Marriage in the Age to Come

 A Sermon preached at the end of last year (2011) in a Morning Prayer service for Trinity School for Ministry.

Matthew 22:23-33

          In today’s Gospel reading we see Jesus cofounding the Sadducees attempt to make him appear foolish. The Sadducees deny the resurrection and so their question is not asked in    sincerity, but is in reality an attempt to poke fun at what they believe to be absurd. Jesus responds ingeniously, confirming the reality of the resurrection. Those who have died are alive to God, and through the power of God, will share in the life of the age to come.

          In the process of doing so, however, Jesus says something that is disturbing to many: “in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven.” What?! Marriage is one of our most cherished institutions and among the greatest joys of this life. How can it be that it should be excluded from the age to come? Doesn’t this suggest a rather dim view of marriage?

          I would submit to you that perhaps marriage will not be abolished in the age to come, but rather fulfilled. We have yet to know the fullness of what marriage is communicating to us. In this world we see “as in a mirror dimly” but in the resurrection we shall no longer live amidst the shadows of things, but like the angels who look upon the face of God, heaven shall be our natural habitat. We will see behind the veil to the true meaning of our life here.

         C.S. Lewis’ novel “The GreatDivorce” depicts a group of tourist visiting the outskirts of Heaven. The residents of Heaven try to encourage them to stay, but in order to do so each tourist must give up their particular form of idolatry. One of the tourists is an artist who immediately sets up his easel and begins painting. His heavenly companion informs him that this is simply out of place saying,

         “When you painted on earth it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too. But here you are having the thing itself. It is from here that the messages came…Why, if you are interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you’ll never learn to see the country.”

If we insist on marriage for its own sake as being our only hope for happiness and fulfillment, we will never learn to see through it to that heavenly country of which it is a foretaste.

I haven’t been married long, but one thing I have learned about marriage is that it is not primarily about me and my own happiness and fulfillment. Without that crucial insight, I would only be setting myself up for disappointment and disillusionment. Ironically, the true joy of marriage would elude me. Marriage instead is a foretaste and a preparation for the age to come. Through each day learning what it means to lay down my life for my wife, the dross of my selfishness is being purged. Through loving and being loved by my wife, God is teaching me what it means to love and be loved by him. Through forsaking all other partners, God is showing me what it means to love him alone with all my heart soul mind and strength. The Death to self in true matrimonial love, sets before us the cross on which the son of God offered his life for our life.

I believe it is no accident that Revelation describes the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband. This is the reality of which marriage is a sign. Just as the fracturing and ruin of creation begins with man and woman being put at enmity with one another, so marriage is meant to point us forward to God’s promised restoration, the New heavens and the new earth. Indeed, the Scriptures are full of references to the covenant-love of God and the life of his kingdom being like marriage. In Ephesians 5 Saint Paul teaches us that marriage is a profound mystery that speaks of the love of Christ for his Church. Indeed in the opening of the Chapter of which today’s reading is a part, Jesus says “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” (Matthew 22:2 ESV)

          Mike Mason, in his book The Mystery of Marriage insightfully suggest this about our passage,

“Considering the rich imagery of weddings and marriage throughout the Bible, it seems more probable that far from there being no marriage in Heaven, what Jesus must really have been getting at is that Heaven will be all marriage. Indeed, in earthly marriage we may detect the sign and promise that in eternity everyone is to be married to everyone else in some transcendent and unimaginable union, and everyone will love everyone else with an intensity to that which now is called ‘being in love’ and which impels individual couples to spend their whole lives together.”

Marriage is like a journey that a man and woman embark on together. In the age to come they will have arrived at their destination and obtained their goal. So does that mean that they will then part ways? Will the love be all used up? By no means! Think about it like this by way of analogy, children have a very special relationship with their parents, but when they become adults that relationship necessarily changes. I think we can all admit that there would be something dreadfully wrong if my parents still wiped my nose and cut my meat for me! As an adult, my relationship to my parents has changed, but my love for them has not diminished. If anything I love them more, because they helped me become the man I am today. On the other side of the resurrection, my marriage will have in a sense “flown the coop” but my love for my wife will not have diminished. No, we will have simply entered a more glorious and more mature place in our relationship.

In today’s passage Jesus points us forward to that day when marriage will have at last reached its fulfillment. Marriage is a picture of heaven and a preparation for heaven. We should treat it as such. We should love our spouses, and indeed everyone, with a commitment to the person God intends them to be in eternity. Marriage prepares us for eternity but it is not itself eternal. Although marriage finds its end at death, the love that married couples share does not. We cannot know what it will be like when Christ appears and we are changed but in the words of ElizabethBarret-Browning—“If God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.”

