Jamie Greening's Blog, page 14

Galatians 4 — Where Did Your Happiness Go?

For me, as a translator and reader, the frustration level Paul feels with these people in the Galatian church(es) is mounting. He has worked himself up to a place where he just doesn’t know what to do with them. He seems to try one more thing — allegory.

As always, the translation is first, taken from the Greek New Testament. Behind that are translation notes and then we finish with five questions you can use for personal study/reflection or in a group Bible study.

Galatians: Chapter Four

1. What I say is this, at the time an infant inherits, he is practically no different than a slave, although he is the master of everything.

2. He is under a guardian and steward until the time approved by the father.

3. We are, then, when we were infants, enslaved under the elements of this world. 

4. But when the right time came, God sent out his own son, born of a woman, born under the law

5. so that he might ransom those under the law, and then we can receive adoption. 

6. You are now children to whom God sent out the Spirit of his son, crying out in our hearts, ‘Abba, Father.’ 

7. You are no longer slaves, but children, and if children, then inheritors through God. 

8. Back when you did not know God, you were enslaved to nature, which is not God.

9. But now you know God, and even more you are known by God. How then is it you turn again to the weak and inferior elements? Do you wish to serve them as you did at the beginning

10. by observing days, months, seasons, and years? 

11. I fear there is a possibility my work with you has been in vain. 

12. I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, just as I became like you. You did me no harm. 

13. I preached to you the first time, as you know, because my body was sick.*

14. You did not despise me nor reject me, even though my body put so much trouble on you. Quite the opposite, you received me as an angel of God, like I was Messiah Jesus. 

15. Where did your happiness go? I testify to you that back then, if you had been able to, you would have dug out your eyes and given them to me.

16. So, I have now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 

17. They care about you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to shut you out, hoping that you might care only for them.

18. It is always good to have someone care about you if for a good reason, and not just when it is convenient ***

19. My children; again I am in labor until Messiah is born**** in you, 

20. but I wish I was with you right now so I could change my tone. But I am at a loss about you. 

21. Those of you who want to be under the law, tell me, will you listen to the law?

22. For it is written that Abram had two sons, one by the slave girl and one by the free woman.

23. The child of the slave girl was born in a natural way, while the child of the free woman by promise.***** 

24. Which, if it is allegorized, these two women are two covenants. One which was born on Mt. Sinai into slavery, which is Hagar. 

25. But Hagar, which is Mt. Sinai in Arabia, now corresponds to Jerusalem where she is enslaved along with her children. 

26. By contrast, the Jerusalem from above is the free woman, who is our mother. 

27. For it is written, ‘Rejoice, barren woman, who has not given birth. Shout and cry, but not in birth pangs, for the lonely have more children than those with a husband.’

28. You, brothers and sisters, are children according to the promise of Isaac. 

29. Just as when the child born of natural means kept persecuting the child of the Spirit, so it is now.

30. What does the scripture say? ‘Throw out the servant girl and her son, for the son of the slave girl will not inherit with the son of the’ free.******

31. You see, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave girl, but of the free woman.  

Translation Notes

*literally ‘weakness of the flesh’ which is best interpreted an illness. Speculation at this point is that Paul got sick when he first arrived among the Galatian churches. No small amount of ink has been spilled throughout history guessing his illness.  

** The word I am translating as ‘care’ is ‘to be interested in.’ That feels clunky in English. 

***I took great liberty here in the rendering. The second part of the phrase is ‘not only when I am present with you.’ I think Paul gets a little around his pronouns and ideas here, and what he is trying to convey is that it is nice when people care about you, but not just when it is to their benefit which he refers to as ‘present’. 

**** ‘formed in you’ but given the context, I feel like he means born but it could mean develop, grow, or shaped. The image is powerful. 

*****the word ‘child’ does not appear in this verse. It is completely insinuated. 

******The original citation in Genesis 21:10 does not have the word ‘free’ in it but instead references Isaac by name.

Study Questions

The apostle uses cosmic language to describe whom we are enslaved too — the elements of this world. I believe he is referencing sin, which is woven into everything. How is sin fundamentally a part of this world? How will it ever get out of it? If we took vv 9-10 at face value, then we’d stop observing Christmas, Easter, Advent, Lent, Pentecost and maybe even Sunday as a special day of worship. That is probably not what Paul is talking about. But what is he talking about? In verse 17 there is a change in focus – now it is on the troublemakers among the Galatians. Paul says they are pretending to be interested in them but are really shutting them out. This is a common practice among manipulative people today – to overwhelm a person with attention for the sole purpose of silencing all the other voices – family, friends, church – so that they have complete control. Have you ever observed this taking place? Has it ever happened to you? What is the best way to handle it? I almost translated verse 20 as Paul saying, “I just don’t know what to do with you.” You can sense his feeling of helplessness. In verse 11 he says that he is afraid all his work is meaningless, or ‘in vain’. Has there ever been a church situation you feel the same way about? How about in your family? How do you cope with these feelings? How did Paul? This chapter finishes with a very troubling analogy. Abram abandoned his parental responsibilities to his firstborn son, Ishmael, and left him and his mother, Hagar, in grave jeopardy and peril as he made them leave. Paul himself describe it as an allegory. Does that soften it? How much liberty should we have in taking hard places in the Bible and ‘allegorizing’ them?

