ugust 2 John 6:35, Eph. 4:1-16, 2 Sam. 12
bread of life Jesus is the gift itself-jesus is all-encompassing bread of life, all that sustains full and rich life Jesus works with this metaphor this point of comparison, but just as in previous chapters the folks are at one more physical plane and Jesus is linking the spiritual and the physical plane in new ways.-metaphor is a term of art of making a comparison- by definition it is not literal
great tragedy is to die before one has lived. torah, the teaching of god was often called the bread of life by rabbis. In John’s gospel all metaphors point to the same thing: Jesus is the way of God in the flesh. When presented with that reality, the usual response is confusion. Even though jesus is using words, he points to himself as god’s own image, god’s logic, god’s vision made flesh. Metaphors are tiny stories, often images, when we make a comparison, we create an image, and our minds fill in the gaps made by the placing together of two things. Automatically, Jesus saying i am the bread of life opens the door to an angle on grasping Jesus, but metaphors are not to be taken literally or they lose their force.
Eph. 4 grow up in christ (check if fullness applies here)I heard of a local church that claims worship should be entertainment-why it claims childhood as the pinnacle of development, but here adulthood is the aspiration-Being constantly serious is not the sole function of adulthood, but diving deeper, not remaining content with skimming on the surface is. The church should be willing to confront and try to deal with important questions, even if we dare not claim to give a final answer. unity amid distinction in function. We grow up together in this passage, as we are all joined together in Christ, with Christ, through Christ.-speaking falsehood deals death to the truth death to relationships-speaking the truth in love- some take this as more politeness; more miss the in love part and feel that they can hurt feelings and say whatever effluvia appears in the brain and goes directly to the moth (work with bakery bread image here) Listen to Walter Brueggemann on the “conversion of the imagination”{ in Scripture:”To this tired life, accepted as unquestioned reality, scripture offers another world, another way of being, that is both unsettling and comforting as it stands in prophetic judgment over the empires of the world. Scripture, in other words, is counter-imagination, a “rival eschatology,” as N. T. Wright puts it, to any system that claims “we have now arrived.”
story awakens David’s blind conscience-If Nathan directly told David, he may have lost his head. the story breaks down his defenses, and reminds him what it is like to be the king as dispenser of justice.through the art of his little story, he is able to break through the defenses and denial david has erected, then he delivers the epiphany.
The bread and cup we share are symbols, but more than that. We have always held that this is far more than an aid to memory of Jesus in the misty past. Yes, they represent the bread of life, the very lifeblood of christ. so when we receive communion, we are moving into deep religious ritual territory. we become part of the symbolism itself, as we participate in its reality. God continues to reach out to us, reach deep within us in this sacrament of Communion, holy elements, for holy people, in a holy place. We are being nourished into life eternal, this day and in the life to come. We participate, communicate with the living christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment