Jamie Greening's Blog, page 2

Foul-Mouthed Slandering Heretics

Okay, that title might be a little over the top, but the AI bot who critiques these posts keeps telling me I need to get peoples attention.

This entire letter is filled with imperatives. Paul keeps telling Timothy ‘you must!’ And that is the way he begins his lesson in verse 8. I chose to translate it as ‘you must’, the NRSV and the ESV just goes with the verb ‘remember’ which I think is a mistake. It misses the urgency and necessity which Paul is placing upon Timothy, and by extension, us. So here is my translation of II Timothy 2:8-19. It is a longish bit, but I feel like this is the smallest possible section divider before he moves into the household metaphor in verse 20.

II Timothy 2:8-20

8. You must remember Jesus the Messiah was raised from the dead, from the seed of David, according to my gospel.

9. For whom I suffer as a criminal, even in chains, but the word of God has not been chained.

10. I endure all of this for the sake of the elect, so that they may attain salvation in Messiah Jesus with eternal glory.

11. This is a trustworthy saying, ‘If we die together, we will also live together.

12. If we endure, we will reign together, but if we deny, he will deny us also.

13. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he is not able to deny himself.’

14. You must remind people of these things as a testimony before God. Do not argue about words, which is useless except to upset those listening.

15. You yourself must be eager before God as a qualified worker cutting straight the word of God.

16. Avoid irreligious empty talk, all the more as their ungodliness increases.

17. Their word will be like a septic infection eating away, as it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus.

18. who are far from the truth when they say the resurrection has already happened. They upset some faithful people.

19. However, God’s solid foundation stands, having this inscribed upon it, ‘The Lord knows who are his,’ and ‘all who call upon the name of the Lord’ must keep away from unrighteousness.

I tried to stick with the imperatives feel that flows throughout the text in my rendering here. There are four main ones. The first, ‘You must remember Jesus’ in verse 8, then ‘You must remind people’ in verse 14 and ‘You yourself must be eager’ in verse 15 and finally ‘must keep away’ in verse 19. The first three are about Timothy and his role as a leader while the last is universal although all four probably are for each of us in some way or another. These imperative ‘musts’ strengthens the call, which is weakened significantly by other renderings which use ‘let’ (I’m looking at you, ESV).

I find verses 8 through 13 do go together as a tight unit of thought. Paul is encouraging Timothy to cling to the gospel message of Jesus crucified and resurrected in the face of persecution, just like he has, and he employs a bit of common lyric to prove the point. I will tell you in translating it, I think most major renditions get it very wrong in the beginning of the lyric in verse 11. Most versions say something like, ‘If we live die with him, we will also live with him,’ and of course the him is Jesus. Now, that is true in the sense of theology, but the actual text of the Greek New Testament doesn’t have a ‘him’ there. Instead it has the verbs ‘die’ and ‘live’ with a compound prefix of ‘with’ and the conjugations of ‘we’ that should be taken as ‘together.’

That is deep in the weeds, and I am sorry to do that to you. Paul very much believes in union with Christ, I am not against that understanding but here he is not teaching mystic union with Christ, he is teaching Timothy that we are in this together, as a group, and that is the key to enduring hardship and suffering. Just don’t quit the gopsel! It is a call back to the first seven verses of the chapter — we are like soldiers in this together!

I find verse 14 almost comical. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. Paul telling anyone not to quibble or argue about words is laughable.

There is a contrast between the qualified worker in verse 15 and the two characters of Hymenaeus and Philetus in verses 16-18. The qualified worker cuts straight. Cutting is a metaphor for quality work — a board, a rock, cloth, meat — it doesn’t matter. Cutting straight is an important skill in making sure the work is done right. A crooked line, a crooked cut, ruins the whole thing. That is what Hymenaeus and Philetus have done. They have cut crooked with two things. One is bad theology. They say the resurrection has happened, and it has not. Second, they are using empty and harmful language in their rhetoric. One can imagine slander and gossip is what is on Paul’s mind, or maybe just gutter talk. It is an infection which, in the pre-antibiotic world Paul lived in, could often result in death.

The only cure for such things is a qualified, well trained, eager, passionate person who properly handles the Scriptures. This kind of leadership is priceless, and if I may add a bit of social commentary, it is sorely lacking in today’s Christianity. We have celebrity, we have platform, we have one cliche after another, we have political movements, and we have plenty of entertainment. We lack wise leadership who will open the Bible and tell us how it instructs our lives today toward gospel, love, repentance, and justice.