Galatians Chapter Three: ‘Stupid Galatians’

The third chapter of Galatians was incredibly enjoyable to translate. As one working with the text, the nuance of Paul’s writing in the last half of the chapter gave way to more creative freedom, at least that is what I felt, in finding the the right wording and tone. On a personal note, he starts out by insulting them, but finishes the chapter with the beautiful soaring rhetoric of inclusion. It is kind of funny, if you think about it — ‘Hey idiot . . . we’re in this together’.

As usual, there are three parts here. The first is the translation from the Greek New Testament. The second part is translation notes and the last are study questions for personal reflection or for group study. I finished the translation this morning for Chapter Four, and will post it next week, one week at a time finishing right before the season of Lent begins.

Galatians: Chapter Three 

1. Stupid Galatians!* Who tricked you? It was before your very eyes Messiah Jesus has been publicly crucified.

2. There is only one thing I want to learn from you; did you receive the Spirit from works of the law or by hearing then believing? 

3. You are truly tricked — beginning in the Spirit and now finishing in the flesh. 

4. Why did you suffer so much for nothing? If it was for nothing. 

5.  So come now, does the one who supplies you with the Spirit and wonder-working power do so by works of the law or by hearing then believing 

6. just like Abram who ‘believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness’?**

7. You should know this, those who believe are the children of Abram.

8. The scriptures predicted the Gentiles would be made right by believing when God gave the gospel beforehand to Abram, that ‘all the Gentiles will be blessed in you.’

9. So now those who believe are blessed with the faith of Abram. 

10. Those who count on the works of the law are under a curse because it is written, ‘Everyone is accursed who does not keep everything and do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ 

11. For it is clear no one is made right with God by the law, for, ‘those who are right will live by belief.’

12.  The law is not out of belief, therefore, the one who has done them, ‘will live by them.’ 

13. Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law. By becoming accursed for us, and so it is written, ‘accursed is everyone who has been hanged on a tree.’ 

14. So now the blessing of Abram stretched to the Gentiles in Messiah Jesus, and thereby we might receive the promised Spirit through belief. 

15. Brothers and sisters, let me speak to it in an everyday human way; it’s all very similar to a will that’s already probated, and no one can annul any of it or add a codicil. 

16. The promise was made to Abram and his seed***. It does not say ‘seeds, as though it were plural, but from one – your seed – who is Messiah. 

17. I tell you this, a will already probated by God cannot be annulled by the coming of the law four hundred and thirty years later.  The promise cannot be cancelled. 

18. If the inheritance comes from the law, it is no longer by the promise, but God has bestowed the promise to Abram.

19. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressors until the promised seed would come. It was handed down by the angels, mediators. 

20. The mediator was not one, but God is one.

21. Is the law then against the promise of God? Never! If the law that was given was able to bring life, then rightness really would come from the law. 

22. For the scriptures locked everyone up under sin, so that the promise comes by belief in Jesus as Messiah to those who are believing. ****  

23. Before faith came, we were held captive under the law waiting for faith to be revealed. 

24. The law became our teacher in Messiah, so that we might be made right by belief. 

25. But belief has come. We are no longer under the teacher.

26. For all of you are children of God by belief in Jesus as Messiah. 

27. It is the people who have been baptized into Messiah that have clothed themselves in Messiah. 

28. There is no Jew nor Greek. There is no slave nor free. There is no male nor female. You are all one in Messiah Jesus. 

29. And, if you are of Messiah, then you are seed of Abram, inheritors by promise. 

Translation Notes

*Some translators use “foolish” but Paul doesn’t use the word most commonly associated with fool or foolish in the Bible, which is one of my favorite words, a root word of ‘moron’. He chooses a completely different word, and so did it. 

**It is hard to know where to put the question mark, but there is a question in verses 5-6.

***The word is ‘spermati’ or a root word for ‘sperm’. Paul plays with the singular and plural of the word here, so child/children or descendant/s works well. There is a sexual connotation to the word in the language of the New Testament, though, that the word ‘seed’ implies in English so I went with that instead of softening it up.

****It is redundant, but I believe the redundancy is a feature not a bug of this argument, so I resisted the urge to clean it up.

Study Questions

Paul did not attack the Galatians as being evil, but of being stupid. They weren’t thinking clearly on the issue. What issues do you think Christ-followers today do not think clearly about, i.e. are stupid about? Abram believed God, verse 6 says, which references Genesis 15, and it was counted unto him as righteousness. What did Abram believe about God?Verses 10-14 are some of the densest theological statements in the whole New Testament and are filled with Old Testament references. Use your Bible concordance and chase down all the Old Testament references and work through how Paul is using them. It is my contention that Paul is making an argument based on the Jewish tradition of angelic mediators of the law that the promise made to Abram was more durable primarily because God’s word trumps angelic action. Do you think he means the law was always inferior and defective? Paul uses the primary grouping of people — slave, free, Jew, Greek, and male and female to talk about the possible barriers in church life. What categories would you use today?

The Picture: A Valentine’s Day Short Story

The Fondue Writer’s Club is again presenting some free fiction for your holiday enjoyment. Of course, Valentine’s Day isn’t a real holiday, but that doesn’t stop us. Nothing can stop us from giving you free entertainment.

