Resist reading these lectionary reflections without first reading the biblical text. These reflections are precisely that: thoughts and questions mirrored from the text. Without knowledge of the text, these reflections are almost meaningless. They are provided, not as a substitute for Bible study, but as aids in Bible study. Sojourners encourages the formation of groups around these lectionary Bible studies.
May 3: Resurrection Flashes
Acts 9:1-20, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19
With what tone of voice do you imagine Peter saying, "I'm going fishing"? Why, after all that happened to them in Jerusalem, are the disciples back fishing? Why don't they recognize Jesus? This theme of non-recognition appears repeatedly (Matthew 28:17; Luke 24:13-35; 36-43; John 20:14-16). How do they know it's Jesus if they are unable to recognize him?
In Luke 5, a miraculous catch of fish rocks Peter into discipleship. In John, by contrast, it reconfirms resurrection to be, not a single eruption of eternity into time, but a series of epiphanies. These transcendental flashes in the darkness of our world do not provide a steady diet, but only an occasional fish fry by the seashore. The theophanic events of 1989-90, when every-other-day's headlines shouted the glory of God, yield to the gloom of anarchy and economic collapse in formerly communist countries and depression at home. Those flashes will have to last us for some time, just as memory of the Exodus has fired Jewish hope these 3,000 years.
Let us remember carefully the details. Note that Peter dresses to leap in the water (?!). Count every single fish. (If you study this in a group, try acting out this story as a farce. Farce captures a quality in this story that is deliberately playful: no fish, too many fish; non-recognition, recognition; Peter swimming fully clothed; the entire fish-count, in unison; Jesus as short-order cook.)
Then sudden poignancy: Peter, do you agapas (the highest, self-giving love, agape) me? Peter: "Yes, Lord; you know that I philo (to have friendship, affection for) you." Jesus: "Feed my lambs." A second time Jesus asks: Do you agapas me? "Yes Lord; you know that I philo you." "Tend my sheep." A third time Jesus asks, Do you phileis me? Peter, grieved that this third time Jesus had adopted his word, replies, "You know everything; you know that I philo you." "Feed my sheep."
Why does Peter use philo? Why does Jesus ask three times? Compare John 18:17, 25, 27. Why is Peter grieved by Jesus' use of philo! Why does Jesus change to philo?
In this gentle scene of restitution after perfidy, we see enacted the severity and costliness of love: It breaks our heart by accepting our inability to reciprocate. Do I need to move from "liking" God to "loving"?
May 10: Celebrating Victory
Acts 13:15-16, 26-33, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30
The Book of Revelation may be gory, surrealistic, unnerving, even terrifying. But it contains not a single note of despair. Those still in the clutches of the Dragon may not yet experience it, but the decisive battle has already been won. The early church celebrated victory in the midst of calamity. The struggle continues, but the issue is no longer in doubt. The far-off strains of a victory song already reach our ears, and we are invited to join the chorus. This is the rock on which we stand: the absolute certainty of the triumph of God in the world.
That is why the celebration of the divine victory does not take place at the end of the Book of Revelation, after the struggle is over. Rather, it breaks out all along the way (1:4-8, 17-18; 4:8-11; 5:5, 9-14; 7:1-17; 8:1-5; 11:15-19; 12:7-12; 14:1-8, 13; 15:2-4; 16:5-7; 18; 19:1-9).
Whatever the apparent dauntlessness of the domination system, Christ has already been enthroned above all principalities and powers (Ephesians 1:20-23). This victory is what sustains faith; this faith is what creates victory. But how can we affirm victory in the midst of repeated defeats?
An answer is found with the people who are now beginning to see and act free of the domination system. No matter how terrible the sufferings of those detained and tortured in nonviolent demonstrations in South Africa or South Korea or Burma, the reign of God has already begun! This is no pious fiction. The power of God is already made manifest, because people formerly craven and terrified are ready to be fired from jobs, bludgeoned, jailed, or killed for the sake of a fairer system.
The authority of Christ is already establishing itself, because victims are not only affirming their own humanity, but doing so in a way that affirms the humanity of their oppressors. The salvation of God is a present reality, because the very struggle for liberation would not have been possible had the powerless not discovered within themselves resources laid up by God in their creation: to be nonviolent yet powerful, loving yet immovable, joyous yet ready to die.
Where do you see signs that Christ is already Lord of the powers? Which powers continue to control you? In clay, or with colors or paints, make the power that most holds you in its thrall. Share. From which powers have you already become free? How do you celebrate this victory in your life?
May 17: The Ultimate Vision
Acts 14:8-18, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35
Ours is a time bereft of hope. We and our children face shrinking prospects of employment and economic well-being. The planet gasps for air. Ecological degradation escalates faster than our efforts to control it. The communist vision of a classless society, which inspired great (and terrible) sacrifices, is dead, and capitalism offers only the prospect of endless consumption and the exploitation of labor. There is no agreed-upon vision that animates our society. And without a vision the people perish.
John holds out a vision, the ultimate vision. Why does he yearn for a new heaven and Earth, not just a reformed one? Why does his vision exclude the sea (Revelation 21:1), tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain (21:4), sinners (21:8), sun and moon (21:23), night (21:25), uncleanness (21:27), accursed things (22:3)? Will you miss any of these? Is this vision too Utopian, too light-sided?