Jesus the Healer

 

Mark 5:21-43        

              It is pretty hard to deny the prominence of healing in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The theme is especially prominent in Mark’s gospel – considered by many to be the earliest. Over and over again we are told how the sick and afflicted came to Jesus and were healed by him. Even the most skeptical critics and historians are forced to acknowledge this fact. For instance, Marcus Borg—one of the scholars associated with the Jesus Seminar who notoriously dismisses most of the material is the Gospel as later, non-historical, accretions— on the basis of the evidence concludes that Jesus must have been a remarkable healer. More healing stories are told about Jesus than any other figure in Jewish tradition, and the earliest historical sources connected to Jesus testify widely to Jesus’ remarkable ability to heal the sick and exorcise demons. Moreover, even Jesus’ fiercest opponents did not deny the fact that Jesus performed miracles of healing, but instead attributed his power to demonic forces (Mark 3:22-27, Matthew 12:22-29, Luke 11:14-23). Despite this fact, even for committed Christians, it seems easier and far more comfortable, to relegate Jesus’ remarkable healing to the ancient past. Recently, I spoke with a group of inmates at our local jail about the topic of healing prayer. When I asked the men whether or not they believed that Jesus performed miracles of healing they all enthusiastically agreed, but when I turned the conversation to whether or not similar miracles could occur today, many of them became visibly uncomfortable. I completely understand this reaction. Healing prayer in our day has become so closely aligned with the spectacle of faith-healers and manipulative TV evangelists that many people don’t want to have anything to do with it. In some cases, faith-healing encourages a dangerous disregard for medical treatment resulting in deaths or complications that otherwise could have been avoided. The grossest faith-healers often protect themselves from charges of fraud through the use of guilt. “If only you had enough faith,” they say, “your loved one might have been healed.” People have an understandably strong reaction against such charlatans and a great reluctance to embrace anything that might be associated with such antics, and yet when we are gravely ill, or someone we love is suffering, the natural reaction—even for the not especially religious—is to pray for healing. There is a longing in the human heart that searches for hope even in the midst of the most seemingly hopeless situations. As long as this human longing persist there will be prayers for healing. This week’s gospel recounts two instances of healing in the ministry of Jesus, one more remarkable than the next. Both stand as a testimony to the truth that God hears the desperate cries of those reach out to him when all hope seems lost. They testify to the fact that Jesus has the authority to banish disease and even death itself. Our Lord, in his great compassion, is not only able but also willing and eager to make us whole.

            One of the striking things about this passage from Mark is the vividness of the narrative. Many commentators have pointed out that this story has the distinct character of a reminiscence from an eyewitness. One can easily envision the desperate father Jairus throwing himself at the feet of Jesus and begging him to come and lay hands on his little girl. Jairus was an important man in the community, one of the rulers in the synagogue we are told. Jesus was not well loved by the religious establishment of his day, and so this was an extremely risky move on his part.  In coming to Jesus he was putting his reputation at stake by aligning himself with someone who was seen as a dangerous radical and—as we said above—whose miracles were suspected of being demonic. Jairus, however, had reached a place of absolute desperation. His beloved little girl was on the brink of death and there didn’t seem to be anything anyone could do for her. Jairus knew about Jesus, he had heard about, and perhaps even witnessed his amazing works. Jesus was his last hope.

            Jairus was not unique in seeking aid from Jesus, because of his reputation as a healer, Jesus was swarmed everywhere he went by the sick, the afflicted, and the wounded. Yet Mark tells us that when Jairus came to him, Jesus went with him. Jesus saw his broken heart and took pity on him. We are not told how far Jairus’ house was, but the crowds that surrounded Jesus no doubt made it difficult for him to go anywhere. Just imagine the mayhem that must have broken out whenever people heard that Jesus was in the neighborhood.  No wonder the authorities disliked him. A helpful comparison might be the crowds of hysterical screaming fans surrounding Elvis or the Beatles in old television footage. There was a chaotic mass of people shouting his name, grabbing at his clothes, scrambling just to touch him.  In the middle of all this confusion Jesus stops and turns to his disciples and asks, “Who touched me?” How would you respond? Probably much the same way they did. One can imagine the disciples glancing at one another and smirking, before one says, “Seriously? There are hundreds of people pressing in on you!” There was one individual in that excited mob of people, however, that touched Jesus in a unique way, because she reached out in faith that God saw and honored. Saint Augustine said, “Few are they who by faith touch him; multitudes are they who throng about him” (Sermon 62.4). Despite the hectic scene, his urgent mission, and no doubt the great frustration of Jairus, Jesus stops to call this one person out of the crowd. Like Jairus, the woman came to Jesus at some risk. According to the standards of Leviticus 15:19, this woman would have been considered unclean due to her continuous flow of blood. She would have been a social outcast because everyone and everything that came into contact with her would also be rendered unclean. She had suffered like this for twelve years and no doctor could help her. In fact her condition was just getting worse. Just like Jairus, she was desperate. Jesus was her only hope. She had heard about Jesus and believed that he could make her well. She came secretly, in fear that she would be turned away. If her condition were known, no one would let her get close, but such was her faith that she believed that merely touching the cloak of Jesus would heal her. For this reason she comes forward with fear and trembling, only reluctantly revealing that it was she who touched him. Jesus doesn’t rebuke her or get angry at her for rendering him unclean.  Instead, he addresses her in a remarkably tender way, calling her “Daughter” and telling her to go in peace because her faith has healed her.

            I’d like to make a couple points about the healing the woman with the flow of blood. The first is in response to a question. Does this imply that anyone who comes to Jesus in prayer to be healed and continues to be sick is somehow lacking in faith? Isn’t this the same kind of guilt mongering discussed above in connection with phony faith-healers? It is undeniable that Jesus taught that one’s faith plays a role in healing. He even rebukes his disciples for their lack of faith when they fail to heal an epileptic (Mt.17:14-21). It does not then follow, however, that all unanswered prayer is a result of lack of faith. There may be any number of reasons why God chooses not to respond in the way we want him to. We should remember that although God loves us and desires our health and joy; sickness, suffering, and death are still very much a reality in this age. When miraculous healing does occur, it is a sign of things to come and a token of God’s love received by faith (more on this later). It would be wrong to think that we could somehow manipulate God into granting our wishes by mustering enough faith. Faith is not a work that we can perform to earn God’s love or indebt him to us.