Yesterday Kathy Kexel started us off with a witch story (click here to read The Spinster Squad VS Cupid: A Valentine’s Day Massacre) and today I bring you The Picture. More stories are to come between now and the day of chocolates and roses.

Enjoy!

The Picture

Jamie D. Greening

            Her finger outlined him, and then her, and then him and her together, and then the wedding cake between them. It was her favorite photograph, and the only one she had from her wedding day: February 14, 1970. It was a frozen Saturday; her mother was angry at her for not choosing a summer month to wed. A cold front had come through the previous Thursday and there was a foot of snow on the ground. Her father kept teasing, ‘That was your plan all along, to guarantee a white wedding.’ 

            The wedding was her husband’s idea. He’d just gotten home from the Vietnam and didn’t want to wait any longer. Even though he was young, life had already told him that waiting for joy was a mistake. There are no guarantees the future you dream of will be waiting for you when you get there. They had met at church, dated a couple of times, and on the third date he proposed. She said yes. They have been together ever since.  

            Her mom made the wedding cake. She wore her Aunt Vivian’s wedding dress. Her mother’s wedding dress was too tall for her petite frame, but Vivian’s was perfect after a couple of minor adjustment she made herself. About twenty people were there, mostly neighbors and close friends. Their pastor performed the ceremony in about twenty minutes in the living room of the home they’d put a down payment on. She couldn’t remember a word the old man had said, but she knew her line: I do. She remembered how handsome her husband looked and how proud she was to be his wife. They honeymooned in their own house on a mattress with no frame because they didn’t have money for furniture.  

            She smiled at how times had changed. Things are different now from back then. Plainer. Simpler. Nicer. What mattered to them then was the urgency of being together. In all these years, the urgency hadn’t waned. She loved him more today, on their fifty-second wedding anniversary than on that icy day way back when. 

            His face in the photograph was so happy. The strong jawline which he inherited from his own father gave him rugged good looks. His hair was curly and thick, brushed but unruly. The United States Army took his hair away for so long, that he always let it grow out and long. She giggled remembering his Einstein hair of the late 1990s. Those were good years. The children had left home for college and work and their own life journeys. The two of them were on their own, but never alone as long as they had each other. They traveled throughout Europe, Egypt, and Canada. A memory of fishing in the summer on some isolated lake in Canada filled her mind and she remembered skinny dipping that night. She could still feel the coldness of the water on her skin. She heard his playful voice calling to her, ‘Swim out a little further with me.’ He took her by the hand and they danced in the water to music only the two of them could hear.  

            Those were good years.

            But not all of them were good. Those two young people so in love in that photograph couldn’t know of the troubles that would come at them, and so fast. Within a year, the foundry where he’d been hired after Vietnam closed. They were forced to move three states over for work. She’d never lived anywhere else but her hometown. Depression took her deep. Of course, then they didn’t talk about depression. But looking back, she could see just how dark things were.

            And they got darker. Their first child died three days after being born in the summer of 1973. She felt isolated, disconnected, grieving, and they were so poor. But he held her close at night and stroked her hair. He never promised quick fixes, he was far too smart for that. But he always was there. 

            By 1982, their financial situation had improved dramatically. It was short lived, though. The economic recession of the early Reagan years hit his company hard. Again, he was out of work, but this time there was nowhere else to go. For eighteen months he looked and looked, but there was nothing of substance. In those months, he roofed houses, poured concrete, and took whatever manual labor he could find to keep food on the table and the lights on. She, likewise, began working as a waitress at a diner. She’d never worked outside the home in her life. She hated it. 

            She clutched the picture to her chest. Those were tough times, but it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. In 1985, they borrowed a little money and opened their own business, a little dry-cleaner. He ran the machines, which he loved to tinker with, and she made alterations. By contrast to working for someone else, she loved this work. All three of their children did their time working in the business. The business grew to seven locations around the city. They eventually handed day-to-day operations over to their daughter, the middle child, who thrived at management. 

            Those two young lovers in the picture could not in any way have known the joy of raising a family and creating something together. She imagined what she would tell them if she could go back in time and whisper in their ear? What would she say? She thought for a long time and decided the only thing she would say to her younger version was, ‘Take more pictures.’

            Through the years her eyesight had dimmed, but her hearing was still strong so she heard him leave the bedroom. She carried the picture down the stairs with her and met him in the kitchen. 

            ‘Did you sleep well?’

            ‘Yes, but I can’t find my wife. Do you know where she is?’

            ‘Honey, I’m right here.’ She took him by the arm and led him to the table and sat him down. ‘Let me get you a cup of coffee. Do you want cereal this morning? Would you like me to scramble you an egg?’

            ‘Cereal is fine,’ He said. ‘But you know what would be good? An omelet like they served in Paris.’

            ‘Oh, I remember those. With the croissant and the delicious coffee in those little tiny cups.’

            Her mood lifted as she remembered how when they came back from their trip to Paris in 1993 they ate omelets almost every day for a year. She decided to keep it simple this morning with ham and cheese. He hadn’t asked for one of those in a long time. She wondered if he knew what today was, somewhere down deep.

            Within ten minutes she sat the two plates down at the table and they began to eat in silence. She reached over to him and said, ‘Happy Anniversary. I love you.’

