7th Sunday after Pentecost
Today’s assigned readings:
1 Samuel 17:50-18:4, Romans 10:4-17, Matthew 23:29-39
So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17
Curiously I’ve heard this verse quoted to indicate that we should not use icons or vestments… we should be sitting still and listening to a preacher/teacher. Generally it seems to be read to mean “I preach, you listen.”
Paul cites Deuteronomy 30:12-14, with his own expansions, beginning his argument with that curious verse 4, “For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. ”
Many in the Christian tradition have read this to mean the “law has ended”. They read this in a very anti-semitic way, including some saints. Quite clearly, however, “end” is not “turning off” but rather like “the end of the road.” The Greek word is τελος, “telos”. It’s not the “turning off” point: it’s the climax (hear that sexually, and you’ll get the point). Life begins in the end. The Torah pointed all of us to Messiah. Messiah is the logical outcome to which all the Torah points.
Here is a wonderful Rabbinic tale: It is the tale of an oven that needed to be declared kosher. It touches on the passage that St Paul was quoting (Deuteronomy 30:12-14). I think we learn something about St Paul’s argument here - especially since he’s writing (in part) to Jews…
This oven was a new invention created by a certain man named Achnai. Achnai brought his new oven to the rabbinical court at the house of study for them to give his contraption their imprimatur and deem it appropriate for Jewish use. With the exception of Rabbi Eliezer, every sage at the house of study declared that the oven was un-kosher.
Rabbi Eliezer brought forward every imaginable argument to try and convince the other sages that the oven was kosher, but none of his colleagues was convinced. Rabbi Eliezer was getting frustrated, and he shouted at them: “If Achnai’s oven is in fact kosher, as I say it is, then let this carob tree prove it!” And the carob tree flew out of the ground and landed a hundred cubits away. Unimpressed, the other sages retorted: “No proof can be brought from a carob tree.”
Again Rabbi Eliezer implored them: “If the oven is kosher, then let the stream of water prove it.” And the stream of water flowed backwards. “No proof can be brought from a stream of water,” the rabbis rejoined.
More frustrated than ever, Rabbi Eliezer cried out: “If the oven is kosher, as I say it is, let the walls of this house of study prove it!” And the walls began to fall inward. But Rabbi Joshua rebuked the collapsing walls saying: “When scholars are engaged in a disagreement over a point of Jewish law, what right do you have to interfere?” And the walls did not fall in honor of Rabbi Joshua, nor did they resume their upright position in honor of Rabbi Eliezer.
Again Rabbi Eliezer said to the sages, “If the law agrees with me regarding the fact that Achnai’s oven is kosher, then let it be proved by heaven.” And a heavenly voice cried out: “Why do you rabbis argue with Eliezer? He’s always right in his interpretation of the law!” But Rabbi Joshua arose and exclaimed to the sky: “‘It is not in Heaven’ (Deuteronomy 30:12).” At that moment, the sages say, God laughed, saying “My children have defeated me! My children have overruled me!”.
It Rabbi Eliezer is the brother-in-law of Gamliel - who was the teacher of Rav’ Sha’ul: whom we know as St Paul. While perhaps not knowing this particular story, Paul would have understood this debate within his own rabbinical school - as would Paul’s students (such as the Romans). Throughout Romans,Paul’s argument is the same as Rabbi Joshua’s (ironically, that’s just another version of Jesus’ name…): the word is right here, on earth. Here, easy to understand and comprehend.
Paul (talking to the folks in Rome about Jews who are rejecting the news of Messiah) is inviting his Jewish friends away from their bickering about the law and all that intricacy which was supposed to serve to point them to Messiah: trust comes from hearing the Word spoken in Messiah. Hearing the law can trip you up: you begin to worry - the opposite of trust - that “I’m not good enough. I’m not following enough rules. I’m not religious enough.” But in Messiah we hear the call to “love God, Neighbour and Self” and we are moved to trust rather than worry. It’s not in heaven, or under the earth or in the ocean but right here, incarnate, next to us. It’s not an “It”, a text. The word is Messiah - and hearing about Messiah we may be brought to Trust in God.
My problem, today, is to adhere to the “Style Guide” of this blog: to weave this all into a personal story as you note I’ve not yet done. The purpose of the exercise is to keep the “gospel” from being an abstract text. God acted in the life of Jesus, in the lives of those who followed him around the holy land; God acted in the life of Paul and those whom he brought into the community of faith; God acts (we hope) in our life today. The point is not to “explain scripture” as an abstract exercise, but to see scripture active in our lives today.
I’m struggling. The reason I’m struggling is because I like the Law. I don’t mean I like Judaism: I do love Judaism. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not hung up on Sabbath Keeping or not eating pork or the choice between “Easter” or “Passover”. Those are devotional options, I think, but ok. Nope: I’m hung up on other kinds of laws - real laws, you know. laws so pure and simple that I wonder how people who want to follow God in the way of Messiah can miss these laws. Laws, you know: peaceful living, turning the other cheek, not attacking others. How can people who claim to be walking in this path actually pick up guns? Shoot people? Attack Iraqis? This is a law, you see.
Argh. I’ve made a new Torah to replace the old one: my own. Right-wingers will accuse left-wingers of this. Left-wingers will accuse right-wingers of the same over their hyper-focus on issues of sex. Conservatives will make a new law out of liturgy or sex or who may or may not be ordained… liberals will do the same. If you don’t ordain gays you are not a Christian. If you do ordain gays, you are not a Christian. I’ve been on both sides, flip-flopping more times than a trout on the dock. To be honest, when I’m one side, I can’t even imagine the “reality” of the faith on the other. I like being told what to eat, when to eat, what not to eat, when not to eat - as if my soul depended on it. I like being told what piety to use, as if my soul depended on it.
Then I rebel - and I want the other side to be true, the first side to be false.
The excitement of this is between the flip-flopping I never have to work on my soul, I’m always starting over.
So I have no story to relate here save my failure to have a story. It’d like to redeem that and say, “look really it is a story…” but it’s not. I would rather trust the law (whichever is the law now) than trust in the loving God I’ve heard about in Messiah.