Theology on Tap - Resurrection

Theology on Tap Round V

Resurrection

Premise: Resurrection shapes the life of the community God is creating through the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels and the book of Acts.

There are two Greek words that we understand as the action of resurrection - literally, "to be raised":

ἐγείρω,v  \{eg-i’-ro}
1) to arouse, cause to rise  1a) to arouse from sleep, to awake  1b) to arouse from the sleep of death, to recall the dead to life  1c) to cause to rise from a seat or bed etc.  1d) to raise up, produce, cause to appear

ἀνίστημι,v  \{an-is’-tay-mee}
1a) to cause to rise up, raise up  1a) raise up from laying down  1b) to raise up from the dead  1c) to raise up, cause to be born, to cause to appear, bring forward

The word ἐγείρω is used in Mark’s Gospel to describe Jesus’ own resurrection.
Mark 16:6-7 - “But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised (ἐγείρω); he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. (7) But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’”

If we follow the call of Mark to go back to Galilee, we find ourselves right back in chapter one of the Gospel. The Gospel can be seen as cyclical in this way. The call from the messenger at the tomb points us to where Jesus began his ministry. In the time when this story was told orally, this was an important hook for the audience. It gave the audience a choice of how they responded to the story. They could walk away and leave it as just a story. Or they could return to Galilee, experience the ministry of Jesus unfolding, and pattern their owns lives after what they had experienced. Going back to Galilee helps us to understand the wider scope of resurrection in the Gospel.

Resurrection takes place in the ultimate moment of being raised to new life by God at the moment of physical death. Resurrection also takes place in more subtle ways. Here we think of death in a metaphorical sense. We can have a pulse and move air and still be very much dead to the world. Here death is a metaphor for all that holds us back from living the full life that God has blessed us with in this world. In this metaphorical death we are held back from working, serving, playing, and living fully into to our identity as God’s people. We do not get to enjoy the benefits of life in community.

Throughout the Gospel we encounter Jesus raising people to new life - granting them the benefits and returning them to participation in life in the community. Literally resurrecting them in this world. So we go back to Galilee to witness this social aspect of resurrection.

In Galilee, Jesus begins his ministry after his testing in the wilderness with a sermon in the local synagogue. After the gathering is off to Peter’s mother-in-laws house for a bite to eat. But she is sick with a fever. What follow is the first moment of “resurrection” in the Gospel.

Mark 1:31 - “He came and took her by the hand and lifted (ἐγείρω) her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

In this instant, Jesus resurrects Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. In here state of fever, she could not fulfill her identity as a child of God. She could not serve others and live out her call to hospitality. She is metaphorically dead to the community. Until Jesus raises her to new life. Once resurrected, she immediately lives into her identity as person of hospitality. Right there, as the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is enacting resurrection.

We encounter this over and over again in Mark’s Gospel.

Mark 2:11-12 
“I say to you, stand up (ἐγείρω), take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up (ἐγείρω), and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Mark 3:1-5
“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward (ἐγείρω).”

Mark 5:41-42
“He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up (ἐγείρω)!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.”

In each of these moments we need to remember that the original audience probably heard this story told before they ever encountered it in textual form. When hearing the story, repetition of words is important. Mark’s use of ἐγείρω is a choice and the audience would not translate it in such a wide variety of meanings as we do today. They would, potentially, hear the word ἐγείρω over and over and build an image of what this concept means. When Mark uses it in connection with Jesus in 16:16, the image and action of resurrection would be complete. Jesus has been practicing all along what God will do for him on the first Easter.

Resurrection happens in real time! Social resurrection is happening now.

A key moment for Mark’s Gospel arrives in chapter ten when Jesus invites the crowd to participate in his ministry of social resurrection.

In the story of Bartimaeus, my favorite Gospel story (and the namesake of this blog), we have the tale of a man who gets invited to participate in life as a disciple of Jesus. This story is rich with metaphor.

Mark 10:46-52
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside( ὁδός, the way). 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up (ἐγείρω), he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way (ὁδός).

