The Gospel According to John
– 2018.05.06
Names and Dualism
The
readings for today are confusing and full of errors.
In
the Gospel we are presented with the superstition of the early church and its
fixation on names, as if a name held some sacred power, names do not, they are
not magic. It is not the name of God, or the name of Jesus (a man from Nazareth
whose name was not Jesus, but Joshua) that has power, or the ability to confer
power.
There
is no power in a name, they are accidental features of our identities and
persona. A name may shape a person’s character, but it will not grant them
access to them mysteries of the universe, or entrance to the heavenly spheres.
The
notion that names had special-power, in and of themselves, was a popular
superstition at the time the gospels were written, and it was especially
important to other groups of Christians who were later prosecuted for heresy, the
so-called Gnostics and their forebers, the Jewish practitioners of Kaballah.
Set
all of that aside for a moment, because it is confusing and there is no good
reason to carry forward any of that ancient superstition into the modern age.
Pay
attention to the errors the Gospel writers but forward, the perpetuation of
lies. Today’s suggests that Jesus had kept all of the disciples except one,
true to their mission. This fabrication completely over looks how all of the other
11 disciples abandoned Jesus when he was arrested. It overlooks the explicit
denials of Jesus made by Saint Peter, not once or twice, but three times on the
night he was taken.
There
were some who remained faithful, who stayed by his side, but they are not
numbered among the twelve and history has largely overlooked their
contribution, though it has not been able to erase it completely; Mary his
mother, and Mary Magdalene who was the first to see the risen Christ.
Let
us dwell for a moment on another troubling claim put forward in the Gospel, that
the one disciple who betrayed Jesus, and therefore betrayed God, betrayed them
for the sake of fulfilling the scriptures.
How
is this possible?
Did
the one who chose to be lost, choose it to fulfill the scriptures, or did he
have no choice at all and was he was he compelled?
If
Judas was merely fulfilling the scriptures, freely, then he had chosen to fulfil
the will of God, How is this a crime?
If
he was compelled, then he is not guilty at all.
The
reading for the day doubles down on a kind of dualism that has dogged the
Church from its beginning. It is important to note, that God is everywhere
present in the world, God is the sole creator of the world, and all things that
exist came to being in and through God
God
sustains all things in being.
The
church has rejected all forms of dualism in theory, in its philosophy, but not
in its practice or practical application.
As
Christians, as people who are supposed to be dedicated to the truth, we are
called on to strip the errors of dualism from the liturgy, from the scripture
and every other place where it persists in the tradition.
Remember
this; keep the truth of it in front of you always. God never left us. God is
present to us. In all times and in all places, God is with us.
We
come to know God through our relationships with one another; in the quality of
the love we manifest for all human beings, in how we love all of God’s children.
God,
the creator of the universe resides in.
God
resides in everyone, but not everyone acts as if this is true, not everyone has
faith in it.
It
requires faith to love, and greater faith to love the stranger, even more to
love your enemy.
The
faithful do not require proof of God’s presence; the faithful know that God is
present.
God
is living in all people, it is not creed and confessions, or ceremonies that
make this real.
We
manifest our love for God by the love we share with our family and friends, in
whom God exists, and even more so when we demonstrate that love to those we do
not know, to those we fear, or to those who had been our enemy.
Give
thanks to God, the creator of the universe.
We
are thankful for the peace of God’s blessing, the blessing of life, of freedom,
of self-determination, for our personhood.
Give
thanks to those who are loving, we are thankful for the peacemakers, and bless
them as you are able.
Bless
all of God’s children as God does, love them all, both the good and the bad,
the helpful and the harmful, the just and the unjust.
Remember
this, God is not a king, God is not a Lord. God does not favor one group over
another. God does not intervene in the affairs of human beings. Remember this
and keep it in front of you when you read the scriptures, this is the truth and
it is the lens through which all interpretations must be made.
Consider
the acts of the apostles, and the story of the early church.
The
fate of the church was left to a game of chance…if you believe it.
The
Book of Acts was written decades, nearly a century after Jesus was murdered, it
was written by a men who never met Jesus, who were themselves, the followers of
a man who never met Jesus.
It
is likely that they had some contact with Peter, and the other disciples, but
that contact was limited, and much of what is written in Acts is hearsay,
rifled with superstition.
Let
us first correct the record, David does not foretell the future, we know this
is true because the future is not written. God created us in freedom, and the
road in front of us is not paved with certainty.
There
was no compulsion among the disciples to name a person to take the place of
Judas among the disciples, this was their own invention which they engaged in
for their own reason. The structure of the church is a human construction, it
has been formed the way it is to suit the purposes of human beings, not God.
The
drawing of lots, is a superstitious practice, one that never has and never
could reveal the will of the creator, who would never have intervened in such a
matter in the first place.
The
story of this event must be rejected on its face, because it is full of
falsehoods, fabrications and errors of reasoning. It has no place in the sacred
text, other than to serve as a reminder that the early church was busy, post
facto writing justifications in its narrative for both the decisions it made,
and the things which developed organically that it felt it must explain.
First Reading - Acts
1:15-17,20-26 ©
'Let someone else take
his office'
One
day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers – there were about a hundred and
twenty persons in the congregation: ‘Brothers, the passage of scripture had to
be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the
fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus –
after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of ours.
Now in the Book of Psalms it says:
Let
someone else take his office.
‘We
must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord
Jesus was travelling round with us, someone who was with us right from the time
when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us – and he can
act with us as a witness to his resurrection.’
Having
nominated two candidates, Joseph known as Barsabbas, whose surname was Justus,
and Matthias, they prayed, ‘Lord, you can read everyone’s heart; show us
therefore which of these two you have chosen to take over this ministry and
apostolate, which Judas abandoned to go to his proper place.’ They then drew
lots for them, and as the lot fell to Matthias, he was listed as one of the
twelve apostles.
Psalm 102(103):1-2,11-12,19-20
©
My
soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
My
soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.
For
as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As
far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.
The
Lord has set his sway in heaven
and his kingdom is ruling over all.
Give
thanks to the Lord, all his angels,
mighty in power, fulfilling his word.
Second Reading 1 John 4:11-16 ©
Anyone Who Lives in Love Lives in God, and God
Lives in Him
My dear people, since God has loved us so
much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God; but as long as
we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us.
We can know that we are living in him and he
is living in us because he lets us share his Spirit. We ourselves saw and we
testify that the Father sent his Son as saviour of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son
of God, God lives in him, and he in God. We ourselves have known and put our
faith in God’s love towards ourselves. God is love and anyone who lives in love
lives in God, and God lives in him.
Gospel Acclamation John 14:18
Alleluia, alleluia!
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord; I
will come back to you, and your hearts will be full of joy.
Alleluia!
Gospel John 17:11 – 19
Father,
keep those you have given me true to your name
Jesus
raised his eyes to heaven and said:
‘Holy
Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one
like us. While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your
name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except the one who chose to
be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures. But now I am coming to you and
while still in the world I say these things to share my joy with them to the
full. I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they
belong to the world no more than I belong to the world.
I
am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the
evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth.
As
you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake
I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.’
Seventh Sunday of Easter
