Luke may also
After contemplating the sound logic of The Culture of Fear* and better realizing that I can discern my own fears and be more selective, make better choices about what to be afraid of - - grotesque, obscenely evil government may be my choice even if pointless because there seems nothing to do about it except Time, so why not fear the sniffing, snapping condo wolves that climb the building walls at night hunting slightly open sliding glass doors - - it’s time for the moment to stop reading online Smithsonian, where this morning I found out that Javan warty pigs may be interbreeding not only with domestic pigs but also, alarmingly, with wild boars, not a pretty prospect, is it; and also a piece about A Wrinkle in Time, which I read years ago, that can put anyone onto Madeleine L’Engle, and its movie that we intend to see when it arrives this spring; looking back over at where this blogpost seems headed, it occurs that Saul of Tarsus might admire this morning’s introductory sentence except that I'm not sure he used punctuation marks.
So I look at the lectionary texts for Sunday, January 7. If Sunday were January 6 it’d be Epiphany and we’d be singing and reading about we three kings of orient, gold I bring to crown him again, frankincense to offer have I, and myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume.
As it is, the propers call for Epiphany 1:
Acts 19:1-7
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— altogether there were about twelve of them.
Mark 1:4-11
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
What intrigues me there? I'm not preaching Sunday, but to construct a sermon around the Ephesians who, like us, never heard of the Holy Spirit and might wonder if it’s just another apprehension of Yahweh or really is someone else; and Luke's christology and openness to trinitarianism coming as he may from pagan origins and considering by the time of writing Luke/Acts the early church is beginning to spook its Jewish members by embracing a higher christology and Luke may also; and also noticing that in Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism, the voice from heaven only speaks to Jesus himself, “YOU are my beloved Son …” and that this plays into my view of Mark’s agenda in which those closest to Jesus never realize who Jesus is (do you?) and that culminates with the crucifying centurion recognizing him, but finally even the women who come to the tomb do not, and flee in terror saying nothing to anyone, leaving us Mark’s audience so frustrated that we are driven to jump up and run out to proclaim Jesus ourselves. My view of Mark the evangelist par excellence. Paul may be the first evangelist, but he’s no match for Mark.
DThos+
* Barry Glasser
* Barry Glasser