            He stared at her with the all-too-common look he gave now. The look that said he didn’t understand or couldn’t put the pieces together. She knew he was the same man, but this dreaded disease had robbed him of his mind, like a bandit that steals away treasure from a safe place, but not all at once; the robber comes and takes a little bit at a time, piece by piece until all that is left is an empty room where memories used to be.

            She drank her coffee and observed that his jawline was still strong. His hair gray but still thick and unruly. His eyes bright with kindness. In all their years he’d never raised his voice at her or the children. He was incapable of meanness. 

            She turned on the radio and they listened to music while she cleaned the dishes. She’d pulled out the china her father and mother had given them as a wedding present. She knows he didn’t notice, but it felt right to her to use it today.  

            When she returned to the table with him, she realized she’d left their wedding picture there on the table. He’d picked it up and was looking at it.

            ‘This is us, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘It was cold. It snowed. We got married.’

            ‘Yes, we did. Today is our anniversary—Valentine’s Day.’

            He looked at her and said, ‘I love you.’ 

            She tried to hold back the tears, but she couldn’t. They flowed from her eyes like Niagara Falls. He reached over and stroked her hand, ‘Don’t cry. It has been such a wonderful ride.’ 

            ‘It certainly has.’ She stood up, hugged him from behind and kissed his forehead. Then she went to the bathroom to splash some water on her face and wipe away the tears. When she returned, he was standing at the window looking out.

            ‘Do you want to get dressed,’ she asked him. ‘Maybe we can go outside for a little walk. The doctor says that is good for you, and I know I’d like the fresh air.’

            He stared at her. ‘Not just yet. I am waiting for my wife to get back. I don’t know where she is, but I know she’ll be back soon.’  

Galatians Chapter Two — ‘I am crucified with Messiah’

Last week I posted my rendering of (click here) Galatians One, and as promised, here is the second chapter. Below the text, as translated from the Greek New Testament, are notes on the translating work, then study questions. I intend to post a chapter a week, so come back for more.

Galatians: Chapter Two

1. Fourteen years passed. Again, I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along.

2. I went because of a revelation. I laid out the gospel I preach among the Gentiles* to the muckety mucks**, all alone, to make sure I was not running, or had run, in vain.

3. And Titus, who was with me, a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised. 

4. Because*** of those false brothers and sisters who were brought in secretly, they slipped in to spy out our freedom, what we have in Messiah Jesus, so that they might enslave us to the law. 

5. We never yielded, not even for a second, in submission to them, so that the truth of the gospel might endure with you. 

6. But for those leaders – whether they were or weren’t it matters not to me for God is not impressed by people – but the muckety mucks added nothing else to my message.  

7. Quite to the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter the circumcised. 

8. For the one who worked through Peter as an apostle to the circumcised worked also in me to the Gentiles. 

9. And recognizing the grace having been given to me, James, Cephas, and John – those seeming to be pillars, — muckety mucks — gave me the right hand of fellowship affirming we were for the Gentiles but they were for the circumcised.  

10. Only one thing more, that we should remember their poor, which is the very thing I was excited to do. 

11. But, when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.  

12. He always ate with the Gentiles until a group of people sent by James came. When they arrived, he began to draw back and kept separating himself out of fear of the circumcised.

13. The other Jews were all in on it together with him so much so even Barnabas got carried away in their hypocrisy.

14. When I realized they were not walking in a straight line toward the gospel truth, I said to Cephas**** in front of them all, ‘If you, being Jewish, live like a Gentile and not a Jew, how dare you compel Gentiles to live the Jewish lifestyle?’

15. We who are by nature Jews, and not Gentile sinners.*****

16. We know people are not made right from works of the law, but instead through faith in Jesus as Messiah. We trusted Messiah Jesus so as to be made right by faith in Messiah and not by works of law. No flesh will be made right by the works of the law.     

17. But if, seeking to be made right in Messiah, we then are found out to be sinners, does Messiah the serve sin? Never! 

18. For if I destroy these things then rebuild them, I show I have transgressed against myself. 

19. Because of the law I died to the law, so now I can live for God. I have been crucified with Christ

20. I no longer live, but Messiah lives within me. For now, I live in the flesh by faith in the son of God, the one who loved me and gave himself for me. 

21. I dare not cancel the grace of God, for if rightness is gained by law, then the Messiah’s death was meaningless. 

Translation Notes

*I am following most translations of ‘Gentiles’ at this point, but the word is best understood as ‘nations.’ In the elite Jewish mindset, there are only Jews and everyone else. Paul is saying this is what I preach to everyone else – to all the other people groups in this great big world. 

**I am not playing as fast and loose with the wording here as you might suspect. The way Paul uses this phrase to describe the important people among the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem is fascinating. It is impossible to tell if he is sincere or if he is critical. The language is ‘I laid out before the ones who seem to be something, all alone, to make sure I was not running …’ As the chapter unfolds, I become more and more convinced Paul is critical of these people who think they are such a big deal, yet at the same time he desperately wanted and needed their approval of his ministry at that time.  

***Paul is getting angry, and he loses context. It is a good thing that Titus didn’t have to be circumcised, but here he remembers the argument and the battle against the ‘false brothers and sisters’ who wanted to make him be do so. The ‘Because’ is more in his head than grammatical.