            The second point I’d like to make about this episode concerns the scope of Jesus’ healing. Jesus does not only heal this woman physically. In liberating this woman from her condition, Jesus also reconciles her to the community and restores her to full participation in the people of God. The Old Testament purity code was meant to teach God’s people about his holiness. God is so holy that no unclean thing can be in his presence, but despite the sin that makes us unholy, he has made us pure and holy through Jesus Christ. It is through faith that we receive God’s grace through Jesus Christ, are reconciled to him, and restored to fellowship with his people. Reconciliation is available to all those who reach out to Jesus, believing in his power to save.

            The interlude with the woman with a flow of blood ends when messengers push through the crowd to tell Jairus not to bother bringing Jesus. He is too late. His daughter has died. Jesus’ response is shocking in the confidence it shows. He turns to Jairus and says simply, “Do not fear, only believe.” What must have been going through Jairus’ mind at this point? Dare he believe that even now there is reason to hope? He chooses to trust Jesus and, together with a select group of Jesus’ followers, they press on even past the scorn and disbelief of the mourners gathered outside his home.  What follows is one of the most vivid and remarkable of all the accounts of Jesus’ many miracles. Jesus takes the little girl by the hand and says. “Talitha cumi,” a transliteration of an Aramaic phrase that means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” Although the Gospels are written in Koine Greek, it is generally believed that Jesus spoke primarily in Aramaic. This is one of the very few instances that the Biblical authors give us Jesus’ exact words. What is significant about this scene that the author should preserve Jesus’ precise words? Here is the place in the account that it becomes most clear that we are dealing with an eyewitness account. Perhaps it was because of how memorable and dramatic the moment was, or the tenderness and authority with which Jesus spoke. His words must have seemed almost like magic words, because no sooner does he command her, then does the little girl get up and begin walking around! Was this young girl actually dead, or only sleeping as Jesus suggests? Could it be a diabetic coma that we are dealing with? Mark is somewhat ambiguous, but the other accounts of this story clearly state that the girl was dead before Jesus arrived. The people are absolutely overcome with amazement. The word that the author of Mark uses to describe the people’s reaction is ekstasis. The only other place where this word is used in the Gospel of Mark is to describe the reaction of the women after they hear the news of Jesus’ resurrection. It appears that the author of Mark is creating a literary link between these two events through his description. The Gospel suggests that we read this particular act of Jesus as a foreshadowing of his resurrection. In raising the girl from death to life, Jesus demonstrates to his disciples that he is lord even of death. In Jesus’ life and ministry the long awaited Kingdom of God is being inaugurated and the reign of sin and death is being overturned. Jesus’ acts of healing and restoration should be understood as previews of the final victory that will be accomplished through his most amazing miracle of all, his atoning death on the cross and his glorious resurrection. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus restores our broken world, beginning a glorious new creation.

            What then does this have to do with how we should understand healing prayer? In the fallen world, the world that is perishing, there is disease, death, pain and suffering, but in the age to come, there will be no disease or death. For us who have put our faith in Jesus, all our wounds and infirmities will be at last be healed when Jesus raises us to new life. That new creation has already begun in Jesus’ resurrection, but we still live in the overlap of the age where all things are not yet new. It is not God’s desire that we be sick or in pain. God desires our health and endless joy, and has acted to accomplish this through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In those remarkable times when incurable disease or irredeemable brokenness are miraculously and inexplicably healed through faith and the intervention of prayer, we are given a glimpse of what is to come. Whether we are healed in this time or in the age to come, we will be healed. When God shows us signs and wonders, it is as if he is calling to us from the future, “Do not fear, only believe.” 

Below is a beautiful song by the great Sam Cooke inspired by the story of the woman with a flow of blood. 

A Thanksgiving Offering

“When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.

“And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

(Deuteronomy 26:1-11 ESV)

The text above from Deut 26 is the Old Testament reading set aside to be read on Thanksgiving day. You may not be familiar with the origins of the observance in the United States. Although it originated long before is Massachusetts, it actually was not until 1863 that it was proclaimed a national holiday. Right in the midst of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln decried that the last Thursday of November be set aside to give thanks for “the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”

He also wrote, “The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.”

I believe president Lincoln identified a universal human characteristic when he said that we are prone to forget the source of our blessings. Americans today, amidst so much abundance, are prone to take God’s bounty for granted as if our food simply materialized on supermarket shelves. Ancient near eastern people had a much different but equally destructive tendency. While our culture takes food for granted, their culture lived in constant anxiety about whether or not the harvest would come. The Canaanite people that inhabited the promise land that the Israelites were coming into lived in a land of relative plenty and they attributed this to their fertility deities Baal and Asherah.

The perennial temptation of the Israelites when they came into the land would be too look to these deities for the blessing of a good harvest.

I wonder what our modern, American equivalents to Baal and Asherah are?

In our text the Lord reminds his people again and again that he is their God and not only has he given them the land, but he has also called them to be a people, rescued them from Egypt, and sustained them in the wilderness.

