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idiosyncreant) wrote2008-03-21 05:23 pm
Good Teacher, Storyteller, PROVOCATEUR
From The Account of John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that with was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testifies concerning him. He cries out saying, “This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'” From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carryout your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for his is a liar and the father of lies.”
Again, the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in you Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—what about the one whom the Father has set apart as his very own and sent into the world?”
Then Jesus cried out, “...When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
“As for the person who hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn them at the last day.”
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.”
Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'?”
...
Even as his spoke, many put their faith in him.
Pilat then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
“What is truth?” Pilate asked.
But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”
The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”
[In spite of which we like to think
That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood-
Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.
T. S. Eliot]
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why do you not speak when I have your life in my hands
how can you stay quiet I don't believe you understand
you have nothing in your hands
any power you have
comes to you from far beyond
everything is fixed
and you can't change it
out of curiosity, what translation of the Bible do you use?
also, what is this Eliot poem. I MUST KNOW.
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It sounds really edgy in the Pilate/Jesus interchange, the exchange surprised me.
It's what I grew up with, so it usually just flows naturally to me, but sometimes when I'm going slower (typing, in this instance) some of the phrasing stands out.
I don't know what you're quoting in your comment so we're square: what is it?
The one I posted is T.S. Eliot's East Coker poem out of the Quartets--most of it isn't quite that good, but the Quartets are all worth a look.
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Jesus Christ Super[y]star, Trial by Pilate. Or somewhere in theres.
then you're a king?
it's you that say I am. I look for truth and find that I get damned--
but what is truth? is truth unchanging law? we both have truths--are mine the same as yours? (Crucify him! Crucify him!)
I will certainly do that. :-)
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Though the particular term "deutero-canonical" isn't one I know of. Can you explain for me? I'm pretty sure I know what it means, it's the connotations of the words that I'd like to hear about.
I'm a fan of words.
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Well, according to both Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopedia, the term means "belonging to the second canon" and was coined in the 16th century. It refers to the books of Tobit, Judith, 1 and 3 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and some additions to the books of Daniel and Esther, which Catholics all consider canonical, and which Protestants to do not consider canonical and refer to as the Apocrypha.
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IIRC, in simple terms, they're the seven books (hence also the term Septuagint) that were originally in Hebrew, but which only exist in Greek now, that Luther excised from his Bible (along with other books) because some of the Jewish sects were excising them as well (and because they contained things like the idea of praying for the dead). The Wikipedia article seems pretty straightforward.
me too! :-D
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At our Good Friday service yesterday, we read the passion narrative as a dialogue, with the part of the crowd assigned to the people, so the entire church chanted "Crucify him!" and "We have no king but Caesar!" I always thought that was very appropriate...
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"Let his blood be on us and our children!"
Whoa.
That gives you the double-meaning chill and just kind of brings home what people would do.