****Sometimes he calls him Peter, sometimes he calls him Cephas. One wonders what ‘name’ Peter might have called Paul.

*****This sentence makes very little sense except to see it as Paul’s concluding summary of Peter’s hypocrisy in which he includes himself in the ‘it is impossible for a Jew to live the Jewish lifestyle, much less a person who grew up without ever knowing the law’ category. For Paul, this impossibility was a very powerful reason why the gospel was so beautiful.  

Study Questions

Pretend for a moment you have to to Jerusalem and are being asked to lay out before them the gospel as you understand it. What would you tell them? Paul is clearly still upset, years later, about the fake Christians who snuck in to try and derail grace. Have you ever seen someone sabotage grace? What did you do to stop them?Paul opposes Peter, but he calls out Barnabas for hypocrisy. Have you ever been guilty of hypocrisy? Do you think this might have had some impact on their relationships, or maybe even why they ceased being partners in ministry together? How do you understand verse 20?Obviously Jesus’ death was not meaningless. However, are there actions we take on a regular basis that seem to downplay his atoning death?

I Got Back — A Review of Peter Jackson’s Beatles Documentary

I’ve said often there are two kinds of people in this world. There are Beatles people and Rolling Stones people. I’ve always leaned more toward the Stones, but perhaps that needle moved a little more toward the Fab Four over the last week as I watched Peter Jackson’s excellent documentary “Get Back” on Disney+.

One of the few shots of the Lads from Liverpool without Yoko in it

The best way to approach this is probably just share with you the things that stood out to me. Warning, there might be some spoilers in here, but as this is fifty-two year old material, that seems unlikely.

The music is outstanding — and watching the process come together was almost like watching magic. There is a bit early on when Paul McCartney is sitting at the piano working on ‘Let It Be’ and the tune is there but he is just singing nonsensical words and noises because he hasn’t gotten the lyrics yet. Early on they do this a lot — but the music itself seemed to come together very quickly.

Speaking of music, it surprised me how often they ended up playing other peoples songs. You could tell they were having fun just making music as they sang all kinds of other songs. The absolute best parts of the documentary are when they are playing music and forget about the cameras, deadlines, albums and anything else and just play music. You can see it on their face.

Cigarette smoke. Lots and lots of cigarette smoke. And Paul McCartney smoking cigars. And the bossman coming in smoking huge cigars. And pipes. It is a wonder they were able to see through the haze. Or breath.

The personality of the four different people really emerged. George Harrison was super duper serious and moody. I didn’t know that he essentially quit the band before the album was made. John and Paul worked very hard to bring him back in to finish the project. Also, he quite plainly didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything so much so that at the end he was even against going up on the roof and playing. John is a goofball. I wasn’t aware of that side of John Lennon, but he had a hard time taking anything in the studio seriously. Paul is the one who is a control freak. With every single song he is the one telling everyone what they should do. Ringo is the only one I think I’d want to spend much time with. He comes across as laid back and very cool.

But they are all so dirty, especially Paul and John. It looks to me like they’ve not washed their hair for the entire month they were filming. I’m serious. Their hair looked awfully greasy. George was well dressed and fashionable, but he didn’t look clean. I just kept wanting someone to come bathe them.

Yoko Ono was there the entire time. Everyone had family members come and go, but Yoko was practically omnipresent. There are a couple of times when she would ‘sing’ — which was just screaming into the microphone. You can tell the other three are quite annoyed.

On the flip side, there is video of Paul McCartney’s soon to be step-daughter, Heather Eastman, at the age six years old just having a grand old time playing drums with Ringo, messing around with John Lennon, and singing. Watching her naturally interact with these rockstars was delightful.

Billy Preston saved the Beatles. The soulful Texan really added so much to the songs that it is impossible for me now to hear those tunes without seeing his smiling face as he bangs on the keyboard.

I was impressed that the original sentiment behind the song “Get Back” was as a protest song against Anti-Immigrant thinking in England. I prefer that better–and even those lyrics were better, IMHO.

The Beatles have potty mouths.

So, I’ve always had in my mind that the Beatles went off to India and all kind of became Hinduish. But apparently it was only George, and they endured that for him. There is an extended clip of them making quite a bit of snarky remarks about it all and not being that impressed. I think it was Paul said it al felt a little like, ‘being in school’ and something like, ‘we weren’t really being our real selves there, were we?’ and then George gets a bit defensive about it all and they move on. Very interesting.

My favorite scene is one in which they come in to take their lunch order and they ask them all what they want and George is like vegetables and cheese sauce, John and Paul are like whatever, and Ringo says, “MASHED POTATOES!” Just mashed potatoes. That’s it.

I still don’t quite understand what happened with the rooftop concert. No one could really see them, but they were loud. It was cold, so cold John complained he couldn’t play the chords. Did the police break it up and make them stop? Or did they just stop, using the police as an excuse. There is a moment near the very end where it seems like the Beatles quit of their own accord and used the police as a scapegoat — or was that staged by the handlers? I do know Paul McCartney was visibly surprised when he saw the coppers on the rooftop — and it is such a great moment

My mother loved the Beatles. I remember she cried, for like a month, when John Lennon was shot. We used to argue over what was the best Beatles Album. I have always said The White Album. She couldn’t separate her heart from her teenage years and always said, “Please Please Me.” She would have loved this documentary, but I don’t think you have to be a Beatles fan to love this film. Anyone who loves music and the creative process within tense teams would really enjoy it and probably learn from it.

