A good seminary day...
...despite all of my bitching, I do have good days here. Today was one of them. Some interesting discussions were held in my early classes (exegesis and gospels), but mostly I was blessed by my preaching class. I feel really privileged to hear my friends'/colleagues' sermons. I've been amazed at their quality. My own sermon went very well today. I know it was the Holy Spirit because it felt very flat and uninspired on paper. I love that when we give God our best, even among our weakness, that grace makes things happen.
I want to post a quote from one of my textbooks. it is concerning the significance of the eucharist and the "cleansing of the temple":
"The meaning of 'last supper,' then, actually evolved over a series of meals after jesus' occupation of the Temple. During that period, Jesus claimed that wine and bread were a better sacrifice than what was offered in the Temple (he's referring to the animals being sold for sacrifice by the moneychangers): At least the wine and bread were Israel's own, not tokens of priestly dominance. No wonder the opposition to him, even among the twelve (i.e. Judas), became deadly. In essence, Jesus made his meals into a rival altar, and we may call such a reading of his words a ritual or cultic interpretation"
Bruce Chilton "Traditio-Historical Criticism and Study of Jesus" from Hearing the New Testament
Chilton's observations struck me as significant this morning. It's a rethinking of two major Gospel events. It is ironic to me, however, that Jesus was challenging the oppressive control of the religious establishment in his time and to honor Him we created an oppressive religious establishment.
Another intersting thought coming both through my exegesis class and gospels class is the idea of why Jesus needed to be baptized in the Gospel of Mark. From our reading of the Gospel, Jesus became the adopted son of God only at his baptism. You'll note that Mark doesn't include the virgin birth. So why did Jesus need to be baptized in Mark? The text makes it seem that Jesus had sins to repent of and to get baptized for. How does that sit? Could you preach that? If you were doing an adult ed. class on Mark, would you teach that? Those questions are kinda directed at me, but if you've got answers...
I want to post a quote from one of my textbooks. it is concerning the significance of the eucharist and the "cleansing of the temple":
"The meaning of 'last supper,' then, actually evolved over a series of meals after jesus' occupation of the Temple. During that period, Jesus claimed that wine and bread were a better sacrifice than what was offered in the Temple (he's referring to the animals being sold for sacrifice by the moneychangers): At least the wine and bread were Israel's own, not tokens of priestly dominance. No wonder the opposition to him, even among the twelve (i.e. Judas), became deadly. In essence, Jesus made his meals into a rival altar, and we may call such a reading of his words a ritual or cultic interpretation"
Bruce Chilton "Traditio-Historical Criticism and Study of Jesus" from Hearing the New Testament
Chilton's observations struck me as significant this morning. It's a rethinking of two major Gospel events. It is ironic to me, however, that Jesus was challenging the oppressive control of the religious establishment in his time and to honor Him we created an oppressive religious establishment.
Another intersting thought coming both through my exegesis class and gospels class is the idea of why Jesus needed to be baptized in the Gospel of Mark. From our reading of the Gospel, Jesus became the adopted son of God only at his baptism. You'll note that Mark doesn't include the virgin birth. So why did Jesus need to be baptized in Mark? The text makes it seem that Jesus had sins to repent of and to get baptized for. How does that sit? Could you preach that? If you were doing an adult ed. class on Mark, would you teach that? Those questions are kinda directed at me, but if you've got answers...
