in the world. Where are we? Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of the Gospel of John and to the holiest week of the church’s year. I give myself no more than a week before they succeed.” The guest to your right, the young rabbi, says, “Unfortunately, no sooner had I raised Lazarus, than my enemies vowed to kill me. Jesus graciously stopped by the cemetery, shouted, ‘Lazarus come out!’ and raised me from the dead just in time for my sisters’ dinner party. Your fellow dinner guest replies, “Well, I was sick unto death, my sisters were frantic with worry, then I died, was entombed for three days, wrapped like a mummy. ![]() Settling uneasily in your seat, just being polite, you ask the table companion on your right, “Had a good week?” Please make yourself comfortable between them.” Thanks to Jesus, he’s back among the living. “You know our rabbi, Jesus, don’t you? And seated next to him is our brother Lazarus, who died last week. Imagine being seated at that dinner table. Lazarus whom he has just raised from the dead? Are you kidding? (John 12:1-11.) John casually remarks that Lazarus, whom Jesus has just raised from the dead, is there at the table. Jesus is in Bethany entertained by his good friends Mary and Martha. It’s odd, even for the odd Gospel of John. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |