John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

            John 1:43-51 is a story of how Philip and Nathaniel come to Jesus. In 1:35-42, we find a parallel in structure to this story. Early in the Gospel of John, an informal network of people tells news about Jesus.  Each new member of the network understands who Jesus is.  Each encounter reveals more about Jesus.  This theme of accepting or rejecting Jesus occupies a place of significance in the Gospel of John, where the situations in which people encounter Jesus provoke them to make a judgment about him.  They must decide for him or against him.  John has little tolerance for refusal or unwillingness to decide.  The challenge to readers, of course, is whether they will see Jesus with Nathaniel’s initial skepticism or with his eventual eyes of faith. Truly, in the words of the praise song, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you, high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory.” 

            From the Prologue (vv. 1-18) through the conclusion of this selection, the first chapter of the gospel of John focuses on two themes: the identity of Jesus and the way to become a follower of Jesus. The opening establishes for the gospel reader the identity of Jesus of Nazareth as the “Word made flesh.” Even the original listeners to this text needed a fuller explanation of what this might mean. The remainder of this first chapter, then, describes how the initial followers of Jesus identified him. John the Baptist identifies him as “pre-existent” (v. 30) “Lamb of God” (v. 29), on whom the Spirit descended and who will baptize with the Spirit (v. 32-33), and sends two of his disciples to follow Jesus (v. 37).  One of them, Andrew, then tells his brother Simon that he has “found” Jesus, whom Andrew identifies as “Rabbi” (v. 38) and “Messiah” (v. 41).

As this story of Philip and Nathanael begins, we have a time reference. ⁴³ The next day, meaning after 1:29-42, but also continuing the connection of this chapter with Genesis 1,^[1] Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip (a Greek name, just as Andrew, a Greek name found his brother Simon, a Jewish name) and said to him, “Follow me.” The “call” of Philip is not a spectacular call story. It has simplicity in it. In this call, Jesus acts in a relational way, rather than in a legalistic or dogmatic way. He did not ask any of the disciples to subscribe to a set of theological propositions, to feel a certain way, or to live in a legalistically prescribed way. He asked them to follow, to decide to get up from what they were doing and go with him. Like us, they would have liked more certainty. Yet, the hunger for certainty, the struggle with vocation, and the longing for certainty, are all hints of our longing for the reality of God. As this part of the story concludes, ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, (Romans named it Gaulantis, where it had become heavily Gentile) the city of Andrew and Peter. 

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael, a Jewish name, establishing a pattern of witness and missionary activity by the Christian community. Once Jesus has found us, we want to draw others into the fold. Nathanael receives mention only in this Gospel. We can also the willingness to cross cultural and social boundaries to unite them within the circle around Jesus. Philip said to him, “We have found, while in truth, Jesus found him, John as a writer further reinforces the theme of discovery. We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, (John continues the theme of various titles that help us identify who Jesus is) Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” With this identification, Philip misses the mark. ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, asking one of the most memorable questions in the Bible, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Why does he denigrate Nazareth? We learn in 21:2 that his hometown is Cana, so it could be rivalry. He may wonder about the possibility of any significant person coming from the little village. Josephus refers to Judas of Galilee, who inspired people to revolt against Rome, a fact Luke mentions in Acts 5:37 as well. Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  Philip's invitation to come and see is an invitation to discover that Jesus really comes not from Nazareth but from God. This invitation is a simple template for evangelism. It was a part of Jesus’ initial recruitment of disciples. As such, it is not a bad idea to emulate the formula that he used. There are two action verbs in this three-word invitation: “come” and “see.” “Come” to a house of worship, or to my home. “See” a Christian in a natural environment. 

You have given us a mission — to invite our neighbors in —

and your call to love and listen is a place we can begin.

We need more than open houses; we need, first, to give our hearts.

By your Spirit, make us servants; that's the way your welcome starts.

 

May we set a welcome table, may we find a common ground

where no one will feel they're labeled, where acceptance can be found.

We don't need to entertain there, or to do things that impress —

just to hear folks' joy and pain there, and to love so all are blest.[2]

 

Philip makes no effort to clear away the misgivings of Nathaniel. Rather, he leads him to Jesus immediately. ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” The statement has some irony in that the name “Israel” comes from the Patriarch Jacob, who was a deceiver. The statement also shows the supernatural knowledge Jesus possesses. Superficially, this power to read hearts recalls the Hellenistic demigods. However, for John, this knowledge arises from the intimate union between Jesus and his Father and because his Messianic vocation makes him insightful. What Jesus knows about him is important. He is a man with no deceit, guile, pretention, or need to cover up his actions. The contrast between honesty and deceit has been fertile ground for humor. Mark Twain said that if you tell the truth, you do not have to remember anything. Comedian George Burns said that sincerity is the key. If you can fake that, you have it made. Comedian George Carlin once observed that if the honesty is the best policy, then, by the process of elimination, dishonesty must be the second-best policy. Most of us learn that second-best policy quite well. An antonym for guile, for example, is one used in Genesis 3:1 to describe the serpent as crafty. Most of us learn to be crafty with who we are and what our agenda might be. Yet, with Nathanael, except for the normal need for discretion and modesty, he is transparent. What you see is what you get. More, he is willing and eager to know the truth, and to make the necessary changes and adjustments that such truth would require of him. He is humble enough to accept things as they are, never bending them to make the pieces fit his own ideas. We immediately feel good every time we meet such persons. They always exude such welcome and wholesome aura about themselves despite their imperfections. They contribute to making society more at peace and in harmony. President John Adams wrote to his sons of such matters.

Have you considered the meaning of the word "worthy"? Weigh it well ... I had rather you should be worthy possessors of one thousand pounds honestly acquired by your own labor and industry, than of ten millions by banks and tricks. I should rather you be worthy shoemakers than secretaries of states or treasury acquired by libels in newspapers. I had rather you should be worthy makers of brooms and baskets than unworthy presidents of the United States procured by intrigue, factious slander and corruption.[3]

 

Nathanael embodies the ordinary person who, despite warts and all, still has that basic, irreducible trait of exposing his heart, no matter how defective, to the truth. He does not run away nor hide from it. Frankness without charity is never the truth, just as charity without the truth is never charity. The way people think and the way they bond have a curious connection. If you to think of the issues of life in a black and white way, you will meet the challenges, twists, and turns of life in a way that lacks resiliency. That which binds one to others will become chains. On the other hand, if one approaches life recognizing its ambiguity and even appreciating it, one broadens the possible approach to the challenges of a human life. It will also mean bonding with people in a way that leads to freedom.[4] We need to remember Nathanael for his simplicity of heart and sincerity. Before we look for truth, God, who is truth, has already looked for us. 

As the story continues, Nathaniel has a hesitant and resistant response to the “come and see” invitation. ⁴⁸ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Many people speculate what Nathanael was doing there. It relies upon an image of an Israelite sitting under the fig tree who studied Scripture. More importantly, Jesus knew and found Nathanael before Nathanael came to see Jesus. The initiative in conversion remains with Jesus. ⁴⁹ Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, (the first title) you are (the second title) the Son of God! You are (the third title) the King of Israel!” The order seems odd to a believer today. Yet, in popular first-century Jewish thought, these two titles were synonymous, as the “Son of God” was a title of Israel’s kings (II Samuel 7:14; Psalm 2:7).^[5]  We also have an insight into the notion of conversion in John, where conversion (recognizing and acknowledging who Jesus is) occurs when the person (Nathaniel or Simon) has a personal encounter with Jesus.^[6] 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” Once Nathaniel has believed, he receives a still greater promise from Jesus. The initial faith that Jesus has brought about is to grow through further revelations of Jesus. ⁵¹And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” The segment concludes with what some scholars think of as a detached Son of Man saying that John uses here. Son of Man is a title Jesus most uses when he refers to himself. Ezekiel uses it nearly a hundred times to refer to a human being. Daniel 7:13 uses the term to refer to a more than human person. In the progression of titles, one would think of the final title, given by Jesus, would be the most important. It may unite the human and divine titles already given. Thus, the last two verses provide yet another title, or image of the identity of Jesus. Throughout the gospel, John shows how Jesus reinterprets the festivals of first-century Judaism. Thus, the Passover in John becomes a time to celebrate service. In addition, therefore, Jesus changes the understanding of the term “Son of God,” so that it takes on the more elevated sense of the only-begotten offspring of God.^[7] However, the unfolding of that understanding has yet to come and it leaves the believing reader unsatisfied: No title in this segment yet captures Jesus as characters had identified him earlier.

John has clarified the identity of Jesus in what later theology would call the Incarnation. The Incarnation is simply a divine surrender to the axiom that “seeing is believing.” So, God decides that robing divinity in fleshly form is not only a good thing, but an absolute necessity. People need to be able to see and touch the Divine. And so, they do. Even the author of this gospel reports in 1 John that those who were with Jesus saw and believed: “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:1-3).

To conclude, an early Christian tradition honored Philip at Hierapolis, the place of his death, along with the death of his elderly virgin daughters. A third daughter died in Ephesus, the burial place of John the apostle as well. He mentions another tradition in which four daughters of Philip, designated as prophets, all died at Hierapolis. He mentions the tradition represented by Luke in Acts 21:8 as well, who refers to four virgin daughters of Philip in Caesarea as prophets.^[8]

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^[1]                (vid., e.g., Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John [NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971], 130).

[2] —From “Christ You Offer Us Your Welcome,” a hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, 2019. Tune: Beach Spring.

[3] --John Adams, in a letter to his sons, quoted by David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 608-09.

[4] Edwin H. Friedman, Friedman's Fables (Guilford Press, 2014), 112.

^[5]                (Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John [Sacra Pagina. Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1998], 56).

^[6]                (Sandra M. Schneiders, The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture [Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1999], 193)

^[7]                (Raymond J. Brown, The Gospel of John v. 2 [Anchor Bible Library. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966], 1060).

[8]                Eusebius, Church History, III. 31:3,

I Corinthians 6:12-20

I Corinthians 6:12-20

¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.” ¹⁷ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

In I Corinthians 6:12-20, Paul will sum up his argument concerning sex to this point and provide a transition to the next two chapters. We may not talk about it in polite company, but sex is on our minds and in front of our eyes every day. Safer sex. Sex and the City. Sex Addicts Anonymous. Sex offenders. Sex Education. Sex Therapy. Sex on the Internet. Clearly, people have a passion for the subject. Today, sex is at the heart of our entertainment and advertisement industries. It is used to sell everything from breakfast cereal to school backpacks, and sexually provocative images, artists and clothing are marketed to children as young as age 6. Even little kids now receive literally thousands of messages a year about sex ... on television, in magazines, on billboards, in pop music. Unfortunately, for advertisers, new research shows that when a television or print ad uses sex to promote its product, people remember the sex, but forget the product! If sex has become our ultimate concern - one that completely permeates our entertainment, advertising, health and fashion industries - then it has become, in a sense, our god. 

Paul has a concern for a specific type of sexual relationship. However, he will direct us to several solid ethical principles that have broad application. He first addresses a phrase used by some in the community to justify behavior with which Paul does not agree. In fact, Paul may have said this phrase while among them, discovering now that they are misusing what he said. Yet, even in dealing with the difficult moral issues involved in this context, Paul goes back to the freedom of Christians.[1] ¹² “All things are lawful for me,” say his potential opponents, but not all things are beneficial, or for the common good. Here is one ethical principle. As we appreciate our freedom in Christ, we still have a moral obligation to consider the common good. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not allow anything to dominate me. Here is a second ethical principle. While proclaiming our freedom, Paul points out how easily appetites and their immediate gratification enslave some people. He notes that those who consider "all things lawful" may soon find themselves dominated by the pursuit of pleasure. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” his potential opponents say, and yet God will destroy both one and the other. The stomach and food go together. Yet, God is the agent of final judgment. Paul counters that just because one can do something does not mean that one ought to do it. Such a slogan became the basis for some believers to argue that frequenting prostitutes was simply a way for them to meet physical needs in a way that did not affect the soul. Pointing to his principle regarding the body, Paul reminds his readers that the body is meant not for fornication (pornea refers to the practice of prostitution, although in Jewish and Christian circles it could refer to any sexual activity by persons not married, which seems implied in Matthew 19:9, quoting from Deuteronomy 24:1-4. The closes Hebrew equivalent is “zonah,” which has the wider connotation of unfaithfulness). If the body is not for pornea, then, sharing a third ethical principle, the intent is that the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God intends us to use our bodies in ways that please the Lord, not in the random and potentially damaging ways represented by the term "fornication." He bases the importance of the body on the resurrection of Jesus. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Therefore, God naturally has expectations for how we use our earthly bodies while in this life. He now uses the body as a metaphor in order to get across his point regarding sexual behavior. This fourth ethical principle relates specifically to the Christian community. In our consideration of what we ought to do and to avoid, we need to consider its relation to the fellowship we have in the body of Christ. Thus, he asks, ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! To participate in prostitution and other sexual violations, then, involves Christ in those actions because we now constitute Christ's own body. The point appears to be that some in Corinth wanted to regard physical sex relations as something morally neutral and sexual intercourse with prostitutes as something quite simple, on part with the satisfaction of other physical needs.[2] Paul is referring to the impossibility in the sexual sphere of the Christian, one spirit with the Lord, is joined in body with a harlot, and therefore at root frivolously, unfaithfully, and in sheer lust.[3] ¹⁶ Do you not know that whoever unites oneself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, bringing us to a fifth ethical principle that narrowly relates to our sexual encounters, we find it said in Genesis 2:24 and Mark 10:8 that “The two shall be one flesh.” Sexuality, states Paul, should be seen as what God intended in the forming of man and woman. Food is important and we can meet that desire in many ways. However, sex is different in that we can meet sexual desire in one way. We are not to treat it casually. “We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.”[4] Those who engage in sex become part of one another - physically part of one another's bodies, but also part of one another's families. In Hebrew, the phrase has the double meaning of physical union and the union between family groups. Thus, the one with whom you engage in sexual activity should become by rights a member of your family with all the attendant rights to shelter, support and protection that family relationships imply. To have casual sex, and no doubt, to produce casual children, is a great social injustice. It denies the women affected, and the children of these women, to a legal place within society. This is an offense against human society. It is an offense against the community. It offends both the heavenly Christ, as a spiritual being thus linked to corporeal irresponsibility, and the earthly body of Christ, namely the community, whose standard of love does not allow for disposable relationships between its members. Paul does not regard the sexual sphere as unclean, of course. Rather, Christians will enter into sexual relationships with a concern for the whole being of the other, symbolized in the image of the two becoming one flesh.[5] ¹⁷ But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with the Lord. Theologically, this statement seems to make a distinction between the exalted Lord and the Spirit, ruling out full identity.[6] The power of the Spirit incorporates Christians into the body of Christ.[7] ¹⁸ Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. In Hebrew anthropology, the spirit and the body are one entity. Paul drives home his point by offering a sixth ethical principle. ¹⁹ Alternatively, do you not know that as a member of the Christian community, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? This statement theologically implies the deity of the Spirit.[8] Paul is also offering an important word for our time. As with many of these principles, they have application beyond the sexual encounter. We have freedom in the Christian life, yet, that freedom places upon us the responsibility of considering a variety of factors that should affect our sense of what we owe to each other. The rationale here is that since the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, what we do with our bodies is important to God. Just as the Spirit of God, while no one can confine to any one earthly place, took up residence in the temple in Jerusalem, so God's image, and Christ's Holy Spirit, reside within each human body. Just because the human soul will one day leave its earthly body does not make the "temple" that once contained it any less holy. Further, stating a seventh ethical principle, we need to remember that we have our bodies from God, and that we are not our own? ²⁰ For we were bought with a price. Believers live with the wonder and amazement of enjoying a relationship with God through the price of the death of the Son. The one who gave his life for them is also the one to whom they owe their lives. Paul may mean God has ransomed them from a higher slavery by the price paid by the death of Christ.  I prefer to think that he meant that God has bought them by the death of Christ into a new love relationship with God, with the death of Christ being the great example of that love. Therefore, we are to glorify God in the body. God has effected a change in ownership of the body. In the brief time we have on this earth, we are to bring glory or honor to God. This suggests that we are to make the human venture a success. We need to be part of making the real world a better place. Abuse or misuse of the body will mean I am less able to fulfill my calling in life. Any immorality on my part hurts me, those who love me, and those whom my life touches. God has paid s great price to make this unity between God and humanity a real one. Therefore, one should take this unity seriously and use one's body only to glorify God. Collectively, the Christian community is the body of Christ, the physical presence of the risen Christ in the world.  This limits individual freedom.  They are not free to do as they please because of their relationship to Christ and one another.  

To focus on the sexual encounter, Paul warns against the kind of sexual intercourse in which man and woman turn to each other merely for the satisfaction of sexual needs. The principle is that the Lord intends a union of two persons into “one flesh.” The Christian couple as “one flesh” corresponds with the fact that they are one spirit with the Lord. Belonging to a partner in marriage needs to correspond to the fact that both belong to Christ. They would contradict this if either of them belonged to a prostitute. The reason is that Christ is the faithfulness of God in person, whereas the prostitute personifies human unfaithfulness. Sexual intercourse with a prostitute can only be a sorry distortion of the completion between man and woman. Such intercourse does not complete the divine plan for human fellowship. It cannot complete self-satisfaction. It betrays such fellowship. Individuals do not seek the other in the totality of his or her personality. They seek only the sexual being as an occasion for self-satisfaction. One treats the other as an It. The other treats you as an It. Neither seeks true connection. They merely answer to the legitimate sexual impulse or desire they have.[9]

If sexual satisfaction becomes our primary concern, then we have made it a god that rules the consideration of what we do with our lives. However, what intrigues me is the insight Paul has into ethical behavior. He is not laying down a law. Yet, those who do not approach legalistically still have to consider how they use their freedom. None of the principles is an absolute. Rather, they are insights that ought to guide us in our discernment of what we ought to do, how we ought to live, and what we owe each other. The overarching theological principle is that the Father raised Jesus from the dead through the power of the Spirit. Paul is extracting from this act of the Father the importance of what we do in the body. Given the resurrection of the body and the hoped for resurrection of the dead, we know the body is important to God. Thus, we need to consider prayerfully how a specific action contributes to the benefit of the community or how it might lead to our enslavement to immediate gratification. We are to offer our bodily activities in ways that bring pleasure to the Lord. We need to remember that our bodies are part of another body, the Body of Christ, a community that is the physical presence of the risen Lord in this world. As each part of our bodies affect and influence the other part, so what we do affects those with who we are in fellowship. In particular, we need to remember that thoughts and actions relate to the friendship we have with Christ. Specifically related to sexual encounters, we are to remember what God intended in creation, in which man and woman become one flesh, a view Jesus endorses in Mark 10:8. If more men and women honored this principle, many of the problems related to Hollywood and politics would not have happened. The point here is that sex is different from other desires. For most people, sexual desire is so strong that it can rule. Of course, other legitimate desires can gain a sinful place in our lives, but sexuality is something that touches almost everyone. Freud, for all his faults, rightly raised the pervasive nature of sexual nature to our consciousness. To broaden the discussion beyond sexual encounters again, as we consider how we ought to live, we need to remember that as free as we are, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who lives within us. In another moment of amazement and wonder for the believer, the Spirit as the third “person” of “mode of being” of the Trinity lives within us. Therefore, it matters to God how we care for the temple in which the Spirit dwells. We could apply this principle to many areas of our personal and corporate behavior. Finally, we need to consider the death of Christ on the cross, part of the point of which was to deliver us from the forces that enslave us and bring us freedom. If we pause here for a moment, amazement and wonder is the proper response to the story that anyone would die for us so that we could be free and enjoy life with God here and forever. In this case, the “story” involves the Son of the Father. Those being the case how ought we to live. What do we owe to each other? From the perspective of the believer, our lives are an offering to God. Our lives ought to bring glory and honor to God. When it comes to ethics, we might consider other matters. However, I find these insights from Paul offering much upon which we might want to ponder. Prayerfully, humbly, I conclude, let it be so, Lord Jesus, in my life and in the lives of anyone who might read this.

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[1] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 68.

[2] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.4 [54.1] 135.

[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.4 [54.1] 145.

[4] --Sam Keen, To Love and Be Loved (Bantam, 1999).

[5] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.4 [54.1] 135.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 269.

[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 451.

[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 303.

[9] Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2 [45.3] 305-8.

I Samuel 3:1-20

I Samuel 3:1-20

            Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; ³ the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. ⁴ Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” ⁵ and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸ The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹ Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. ¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”

¹⁵ Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.”

¹⁹ As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

I Samuel 3:1-20 focus on the complicated process of discerning that the Lord was calling Samuel. The story qualifies as a spectacular account of the calling of one of the key transitional figures in the Old Testament. Such stories can do more harm than good for modern readers. Many such specular stories have a disturbing, taking the person apart dimension, before it puts the person back together to fulfill their calling. Yet, for many of us, such spectacular accounts of a divine call set the bar so high that leaves most people what want to find the purpose of God in their lives feeling like they have come up short.[1] A call from the Lord can seem strange. I think of several movies that have this theme, such as Field of Dreams, O God, Bruce Almighty, and Evan Almighty. In a humorous way, such movies make a serious point. As philosophers like Martin Buber would put it, human reality is dialogical. We are always people whom a preceding Thou addresses. This Thou, someone other than ourselves, some external other whose presence and address to us summons us forth, forms us into beings who are more human than we would have been without the address. This Other is different from us, but also inescapable; in conversation with us, yet free from us. We are not alone. This is the greatest divine gift, our greatest human attribute, and always our great problem. The call of Samuel involves such an address. It comes at a transitional moment in early Israel. The period of the tribal federation, dominated by the Mosaic pattern of covenant that binds a loosely confederated group of tribes, has failed. The House of Eli is the culmination of that failure among the priestly class. However, Joshua and Judges record the steady decline. Samuel will represent the best of the old prophets, religious leaders, and judges. He will also be the transitional figure to the long period of sacral kingship. His birth and his call highlight his importance in the early period of the history of Israel. 

We learn immediately that Samuel has become obedient and had dedication to his position as he works with Eli at the shrine, for ¹Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. Yet, we also learn that the word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. The call Samuel is to hear from the Lord is unexpected because it had not happened in such a long time. The moral state of the family of Eli and the degeneration of spiritual life at Shiloh makes this result understandable. The writer presents Samuel as innocent and separate from such spiritual sickness. Further, the word of the Lord is not a reality in the same way that an object of sense perception is a reality. Matters quantifiable by math or science, even psychological explorations of the psyche, are real in the sense that they have a universal quality. In contrast, the word of the Lord is an event connected to a specific time, place, and people. This explains why it can become rare. In good Israelite tradition, the guiding of Samuel by the Lord begins with an event of the word.[2] We learn ² At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, simply indicating that he is growing old. A new generation is getting ready to replace him. The time is ripe for the young Samuel to step into the shoes of aging Eli. Samuel was lying down in his room, in the nave with the door closed. Eli is in the vestibule. Further, ³the lamp of God had not yet gone out. Lamps in the sanctuary were to burn from evening until morning. Exodus 27:20-21 refers to the command for lamps in the Tent of Meeting, but outside the curtain behind which was the Ark of the Covenant. Thus, the call from the Lord takes place before dawn. The lamp had not yet consumed its oil, indicating the evening was not too far along. It is late enough to be quiet and reflect. Samuel was lying down where the ark of God was. The Ark was in the back of the nave in the inner sanctuary. We do not know why Samuel slept there, but it may have related to his fulfilling a ritual function. Some interpreters go in for some symbolic meaning to these phrases, but I would urge a closer connection to what the author has said. It keeps the story simple and focuses on the main point, which will come soon enough. We as readers know that ⁴ Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel! This call comes from the Ark. The summons is direct and personal, urgently calling him by name. It does not frighten him. He assumes a familiar source. Thus, since no one has had a divine communication for a long time, Samuel does not recognize the origin of the voice. Samuel does not know the voice when he responds Here I am! We see another example of the obedience and faithfulness of Samuel. He assumes Eli is calling, ⁵ and so without hesitation ran to Eli, his master, and said, Here I am (declaring his presence), for you called me (declaring his eagerness to serve). However, Eli tells him that I did not call; lie down again. Samuel is obedient, for he went and lay down. ⁶The Lord called again, and we see the incident repeated a second time. The writer informs us that Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the Lord had not yet revealed the word of the Lord to Samuel. Samuel does not know the Lord now in the way he shall know the Lord. The Lord is the author of the content of the prophetic word Samuel shall receive. Here, the word goes out from the Lord, with the coming disclosure or revelation in a way that shows the indirectness of revelation. What we have in this call is not so much self-disclosure as a content or message that comes from the Lord.[3] ⁸The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. The repeated pattern of three is typical of Hebrew literature. This time, however, Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. ⁹Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Eli still knows the proper way to respond to a call from the Lord and can help Samuel do so. His guidance, along with the faithful and obedient service Samuel renders, will become a pattern that many who hope to hear a call from the Lord will follow. Eli shows that the first step in becoming a prophet is a listening ear. One will need to become quiet, a difficult practice for many of us. Samuel is becoming open to his unique encounter with the Lord, even as each of us has our unique encounter with the Lord. So the obedient and faithful Samuel went and lay down in his place. On the fourth time, ¹⁰ Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, Samuel! Samuel! Again, we find Samuel obedient and faithful in his service as he responds with the words of Eli, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” This communication from the Lord is both a vision and a voice. The content of the message refers to 2:27-28 and the fall of the house of Eli. ¹¹ Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. ¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. The author of this history of Israel, the Deuteronomist, makes it clear that Eli shall receive punishment: ¹³ For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴ Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”According to Leviticus 4:3-12, priests atone for their sins by the offering of a bull. The offending priest is to lay hands on the bull before slaughtering before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting. The anointed priest is to take some of the blood to the Tent of Meeting and sprinkle it seven times in front of the curtain of the sanctuary and the altar. With this sin offering, the priest shall remove the fat, kidneys, and liver and burn them upon the altar. The priest shall bring the rest outside the camp for burning. In this prophetic word to Samuel, we learn that Eli has been making this offering, but the Lord will no longer accept it. The Lord is getting ready to overthrow the old order represented by the priest, evoked by the failure of the priestly family, which had been greedy and disobedient. We also see the persistence of the Lord in working with this family. ¹⁵ Samuel will lay there until morning. Then, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Understandably, Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. ¹⁶ But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son,” He said, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ Eli said What was it that the Lord told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So again, Samuel is obedient and faithful in his service, ¹⁸ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. The response of Eli seems clueless: Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.” Eli seems dull here, in contrast to the guileless responsiveness of Samuel. In Chapter 1, Eli could not tell the difference between prayer and drunkenness. In this chapter, he does not recognize the voice of the Lord. He becomes a tragic-comic dramatic figure. The divine assertion marks the delegitimation of the dominant priestly family, and with it, the delegitimation of the entire symbolic sacrificial system on which Israel relied. The account begins and ends with reference to the word of the Lord.

