Reading without understanding

I am reminded of my lessons in biblical studies that in order to understand the printed Scripture, you have to consider the various obstacles or barriers in comprehending the printed text. One on the barriers is culture, that includes the original languages on which the Bible were originally written, values, norms and mores of the writers and their intended audience. There is always the possibility of reading the Bible without understanding.

I have resisted several times taking my part in reading the Bible in Korean language in the daily office devotional-meeting. My justification is that I don't want to read the Bible without understanding it. Being integrated into a particular culture is to be able to speak their language. I agree with this fact of life. Not speaking fluently the language of the people where you work does not necessarily mean you don't like their culture. It is rather attributed to the lack of skill and the lack of opportunity to learn it systematically.

Today the bank teller facilitated my transaction. All the while she thought I am transacting a some kind of Korean currency to U.S. dollar money exchange or what. Then I told her this transaction is for a person living in Kyonggi province. She realized that what she's telling me to do was not correct. The transaction was simpler than she thought. What a pity, oftentimes our well-focused attention to all things Korean or all things English can complicate matters.

This reminds me of Isaiah's statement on the possibility of Israel to go back to their own land because the time has come when God will restore them to their land and many had doubted it. He says "Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?" (Isa. 40:13ff). While it is important to be literate, it is extremely important as well to comprehend and be understanding, for nobody knows what is in the mind of a person.

"Feed My Lambs"

Jesus and the disciples meet again by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There was a miraculous catch of fish that morning and Jesus had breakfast with them. After breakfast, they talked. Jesus asked Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord he said, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." This was followed by two more questions of the same content and intention and Peter said, "Lord you know all things; you know that I love you"(John 21:15-17).

It is on this resurrection event that Jesus verbalized the concept of love among his disciples. Although the teaching about love for one's neighbor and love for one's enemies was given outstanding treatment in his teachings, there was not much articulation on how the disciples should relate with him and with fellow disciples and with the anticipated followers. In many actual life situations, teachers, professors, and all those who are engage in the teaching and nurture of other people especially the young, seldom verbalize their love for their learners and inversely the learners to their teachers. Most often they express it in ways which shows their genuine concern for the students or learners.

Taken in the Christian ethical point of view, Jesus asked Peter if he is willing to bear witness to the love which he himself experienced in the three years ministry they had. Jesus did not intellectualize his relationships with the disciples, nor dwell solely on their capacity to feel. In this sciptural passage, we can feel with Peter how it is to answer a question of intention and commitment. It is just like standing in a wedding ceremony and being asked questions of commitment and you are expected to say "I do."

Every day, we are confronted with the question of intention and commitment. In the midst of growing commodification of labor and life itself, we are always deluded to think that we are no longer bound by the commitments, but human beings capable of making choices. Social contracts no longer seem to be expressions of good intention and commitment but are instruments of gaining profit and control. It is my hope that again and again I will be confronted with the question "Frank, do you love me more than this?" and deep down in my heart and soul I will answer Christ, "You know that I love you."

Unresolved Doubts

"Unless I see the nail piercings in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." This is a well articulated doubt about the reality of the resurrection from Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus. He is a representative of the many contemporary men and women who cannot be persuaded by the mere heresay or rumors. I suppose Christians should have this kind of skill to separate the grain from the chaff. It is through faith in the risen Christ that the disciples had their powerful proclamation even in front of their detractors. The rational faith is very important in our contemporary world, but this should not prevent us from expressing the emotional aspects of it.

A week later when the disciples were having their weekly meeting to know what were the possibilities of the conntinuity of their ministry, which already rocked the bottom line of Greco-Roman and Jewish authority, Jesus appeared to them. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus pass through a closed door. Then he said "Peace be to you!" Then he told Thomas to verify the authenticity of his crucifixion and resurrection, filled with awe and wonder he said "My Lord and my God!" Jesus reacted in a manner that confronted Thomas with his unbelief, he said "...blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." This does not mean however that faith is non-rational, Jesus emphasizes faith as response to what was historically revealed. The recognition that God has revealed God-self in the past and now is being revealed in inscrutable ways through Jesus Christ is a courageous act of faith.

Personally I believe in Jesus Christ because his love for me and for humanity is unmatched in history. Just like Thomas I can exclaim "My Lord and my God!"

