Obligation Alone (35)
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 22
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 17:1-10
I have heard all my life that context is key to understanding and interpreting the Bible. At the same time, I have encountered all sorts of examples of people ignoring context when reading the Bible. There is the context of history. There is the context of events in the lives of the characters. There is the context of Scripture as a whole, as well as the overall writings of a particular author and the organization of thought within a particular book, section, or chapter. When Jesus speaks of our obligations as servants, why would we divorce that from the particulars right around Luke’s account of that saying?
Recently, I was in conversation with someone who kept returning to the second verse in today’s passage. There seemed to be no recognition of what Jesus had just been speaking of in chapter 16, nor the paragraph in which we find it. Divorced from its context, we can give that verse most any application or interpretation we’d like to set forward. ‘‘Don’t cause a little one to stumble!’’ It makes a nice rallying cry, but should we not take a moment to figure out how Jesus was using that image? Should we not take the time to figure out what kind of stumbling he was addressing?
Jesus had just been dealing with the need to be generous in meeting the needs of people around us in contrast to deeming ourselves superior to the needy. The rich man’s actions had resulted in Lazarus’ death from neglect on the rich man’s doorstep. Immediately, Jesus turns and addresses our responsibility to forgive one another, along with calling people to account for their missteps. The disciples respond with a declaration that they were lacking in sufficient faith to follow these instructions. Jesus brushed aside concerns about the size of one’s faith. He was more concerned with the quality of their actions-their faithfulness, not their beliefs or their declarations about God.
Economic ...
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 22
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 17:1-10
I have heard all my life that context is key to understanding and interpreting the Bible. At the same time, I have encountered all sorts of examples of people ignoring context when reading the Bible. There is the context of history. There is the context of events in the lives of the characters. There is the context of Scripture as a whole, as well as the overall writings of a particular author and the organization of thought within a particular book, section, or chapter. When Jesus speaks of our obligations as servants, why would we divorce that from the particulars right around Luke’s account of that saying?
Recently, I was in conversation with someone who kept returning to the second verse in today’s passage. There seemed to be no recognition of what Jesus had just been speaking of in chapter 16, nor the paragraph in which we find it. Divorced from its context, we can give that verse most any application or interpretation we’d like to set forward. ‘‘Don’t cause a little one to stumble!’’ It makes a nice rallying cry, but should we not take a moment to figure out how Jesus was using that image? Should we not take the time to figure out what kind of stumbling he was addressing?
Jesus had just been dealing with the need to be generous in meeting the needs of people around us in contrast to deeming ourselves superior to the needy. The rich man’s actions had resulted in Lazarus’ death from neglect on the rich man’s doorstep. Immediately, Jesus turns and addresses our responsibility to forgive one another, along with calling people to account for their missteps. The disciples respond with a declaration that they were lacking in sufficient faith to follow these instructions. Jesus brushed aside concerns about the size of one’s faith. He was more concerned with the quality of their actions-their faithfulness, not their beliefs or their declarations about God.
Economic ...
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