Looking Beyond

03/17/24 • 15 min

Intertwined - faith • community • ecology

Why did Jesus compare himself to a grain of wheat? What does it mean to love your life? What does it mean to hate your life on earth? Who was Melchizedek? Why did Jesus have to die? What is eternal life?
"Looking Beyond" is a reflection on John 12:20-33.
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.
Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
Hebrews 5:5-10
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you”;
as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered,
and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Works Referenced
Alexander, T. Desmond. (Genesis notes). ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008, Kindle Edition.
Blair, Merryl. “The 'Order of Melchizedek': Hebrews 7 as a Model for Thinking Ecumenically about Priesthood.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies Vol. 53, No. 1 (Winter 2018): 95-110.
Coloe, Mary L. John 11-21 (Wisdom Commentary Series Book 44B). Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2021.
Milne, Bruce. The Message of John (The Bible Speaks Today). Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2020.
Moloney, Francis J. The Gospel of John (Sacra Pagina Series, Volume 4). Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 1998.
O’Day, Gail R. “The Gospel of John.” In New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Ramirez, Felipe Fruto. “MELCHIZEDEK: A Minor Character of Great Importance to Biblical Theology.” Landas Vol. 33, No. 1 (2019): 17-36.
Stuckenbruck, Loren T. “Melchizedek in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament Vol. 41, No. 1 (2018): 124-138.

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Previous Episode

Foolishness

Is the gospel foolish? Did the wise recognize Jesus? What does foolishness look like today? Does the church need to have a rummage sale?
“Foolishness” is a reflection based on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Works Referenced
Nasrallah, Laura S. “1 Corinthians.” In Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, edited by Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page, Jr., Matthew J. M. Coomber. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. Kindle edition.
Sampley, J. Paul. “The First Letter to the Corinthians.” In New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Tickle, Phyllis. The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Publishing Group, 2008.

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Next Episode

Reading Resurrection

What was the resurrection of Jesus? Why is Mark's resurrection story so short? What might resurrection look like in our time? What can we learn from the resurrection?
"Reading Resurrection" is a reflection based on Mark 16:1-8.
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Works Referenced

Adkins-Jones, Timothy. “In the Lectionary.” Christian Century Vol. 141, No. 3 (March 2024): 31.

Carter, Warren. Mark (Wisdom Commentary Series Book 42). Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2019. Kindle Edition.

Placher, William C. Mark: A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Belief: a Theological Commentary on the Bible). Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Kindle Edition.

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