Approaching Pentecost

- 5th Tues after Pascha Jn. 8.51-9

Who are you? The religious authorities demand that Jesus demonstrate to them who he is, and by what authority he claims to teach. The Gospels revisit this question in various ways; even having Jesus ask the disciples “who do they say I am” and “who do you say I am” (Lk. 9.18-21). There is always a hint of mystery about the person and nature of Christ in the Gospels. Even when the Evangelists assert his divinity, as in today’s reading, or in Peter’s declaration in Luke: “You are the Christ” – there remains a cloud of questions about what exactly this is, and its implications for us as Christ’s disciples. We are an intellectually curious people – and this is good. But this package comes with a warning on the label.

What is not a mystery, is “the word”, the teaching. Jesus says to the accusing Pharisees, “whoever keeps my word will never see death” (Jn. 8.51). To a prospective disciple Jesus asks what does the Law teach you about achieving eternal life, the man replies: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live” (Lk. 10.27-8). Notice, the teaching is not overly concerned with the nature and person of God, the Christ, or Jesus.

Even when Jesus answers the scribes, they refuse to believe him – they cannot believe him, and move to have him killed (Jn. 8.58-9). His answer contradicts what they “see” before them, what they “know” of the nature of things, what they expect based upon centuries of interpretation, and speculation.

Jesus convinced his audience (those who have ears that hear) of the veracity of his teaching. When as a youth, he was found in the Temple debating with the scholars of the Law, he confounded them with his wisdom, and authority (Lk. 2.47). When teaching in public, the Evangelist notes that the “crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt. 7.28-9). The scribes – the authorities on the Law – were no longer trusted, they had somehow lost their authority. Perhaps, having spent all their time in increasingly esoteric speculations, devising ever refined instructions on observing the law, they lost sight of the link between the “word” of God, and its application – its intrinsic value.

If, as today’s reading suggests, we spend our time speculating on the nature of God, the person of Christ, rites and rituals, who has authority and who does not, we loose precious moments of “hearing” and “doing” – observing the teaching, rather than merely contemplating its possibilities.

To be sure, there is room for “orthodoxy” and theology is a necessary element of our sacramental tradition, but only as far as it is overwhelmed by (not balanced by, or followed by, but literally overwhelmed by) orthopraxis. What Jesus observes in his day – is easily applied to our own; the priorities of faith have been reversed, giving precedence to orthodoxy when in fact the true sign of a disciple is his or her orthopraxis. Thus, those who hear the word, and fulfil it, will not see death, because they are too busy living. They will not seek to glorify themselves (Jn. 8.54), because their praxis will be an unquenchable light for all to see (Mt. 5.16).