After the people come into the land and begin to enjoy its rich blessings, they are told they must acknowledge that what they enjoy is an inheritance from the Lord. This acknowledgement comes in the form of a prescribed liturgy consisting of two statements, and a thanksgiving offering followed by a celebration.

The first statement they are commanded to make is this, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ They have no claim to the land apart from God. It is a sheer gift.

Ancient near eastern people considered the first fruits of the harvest sacred. For this reason, the Lord asks his people to bring them in a basket to his appointed priest at his appointed alter. It is an acknowledgment, a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, who is the source of all their blessings.

The second statement is a kind of creed that proclaims that they were homeless, sojourners in the land of Egypt and oppressed when the Lord lead them out of captivity, making them a people and giving them a rich and fertile land.

Having proclaimed the story of their salvation and election and presented a thanksgiving offering in worship to the Lord, it is time to party! The Levites and even the foreigners are to be included in the celebration. Why?

God has a soft spot for the poor and the homeless. In fact the passage following the one we have read, God commands that a tithe be paid not only to the Levites and the foreigners but also to widows and orphans. Whenever Israel tells their story they are to remember that they were sojourners—‘a wandering Aramean was my father.” When they were enslaved in the land of Egypt, God had pity on them and so they should have pity on the poor and homeless in their midst.

Likewise, we too have wandered far from our father’s house and fallen into the captivity of sin. The Lord had pity on us and sent his son Jesus Christ to rescue and redeem us. Should we not have pity on the lost and oppressed amongst us? Shouldn’t we remember God’s mercy and invite them to celebrate with us God’s sheer gift of grace?

The way we show our gratitude to God for what he has done for us is to do likewise for our neighbor. To use a popular expression of our day, “pay it forward.”

Abraham Lincoln understood this, which is why he concluded his Thanksgiving day proclamation in this way,

Set apart and observe the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to (the people of this nation) that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

The Greatest Amoung You

“Do as I say, not as I do!” You have probably heard that expression before, usually from a father to a son or daughter. When you think about it there is a certain arrogance to that expression. The person is basically saying, “Listen, I haven’t got a leg to stand on as an example but I insist on the right to tell you what is best. I can’t live up to these standards myself, but I expect them of you. I demand absolute respect, not based on my character, but on my position, my authority.

Jesus accuses the Scribes and Pharisees of the same kind of arrogance. Our text reads:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ”The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

The Scribes and the Pharisees have a position of honor and authority as stewards and teachers of the law. They are keepers of a great treasure. Jesus recognizes this and commends it to us. “Practice and observe whatever they tell you,” he says.

We too are stewards of a great treasure, the Gospel. What Jesus says about the scribes and Pharisees is very relevant for those who hold positions of leadership and authority in the church, and for those of us who feel called to such positions. With such amazing privilege also comes very serious responsibility. We are called not only to teach what is true but also to live truthfully. The Scribes and Pharisees receive Jesus’ ire because they do not practice what they preach. “Do not do what they do,” Jesus says.

The Scribes and Pharisees have taken what God intended as a means of liberation—God’s laws and statutes—and they have made them into instruments of oppression. They lay heavy burdens on others, but not themselves. They are exacting when it comes to the faults of others, but are blind to their own. This is an extension of Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount about first removing the log in one’s own eye before pointing out the speck in one’s brother’s eye.

They have things completely turned around. Instead of hating their own sin and showing grace and mercy to others, they are lovers of themselves while condemning others.

They allow the honor of their authority and the privilege of their position to turn into presumption. They have become proud and lord their power over others.

They do their deeds in order to be seen.

One of the major spiritual pitfalls of ministry is praise and recognition. Others begin to praise the minister as wise, capable, and godly, and as a result the minister becomes puffed up. This is due to our sinful nature. Deep down, we all are aware of our yawning need for forgiveness and blessing. Without an understanding of the Gospel, without the blessed assurance of our reconciliation with God, we are deeply insecure. For this reason, the human heart has an insatiable desire for praise. We make the honor that comes from people a substitute for the honor that comes from God.

The Scribes and the Pharisees seek their own glory above God’s. They exalt themselves and take great pride in receiving titles and honor from people.

This is why Jesus says, “you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.”

Jesus doesn’t say this because there is something inherently wrong with the titles themselves. Jesus was fond of hyperbole. In this way, he was very much a man of his time and culture. He doesn’t mean that we should refrain from calling the man who sired us Father, any more than he intends us to literally cut off our hand if it causes us to sin, or refrain from inviting our friends or relatives when we throw a party.

What Jesus is doing is pointing out the titanic arrogance of glorying in these terms of status—rabbi, father, master—without deference to their true source in God. These titles do not properly belong to the Pharisees and neither does the glory. They lack the rabbi’s concern for his disciples, the father’s heart for his children, and Christ’s authority over his people. The scribes and Pharisees stand under God’s authority, shoulder-to-shoulder with the sinners they condemn.

Jesus ends by saying, “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus himself is the greatest among us. Indeed the only one truly great. He is the teacher of righteousness and the heart of the father’s love. It is he who is the Christ and he who holds all authority. We can trust in the truth of his teaching, but also the truthfulness of his life. If we aspire to greatness, we should be imitators of him. He humbled himself and therefore he was exalted.

Although he was in the very form of God, he did not cling insecurely to that position, but humbled himself, becoming a servant.

