Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

 Lectionary: 294

When [the Jews] opposed him and reviled him, [Paul] shook out his garments and said to them,
“Your blood be on your heads!
I am clear of responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

(Ascension Thursday is observed in the United States only in the dioceses of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, and Philadelphia, and is a holy day of obligation in those sees.)

Since reading R. Kendall Soulen's Irrevocable, I read the Hebrew scriptures, especially the psalms, very differently. The Book of Psalms has always been regarded as the prayer book of the church; and we find the story, spirit, and person of Jesus in all of them. 

And I read Saint Paul's angry outburst differently: "“Your blood be on your heads! I am clear of responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

The Apostle could say these things but he was still a Jew, passionately dedicated and deeply rooted among his own people. He could no more disown his Jewish people than he could reverse his circumcision. 

As Christians these many centuries later, remembering our sad history of suspicion, fear, and violence against the Jews, we must seek and reclaim our own Jewish roots if we would know the Lord Jesus. Abraham is "our father in faith," and to disown him is to renounce the faith by which we are saved. 

There is much I do not understand when I read the Bible. Some of the its inferences, references, and meanings may be lost forever. Scholars pour through these texts, searching out the words and their etymologies in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. They discover the same words used differently in different centuries and cities, and by different authors; and wonder what did this author mean by this word. They search for the Hebrew origins and their Greek translations in the Septuagint. They discover and attempt to undo the copying errors of different ancient, fragile manuscripts. 

No one expects to find the original manuscript of any book of the bible, and that seems like a great loss. But we move on from there to ask, "Who wrote it, when, for whom, and how was it used? Why was it copied? Why were other original texts not copied? What made this one stand out as worthy of preservation? 

"Who sponsored the scribe who put it on paper? A wealthy individual or a prosperous community? What did they believe? How did they worship?"

And finally I ask of that ancient people, "May I join you in prayer? Will you have me as a member? May I stand with you in faith?" 

Paul had his quarrels, and we have ours. A good quarrel may clear the air, it needn't end a friendship or marriage, much less a covenanted community in faith. 

The split between the Jewish and Christian religions is historic and irreversible, but God's covenant with Jews and Christians is irrevocable. Christians believe our faith is fulfilled in the Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. We have seen him ascend into heaven and take his place at God's right hand. 

But, like every Christian and Jew, I have yet to fulfill my faith in God. In a calmer moment, and probably from a Roman jail somewhere, Saint Paul urged his people: 

So then, my beloved... work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world... (Philippians 2: 12ff)