In summarizing the overall
theme of Derek Flood’s work[1] we
have noted that in the most ancient culture reflected in Scripture the ethic
was one of conquest and violent retribution, all sanctioned by God; indeed,
often commanded by God. In later eras a counter-testimony was added, calling
for a more compassionate ethic. The Hebrew Scriptures are characterized by a
testimony/counter-testimony debate, with each side of the debate lifting up
justifications for its perspective.
Jesus moved the debate to
a new level, siding totally with the compassionate counter-testimony and
advocating non-violence and enemy love. But if we read the New Testament’s
message as an ultimate ethic, frozen in time for all time, we fall into the
same trap as the Pharisees, whether those of Jesus’ time or the variety from
our time. It is that way of reading Scripture that justified all kinds of human oppression and suffering, including slavery.
As I read Flood’s comments
I keep remembering the quote from Revelation 21:5, “Behold I am always making
all things new.” Nothing about God or God’s creation, and therefore nothing
about human life or history is static. Nothing stays the same, and that flies in the
face of much of what we long to achieve and experience. Spiritual life is a
journey that frequently leads through a wilderness, but our culture is destination-oriented, and we much prefer a
settled life of comfort: "Let's get this over so we can go home."
If we are to be true
followers of Jesus and read the Scriptures as he read them, instead of reading
Scripture as a static ethic, frozen in time for all time, we will read it
recognizing the redemptive trajectory it establishes.
From the earliest
disputations in the Hebrew Scriptures through the interpretations of Jesus and
Paul, the writings we hold as Holy have pointed us along the path from
religious violence and toward love and compassion, restoration and harmony. “In other words, we cannot stop at the place
the New Testament got to, but must recognize where it was headed,”[2]
and we must continue on that trajectory.
William Webb reinforces Flood's comments by proposing that
we learn to recognize the redemptive direction in which Scripture is moving,
and differentiate that movement from the cultural assumptions of the time.[3] He
calls upon us to move from the concrete words on the pages of Scripture, frozen
in time, toward a Redemptive Spirit indicated by the trajectory of those words.
The question for us, then,
is how to recognize the redemptive trajectory of the New Testament—to find the
path Jesus plotted that leads us away from justifying violence and oppression
and toward compassion, grace and enemy love.
“A trajectory reading
results in a forward-moving, growing, progressing ethic at the cutting edge of
moral advance, rather than one that is tethered to the past, often found on the
side of fighting against moral progress in human and civil rights, being the
very last to change, pulled kicking and screaming and dragging its feet into
the future.
“There are indeed enduring
eternal principles found in Scripture, such as love, grace and compassion.
However, we do not maintain those by standing still, but by ever seeking to
grow and advance in them.”[4]
Surely Jesus rejoiced at
the non-violent strategies employed against evil by the likes of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. Surely he rejoiced at the path taken by South African President, Nelson Mandela, viz, healing and reconciliation instead of the bloody vengeance that could so easily have been justified by the
cultural assumptions held by most of the world. Surely Jesus is pleased when
organizations like Bread for the World
and Compassion International care for
the poor.
Jesus would smile as he
recognizes the fulfillment of his own words: “Very truly I tell you, whoever
believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12, emphasis
added.)
My thanks to Derek Flood
for being my guide through this Lenten Pilgrimage, and for the growth in understanding
and faith that have resulted.
That’s the way I see it
through the flawed glass that is my world view.
Together in the Walk,
Jim
[1] Derek Flood, Disarming Scripture: Cherry-Picking
Liberals, Violence-Loving Conservatives and Why We All Need to Learn to Read
the Bible Like Jesus Did (San Francisco: Metanoia Press, 2014) Kindle
edition, Location 1590.
[2] Ibid., Location 1685.
[3] William Webb, Corporal Punishment in the Bible: A
Redemptive Movement-Hermeneutic for Troubling Texts (Downers Grove, IVP
Academic, 2011), page 59.
[4] Derek Flood, op. cit.,
Location 1729.
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