He finishes with a beautiful thought of the foundation of a building with a cornerstone inscription. These were very common in the ancient world and I’ve been privileged to see a few of them. On this particular stone is inscribed two well known biblical thoughts: The Lord knows his own and all who call on the name of the Lord. Jesus said ‘my sheep hear my voice.’ Romans teaches us whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

But Paul emphasizes not salvation, but repentance. He may very well be thinking of Timothy. Timothy must repent of his malaise or whatever ministry funk he is engaged in so he might be truly the wise leader handling the word of truth to defend the faith against foul-mouthed slandering heretic propagandists who are doing nothing but upsetting everyone who they can’t exploit for personal gain and power.

To follow Jesus, is to always be at once both repenting and reveling in the grace of God.

Soldier-Athlete-Farmer-Minister

Metaphors fly at us as Paul leans into his instructions about the things Timothy should be focusing on. However, he starts at a familiar place for him and us: grace.

II Timothy 2:1-7

1. My child, you therefore must be strong in the grace of Messiah Jesus.

2. Entrust to capable people what you heard, both from me and many other witnesses, that they may teach others,

3. suffering together as good soldiers of Messiah Jesus.

4. No soldier on active duty gets bogged down with the issues of daily life, but rather he wants to please his commanding officers.

5. Likewise, if a person competes, he or she will not be crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

6. The hard working farmer must first have a share in the harvest.

7. Think about what I say. The Lord gives you discernment in all things.

My favorite definition of grace is an oldie but a goodie, ‘unmerited favor’. This emphasizes both God’s action of being kind but also my inaction of not earning it. What I am very uncertain of is the meaning of ‘be strong in the grace’. The word Paul uses is a favorite among preachers, linked to dynamic and dynamite etymologically but really neither of those have anything to do with the way its as used in the New Testament. The emphasis is more upon ability, power, or empower.

I really believe what Paul is telling the troubled pastor is that his ministry must be focused and themed upon grace as opposed to judgment, law, or knowledge. Grace is the opposite of things we love to focus on like efficiency, financials, rhetoric, or accomplishments. Grace is intangible and unmeasurable this side of eternity. Being strong in that is what sets ministry apart from the rest of society.

Setting grace as a foundation, he launches into three metaphors (actually, there are four because the opening words ‘my child’ are actually a metaphor we could dwell on) which are as mixed as a fruit salad. First, there is the soldier. Like soldiers we suffer together. Paul wants Timothy to see himself as another brother-in-arms with him in the great warfare of spiritual things. But also, like soldiers, the goal is not earning pay for bread or keeping up with children’s gymnastic schedules. The goal is to please your commanding officer.

So we are like soldiers.

But we are also like athletes. Specially, we are like athletes who are competing for a crown. This is no doubt a reference to the laurels of victory placed upon the head of the victorious athlete. I point this out because I don’t think Paul is talking about a crown in heaven here. I am not saying there aren’t crowns in eternity but I am saying that is not what he means here. He is in metaphor-land. If I went dynamic equivalent here I might translate the text as ‘he or she will not raise the trophy unless she competes according to the rules.’ (2:5).

Timothy needs to be strong in grace, but at the same time the rules matter and he should compete by then. Also, be a good soldier and follow the guidance of your commanding officer.

Also, we are farmers.

How are we like farmers? Farmers who work hard get their share of the harvest first. This may not be a universal truism as kings, dictators, and communists often steal farmers labors off the top, yet we recognize Paul is talking of an ideal. Before the farmer takes his crop to market, he feeds his own family.

So Timothy is to be like a soldier-athlete-farmer.

Is your head hurting yet? Wait, it gets better. Because Paul refuses to connect the dots to these three metaphors. He simply tells Timothy that he should think on these things real hard, put your mind to it, boy, and the Holy Spirit will lead you to discernment.

Come on, Paul. Do better. These metaphors are interesting, and they are spiritually true, but finding a through-line for Timothy’s ministry in Ephesus is hard to get at from these three unrelated tropes. So, the only way we can get meaning is to disconnect them. They are not intended to be connected, but intended to be three different aspects of Christian ministry. If I do that, I come to three emphases:

Group Effort

Christian ministry is a group effort. We are not in this alone, but rather side by side with other people. We laugh together, we cry together, we pray to gather, we worship together. Part of our work is to grow this group, as empathized in v. 2 — ‘entrust to others’ what you have learned. In this endeavor, we do not focus upon our own daily issues, although they may be real, but our ultimate goal is our commanding officer’s orders, and our commanding officer is none other than Jesus. We eagerly desire to please him.

Personal Discipline

The athlete, though, is not involved in team sports. The ancient Greeks competed solo in sports like running, throwing, wrestling, and fighting. Paul was not telling us to be athletes, and indeed that metaphor is exhausted in the modern age in which athletes and sports are worshiped as gods, but he is pointing out the necessity of us to be know the rules, discipline our spiritual minds, and not be weak. This kind of discipline comes from study, prayer, and service.

