Category Archives: Arts

Arts, Christianity, Culture

The Books of Samuel: Real lives and frank confessions

OLD TESTAMENT

THE books of Samuel (originally one document) bring today’s reader into familiar territory. There are stories about people, which enable us to see them as flesh and blood, fallible and real, with ample opportunity to reflect on their actions.

The narrative starts at the end of the judges’ period. The story of decline, oppression, rescue and recovery continues. Samuel, the last of the judges, and a prophet, pilots Israel’s tribal confederacy into calmer waters. In his old age, he is asked to appoint a king.

This is a watershed event in the Bible. Samuel, after much soul-searching, appoints Saul. But as the prophet warned, Saul abuses his power, becomes mentally unstable, and falls from grace. David is secretly anointed as heir apparent.

Saul becomes paranoid (and seethes with envy) of the young giant-killer and David spends the next decade an outlaw on the run, becoming a role model for future Robin Hoods. Eventually, when Saul dies, David is accepted as king.

Later to be hailed as the model for the Messiah, David nonetheless has feet of clay. Apart from his celebrated affair with Bathsheba and contract killing of her husband, he has a shambolic home life and for a while is forced into exile by his rebellious son Absalom.

But for all that, he loves God, and gives the nation a solid foundation on which his son Solomon built a never-to-be-repeated “golden age” of prosperity and peace (which is recounted in 1 Kings).

It is an absorbing story, written as a prophetic overview of a formative part of Israel’s development. Behind the exposed lives we see a righteous God who remains reliable and who continues to be his people’s rescuer.

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Arts, Christianity, Culture

Life’s a journey, faith’s a leap

OLD TESTAMENT

– A narrative on 1 Samuel 3

IT can be helpful to picture the Christian life as a journey. Each person’s path is different, even though there are common features, because our personalities, perceptions and circumstances are different.

Christians are not called to be clones. We become “like” Jesus, not each other, as he works on our unique personhood so that it reflects his presence and God-centred nature. We grow in faith, as Samuel did (2:26), who took his responsibility to God and the “church” seriously (3:1), yet “did not yet know the Lord” (v 7).

How can someone believe and serve and yet not know the Lord? It does not mean that he was “not saved” or that he was living a double life. To God, our spiritual journey begins at (or before) human birth, not at the “new birth”. Somewhere along the way, there is an awakening (and for most people, more than one) when we discover God in a new way, see certain beliefs more clearly, and step forward in faith.

It is like human growth. Although the first adult tooth might be a significant step forward in a child’s development, there are many other developments not noted as the child grows; they are only seen in retrospect. Samuel’s experience suggests that it may not be appropriate to demand too much in terms of faith or experience before giving people certain tasks. It is often through executing them that people come to “know the Lord” in fresh ways.

Love and serve the LORD.

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Arts, Christianity, Culture

New Testament: Master picture for jigsaw puzzlers

MARK’S GOSPEL

– A narrative on Mark 8:27-9:37

THE wonder and delicacy of the ecological balance has only started dawning on the human race. In Panama, for example, the habitat depends on a fig wasp which germinates fruit trees, which support animals, which spread seeds to propagate more trees. No wasp, no forest.

Just as we cannot often see these links clearly, so Peter, James and John can’t yet see how all Jesus’ teaching fits together (8:32 and 9:32). But the transfiguration provides them with the big picture into which they could fit Jesus’ teaching about his forthcoming death.

It is like a resurrection appearance in advance. It is literally a taste of heaven that Peter understandably wants to prolong; just as anyone would wish to remain for ever in some idyllic holiday spot (9:5).

The brilliance of Jesus’ appearance (“No laundry could do anything like it” is C.S. Lewis’s way of correctly interpreting the whiteness of his clothes) speaks of his purity and perfection. His conversation reveals he is also superior to both Moses (the bringer of the law) and Elijah (the prototype prophet) both of whom were revered in Judaism.

So Peter’s confession (8:29) was spot on, but the Christ has an unexpected role; he is to die and rise again. Therefore, instead of prattling or protesting, they should simply listen to Jesus (9:7). The advice, if taken by successive generations, might have saved the church from a few conflicts.

Brought down to earth with a bump by the failure of the other nine apostles to heal the disturbed boy, they are reminded of Jesus’ simple assertion of the primacy of prayer in any ministry (9:29) that they must draw on heaven’s power and glory in order to do God’s will on earth.

The transfiguration suggests a whole new way of seeing things, in which fresh connections make greater sense. Faith is the ability to live with apparent incompatibilities, trusting that when heaven’s windows are opened the light which streams out will reveal a delicate and wonderful balance of otherwise inexplicable events.

Love and trust the LORD.

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