The passage ends with commenting on ¹⁹ As Samuel, grew up recognizing that the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ And all Israel knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet (nabi, one called to duty by the Lord) of the Lord. Samuel will also show himself to be priest, warrior, judge, and governor. 

Yes, the call of the Lord is mysterious. It can come in the darkness of faith. It can be so subtle that we must be in the deepest silence within us in order to hear it.[4] The first sign of faith may well be a matter of taking the first step up when you do not see the whole staircase.[5] Becoming open to the call of the Lord upon your life may begin, for some persons, when they are so tired and fed up with what they have done with their lives that go on to something they believe will be better, namely, responding to what they hear as the call of the Lord.[6] Yet, we must take care. This text lets everyone off the hook by identifying the call as a word of the Lord. As such a word, it requires a certain type of response. While true, we need to be discerning people. We may hear something as a call from the Lord when a discerning response might view it as something else. Responding to a call from the Lord is a matter of responding to the “Thou” who addresses us, but in a way that walks a line between being excessively submissive and excessively resistant.[7] It will always require some time in discernment. In fact, much of life is a process of knowing when to assert and when to yield to the Other who gives our lives significance. If we do not know when to assert, we will submit to the Thou of the crowd and thus to harried conformity. Yet, not knowing when to submit will lead to arrogant self-indulgence and graceless self-sufficiency that never receives the gifts of life. The growth of our sense of self, who we are and why we are, depends upon the unsettling nature of our encounter with the Thou. The persistent work of humanity is between our desire for a protective embrace and a desire for heroic self-assertion.[8] I am not sure, but this entire sense of calling is a sense of the poignant rightness of our lives. Due to the inevitable call from Thou, we intuitively sense that Thou and I must find each other. In the finding is our peace and harmony. Until they find each other, we might also sense that the disharmony we experience must be temporary. This encounter will penetrate us in a loving way. Some will find the surprise that the encounter is far more about joy than fear. Our sense of incompletion, frustration, purposelessness, and wandering, will give way to completion, harmony, and home.[9]

The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel there by the word of the Lord. Further, the word of Samuel came to all Israel. The story stresses the persistence of the Lord, the dullness of Eli, and the guileless response of Samuel.

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[1] In spired by Barbara Brown Taylor, in her article “True Purpose,” (Christian Century, February 21, 2001)

[2] Barth, Church Dogmatics I.1 [5.3] 158. 

[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 202.

[4] Carlo Carretto, Letters from the Desert (Orbis, 1982), xv.

[5] Martin Luther King Jr.

[6] Eugene H. Peterson.

[7] (Walter Brueggemann, The Covenanted Self, [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999], p. 2).

[8] D. W. Winnicott and his object relations theory.

[9] - Leslie Weatherhead, "The Inevitable Encounter," Steady in an Unsteady World: Sermons by Leslie Weatherhead, Stephen A. Odom, ed., Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1936, pp. 103-105

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSV)

¹ O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from far away.

³ You search out my path and my lying down,

and are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,

O Lord, you know it completely.

⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,

and lay your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is so high that I cannot attain it.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

that I know very well.

¹⁵      My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

In your book were written

all the days that were formed for me,

when none of them as yet existed.

¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ I try to count them—they are more than the sand;

I come to the end —I am still with you.