Galatians Chapter One With Study Questions

This year I will preach from the book of Galatians about twenty-five times. As I prepared or this, I’ve been translating Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches from the Greek New Testament. I’ve completed two chapters, and will post about one a week. Included are some translators notes and at he end a few study questions for you, should you choose to think about it a while or want to use it for a Bible study group.

The words in [brackets] are textual variants, which means these were likely added by later scribes to smooth out the rendering but it is sometimes hard to tell.

Galatians: Chapter One

1. Paul, an apostle, not of people or any person, but of Messiah Jesus and God the father, who raised him from the dead. 

2. And all the brothers and sisters with me, to the churches* in Galatia,

3. Grace and peace to you from God our father and [the] Lord Jesus, the Messiah,

4. who gave himself for our sins so that he could rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of God our father. 

5. To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

6. I am amazed you have abandoned the one who called you in [the] grace [of Messiah] so quicky for a different gospel.

7. Not that there is another, except from those troubling you, those people who want to distort the Messiah’s gospel.

8. And, should we, or even an angel from heaven, preach [to you] different from what we preached, let that person be anathema.** 

9. As we have said before and now I say again, if anyone should preach anything other than what you received, let that person be anathema. 

10. Am I persuaded by people or God? Do I seek to try to please human beings? If I were still pleasing people, I am not a servant of Messiah. 

11. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, the gospel proclaimed by me is not from human beings. 

12. For neither did I receive it from people nor was I taught, but by revelation of Jesus as Messiah.***

13. You heard about my lifestyle when I was in Judaism, that I violently persecuted God’s church and ravaged her, 

14. and how I kept rising in Judaism above many. I was the foremost of my generation, being ever more a fanatic for the traditions of my fathers. 

15. When it pleased [God], the one who separated me from my mother’s womb, who has called me by his grace,

16. to reveal his son in me, so that I might proclaim**** him among the nations, I did not immediately consult myself with flesh and blood. 

17. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem before the apostles, but instead I went to Arabia and then again returned to Damascus. 

18. After three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas. I stayed with him fifteen days. 

19. I did not see any of the other apostles except James *****, the Lord’s brother.

20. Look, I write these things to you before God. I do not lie. 

21. Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 

22. But my face was unknown to the Judean churches in Christ. 

23. Yet they kept hearing about the person who before was persecuting us and is now proclaiming the faith he once ravaged.

24. They were glorifying God because of me.   

Notes

*the term here is, of course, ekklesia, which is usually rendered as church. However, the word means gatherings, so this text would more naturally read ‘to those who assemble together in Galatia’ 

**anathema usually is rendered as cursed or be accursed. It is a complicated idea that carries with it religious overtones. Something anathematized was destroyed, but the destruction was understood as a kind of spiritual obligation to the Lord. I have chosen to us the transliteration here rather than a rendering, because the word has found its way into the English lexicon all by itself. It doesn’t really need translating. 

***I inserted the ‘as’ in this passage – ‘Jesus as Messiah’ to emphasize the importance Paul keeps placing on Jesus by calling him Messiah and also to smooth out the language. Throughout I use ‘Messiah’ instead of ‘Christ’ because we tend to think of Christ as Jesus’ last name rather than title. Most renderings would say “revelation of Jesus Christ.” My rendering emphasizes the nature of the revelation, that it wasn’t only a revelation of Jesus, but a revelation of him as Messiah. I think that is what Paul is getting at. 

****the word here is ‘evangelize’, which Paul uses in Galatians to describe the act of preaching the gospel. The construct of the sentence, particularly the pronoun ‘him’ indicates from an English perspective that ‘proclaim’ or ‘preach’ are better verbs, because our use of the word evangelize would not have Jesus in the objective – we don’t’ evangelize Jesus as if Jesus needed to hear the good news about Jesus. We preach Jesus as we evangelize others. It is a subtle difference, but significant.

*****James is the name we use but it is actually Jacob, which is James’ name is in the New Testament. I mention it only here to remind the reader of the Hebrew name, and that Jesus’ brother was named for the great patriarch from the book of Genesis – and the reader should likewise remember his mother was Mary, but really Miriam, the brother of Moses, and her husband was Joseph, the famous son of the very same Jacob in Genesis.  

Study Questions

Why do you think Paul emphasizes that his apostleship is from God and not from human beings? If it is about authority, what role does authority play in church life? Paul accuses the Galatians of abandoning (v. 6) the idea of grace. What is grace? More specifically, what would it look like if a church or a Christ-follower gave up on grace today? Anathema is a strong word. Who would you anathematize if you could? Why? In other words, what pushes you over the edge — what can you not tolerate in church life?Someone clearly had accused Paul of lying, because he is ver defensive that he is not lying. Have you ever been accused of lying? Were you defensive? What are good tactics for combating false accusations?Paul says he was guilty of ravaging the church. It is imagery evocative of sexual violence. Does that startle you that he admits to raping the bride of Christ? Have you ever considered how you treat the church?

