Strategy or Hypocricy?
Monday, July 30, 2007 -- Week of Proper 12
(William Wilberforce)
"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
Audio Podcasts of today's "Morning Reflection" and those from the past week are available from http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html (go to St. Paul's Home Page www.stpaulsfay.org and click "Morning Reflection podcast")
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 976)
Psalms 56, 57, [58] (morning) 64, 65 (evening)
2 Samuel 2:1-11
Acts 15:36 - 16:5
Mark 6:14-29
Change and reform never seems to happen in a straight line.
Paul is renowned for his gospel of justification by grace. We've just read the story of the famous Apostolic Council in Jerusalem that accepted Paul's argument that Gentiles might belong to the church without having to become Jews. The central presenting issue was circumcision. Should Gentiles who belong to the Christian community be circumcised? The council answered "no."
We know from Paul's writing how passionate he was about this issue. He believed that circumcision was the sign of one's obedience to the Jewish law, and he had experienced faith in Jesus as his liberation from the law. He had been justified as a gift from Christ rather than as an accomplishment through obedience to the law. His letters often address his conviction that circumcision is meaningless. Even more seriously, according to Paul, circumcision and its attendant subjection to the law nullified the core of the gospel that Paul taught. (see especially the letter to the Galatians)
But today we have Paul circumcising Timothy his assistant in his mission work. Timothy's mother is Jewish, his father is Greek. Despite his convictions that circumcision is not required of Christians, Paul performs the rite in order to allow Timothy to join him when Paul visits the synagogues of Asia Minor and Greece. Timothy becomes a Jew.
It is a strategic decision. Paul's primary method for growing the church was to go to a town and to speak to the congregation assembled at the synagogue. He spoke as a Jew, arguing that Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah. Some Jews were convinced by his words, but not many. He usually encountered strong opposition from the synagogue. His greatest success tended to be with the Gentiles who attended synagogue but were not Jews themselves. They were called "Godfearers." Typically these were people who were drawn to Jewish monotheism and high ethic, but who did not take the ultimate step to become Jews and to be circumcised. Paul offered them an appealing religion with a comparable ethic and no circumcision.
But in order for Timothy to gain access to the synagogue along with Paul, he was circumcised. Interesting. Some might charge Paul with being hypocritical or at least inconsistent. Is Paul being deceptive? Is he practicing something he doesn't believe in so that he can misrepresent Timothy to the Jewish community? Or is this just a necessary compromise for the sake of the larger goal?
Today is the feast of William Wilberforce, a politician. Wilberforce served in the English House of Commons for forty five years. He is best known as an opponent of slavery and slave trade. Slave trafficking was abolished in 1807 by Parliament in the middle of Wilberforce's service and was ended in the empire just after he died in 1833. My mind goes to Thomas Jefferson, the great articulator of American freedom. He and the good leaders who crafted the instruments of our union believed it necessary to compromise on slavery in order to accomplish the founding of our new nation. It took a war to finish their unfinished work. Even today the scars and reality of racism continue to plague our nation's health.
We live in ambiguous circumstances. We have principles and beliefs to which we commit ourselves. When do we compromise? When do we act strategically? When are we being unfaithful or duplicitous? Change and reform never seems to happen in a straight line once and for all.
Lowell
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posted by Lowell @ 8:12 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Compromise is often painful. In the words of Timothy, "Ouch!"
:>)
Do you remember the old stewardship joke about the chicken talking to the pig about breakfast? When it comes to bacon and eggs, the hen is only offering a contribution, but it's a real sacrifice for the pig.
Lowell
This may be a silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway because it's also kind of funny. Paul circumcised Timothy so he would be granted access to the Temple etc. Um, who was appointed as circumcision checker? Was someone there at the entrance lifting up the robes?
Yeah. It's like the Arkansas law prohibiting fostering and adopting. Will we put sexual orientation on our driver's license? Right next to Race.
Serious answer. Because men generally were nude in the public baths and the gymnasiums, the covering or lack thereof was public knowledge. I remember visiting some of the rows of toilets at Roman archaeological sites. Makes us look downright Victorian.
Lowell
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