Murderous Power (9)
Lectionary, Year C, Lent2
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 13:31-35
Lord Acton famously framed power as a corrupting influence in our lives. The more we wield it, the worse we wield it. We become insensitive to its corrupting influence on our actions and perceptions of the world around us. We most commonly define power by its destructive force. We think of power in terms of bombs, explosions, earthquakes, and hurricane winds. This murderous nature of power seems to captivate us, while the power God wields has an altogether different quality. Are we willing to give up on murderous power to embrace something completely different?
I grew up with the notion that Pharisees were Jesus' enemies. That concept arose from the same streams of anti-semitism framing the Jews in general as those who killed Jesus. My wife recently mentioned a comment that Jesus was much more likely a Pharisee than an Essene, like John the Baptist. That was a shock to my system. I looked into it. Her source was right. While we read the gospel texts through a lens that still contains antisemitic perspectives, we miss some of the nuance in the gospels, especially what shows up in today's passage. Sure, there were Pharisses whom Jesus called down, just as he called down his own disciples. There were also Pharisees in his own retinue of followers like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. We find in today's passage that some Pharisees came to warn Jesus of Herod's plans for his assassination.
Being a Pharisee was broader than following a specific script akin to what I gathered in my upbringing. In general, it meant seeking something akin to John Wesley's idea of faith which impacted one's daily living in what he called ''Scriptural holiness.'' They understood that faith needed to be more than simply going through presecribed rites, rituals, and sacrifices. Jesus' issue with many of them was the same issue he had with others. As human beings, they did not allow God's transforma ...
Lectionary, Year C, Lent2
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 13:31-35
Lord Acton famously framed power as a corrupting influence in our lives. The more we wield it, the worse we wield it. We become insensitive to its corrupting influence on our actions and perceptions of the world around us. We most commonly define power by its destructive force. We think of power in terms of bombs, explosions, earthquakes, and hurricane winds. This murderous nature of power seems to captivate us, while the power God wields has an altogether different quality. Are we willing to give up on murderous power to embrace something completely different?
I grew up with the notion that Pharisees were Jesus' enemies. That concept arose from the same streams of anti-semitism framing the Jews in general as those who killed Jesus. My wife recently mentioned a comment that Jesus was much more likely a Pharisee than an Essene, like John the Baptist. That was a shock to my system. I looked into it. Her source was right. While we read the gospel texts through a lens that still contains antisemitic perspectives, we miss some of the nuance in the gospels, especially what shows up in today's passage. Sure, there were Pharisses whom Jesus called down, just as he called down his own disciples. There were also Pharisees in his own retinue of followers like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. We find in today's passage that some Pharisees came to warn Jesus of Herod's plans for his assassination.
Being a Pharisee was broader than following a specific script akin to what I gathered in my upbringing. In general, it meant seeking something akin to John Wesley's idea of faith which impacted one's daily living in what he called ''Scriptural holiness.'' They understood that faith needed to be more than simply going through presecribed rites, rituals, and sacrifices. Jesus' issue with many of them was the same issue he had with others. As human beings, they did not allow God's transforma ...
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