Therefore, as those who seek to be leaders in his church, let that mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus. AMEN.

What is The New Church?

In his Marriage of Heaven and Hell the Poet William Blake asks, “How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?” Like so many others with a mystical bent, Blake sought to experience a world beyond the visible world known to our senses. In June of 1784, a group of intellectuals and spiritual seekers, seeking those same ends, gathered at Bell’s Book Store on South Third Street in Philadelphia to hear a lecture on “The Science of Correspondences.” Among those present were Benjamin Franklin and two other signers of the Declaration of Independence. The lecture explored the teachings of a scientist, mystic, and visionary named Emmanuel Swedenborg. 

Swedenborg, at the age of fifty-three, believed that he had received a visitation from the Lord Jesus Christ who opened to him the spiritual world. Not only did Swedenborg discover that everything in the visible world corresponds to a spiritual reality, the doctrine of correspondence, but the interior, hidden sense of the scriptures was also revealed to him. According to Swedenborg the last judgement occurred in the spiritual world in 1757, not on May 21 2011 as believed by some today. The last judgement was followed by the long promised second coming of Christ. The second  coming of Christ was not a physical event, but the spiritual revelation of the interior meaning of God’s Word (discussed above.) Swedenborg, in his book True Christian Religion—one of many volumes of spiritual writings—spoke of a series of ecclesial dispensations, the Adamic, the Noahtic, the Israelitish, and the Christian Church of the apostles. Swedenborg believed the revelation he received to mark the beginning of a new dispensation, the coming of a true Christian faith that would be the culmination of all of God’s work in the past. Swedenborg believed that Saint John’s vision of the New Jerusalem corresponded to this heavenly church, and so he spoke of it as The Church of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem Church would finally unite the true and good and establish true charity. His belief was that it would bring the sad divisions within the church to an end establishing a unity based on love of God and neighbor. Swedenborg never sought to institute any outward organization of the New Jerusalem Church himself.

An Anglican clergyman named John Clowes began to translate Swedenborg’s writings into English and distribute them in his native England. Clowes formed a society of fellow devotees of Swedenborg’s doctrine, but did not seek to break from the established church. Another believer in Swedenborg’s doctrine, Robert Hindmarsh, was the first to precipitate a break with the established church and form a separate body. It was James Glen, a convert to the New Church, who brought Swedenborg’s ideas to the United States. In fact Glen was the one who delivered the lecture at Bell’s Book Store in Philadelphia. 

Perhaps no one else was more influential in the spread of Swedenborg’s theology in the United States, however, than a missionary named John Chapman. Chapman planted several nurseries of apple trees all across the nation. He also sowed the seeds of Emmanuel Swedenborg’s heavenly doctrine through distributing his writing everywhere he went. Chapman is immortalized in American folklore as “Johnny Appleseed.” Helen Keller was another outspoken advocate for Swedenborg’s doctrine. Keller was influential in spreading Swedenborgian ideas in later years. It was the group that first met at Bell’s bookstore in Philadelphia, however, that would become the beginning of the New Church’s presence in America. On Christmas day in 1815 the group was formally organized as “The First New Jerusalem Society in Philadelphia.” A dispute arose over the authority of Swedenborg’s writings in 1889 which resulted in a schism. One group remained in Philadelphia while the other moved to their new headquarters in Bryn Athyn, founding the Academy of the New Church, and building the beautiful Bryn Athyn Cathedral. The Bryn Athyn group goes by the name, The General Church of the New Jerusalem or simply the New Church.

The New Church’s faith is based on the Bible as illuminated by the revelations of Emmanuel Swedenborg. The New Church, although sharing much in common, also differs from orthodox Christianity in several key areas. New Church theology rejects the orthodox idea of the trinity as three persons and instead speaks of God as one person, Jesus Christ. What are thought of as distinct persons within orthodox Christianity, are believed by the New Church to be three attributes of the same God, a kind of modalism. The Father is the invisible, divine soul, the Son the visible embodiment of that soul, and the Holy Spirit the truth that flows to all people from the divine soul. God is deeply personal and intricately involved in every area of our lives. The Bible, along with being a book of history, prophecies, etc also corresponds to Divine Truth, hidden in its symbolism. This Truth is consistent with reason and the external sense of the scriptures and can be used to help us live a life of usefulness to others. The Second Coming is the arrival of that spiritual vision within us. Angels are people who once lived lives like our own and chose a life of usefulness to others or charity, loving God and their neighbor. Every human being was created to be on a spiritual process preparing them for life in heaven. This process involves repentance from sin, prayer, avoiding evil, and living a new life. All people who strive to live a life of goodness, according to the truth within their own faith, will eventually reach Heaven.
 The New Church does not believe in a physical resurrection. They believe, that upon death, we will pass into the spiritual world where we will live a recognizably human life with the same gender, personality, and memories we had in this life. Swedenborg even taught that marriage will exist in heaven. Our conjugal relationships have the potential to last into eternity. Although Swedenborg rejected a the notion of a punitive God who damned souls, he did believe that we could resist God's love.  Hell is a place for those who have denied God and pursued lives of selfishness while heaven is a place where people joyfully serve one another in love.