Throughout this book, God and Christ appear on thrones, and the language of power, domination, and hierarchicalism abounds. Then the New Jerusalem appears. There, all God's people will occupy the throne of God and the Lamb ("To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on the divine throne," Revelation 3:21). No longer is there a temple--God and the Lamb take its place (21:22). No temple, no priesthood. No priesthood, no religious hierarchy. Instead, God camps out (skene, "tent") with us. Everything is pure presence. God is temple, light, sun, moon, healer, spouse, re-creator. Gold and jewels no longer belong to the rich, but give pleasure to everyone; the city itself is adorned with them. Everyone will have enough, because there really is enough, if it were shared.
A vision like that can nerve resisters to hold on in the midst of tribulation, despite hunger, thirst, and the scorching heat of the sun (7:14-16). Such a vision is water from the springs of life (7:17). What element in this vision is most appealing to you? Least? Write (separately or in a group) your own vision of God's domination-free future. Share.
May 24: A World Transfigured
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Revelation 21:22-27, John 14:23-29
It would have appeared that the nations had all been destroyed in Revelation 19-20. Yet here they come, marching into the New Jerusalem, bearing as their "glory" all the artistic, cultural, political, scientific, and spiritual contributions whereby they have enriched the world (21:24-26). Yet many Christians have regarded Jesus as only the savior of souls, not the savior of the world. Their Jesus was not the bringer of the new order into this time and space (Revelation 21:1), but a redeemer who saves people from this time and space into an otherworld or an afterlife. Christianity has become a fairly private affair, a matter of "spiritual life" only, which leaves uncriticized and unopposed monstrous evils that crush whole nations. How did this deformation of Jesus' message come about?
The Jesus who died at the hands of the powers died every bit as much for the powers as he died for people (Colossians 1:20). Jesus' death is not merely an unmasking and exposure of the powers for what they are (Colossians 2:15), but an effort to transform the powers into what they are meant to be. What is God's will for the powers?
The gospel is not a message of salvation of individuals from the world, but a message of a world transfigured, right down to its basic structures. Redemption means actually being liberated from the oppression of the powers, being forgiven for one's own sin and for complicity with the powers, and being engaged in liberating the powers themselves from their bondage to idolatry. The good news is nothing less than a cosmic salvation, a restitution of all things (Acts 3:21), when God will "gather up all things in him [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth" (Ephesians 1:10).
This universal rectification will entail both a healing and a subordination of rebellious structures, systems, and institutions to their rightful places, in service to the One in and through and for whom they exist (Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 3:10). They will be transformed, however, not by violence or compulsion, but by truth (Revelation 19:13-15). They, too, will visit the Tree of Life, whose leaves "are for the healing of the nations" (Revelation 22:2).
Why are we not able to be saved apart from our nations? What is the divine vocation of our nation? What are the idols that have deflected it from pursuing that vocation? How can we help our nation recover a sense of its vocation? Write a "Freedom Charter" stating that vocation and post it in prominent places.
May 31: Freedom in Bonds
Acts 16:16-34 (40), Revelation 22:12-14, John 17:20-26
How does this story of imprisonment in Acts 16 compare with Acts 5:19 and 12:5-10? Does the "we" in 16:16 help account for the difference? Why does Paul reject the free advertising the slave-girl provided, and cast out the spirit of divination? Why does Paul, even under flogging, say nothing about his citizenship?
Angels opened the prison doors in the two earlier instances; here, natural causes and synchronicity prevail. Which form of story do you prefer? Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns. For what do you suppose they were praying? Release? Then why, when it is offered, do they refuse it? For what then might they have been praying?
The earthquake could have become the means of escape. They refuse this apparent miracle. They are released totally without reference to it. How does one discern the will of God if even apparent miracles do not unambiguously reveal it? Why do Paul and Silas refuse to leave?
The jailer is saved. What about the other prisoners, who had been listening to (or kept awake by) Paul and Silas' singing? Should they have bolted? Is the gospel seen here as politically innocuous, freeing our heroes but not affecting the other poor wretches in the stocks? What has become of the promise to "proclaim release to prisoners" (Luke 4:18)? In Acts 12:19, the jailbreak cost the lives of maybe a half-dozen soldiers. Here, Paul's action saves the jailer's life. Are there times when we must abandon our own needs for justice on behalf of others?
Two renunciations here: appeal to citizenship, and refusal of jailbreak. When Paul does appeal to citizenship, it is not to escape prison, but to coerce an apology from the powers, who are so named in Acts 16:19 (archontas). There is something breathtaking about the sovereign freedom the apostles exercise here. They are not intent on minimizing risk or saving their skins. They don't trade on privilege to avoid disgrace. They appear undisgraceable! And their gospel keeps them almost as happy, and certainly as effective, inside the pokey as out.
When we are arrested at demonstrations, do we exercise the opportunity to experience freedom in bonds? Do we seize the occasion to identify with our many sisters and brothers around the world similarly detained, with no easy release like we can expect, thanks to our citizenship?
Walter Wink was professor of biblical interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City and the author of Transforming Bible Study (Second Edition, Abingdon Press, 1990) when this article appeared.
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