Comet Disaster Movie

We watched the Netflix movie “Don’t Look up” last night. It is less about comets ending the world as it is social and political commentary. The President, played by Meryl Street, is definitely a Trump-like political figure. The biggest commentary, though, is more social as the movie screams dissatisfaction with celebrity culture, social media addiction, and the fact most people don’t have the ability to analyze complicated facts. Sometimes it feels like it is talking about the response to COVID-19 and other times it feels like it is about global climate change.

I kinda think DiCaprio looks a little like Greenbean here in this picture

The movie is better than that other big Netflix Christmas Day offering of Birdbox from a couple of years ago, that is for sure.

The language is strong — very strong — and there is completely gratuitous nudity near the end.

The best scene is at the very end, when the seven sane people left sit down to dinner and Timothee Chalamet leads them in a very touching prayer which could be offered in any church in the world.

However, my big take away was that this movie presents a word that needs to be destroyed and is not worth saving. None of the characters are particularly likable, and it is such an exaggeration of all our worst tendencies that it doesn’t feel particularly believable. However, Mark Rylance is amazing in his portrayal of a Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk/Bill Gates figure.

The movie was such a downer we had to watch an episode of Ted Lasso to get our minds readjusted.

Now, if you want a better all around comet/asteroid destroying the world flick, then I suggest Deep Impact. Every time I watch it I wish the character Morgan Freeman plays was really our president. The human characters in that film are so well fleshed out in meaningful ways that if that movie is on tv, I will stop and watch it.

Then there is Armageddon, which is awful. However, Bruce Willis dies in it every time, and that is something to applaud.

But back to ‘Don’t Look Up’. The cast is under utilized. Cate Blanchett is basically just a trope as is Tyler Perry. Meryl Streep is the caricature of a shallow duplicitous politician. Jonah Hill makes me sick to my stomach. Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, not his acting, but his character, is inconsistent. Jennifer Lawrence, who may be the best actor of our time, is reduced to brooding and screaming. The scientists don’t act like scientists in this movie.

All the negative said, the movie could have some powerful benefit theologically. I told Mrs. Greenbean they should show this movie in seminary and use it as a launching point for the doctrine of total depravity, because ever negative impulse of the human race is covered in this one movie.

The implication of the director, Adam McKay, seems to be if we keep going the way we are, the eventual end will be death by denial of truth. As such, it reminds me less of other asteroid disaster movies and more of Idiocracy, which is a film that feels prophetic fifteen years later.

There are a few laugh out loud moments — and if you do watch it, keep an eye on the ever rising cost of shovels in the film.

My Year of Jubilee

On 29 December 2021 I turn fifty.

Me eating gelato in Nafplio, Greece

In the Bible, the fiftieth year is the celebration of Jubilee, the year after seven years of sevens, as outlined in Leviticus 25. There were four key components, as I understand it, of the Jubilee celebration. First, there is a forgiveness of debts. Second, slaves are set free. Third, boundary markers for property are reset. Fourth, no planting or harvesting is to take place.

Before I go much further, there is very little evidence the ancient Hebrews ever actually observed properly the Jubilee, and the Prophets specifically spell out the ignoring of Sabbaths, sabbatical years, and Jubilees as one of the reasons for the exile and captivity. Isaiah may have been talking about the ultimate Jubilee in Jesus when he referred to the ‘Year of the Lord’s favor’ in Isaiah 61:2. Jesus of course quotes this when he begins his ministry.

But back to Greenbean’s Jubilee.

The forgiveness of debt was more like catching up all the payments for a lease agreement than it was the forgiving of actual debt as in a credit card. However, the net effect of the program would have been to free up people from long obligations. Plus, the forgiveness of debt is a very powerful Old Testament and New Testament idea. Jesus uses that phraseology when referring to sin in the model prayer.

So — I announce on this day that as of December 29, 2021 any individual who owes me money or service is hereby released of that obligation.

Slavery is another issue altogether. I abhor slavery in any form and that includes elitism and classism, which is a certain kind of slavery that separates ruling people from the mere commoners. But I digress. The language about slavery, combined with debt forgiveness, has been interpreted variously through the years as a forgiving of wrongs done to us. Forgiveness.

This one has been tough. I am not a grudge keeper, but there are a handful of people who have hurt me deeply and I have uttered with my mouth or sworn in my heart that I will never forgive them. But here I am, forced to consider not only my Jubilee, but more importantly, the words of Jesus who says forgive, and it shall be forgiven you (Matthew 6). I want to follow Jesus, and we are never more like Christ than when we forgive.

I worked through this one today and shed more than a few tears. The hurt, though decades old, still feels fresh. Some is personal. Other is vocational. Some is old, and I’m thinking of 2010. Some is new, and I’m thinking of personal attacks against me in the midst of COVID-19. All of these things hurt. Yet, it is my Jubilee.

I, therefore, forgive all transgressions against me. This means there will be no recrimination, no reminders, and nothing but a desire for those people who have wronged me to be happy, healthy, blessed, and to be in a relationship with the Lord.

This forgiveness idea goes further, for me, though. I am very cognizant of my own failings. As a young man I was cold and harsh. I’ve said things that were at best rude but were also racist, misogynist, and insensitive. Although I have never attacked anyone in my lifetime physically, I have done so verbally. I had a job in college, and the last year I worked there, I mailed in it. I mean, I did not give them honest work for honest pay. I owe HEB an avocado. In 2008 I transgressed a church in Oregon when I lead them on and then told them no after I had told them yes. I am guilty of gossip. I can be judgmental.