I first visited Bryn Athyn on a glorious spring morning. I had Van Morrison’s Astrial Weeks on the radio. Morrison’s soulful, mystical music seemed the perfect soundtrack for a place with such a spiritual mystique about it. At the heart of Bryn Athyn is the astonishing Bryn Athyn Cathedral. I’ve never seen the great churches of Europe, but the Cathedral is among the most impressive houses of worship I’ve ever seen. The New Church presence in Bryn Athyn is ubiquitous, a kind of Salt Lake City for Swedenborgians (much smaller of coarse.) The concentration of New Church presence combined within a small town setting, gives one the impression of a very tight nit community. The people of the New Church are a very warm and friendly group. They are also very devout, committed to Jesus Christ, and dedicated to walking out their faith in a practical and loving way. I was there to meet Chuck Blair, the very earnest senior pastor of New Church Live, for lunch. Everywhere we went friendly members of Chuck’s Church greeted us. Chuck and I had been exchanging emails for quite awhile and he invited me out to talk face to face. He explained to me that his own take on New Church theology was that it was all about “eye level Christianity.” How are we living our faith here and now? Swedenborg taught about a God whose central attribute was love, a love so great that he came to live among us. He warned about the danger of separating faith from life. Swedenborg sought to reconnect the True (doctrine) and the Good (Charity.) In keeping with Swedenborg’s ideas, the vision of New Church Live is to be “a Monday morning church.” The focus is not just what happens on Sunday mornings but also on how the church’s members live out the gospel the rest of the week.

I also had the pleasure of worshiping at New Church Live on a Sunday. Chuck’s congregation is unique within the New Church. More traditional congregations, like the one who worships at the cathedral, have services very much reminiscent of a traditional Anglican service. There is a liturgy, a choir, hymns, and special vestments for the clergy. There are also readings from both the Old and New Testaments, the difference being that there is also a reading from the writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg. The Swedenborg reading is usually chosen to illuminate the other text. Also the New Testament readings do not include Acts or any of the epistles with the exception of Revelation. Although those books are held in esteem, they are not recognized as canonical or inspired in the same way. 
New Church Live is much different. Services are held in a performing arts center on the Campus of Bryn Athyn College. It is a casual and contemporary worship service similar to many evangelical churches. The staff, including greeters, AV techs, coffee servers etc all wear T-Shirts with the New Church Live logo emblazoned on the front. The church band sounds more like a bar band than your typical worship band. They tend to play secular, rock songs, but secular songs that have some kind of spiritual or religious content. On the Sunday that I visited, the band performed two reggae songs, one a Bob Marley tune and the other Jimmy Cliff’s wonderful interpretation of Psalm 137, By the Rivers of Babylon. They also played one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artist, Bruce Cockburn’s All the Diamonds in This World. The music seems to be an effective way of connecting to people where they are. It is very accessible to a secular audience. Chuck has a very welcoming, accessible, and relational preaching style. The service opened with a sneak preview of the upcoming sermon series titled “Love Wins.” The series will look at some of the ideas discussed in Rob Bell’s new book of the same title. The controversial trailer made by Bell to promote the book was projected on the screen and appeared to have a very favorable reception. Chuck told me that he is a big admirer of Bell and other teachers often associated with the emerging church. Bell’s book has stirred up a lot of interest in the New Church. Chuck sent me a link for a podcast on Oprah Winfrey’s website by popular television personality and physician Dr. Oz, who is a New Church member and frequent attendee at New Church Live. Dr. Oz praised Bell’s book as highly compatible with New Church theology. 
This particular Sunday’s service was not part of the “Love Wins” series, however, but the final sermon in a series called “212.” The series is based on an illustration about the temperature at which water boils. At 211, water begins to bubble, but at 212 it begins to boil. The difference is a matter of one degree. Chuck presented the question of what it would take in our lives to have that extra bit that takes us from 211 to 212. The series worked out of the Biblical story of David, specifically his anointing by Samuel. This Sunday was focused on David’s well-known battle with Goliath. The exegesis of the scripture, in keeping with New Church principles, was allegorical. David could not defeat Goliath (read the obstacles in our own lives) by pretending to be someone he was not. Saul’s armor was ill fitting and heavy for David. Only by discovering his unique gifts, “God’s fingerprints,” symbolized by the five smooth stones, could David have victory. Like David, we should also discover God’s finger- prints within us, those strengths that are uniquely ours, and use them for the love of God and in usefulness to others. New Church theology teaches us to be angels in training, and angels always think in terms of opportunity to love God and others. With an angelic mindset, we must be constantly vigilant to find opportunities for useful service. We must not simply be content to allow God’s love to flow to us, but we must allow it to flow through us to those in need. If we try to keep the blessings of God for ourselves we will loose them. If we allow them to pass through us to others we will find that we are more truly blessed, because real blessing comes through being a blessing to others. The more we allow ourselves to be useful in this way, the more we will find opportunities to be useful opening up to us. It takes more energy to go from 211 to 212 than in does to reach 211. That one degree extra requires the hardest push and we can easily get caught in the middle and never allow our lives to reach their boiling point. Chuck quoted from author Seth Godin, who writes in his book Linchpin about being an indispensably person, someone who really makes a difference. According to Godin, real change “…depends on motivated human beings selflessly contributing unasked for gifts.” Chuck left us with these thoughts, being a person that really makes a difference in the world requires that we make that extra push to be a 212 person. He said, “We are asked to use our own initiative on God’s behalf.” The service ended with prayer and invitation for people to come forward if they wanted prayer from Chuck or the assistant pastor.

