|
Paul
I
am glad that we have a stained
glass window depicting the apostle
Paul. He is unquestioningly the greatest evangelist, missionary and
theologian of the early church.
Without the insight and commitment of St. Paul the early Christians would
probably not have understood the ongoing reality and power of the resurrection
of Christ, by which God is claiming in a soft revolution what belongs to God.
The earth is mine, says the
Lord (Ps 24:1). The early Jewish
Christians would have been tempted to remain a small sect within Judaism; and
then they would probably have ceased to exist, like the Qumran community from
where we have the Scrolls that were found in the caves in the mountains at the
shore of the Dead Sea.
In some circles, Paul has not had a good press lately.
Some scholars - both Jewish and Christian - argue that he has deformed Christian faith from faith as trust
into faith as belief. They view Paul
as a conservative evangelical who is more concerned with right doctrine than
with the celebration of life. Christian feminists
are unhappy with Paul, because in Paul's letters and in writings that belong to
his school and tradition, there are sayings which indicate that women should not
speak in church, that they should wear hats in church, and that they should
accept the headship of the male. So called free thinkers of all
persuasions for the last 200 years prefer Jesus to Paul, because Jesus seems to be more friendly, less stern,
more humane, less dogmatic. And,
since we do not have any writings from Jesus, but have plenty of letters from
Paul, Jesus is certainly more conducive for reading our own hopes and dreams
into him. Cross I
am glad that we have a window depicting the apostle Paul.
And the window being right next to the pulpit, I am glad that the preacher
cannot overlook it. The advice,
indeed the declaration, with which Paul introduced himself to the church in
Corinth, should be the underlying motif for every Christian sermon and indeed
for all of Christian ministry. Here
are some sound bites from the way, Paul introduces himself to the church in
Corinth: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the
mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ,
and him crucified. (2:1f.) . 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. (1:18) . 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.
(1:22-24)
The emphasis on the cross is
the Christian bulwark against the great sceptics of religion.
·
You see, Sigmund Freud
was right when he said that we all have the tendency to use "God" to
compensate for our personal deficiencies. ·
You see, Ludwig
Feuerbach and Karl Marx were right
when they saw that religion was used to pacify the workers and at the same time
the same God was functionalised to validate those who had the means of
production. We all tend to pull God
to our side.
It is the cross, which pulls us into line, which saves us from making God in
our own image. Not the consumer God
of Jews and Christians, not the wisdom God of the Greeks and Christians; no! It
is Christ crucified, who is the power
of God and the wisdom of God.
The cross helps us to understand and obey the first and the second
commandments, that God is God, that we shall have no other gods besides God, and
that we shall not manufacture God according to our ideas.
It was the apostle Paul who
first put the cross of Christ in the
centre of all Christian thinking. Historical
landmarks of faith
Given the importance of Paul in the early church, it
is not surprising that major rediscoveries of faith have been associated with
Paul's insights into the mystery of God and faith. Reformation.
During the 16th century, the Roman Catholic monk
Martin Luther struggled hard to please God, or better: to come to terms with
his understanding of God. He
failed. How can a frail and sinful
human being please a strong and holy God? Until
one day the Spirit opened his heart to the Pauline message, that God accepts us,
not on the basis of our achievements, but because God loves us unconditionally.
Faith is a free gift of God. With
this discovery Luther started the Reformation which has transformed the churches
up to the present day. 18th
century Evangelicalism. John
Wesley also struggled hard to please God.
He went as a missionary to Georgia in the USA, but returned home to
Britain still searching. Until one
day - May 24, 1738 - he entered a chapel in London where someone was reading
from Luther's preface to Paul's letter to the Romans. John Wesley's heart was strangely warmed and he became the
great preacher and social reformer, renewing the then dormant evangelical
tradition, probably saving Britain from a bloody war, and Wesley has continued
to influence serious Christians to the present day. 20th
century rediscovery of the Word of God. The greatest theologian of the 20th century is the
Swiss Karl Barth.
He fuelled the Confessing Church that opposed the Hitler-Ideology.
He influenced the various liberation movements reminding them that the
God of the Bible is a living God who identifies with the oppressed, poor and
needy, and he warned the Western establishment not to demonise socialism.
He was brought up as a liberal theologian, until one day in 1914 he read
in the media that most of his theological teachers were among German
intellectuals who supported the war policies of the German emperor.
Here are his words: "One day in early August 1914
stands out in my personal memory as a black day. Ninety-three German intellectuals impressed public opinion by
their proclamation in support of the war policy of Wilhelm II and his
counsellors. Among these
intellectuals I discovered to my horror almost all of my theological teachers
whom I had greatly venerated. In
despair over what this indicated about the signs of the time I suddenly realised
that I could not any longer follow either their ethics and dogmatics or their
understanding of the Bible and of history.
For me at least, 19th-century theology no longer held any
future."
Was there an alternative? Of
course there was! Just like Luther
and Wesley, Barth rediscovered the powerful
message of Paul. The word of
God, which we are to hear, trust and obey in life and in death.
And that the church must not be fascinated by any other powers or leaders
or values as the basis of its ministry. And
he shaped his seminal ideas by writing a commentary of Paul's letter to the
Romans. Today.
And
what about today?
Don't we need a message with substance that delivers us from this vicious
cycle of having to prove ourselves, of having to perform, of our love and
friendships being conditional on performance?
What a revolution it would bring into our life if with Luther
we could discover that God accepts us as we are, unconditionally.
And don't we need a message that can warm
our hearts, really warm our hearts with a reality that lasts; a reality that
like with John Wesley can empower us to become witnesses for Christ who will
make a difference for good?
And don't we need a message that will stir the church to believe in God,
and who then will leave the situation of comfort, ease and compromise, and
engage itself for the liberation of the oppressed?
The apostle Paul stands for the integrity
of faith, for the vitality of faith,
and for the difference faith in Christ
can make in our lives and in the world. Worthwhile
The
question lingers in the background: is it worthwhile to take the risk of faith
and then live accordingly? Is it
worthwhile to follow Jesus and open our lives to include others?
Were Luther's and Wesley's and Barth's commitment and engagement
worthwhile? What about the many
women and men in this country and around the world who go against the stream and
tirelessly work for truth and peace and justice? Are their engagement and their sacrifice worthwhile?
And we remember the men and women, including A.C.
Joyce, in whose honour the Pauline window was donated by his family, who
invested their life in the early years of the church.
Was their vision, their faith, their commitment worthwhile?
They all relied on what the apostle says towards the end of the letter to
the church in Corinth. After
talking a lot about the cross and resurrection of Christ, he then said: "in the Lord your labour is not in vain" (1 Cor 15:58). Faith
as courage
On the basis of God's
initiative in the cross and resurrection of Christ, on the basis of the assurance
that God will be with us, and that therefore the risk of faith is worthwhile,
on that basis we can now hear the exhortation that marks our window: "Keep
alert,
Without that basis, these words would simply be telling us what to do,
and then we may feel guilty because we have not been alert
and strong and courageous and loving.
But given God's commitment to us in the life, death and resurrection of
Christ, and given the assurance that
the journey of faith is worthwhile,
these exhortation actually become the working out of the life of Christ in us.
Through faith and baptism Christ becomes our ultimate concern.
We can keep alert because he
sensitises us and empowers us. We
can stand firm, be courageous and strong
because Christ determines our life. And
where Christ is the determining reality, there things will be done in love.
|
|
|
   |
| Last updated: 01 July 2001 |