The word in verse 46 that is translated “roadside” is the Greek word ὁδός. It is often translated as road, but for Mark it may have deeper meaning. The name for the early Jesus movement was “The Way” - literally ὁδός. We can understand this moment to be Bartimaeus sitting beside “the way,” in a state of being where he is not engaged in the life of a disciple. Metaphorically he cannot “see (encounter)” the world as a disciple.

In verse 49 Jesus empowers the crowd to call Bartimaeus to him, and they are the ones who raise him to engage new life as a disciple. It is crowd who now participates in Jesus’ ministry of social resurrection. They are the instrument Jesus uses to raise this man to new life. A powerful moment for Mark’s Gospel.

Jesus pronounces that Bartimaeus’ faith has healed him. His faith has literally changed the way he engages the world. Bartimaeus then joins Jesus on “the way,” becoming a disciple.

The lesson from Mark - this is the life we are called into as disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus is about the business of enacting resurrection, bringing people to new life, in this time and place. And we are invited to follow.

The books of Luke and Acts model this same pattern. For Luke, the person considered to be the author of both works, the rhythm of Jesus enacting resurrection in this world is the same.  For Luke, the word of choice for resurrection is ἀνίστημι.

Luke 24:5-75
The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but they said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen (ἐγείρω). 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again (ἀνίστημι).”

This is repeated by Jesus himself when he appears to the disciples in verse 46 of the same chapter.

The movement of resurrection carries over into the book of Acts. A key verse early on comes in Peter’s Pentecost speech in chapter two. 


Acts 2:32 - “This Jesus God raised (ἀνίστημι) up, and of that all of us are witnesses”

Resurrection is what Goes does in and through Jesus. The disciples are witnesses to this action.

In the book Acts, Luke narrates what God does in the world through the Holy Spirit, the main character of the story. What God does in the world is to continue to raise new life out of death; both physically and metaphorically. The witnesses of this action are called to interpret how God is at work in the world and pattern their lives accordingly. They are called to join into God's action of social resurrection.

Our call today is to do the same. We have received these witnesses stories not as fun tales for entertain, but to pattern our own lives accordingly.

An important question for us to ask is “Where have you seen Jesus?” I learned to ask this question while I was in Aggie Lutherans during my time in College Station. My mentor Deb Grant taught us to ask this question with our lives. Every gathering, every devotion, sometimes multiple times a week, we would ask each other - “where have you seen Jesus?” We would listen to each other’s encounters with the risen Jesus. We learned to see the rhythm of God in our midst. I still like to ask this question, so I offer it up to us this morning - “Where have you seen Jesus?” It’s a moment of confession for modern day disciples.

By asking and answering “Where have you seen Jesus?” we confess the power of God’s ministry of social resurrection in our midst.

Two more statements about resurrection.

1)  Resurrection does not wait until it’s safe. God does it. We are invited to witness, follow, participate.

2)  We do not get to vote on resurrection. Resurrection is God’s action. God will resurrection who and what God wants to - regardless of what we acknowledge or think.

So the next step for us to start asking - "Where Have You Seen Jesus?!”

The Parable of the Ten Lepers - Re-imagined

The idea at the heart of the Bartimaeus Effect is to gain a new perspective by following Jesus Christ.  One aspect of gaining a new perspective is to engage scripture.  And by engage, I want to focus on re-imagining the intersection of our world and scripture.  Where do our lives, the current realities of our world (and particularly our culture), intersect the witness of Jesus Christ?  Where do our lives cross paths with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ?  Or perhaps more honestly; where does Jesus encounter us?

For example. 

This week the revised common lectionary has Luke 17:11-19 as the Gospel text for the day.  Luke 17 contains the story of ten lepers, who upon encountering Jesus, are made clean.  One of lepers, who we learn is a Samaritan, returns rejoicing to Jesus and falls at his feet.  Jesus tells him to rise and that his faith has made him well.  That’s the story in a nut-shell.  But where does it intersect us today?

Below is my rough translation of the story.  I have tried to bring current images into the story and contextualize it to fit my understanding of what is going on in our midst.   