After the service I was invited to join Pastor Chuck and some others at Betucci’s for lunch and fellowship. I had the opportunity to talk to other people about their faith and the New Church. One individual who joined us was Dave Fuller a medical doctor who was writing a book about Swedenborg and Osteopathic medicine. Dave believes in integrating spiritual practices and alternative medicine with modern medical practices, and works out of Holy Redeemer Medical Offices. He was a fascinating person and very helpful as he was extremely knowledgeable about New Church history and theology. I also met an older couple that were converts to New Christianity from Catholicism. They spoke about how they never felt the spiritual nourishment they needed in any other church, and what an impact being a part of the New Church community has had on their lives and their relationship with God. What particularly attracted them was the openness and tolerance that the New Church has for other faiths. They first came to the church after their daughter planned to have her wedding in the Cathedral. Since then they have been very involved in the church both on Sunday mornings and also in midweek “Strength Groups.” Although their daughter’s engagement actually fell threw, they believe very strongly that God used those events to lead them to the New Church. Everyone I met was very friendly and extremely hospitable. They all encouraged me to come back another time. 

My experience with the New Church has been extremely positive. Although I take strong exception to much of their doctrine, I continue to be impressed by their sincerity of devotion. It is humbling to see a friendliness, generosity, piety, and zeal for service that is often lacking in the more orthodox among a group that we would label heretical. I feel that I have made real friendships, especially with Pastor Chuck Blair, and I look forward to continuing my dialogue with the New Church.

The Following in an interesting documentary film about Swedenborg:

Transfiguration

The following is a sermon I preached on Transfiguration Sunday, March 6, 2011, at The Church of the Holy Comforter in Drexel Hill, Pa. An audio recording is available here.

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

Today brings us to the final Sunday of the season of Epiphany and in a sense its climax. As you may have heard sometime during the season, the name epiphany comes from a Greek word, which means “sudden appearance” or “manifestation.” Merriam Webster defines it as “an appearance or manifestation usually of a divine being” or “a sudden perception of the essential meaning of something.”

The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning writes, “Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes - The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.” Heaven isn’t someplace distant from earth, on the far reaches of outer space. Heaven lies just behind our everyday experience. We can’t normally see this reality and we don’t always perceive it, but the bible tells us that we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses. An epiphany is a pulling back of the veil to reveal the heavenly reality that is hidden from sight. There are times when the glory of God shines through the thin veneer between heaven and earth in ways sometimes subtle but also sometimes dramatic.

In today’s gospel, Jesus leads three of his disciples—Peter, James, and John—up a high mountain presumably so they could be alone and pray. While on the mountain we are told that Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. The Greek work translated transfigured is where we get the term metamorphosis. It basically means to be changed or transformed. Can you picture this? Jesus becomes illuminated with a dazzling light, his face like the sun. Even his clothing becomes as white as the light. Have you ever gone outside just after a snow storm and the light reflected from the snow is so glaringly bright that you have to shade your eyes? I imagine this to be the appearance of Jesus’ garments. I imagine the light coming from Jesus was so intense that his friends could not look on him directly. Suddenly out of the effulgence the three could make out two other men standing with Jesus. The text tells us that they were Moses and Elijah. We are not told how they were recognized as such. We are told that they were speaking with Jesus however.

What are we to make of all of this? This is a strange story. It must be a very important story however. All three synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—all include very similar accounts of the same event. The second epistle of Peter, which was read today, also refers to it. The gospel of John, interestingly enough since John was among those present, does not refer to it though. I would like to suggest that the three disciples who went up with Jesus, received an Epiphany. An appearance of divinity.

On the mount of transfiguration we are shown Jesus’ true identity. Right in front of his friends, Jesus is revealed as the incarnate Son of God. We catch a glimpse of our own human nature transfigured by the glory of God. Human nature as it was meant to be, the pristine image of God. God created humankind to be his image bearers but that image became disfigured through sin. In Christ we not only see that image restored but humanity made a partaker of the divine nature.

St John of the Cross, a poet and mystic from the middle ages, uses the image of a window. If a window is dirty and smudged its ability to let the sunlight in is diminished. A window wiped clean and clear though lets the sun’s rays pour through it. When sunlight hits it directly it is so illuminated that it appears to be pure light even though it doesn’t cease to be glass. This is how Jesus’ humanity showed forth his divinity in the transfiguration.

Before the foundation of the world God planned to redeem the world through the life, death, and resurrection of his son. Jesus is the purpose of the whole biblical story. The old covenant finds its fulfillment is Jesus. This is why Jesus was shown speaking with both Moses and Elijah. Moses represents the law and Elijah the prophets, the two major sections of the Old Testament. In their time, both men longed to see the day when Jesus would be revealed. Everything they did and said pointed to him.

I’ve often met people who say, “I’ve tried to read the Bible but I just don’t get it.” You may be one of those people. Getting a good study bible and consulting commentaries and scholars will help you tremendously by giving you an idea of the historical context and bigger picture of the biblical story. I definitely recommend you seek them out. More importantly though, you should pray and ask God to show you the meaning of the scriptures. The religious scholars of Jesus’ time knew the bible well, but St. Paul tells us that they read them with a veil over their hearts. God through the Holy Spirit lifts the veil and helps us to see that all of the scriptures point us to Christ. It is through him that they should be interpreted.