Psalm 139 is like the beautiful Hindu text Atharva Veda Book IV, Hymn 16, from 1200-1000 BC. The Hindu hymn offers a praise to the gods, who beholds the worlds as though nearby. It warns that one who thinks he or she acts by stealth, the gods see and know. The gods know what we whisper or do in secret. King Varuna is like the secret presence of another in all that we do. King Varuna possesses all we see to the furthest regions. He beholds all that is between the heavens and the earth and what is beyond them. Yet, he also sees how often we blink. He is the watcher of humanity. He lays snares and the hymn prays that they will catch the liar. He sends disease and drives it away. He is like one native to the land and one who is a stranger. He is celestial and human. We find a similar spirit binds these two hymns together. 

The Psalm deals with theological concepts of omnipresence and omniscience. One of the reasons scholars tend to date this psalm late in the biblical period is because of its presentation of divine omniscience, specifically of human emotions, thoughts and will. Although the idea of God having knowledge of our thoughts seems commonplace to contemporary readers of the Bible, and although the notion is not unique to this psalm, it is not a common motif in the OT, which focuses far more of its attention on human acts rather than on their underlying motives. Psychological “roundedness,” of the sort that modern anthropology takes for granted, is not a theme we find widely in the Old Testament, occurring in the books of Job and Jeremiah. For example, we might note Jeremiah 17:10, “I the Lord test the mind / and search the heart, // to give to all according to their ways, / according to the fruit of their doings”. Bible scholars understand such themes to be a development from the wisdom tradition in Israel and surrounding cultures.

The psalm is one of the theological and literary treasures of the Bible. One of the most familiar and beautiful of the Hebrew Psalms, the psalm stresses two main theological points: God's omniscient omnipresence and God's role as creator, not only of the created universe, but also as the divine parent of every human being. The Psalm addresses the first of these topics in verses 1-12 and the second in verses 13-18. It challenges human thought and experience, often disorienting even as it profoundly discloses truth. Since one of the provocative questions of human existence concerns how a woman or a man may find a place in an often-hostile universe, the enthusiasm with which readers over the generations have responded to Psalm 139 is understandable.  This wonderful hymn of Israel sings not just of a God who cares, but also of a God whose being has such an intimate connection with our own being that God forms part of the fabric of each of us. We sense that the author finds amazement that God has such intimate knowledge of him as an individual. Yet, we also wonder if he has some fear that God knows him so well. The searching and examining that God performs on him, and on us, is not always welcome. We are naked before God, but we may want to conceal some things. We do conceal some things from others and even from ourselves. The author reminds us that we can conceal nothing from God. In fact, as God seeks me and finds me, I discover my identity. God has an all-embracing knowledge of us as individuals that rests upon the presence of God with all creation. In other words, the omnipresence of God is the basis for the omniscience of God. The author seems amazed and a little frightened by all this. Yet, in the end, he invites God to search, know, and test him. He invites God to question, probe, and engage in a detailed investigation of him. Yet, the purpose is simple. In welcoming such examination, the psalmist can be the person God wants him to be. He moves toward his true self as God intended.

The superscription to the Psalm is typical. To the leader (lam-menatzeach). The reference is to the leader of musicians at the temple.  Mitchell Dahood has suggested the view that a "leader" wrote this psalm (but a religious one, not just the musical one) whom others accused of worshiping foreign gods.^[1] Seen in this light, it does sound like an appeal to innocence on the part of someone so accused. Only a true worshiper of YHWH would believe in YHWH's role in his or her conception and birth. Only a true worshiper of YHWH would be willing to have YHWH examine him and would trust that YHWH knew the true content of his or her heart. While this is certainly an interesting idea, and a compelling lens through which to read the psalm, it is, of course, only one context for which one might have written the psalm. Of David(le-david). Psalm 139 is one of 75 out of the 150 that the canon identifies to be "of" or "for" David. The other "Davidic" psalms are 3-9, 11-32, 34-41, 51-65, 68-70, 86, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 138-145. It is unclear from the phrase if it identifies David as the author of all these psalms. It is possible that the Hebrew phrase means "about David," "belonging to David" or "written for David." A Psalm (mizmor). This implies writing the psalm for voices rather than instruments. 

Psalm 139:1-18 is an exquisitely detailed and poetic description of divine omniscience.