So here it is...

The Parable of the Ten Without Access to Healthcare

And it happened, journeying to Austin, Jesus was going through the middle of Eagle Pass and San Antonio.  As he entered a village, ten social outcasts without access to healthcare approached him.  Keeping their distance, they raised a voice saying, “Jesus, one of authority, have mercy on us.”  When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the healthcare brokers (congress).  And as they went, they were given access to healthcare (they had credible coverage).  Then one of them, when he saw that he had health insurance, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.  He fell on his face a Jesus’ feet and thanked him.  And he was a Mexican.  Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean?  But the other nine, where are they?  Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this immigrant (undocumented one)?”  Then he said to him, “Having risen up (as from death), be going on your journey.  Your trust has made you whole (you have a place in the community and the kingdom).”

In this short story, Luke uses three words to describe the healing;

14 & 17 - “cleansed” (καθαρίζω)
15 - “cured” (ἰάομαι)
19 -  “made whole/saved (σῴζω)  

Each word points to a different level of healing within the community.  The first, καθαρίζω, to be cleansed, is a word that points to ritual, access, and identity in the community.  To be clean was a position of status and privilege within the community.  The second, ἰάομαι, points to a state of being.  It acknowledges one’s current status.  The third, σῴζω, signifies a new state of being.  This word has theological depth and has often been translated as “saved,” pointing to some future status.  But the nuances of this word point us to much more.  This word σῴζω carries with it the overtones of being made whole to receive the gifts of God’s kingdom in the here and now.  It points to a new future in the kingdom of God, a very present reality in our midst.  The translation choices I have made wade into the murky waters of metaphor and try to capture the subtle nuances of these words and what they could point to in our context. 

As for translating “lepers” as “social outcasts without access to healthcare,” I think that this captures the statement and description that Luke is attempting to capture in this story.  The term leper in antiquity, for Luke and Jesus, did not point to a specific disease, but to any number of skin conditions.  The ultimate reality is that being a leper made one unclean and thus outside of the community.  A leper had no access to the privileges of society. 

I took the image of priest and turned it into “healthcare broker” or potentially “congress,” because they are the current gatekeepers of privilege in our context.  The priests were the gatekeepers of status in the story from Luke, they controlled who was in and who was out.  Healthcare brokers, and yes congress, are a fitting metaphor for what is happening in our context.  They have the power to decide who’s in and who’s out. 

I struggled with translating the Samaritan in the story as “Mexican” in my rendition.  This is not a social comment on our Mexican/Latino/Latina brothers and sisters, it’s more of a contextual understanding of the story based on the setting I chose. 

Is this translation perfect? 

NO! 

But no translations can claim perfection.  What we have from Luke is an opportunity to re-imagine the world through the eyes of God, through the life and ministry of Jesus, through the love that has raised us all new life. 

Is Luke’s story political? 

Absolutely! 

To separate the religion and politics in this story would be to strip it of its power.  Luke had no concept of the partisan politics of our day.  Neither does God’s kingdom.  This story is about following Jesus and it does not does not conform to the broken power structures and struggles of our world.  Following Jesus means that we will be at odds with worldly power and we are called to be critical of that power, but not based on its rubrics.  As members of the kingdom of God we are called to engage the world with political actions demonstrated by Jesus Christ, namely speaking truth to power and embodying God’s radical love for all people. 

The bottom line is that this is a story of privilege and access; it’s about who has access to the resources that make one a member of the community.  Jesus redraws the lines based on God’s love and mercy, and not on our fallen rubrics of power.  All are welcome and loved in the kingdom of God.  We don’t get to draw the lines.  We are loved and invited to follow.   

This story contains radical grace and a challenging call to follow Jesus.  As we continue to learn how to follow Jesus, this is a bold reminder that we follow Jesus into the expansive kingdom of God where all people are included in the community.  We have been empowered to live into this kingdom here and now.  We do this through love.  We does this through how we encounter others.  We does this as we gain a new perspective in following Jesus.  

May God continue to bless you on the journey! 

Peace,
Travis