Election or selection?

Klyne Snodgrass commenting on the Parables of the Wedding Banquet (Mt.22v1-14) and the Feast (Lk.14v15-24) says:

"The kingdom is still like a banquet. The invitation can still go out because all is ready and people may come and enjoy the feast now. ... The kingdom is still - and will be - like a banquet at which those who are supposed to attend were too preoccupied to come and others not expected to attend come and enjoy the feast. The expected are absent and the unexpected are present. Repeatedly this theme sounds forth in Jesus' teaching in a discomforting way ... No one should take attendance at the messianic banquet for granted. Unfortunately, many people do so: they have made a decision, they belong to the right group, they have the right schooling, and they have participated in numerous services and charitable efforts, so they can now get on with their lives. Proclamation of the kingdom is not about reassuring people, nor is the kingdom in keeping with the busyness and many of the values we presuppose. Proclamation of the kingdom is a challenge to respond to the invitation of God. ... Both parables teach that we cannot have the kingdom on our own terms. The invitation of grace brings with it demand. At stake is the issue of a person's identity. It is not enough to wear the right label ("the invited one"); rather, the kingdom must shape identity so that one has a whole different set of concerns. The warning of Luke must be heard: the biggest obstacle to discipleship are our possessions and family, but they are also the biggest opportunities for discipleship."

(Snodgrass, KR, 2018, Stories with intent, p.322, 2nd edition.)

Plus ça change plus c'est la même chose

Inspired by CJ Sanson's portrayal of Katherine Parr in his Shardlake novels (in particular 'Lamentation') I read her work "The Lamentation of a sinner", originally published 1547, but in the 'modern version' (from Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence - edited by Janel Mueller, 2011). I came across the following:

"And even as much talk of the Word of God, without practicing the same in our living, is evil and detestable in the sight of God, so it is a lamentable thing to hear how there be many in the world that do not well digest the reading of scripture, and do commend and praise ignorance, and say that much knowledge of God's Word is the original (sic) of all dissensions, schisms and contention and maketh men haughty, proud, and presumptuous by the reading of the same." (ibid, p.476).

It reminded me of our times and "modern" atheist critique of religion in general. Truly plus ça change plus c'est la même chose!

Postscript: KP highlighted the fallacy of this critique thus:

"These men might be forced, by this kind of argument, to forsake the use of fire because fire burned their neighbours house ..." (Ibid, p.477).

People & great oaks

"People think they can look like giant oaks without putting down deep roots. When they realise how much effort it takes to put down deep roots, they too often settle for being bramble bushes." Snodgrass, KR, 2018, Stories with intent, p176

Klyne Snodgrass concluding his analysis of "The Parable of the Sower" (Matthew 13, Mark 4 & Luke 8).

Jesus's extraordinary words of reconciliation to HIS disciples (eg John 20v19)

It had not occurred to me, because I have read the accounts of Jesus's appearance to his disciples so often, how extraordinary it was that HIS first words to them, post crucifixion, were "Peace be with you".

If I had been abandoned by my closest friends at an hour of great need would I say to them, when I next saw them , peace be with you? I suspect my comments would be far less biblical and more good, old-fashioned "Anglo-Saxon!

I owe this insight to Kenneth E. Bailey, from his book "The Good Shepherd", 2015, p.190.

Jesus son of Panthera or "parthenos"

In his book "The Four Gospels and the one gospel of Jesus Christ" Martin Hengel makes a very interesting observation when discussing the accusation that Jesus was the son of an illicit relationship between Mary and a Roman soldier called Panthera:  "In my view this name could be explained as a distortion of [parthenos]"(Hengel, 2000, ibid, p321, n785. If he is right this again is further evidence both of the confusion of Jesus's early detractors, Jewish and Gentile (eg Celsus), and for the very early date of the tradition of the Virgin Birth.

Others have made the same observation eg

1. Huffman, D.S., 1997. The historical Jesus of ancient unbelief. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 40(4), p.551.
2. F. F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974) 57-58.
3. Moody, D., 1955. The Miraculous Conception: Part III. The Church Fathers. Review & Expositor, 52(3), pp.310-324.

Hengel on "The four Gospels and the one Gospel of Jesus Christ"

In this masterful work Hengel concludes his book as follows:
"The multiplicity of the Gospels may sometimes seem an aporia to us today and perplex us, but in reality - country to all false attempts at harmonization - they become an inexhaustible source of power, the power which created true faith, love and hope. We should reflect on that positively, not least in the ecumenical dialogue between the different confessions which split the one church, in my view in the end of of all externally. Looking back on the history of the church which is now almost 2,000 years old we must say that, thank God, the real unity of the church does not lie in our different, indeed controversial human convictions and efforts, but in the one Lord, the head i.e. 'God incarnate', the judge who himself took judgement upon himself, who, 'obedient to death on the cross', became the redeemer of all; whose body is the church, despite all the failures, selfishness and self-righteousness of its members, because he alone can pronounce us 'godless' righteous. By the will of God we have the one - unique - 'good news', the one Gospel which stands at the beginning of the church, in sometimes very different and human forms. Yet all four Gospels proclaim solely the one Lord of the church and the one salvation brought about by him." Hengel, trans. 2000, "The four Gospels and the one Gospel of Jesus Christ", p.167-8.