Paul's Conflicts

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 -- Week of Proper 5

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 970)
Psalms 72 (morning) 119:73-96 (evening)
Deuteronomy 31:30 - 32:14
2 Corinthians 11:21b-33
Luke 19:11-27


We are reading from Paul's "severe letter" to the Corinthians (chapters 10-13), which predates most of the rest of the collection that we have surviving as 2 Corinthians. In his absence from the church he founded in Corinth, Paul has been challenged by some other Christian leaders. To counter the reports of his challengers' achievements, Paul defends his own ministry. In this passage he recounts his sufferings in connection with his apostolic work. He has been arrested and imprisoned. He has been flogged. "Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning." He goes on to list shipwrecks and other dangers from his travel, including a daring escape from Damascus, being lowered in a basket from a window in the city wall.

It may be striking to us how conflictive and threatening the early Christian movement was in the environment of the Roman world. Rome was typically very tolerant of other cultures and religions. Why so did Paul experience so much hostility?

Part of Paul's conflict was with Jewish synagogues and authorities. That's pretty easy to understand. Paul's message was very subversive toward Judaism. In the Gentile world his primary target for converts to his church were the Gentile "Godfearers," Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism for its high morality and monotheism, but who were not Jews themselves. Paul aimed his message especially toward Gentiles who attended the synagogue, inviting them into the Christian movement which offered a similarly high morality but without the need for undergoing circumcision and some of the other more awkward features of Jewish practice. Paul's strategy for church building was to rob synagogues of their Gentiles. He was bound to provoke Jewish resistance. And, there was money involved. Many of these Gentile Godfearers were wealthy and contributed significantly to the synagogue. Some were important, and their influence was of protective value for a minority religion.

The other part of Paul's work that was offensive to the synagogue was his message. Although he was a Jew, he attacked the Hebrew Law. He accused the Jerusalem Jewish leaders of apostasy for collaborating with Rome to crucify the one he said God sent as the promised Jewish Messiah. And he claimed the Jesus movement was the true Israel and that established Judaism was false to its own heritage. He wasn't going to have many friends in the synagogues.

Paul's message was also a subversive one from the perspective of Rome. Rome allowed various religious expressions as long as those religions also did their patriotic duty. Patriotic duty included expressions of praise and loyalty to the divine Caesar. Since all of the other religions were polytheistic, except Judaism, that wasn't a problem. Rome made a unique provision for Jewish monotheism because it was an ancient faith. Christians were new. They didn't have standing for such tolerance.

The expressions of Christian worship and piety were in-your-face challenges to the Roman cult. Phrases like "Jesus is Lord" mimicked the acclamation "Caesar is Lord." If Jesus is Lord, Caesar isn't. John Dominic Crossan's book "In Search of Paul" makes a meticulous case that Paul's gospel was a direct attack on the emperor cult which defined political and cultural standing in the Roman world. The Jesus movement was both subversive and revolutionary from the perspective of Roman political, economic, and familial traditions. Whenever his preaching hit the radar of Rome, it was bound to provoke a severe reaction. From an official perspective, it was treason.

How comfortable, conventional and conforming our religion is by comparison. It is worth asking what energy we may have lost with our comforts.

Lowell
______________________

To Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the "Morning Reflections" email list,
go to our Subscriptions page -- http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id137.html

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life:
We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.