Self-Feeders

The farming metaphor is easily lost if we don’t remember he is talking about eating. Before Timothy can feed others, he must and should feed himself. I do not think this is about literal eating, although it might be at times literal in the sense that if we don’t take care ourselves we are not strong enough to take care of others, but instead I think it is about spirituality. We must spiritually feed ourselves before we can feed others. Two thoughts on this. First, Timothy couldn’t rely on Paul to feed him. Paul could teach and guide and encourage, but the zeal and passion had to come from within Timothy himself. The second thought is the old euphemism I have held on to for decades; we can’t serve from an empty vessel. Rather, we minister out of the overflow. If we are empty, we are useless.

Today, as you live and work and be, which metaphor rings truer to you? Which one do you need to work on a little? Which one makes you feel a little uncomfortable?

Yeah, I bet Timothy had a similar reaction.

Don’t Abandon Me Like Those People Did

Two different kinds of people are on Paul’s mind as he finishes his opening encouragement to Timothy. One kind of person disappointed him and the other were incredibly helpful.

II Timothy 1:15-18

15. You know all those in Asia, especially Phygelus and Hermogenes, have turned their back on me.

16. May the Lord have mercy on the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and he was not ashamed of my chains,

17. even when he came to Rome, he quickly looked for me, and found me.

18. May the Lord give to him–and may he find–mercy from the Lord on that day; you know very well how many people he ministered to in Ephesus.

We all know in some way what it feels like for people we trusted to abandon us. Paul has moved from his encouragement of Timothy to follow his healthy model of ministry (1:13) to providing this brief and bitter reminder of an unhealthy example. The last thing he wants Timothy to do is give up and abandon the mission.

That is what is at stake as he pleas for the young pastor to stay the course. Two men, one named Phygelus and the other named Hermogenes have done exactly that. And it sounds like everyone else ‘in Asia’. Asia here means what we might call Asia Minor, or more modernly, Turkey. Specifically Paul is talking about Ephesus. The Ephesian church, led by two cowards named Phygelus and Hermogenes, have turned their back on Paul.

What are the names of the people who have turned their back on you? How have they persuaded groups of people like churches, or classes, or work groups, or neighborhoods, or families to scorn you? You can understand Paul’s flash of bitterness, right? We feel it.

In reading these familiar passages we have the happy knowledge that Timothy did not abandon Paul or the gospel but became and maintained a vibrant-lifelong ministry which was influential to the early church. Yet, that kind of commitment was far from a guarantee as Paul writes these words — the story hadn’t been written yet. We are surrounded every day by people whose stories are not complete, and our words of encouragement, which might include pointing out negative examples of what not to be, are instrumental in propelling people forward into the lives they should live for the Lord.

Now, contrast these two disappointments with the man named Onesiphorus. Paul asks for blessings from God on this man’s house because of the way he had gone out of his way to help him. I wish we had more details, but Paul relates that how Onesiphorus arrived in Rome, apparently from Ephesus, and searched the whole city until he found him.

Who is Onesiphorus? He is the one who refuses to be persuaded by the naysayers and the turncoats. The way I read this, he is from Ephesus just like Hermogenes and Phygelus but he had not abandoned Paul or the gospel. Instead, he came all the way to Rome to minister to him. Spoiler alert: His name appears again before the book is over.

Two words used to describe his work are telling. One is the common New Testament verb ‘to serve’. The noun could be rendered service. I believe a better rendering here is the word ‘minister’ and ‘ministry.’ For context, that word is used to describe the work of The Magnificent Seven in Acts 6. Onesiphorus was a minister doing ministry to Paul and many others in Ephesus. The second word is refreshed. Pau says in Rome he found him and ‘refreshed’ him. It is a tantalizing word not often found in the New Testament. What did Onesiphorus do? Encourage him? Feed him? Bring him fresh clothing? Pray for him? Give him money? Any of these are possible, and I lean toward all of them play a role. Onesiphorus like prayed with him, said kind words, lifted his spirits, but also bought supplies, replenished his pantry, and gave him money to pay the bills. And this is what Paul thinks of when he thinks of ministry.

If we bring it it back, though, to the relationship of Paul and Timothy we see what he old man is doing. His voice has dropped low and he puts his hands on Timothy’s metaphorical shoulder and says, ‘Son, don’t be like those quitters Hermogenes and Phygelus. Be like Onesiphorus.’

Which one will you emulate?

