I am a curious type. I often get myself in trouble because I probe and probe things until I anger people with the unending questioning! But I think life is nothing but one big question. Life is not about finding answers but figuring out how to live with the questions.
With that, I am also fascinated with Saint Paul--how he lived, what he said, the Gospel he preached. There is a new book out written by John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg about the Real Paul. They talk about how the real Paul has been neutered by the church throughout the ages, especially when people first wrote in his name in some of the letters included in the Bible. In their words, Paul, and for that matter, Jesus was radical, and I tend to believe them.
One of the concepts that I found fascinating included the contrast I found between the peace of Caesar or the peace of Jesus. This is something that hit me. I am not sure if the book puts this concept forward as I am, but if they did, I credit them. If it is just my constant questioning, then please forgive me.
What Paul and Jesus did was help people see the difference between the peace that is offered by Rome and that which is offered by God in Jesus. Do we follow and believe in the Lord and the justice and the righteousness found in the world view of Rome, which is achieved through violence and war, or is there another, better Lord? Can the world be a better place if justice and righteousness came from radical, egalitarian, non-violent, and wasteful love given in Jesus?
Paul would say that humanity has missed the mark, sinned, by thinking humans can ever achieve peace through war and violence. We still have this dichotomy. Do we believe in the peace that comes after armed conflict, through the dropping of bombs or the shelling of neighborhoods, which is only short lived, or can we find another, saner, holier way?
2 comments:
I believe a fresh look of Paul is long overdue. I wish there was a way to erase the 2000 years of tradition and replace it with a clear understanding of what Jesus, and Paul, were calling us to be, and to do, as Christians. We are still reading the Bible through the “Patriarchal eyes” of the church, and that is too bad. The Jesus I am encountering more and more is found in radical love, not in religious condemnation. Jesus doesn’t care how we worship, only that we do so in love and total acceptance of those sitting next to us, and most importantly, in total love for those who are not even in church. Some would say this is to easy, well, no, it is hard, but it is doable.
A fresh look at Jesus and Paul might change the way a lot of people see the world!!
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