Jesus destroys Jesse’s and Stan’s and Glenn’s biblicist idolatry with a word
Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets:
‘They shall all be taught by God.’
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
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If the Word of God says it, it is True.
Holy Scriptures are a great aid to listening to God. They are a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. But clearly Jesus is speaking in the absence of any Christian Bible and without any reference to one. And no one can mistake that he is not claiming that the prophets speak on behalf of God. He is saying that the prophets are telling us to listen to God’s own voice, because everyone will be taught by God. Even though none of us sees God.
He through whom the universe was made by a word spoken, does not need an intermediary. The Word does not teach by a book. The Word teaches us directly, speaking to our hearts.
The book is holy simply, beautifully, because it constantly points away from itself toward God; the Bible challenges us to listen to the God who speaks directly to us. We need it as an aid, a fantastic guide, a trainer, for discipline. Thugs need it for a law they impose on others. Since Thugs are deaf to God.
We need it, along with so much else in the life of the church, to direct our minds and ears toward God in humility and gratitude. And then we listen. Silently, deeply, for God’s always already loving readiness to talk with us.
That’s how grace through faith works. From the amplitude of eternal love.
“While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many…”
ReplyDelete“Jesus isn’t physically present in the Eucharist!”
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“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything…”
Neither can the living god in the third person of the Trinity be contained in a book, no matter how sacred it is. It is only an earthly thing, though a great help from God.
Just like the Eucharist, taken every time we gather.
You can’t divide them.
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
ReplyDeleteThe voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven….
While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”
….
“While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles…”
….
“If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”
When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”
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As the Spirit teaches us “everything”… how can our grudging hearts not be stretched into uncomfortability? Even into regions toward which we had disgust?
Holy Scripture points us to God. “The Spirit moves where it wills,” taking us with it.
If we have faith.