Psalm 139: 1-6 express the intimate knowledge the Lord has of the self. ¹ O Lord, you have searched (chaqar, implying a thoroughgoing investigation and not simply a steady penetrating gaze) me in the past, in the sense of questioning, probing, detailed investigation, and cross-examination. Further, the Lord has known (yada’ suggesting intimate knowledge) him, in the sense of intimate knowledge. The Psalmist then offers the classical expressions of the inescapability of the presence of God.^[2] 2 You know (yada’) when I sit down and when I rise up, an expression comprising the whole of one’s life and activity; you discern my thoughts from far away. One of the chief features of wisdom literature that distinguishes it from other (usually, but not always, earlier) types of biblical literature is its universality: the universality of divine rule and the universality of the human condition under that rule. Ancient Israel, like all its neighbors, originally conceived of its god as a localized divine patron, whose influence and protection were found first in local shrines (such as Bethel) and later in the land of Israel itself, primarily in the temple in Jerusalem. Note the geographical specificity in the petition in Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple in I Kings 8:41-43. “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name — for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand and your outstretched arm — when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you.” Although they understood Yahweh to dwell in heaven, they understood the activity and influence of Yahweh to focus primarily on the chosen people in the Promised Land. This psalm’s reference to “far away” may suggest heaven, but more likely, it refers to the universality of the divine presence. ³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know (yada’) it completely. ⁵ You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me, an expression for divine control and assistance. The Lord has knowledge of the everyday activities of the poet, as well as inner thoughts and not-yet-uttered words. His point is that we stand naked before the Lord. We can conceal nothing from the Lord. On the practical side, one who knows us this well may not always be a welcome guest. Yet, we find no suggestion of judgment. ⁶ Such knowledge (da’at) is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain (context suggesting “fathom,” “comprehend” or “grasp” would be better, since the psalmist has no intention of trying to attain divine knowledge; he simply cannot grasp how Yahweh can have such knowledge) it. He marvels that the Lord knows him in such a personal way. As the Lord has searched him and found him, he discovers his identity as the beloved child of the Lord. He only hints in this negative direction. We see more clearly the fearful side of these matters in Job 7:17-21. Job wants the Lord to look away from him for a while because the Lord is paying too much attention! His little sin does nothing to the majesty of God. He wants pardon. Yet, he shall be in Sheol, where the Lord will seek him but not find him. 

One who knows us as well as the Lord does is not always a welcome guest. Everyone does or says things they would rather keep hidden. The point here may not be so much “original sin” as “original shame.” Many people today feel stupid, inadequate, dirty, or unworthy. The assumption is that if people knew the real self, they would not love us. The feeling is one of almost radical unworthiness. To counteract this, we need to see the Lord clearly, which usually comes from an experience that teaches us that God has mercy toward us even with our unruly behavior. Out of that experience, amendment of our behavior can follow. We must first experience original blessing from the Lord, realizing the Lord chooses us and loves us. If we focus upon sin and shame, we will dig a pit so deep we never get out of it.^[3] Of course, this does not mean we are to have a form of cheap optimism that says it is useless to waste our time in regretting what we have done wrong in our past. Such experiences are a matter of constant conversation with the Lord. We are sinners. Our sin is all part of our days’ work! We are to be sin-conscious always, which is why we consistently offer confession of sin.^[4]

In Psalm 139:13-18, the poet extols the role of the Lord in creation, but on very intimate terms, describing the mysteriously wonderful process of gestation. The Lord saw the poet even in the womb. The Lord skillfully prepares all things. We find here the classical expression of the inescapability of the presence of the Lord, with nowhere to hide.^[5] 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. The word of the Lord to Jeremiah is that the Lord formed him in his mother womb, setting him apart, and appointing him (Jeremiah 1:5). Another prophet is confident that the Lord called him before he was born and has spoken his name from the womb of his mother (Isaiah 49:1). Paul testifies that God set him apart in the womb of his mother (Galatians 1:15). ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Elsewhere, this is another way of describing Sheol (Job 40:13; Isaiah 45:19). It is puzzling why the site of creation should be located in Sheol. ¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. The Old Testament refuses to limit the creative power of the Lord by linking it with preexistence matter. They imply unrestricted freedom of creative action that is behind the traditional phrase, “creation out of nothing.”^[6] We can also see an element of the teleology of the divine action of the ordering Spirit bringing order to the origin of the cosmos.^[7] In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. Elsewhere, God has a book with the names of the righteous written in it (Malachi 3:16), but only here in Psalm 139 and in Psalm 40:7 does God keep more extended data in such records than just names. The concept behind this image is clear, however. The Lord knows everything about us before we live out our lives. ¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end —I am still with you. Divine thoughts are unfathomable, as in Isaiah 55:8-9. The poet would want us as readers to reflect upon how the Lord has personally and caringly fashioned us and intended for us to be here. In fact, the Lord continues to fashion us after the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-29, II Corinthians 3:18, Colossians 3:10), so that we might become “a new creation” (II Corinthians 5:17). Immanuel, God is with us, is a central affirmation of both testaments. The biblical intent is that we respond with a correspondingly strong affirmation: We are with God. 

We are not accidents. We are not mistakes. We have a reason to be here. The breath of God has given life to us. In the song by Casting Crowns, we have this reminder about our lives.

I am a flower quickly fading 

Here today and gone tomorrow 

A wave tossed in the ocean 

Vapor in the wind 

Still You hear me when I'm calling 

Lord, You catch me when I'm falling 

And You've told me who I am 

I am Yours, I am Yours 

 

Yes, life is so very brief. The older I become, the briefer it seems. Yet, God has an interest in this briefly existing flower, this little wave in the ocean of history. I have every reason to lift up my soul.

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^[1] (Psalms 101-150 [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970], 284).

[2] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology 1998, 1991)Volume 1, 379.

^[3] —Richard Rohr, “Original shame and original blessing,” Center for Action and Contemplation website, July 1, 2016. cac.org. Retrieved March 25, 2019.

^[4] English priest Ronald Knox.

[5] (Pannenberg, Systematic Theology 1998, 1991) Volume 1, 379. 

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 17. 

[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 386.