Post-Easter Morning

"Why did you come away?" I am wondering what would Peter and the beloved disciple be doing after the Easter morning events. In Matthew's Gospel Jesus instructed the disciples to go to Galilee and the Fourth Gospel tells that Jesus prepared a meal of bread and fish by the shore. This gives us an idea that the disciples after the Easter morning resurrection events went back to Galilee and decided to go fishing. Personally, I doubt if the disciples were really opting to go back to what they've been formerly doing for good. I think they're not. Psychologically persons who went through difficult times, would go on retreat and hopes to get through with it.

Anent this, the disciples could have asked the question "Why did you come away?" It is just like graduating from high and college, when friendships have to end, if not suspended. In the case of Jesus and the disciples, they underwent a process of psychological adjustment--both on the affect and cognitive aspects. The separation between the teacher and student at first can be emotionally disruptive, especially when the learning relationships was not feudal but of respect and genuine concern. But later the teacher in search for his or her own future would inevitably leave and the learners become teachers themselves.

There is that assurance as well that Jesus will come again, in the same manner he left them. He ascended to heaven and now seated at the right hand of God the Parent. While I hope for his coming back, that does not preoccupy my life now, because what is more important is how put to practice what I've learned from Jesus. The post-Easter days of the disciples as we know from the book of Acts of the Apostles were filled with awe and wonder-they change the world in which they live. They had traverse dangerous places and situations. They had weathered the storms of life. Our post-Easter days is living in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. With that I'm greatly challenged to get a tune-up with the Spirit's fire.

How's Easter in Seoul?

Dawn Easter Service at 5:00 A.M. it's our second round here in Seoul. No doubt the sermon was fiery and the Choir anthem was okay and after the service a cup of ginger tea and boiled egg. Later at 9:00 A.M. I attended the high school youth service where at a segment of the youth population of the church is a bit expressive in comparison to the the adult congregation.

If I were in the Philippines, much could be said about and experience on Easter Sunday. Preparations were made way ahead for the liturgical movement from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday. I can recall the mood settings vary from the Thursday which is more reflective--the betrayal, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, arrest and trial. Then Good Friday--the conviction, crucifixion and death--it is mourning and contrition. Saturday is mourning still. Sunday is triumphant--although ironic Filipinos make Easter very celebrative. Easter Sunday is a fiesta or Pascua.

Black Saturday is Glorious Indeed

Today is Black Saturday or Sabado de gloria. It is black because Christianity observe it as a day when Jesus' mortal body was laid in the tomb. As the Gospel records it, on the day after the Sabbath day, that is, on the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead--thus the reality of the empty tomb. Easter Sunday became the centerpiece of the Christian faith. The resurrected Jesus is the Lord of life and history. He is Jesus Christ who is alive and lives and works among us.

In my internet search for Easter meditations I came across the web site called 'Homiletics on line' where it describes the modern method of dead body preservation called 'cryogenic treatment'. Let me briefly quote this material:

The body of baseball superstar Ted Williams has been put in a freezer, in the hope that this will give him a shot at new life. Sadly, there are plenty of people who are content with a Cryonics Christ. Cryogenics has been all over the news this past year, largely because of the controversy surrounding the freezing of baseball superstar Ted Williams, the "Splended Splinter," one of the greatest players in history and the last Major Leaguer to bat over 400 in a season. When Ted died on July 5 last Summer, a fight broke among his children, pitting his oldest daughter against his youngest son. The daughter wanted his father cremated and his ashes scattered off the Florida coast, as his 1996 will made clear. But the son and another daughter wanted to put the slugger on ice, arguing that they signed a pact with their father in November 2000, agreeing that their bodies would be frozen. The son had Ted's body carted to a cryogenics lab in Scottsdale, ARizona, shortly after his death, and he remains there today, suspended upside down wuth two other bodies in the tomb of liquid nitrogen frozen at minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

So Williams was put on ice on the off chance that someday someone might be able to thaw him out and spring him loose.

Well, this is quite interesting. What does this means to us? A possibility of believing in a frozen Christ or becoming frozen Christians! I can't imagine a Christ that is frozen inside a freezer and then take him out or thaw him when you need him. This Christ was not frozen, he is risen from the dead. He is alive and with us now. Happy Easter friends!