For these things, and so much more, I ask that you forgive me, on this my Jubilee, especially If I have hurt you in any way.

Property boundaries are the third part of this celebration. I have very few literal property boundaries and they all are older than me and are in their original locations, so there is nothing to reset there. But the idea of a reset, of ‘returning to your property’ rings differently in my ear right now. It feels like a reset is needed in my mindset — the real estate of my soul. I need to reset to some things that I used to do when I was a young man. I was very ambitious with desires to write, lead, and make a difference. I came to realize my ambition when unchecked, could lead me to use people and manipulate, so over the decades I have crucified this ambition within me.

But I think I have gone too far. I need to reset some of this and recognize the natural ambition the Lord gave me is a part of who I am. Redeemed ambition is one that pushes myself to accomplish without manipulating others or using other people in the process. It means ambition for a better way, and not a bigger way. I need to reset some boundaries on my time, what I prioritize, and what really matters. I have a book that is finished and I will peddle it vigorously this year. I have another project with two co-authors which I will pursue with zeal. There is also a third, secret book which is one-third finished. I will finish it this year.

I must also likewise reset the boundaries in my personal life. The sprouts are grown now. They no longer need me to teach them or care for them. I need not tell them what to do. I must reset that boundary now in my fiftieth year and see my children as sojourners with me on the Jesus path. I can learn from them and they can learn from me and together we can be stronger, but they are my peers now. Special peers to be sure, but not little children who must be guided by the hand. This is a hard thing to let go of.

On this the dawning of my fiftieth year, I reset my mind, my soul, my work, and relationships.

And that brings me to the last of the four parts of Jubilee as I understand it. That is the prohibition on sowing and reaping, leaving the ground fallow. This would have been two years in a row for the Hebrews, because of the Sabbath year of the seventh set of sevens the year before. Mrs. Greenbean and I are now at a new place in our life. Our children are grown and we have liberty — Jubilee — to rediscover marriage at this stage in our lives as well as rediscover the world. When you don’t have crops to tend, you can travel. So that is my practice for the foreseeable future — to travel, visit, see, eat, learn, and grow as a citizen of the world. Who knows when bad health or economics or war or pandemics may come and rob the ability to travel.

I therefore on this day, commit to traveling at least once a year, and maybe two times a year, to some place I have never been before, or to revisit some grand locale I have enjoyed in the past.

“Oh Lord, help me forgive and to let go of the pain. Forgive me for my sins of the mind, the mouth, and the rash moments. Allow my relationships to be pure and motivated by love. Help me to work hard and to accomplish the tasks I believe you have called me to do. Bless thou, the work of my hands. May my travels always be a blessing to the world and never a curse.
Thank you for the fifty years you’ve allowed me on this planet, in this flesh, with my family, and in this odd life of ministry. It has been a great blessing to me and I have enjoyed it. I boldly ask for another seventy years, that with Moses I may reflect on one hundred twenty years with you and sing your praises as I make my way into eternity. However, I wish to not live one more day than you have planned, and I submit to your will in all things. Thank you for the gift of Jubilee. In the name of Jesus the Messiah whom I follow. Amen.”

Predictions for 2022

First, let all reasonable people agree 2021 didn’t happen; 2021 was only Part II of 2020. So, we are treating 2021 like Apple Treated the iPhone 9 or Microsoft treated Windows 9 — we’re just going to pretend it doesn’t exist.

New year 2022 and old year 2021 on sandy beach with waves

However, my predictions last year (Click here to read them) were not that off target. I was spot on about three of them, and near enough to accurate on about three there that I was very pleased — well above my average of 30% accuracy.

That said . . . let’s get started with my annual exercise in ridiculousness and make ten predictions for 2022. Keep in mind as you read, these are not things I necessarily want to happen. They are things I think will happen. I have no clairvoyance and no crystal ball. I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet. I’m just making guesses (although I’d really like #7 to happen, but like tomorrow).

10. On January 6, nothing will happen. There will be no big anniversary, no big celebration, and no repeat of the insurrection. There will, though, be tons of media hype, from both the left and the right.

9. The Tennessee Titans will win the Super Bowl.

8. Al Pacino will receive the only Oscar nomination from ‘House of Gucci’, and he may win as best supporting actor.

7. By summer, a pill or oral regimen will be available which in all practicality cures COVID-19.

6. President Biden will announce after the midterm elections he is not seeking re-election.

5. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas will not win his bid to keep his current job.

4. Someone you know will own or subscribe to a self-driving car.

3. The Houston Astros will again return to the World Series, and again they will lose to a far superior National League team.

2. Inflation will continue to incrementally grow through the winter and early spring, but by summer it will begin to taper off as interest rates increase.

1. The Southern Baptist Convention, after a decade of implosion, will collapse.

Fondue Goes to War

The Christmas stories from the Fondue Writer’s Club comes to an end today with Paul Bennett’s excellent, ‘Let This Be Your Last Battle.’ This story has something for everyone — love, loss, adventure, war, and PECAN PIE!

Thanks for reading our stories. We will be back early next year with more.

Click on the pecan pie to read Paul’s story.