Proper 9, Tuesday
Today's Readings:- 1 Samuel 15:26-35 -- Link to NRSV Text
- Acts 9:32-43 -- Link to NRSV Text
- Luke 23:56b-24:11 -- Link to NRSV Text
Peter heals a man in Lydda named Aeneas, and this causes many people to convert. Tabitha (Dorca) is raised from the dead.
The women in Jesus' life rest on the sabbath, then go to the tomb, where two men in dazzling clothes ask them "why do you look for hte living among the dead?". The women remember what Jesus taught, and they go to the apostles, who don't believe them.
Verse 12 of chapter 24 is skipped in the lectionary. I wonder why, because it describes Peter rushing to the tomb to see the stone rolled away and the burial clothes wrapped up neatly on the bed. Peter didn't believe the women, but he went to go see for himself. Is this simply Peter not trusting the women in the group? The Gospel of Mary describes an argument where Peter basically says "Mary (and women) are not worthy of Christ". Or is this Peter going to confirm what the women said so that the apostles would believe, that the story needed to come from someone with more authority. It is possible to argue Peter's actions of verse 12 as positive and as negative, but either way one thing stands out. Peter wanted proof of his own, he did not take the news of the women on faith. There are many warnings against false prophets in the Bible, and to have phrases like "Don't listen to the false prophets, but believe everything you hear about Jesus" is not only bad advice, but it diminishes Jesus. It makes Jesus look more like David ... * than God.
These women were in greif, no wonder they didn't remember everything the Jesus taught them that morning. I don't blame them. They saw and believed. Peter didn't believe until he saw. The underlying principle is that I think it is more important to believe after seeing proof than to just believe rumor. That's gossip, and not healthy even when it's true.
I also found it interesting that Samuel states that God, not being mortal, does not, or should not, change his mind. On the other hand, God regrets His previous actions. In the time this book was written, I don't think they understood that God is outside of time, but they viewed God as flowing down time with us, God may see the future, but he could not (in their opinion) control it or change it. I'm so glad we've dropped that limitation on God, but it makes passages like this one from Samuel difficult to read, because it speaks of a God different than the one we recognize. It is important to remember that our image of God is just an image. God is God, and our understanding of God has changed over the centuries.
*The guy who had the Branch Davidian cult thing, I can't remember his name. He ordered all of his followers to commit mass suicide. Or were they shot out by the FBI? Anyway, the statement is more cultish than religious.
posted by Josh English @ 3:40 PM
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