Jesus tried to communicate this to his disciples many times. In fact in the previous chapter of Matthew Jesus predicts his own death and resurrection. Jesus understood this to be the culmination of God’s plan for salvation as prophesized by the scriptures. Peter was rebuked then for not understanding, and he shows now that he still doesn’t get it when he says, “Lord it is good for to be here, if you wish I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Peter is still blathering on not knowing what he is saying when the whole company is enveloped in a bright cloud. A voice thunders from the cloud “This is my son, the beloved, with him I am well pleased, listen to him!” This really shuts him up. The disciples are so overcome with fear that they lie face down on the ground unable to move. Jesus touches them saying, “Get up don’t be afraid.” When next they look all they see is their teacher restored to how he was before.

Peter was mistaken to think that they all could remain on the mountain top. They were given a sneak preview of the glory that was to come, but that glory could only come through the cross. Without Jesus’ death, there could be no victory. Jesus would become victor only by means of his crucifixion. The power of sin and death would be vanquished but only at the cost of God’s own son. We cannot have Easter and the triumphant news of the Resurrection with out Lent and Holy Week.

There are some who want a crossless Christianity. They want all of glory, but none of the sacrifice. For them, God exist to shower them with blessing and prosperity. If we want the new and transformed life that comes through sharing in Jesus’ Resurrection, we need to share also in his death. We should take this to heart as we enter the season of Lent, a time of repentance and self-denial. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Peter Abelard: Moral Influence

Peter Abelard (1079-1142)

Abelard was a logician, scholastic philosopher, and theologian from France. He is perhaps best known for his tragic love affair with his student Heloise. Abelard and Heloise carried on a passionate romance, until her uncle discovered them. They were separated but still managed to conceive a child together and secretly marry. Heloise’s uncle was outraged and sent a gang of thugs to Abelard’s home. They beat him severely and even castrated him! Abelard and Heloise spent the rest of their lives devoted to the monastic life. They continued a correspondence through letters that have become very well known.

Abelard, a contemporary of Anselm, rejected the idea that Jesus had to die to satisfy the father’s offended honor.

“How cruel and wicked is seems that anyone should demand the blood of an innocent person as the price for anything, or that it should in any way please him that an innocent man should be slain—still less that God should consider the death of his Son so agreeable that by it he should be reconciled to the world!”

Abelard is representative of the Moral Influence or Exemplary model of the Atonement. He appeals to the effect Jesus’ death has in awakening our compassion and provoking our grief. Through the remorse that we feel in contemplating the cross, we share in the sufferings of Christ. In one of his many letters to Heloise, Abelard writes:

“Have compassion on him who suffered willingly for your redemption, and look with remorse on him who was crucified for you…He himself is the way whereby the faithful pass from exile to their own country. He too has set up the Cross, from which he summons us as a ladder for us to use. On this, for you, the only begotten Son of God was killed; he was made an offering because he wished it. Grieve with compassion over him alone and share his suffering in grief.”

Because of the spectacular and unmerited act of love that Christ has shown to sinners their hearts rightfully belong to him. He has given us himself and in return he deserves our whole selves. The Lord of all the universe desires us! This should melt our hearts and inspire us to amendment of life.

He bought you not with his wealth, but with himself. He bought and redeemed you with his own blood. See what right he has over you, and know how precious you are…You are greater than heaven, greater than the world, for the Creator of the world himself became the price for you. What has he seen in you, I ask you, when he lacks nothing, to make him seek even the agonies of a fearful and inglorious death in order to purchase you?

Abelard believes that the revelation of God’s love in Christ has the power to transform our hearts. The power of God’s love is so great that it dethrones any contrary affection within us. When we understand how much God loves us, we stop clinging to sin and instead cling to Christ. In loving us God has made us his children.

“Redemption is that greatest love kindled in us by Christ’s passion, a love which not only delivers us from the bondage of sin, but also acquires for us the true freedom of children, where love instead of fear becomes the ruling affection.”

Christ justified us by taking our human nature. The passion of Christ transforms our character. Our heart, changed by the love of God, has a new willingness to serve him and endure suffering. It creates boldness in us that we didn’t have before.

“It seems to us that we are justified in the blood of Christ and reconciled to God in this, that through the singular grace manifested to us in that his son took our nature and that teaching us by both word and example he persevered even unto death, Jesus bound us closer to himself by love, so that, fired by so great a benefit of divine grace, true charity would no longer be afraid to endure anything for his sake.”

Abelard emphasizes the subjective element of the atonement. For Abelard, our crucial need is not that we satisfy God’s wrath against us, but that we come to be repentance and that our hearts be changed. For Abelard, the only thing God ask is that we admit of failure, accept his love, and love him in return.


1. Do you think Abelard’s reaction to Anselm’s satisfaction theory is fair?
2. What effect does the willingness of Jesus to die for you have on you?
3. Some have argued that Abelard’s theory is too subjective. It has been argued that the theory leaves us to strive for salvation by the force of our own convictions and in our own strength. Do you think this is accurate?
4. Some, while agreeing with the subjective effects of Jesus’ death, have claimed that Abelard’s theory gives us no reason for Jesus’ death. They reason that Jesus’ death can only be a moral influence if it is a substitution. Do you think this is a fair criticism of Abelard?