His Calling, Your Commitment, His Strength

Timothy was not in a good place. It feels to me like he was in a ministry criss of some sort. Maybe he was on the verge of giving it all up. Paul urges him forward by talking about calling. He had already mentioned it earlier with the laying on of hands (1:6) but now he pushes the dialogue forward by focusing upon Jesus. It all starts with Jesus. It also all ends with Jesus.

II Timothy 1:9-14

9. The one who saved us and then called us into this holy calling did not do so based on our works but by his own purpose and grace. This has been given to us before time eternal in Messiah Jesus.

10. But now the revelation of our salvation through Messiah Jesus has been revealed, who demolished death and now brings to light the life and incorruptibility of the gospel,

11. of which I was appointed a preacher, apostle, and teacher.

12. This is why I suffer; yet I am not ashamed, for I know the one I have trusted, and I have been persuaded that he is strong to guard my commitment until that day.

13. Hold on to the model of healthy teaching you heard from me, in faith and love in Messiah Jesus.

14. Guard that proper commitment through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

I am intrigued by the language we often use to describe calling. We, and I am guilty of this for sure, often say, ‘My calling’ as if we owned it. I am not certain we mean that, but the language sets it up as something that is more connected to us and our personality, our desires, our dreams than it is in the Lord. Paul tells Timothy calling doesn’t belong to him, it belongs to God. Whatever hesitation he is having or problems he is experiencing, however legitimate, are not his to terminate. Since the call is in Jesus, by his grace and purposes and not our works or decisions, we are bound to our work.

I think this is true for me as a vocational leader and it is also true for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Calling doesn’t only exist for those whose day-in and day-out work is leading and guiding the church. Calling is for everyone — a calling to teach, to serve, to help, to change diapers, to repair broken lights, to clean the carpets, to play the drums, to sing, and to pray. We all have, I believe, some kind of calling in the kingdom of God. And this is the gift, the spiritual gift, that must be used. We have no choice if we are to be obedient. Anything less than that is disobedience and rebellion.

I find it interesting in verse 11 he lists his calling and doesn’t start with apostle. He begins with preacher. We relegate Paul to theologian, apostle, church planter but I believe he saw himself primarily as a preacher. He famously wrote to the Corinthians:

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:16)

I cannot read verse 12 without singing the old hymn’s chorus which is based on this verse – ‘For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded, that he is able, to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.’ It fills my heart. Yet, the old words miss some the emphasis, which is on the strength of God to fulfill the commitment Paul has made to ministry regardless of what suffering Paul goes through. It is not Paul’s ability, but the strength of Jesus.

The trust in Jesus to fulfill the ministry is what Paul wants Timothy to do. You can almost hear him saying his own words from Philippians 1:6, ‘He who began a good work in you will complete it.’ The healthy model of ministry is not some ‘best practices’ or ‘system’ that is to be adopted. The healthy model of ministry is one that trusts Jesus with the results and recognizes our responsibility.

Not everyone has the same commitment, and those are the unhealthy models. It is to those whom he turns in the next lines, and these we will catch in the next post.

For now; maybe spend time thinking about your own holy vocation — what is it? How do you practice it? Have you neglected it? Or worse, is it something you’re bitter about or even despise?

Rekindle The Fire – Encouragement For Faith

Over the last two months I’ve been translating II Timothy. The reason, or perhaps intrigue for this, occurred during our vacation in Portugal when I had one of those experiences in which I distinctly felt drawn to II Timothy 3:5. That verse stayed with me as I meditated upon it throughout or time in Europe such that when we came home, I turned my heart and mind toward the whole book.

Pauline authorship of II Timothy is often disputed, and having translated it I can see why. The language, the flow, and even some of the statements feel very unPaul. However, I don’t always write the same way, and most people do change given the circumstances, and this feels like a more personal letter than say Galatians or Romans. In my opinion, it is second only to Philemon in personal connection. So as I translate it, I take it at face value that Paul is actually writing Timothy and his main point is helping the young church leader in his ministry. This does affect my interpretation and hermeneutic of the passage.

My intention is to cover a few verses with commentary in successful posts, probably about ten or so. Maybe eight. Depends.

So, without any more introduction, let us dive into the opening lines of II Timothy.

Chapter One

1. Paul, an apostle of Messiah Jesus, by the will of God, because of the promise of life in Messiah Jesus.

2. Grace, mercy, and peace from God and our Lord Messiah Jesus to the beloved child, Timothy.

3. I have grace from the God of our ancestors, who I serve with a clean conscience as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day.

4. Remembering your tears, and longing to see you, so that I might be filled with joy.

5. I hold the memory of your unhypocritical faith, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and which I am convinced dwells in you.

6. It is for this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God which, by the laying on of my hands, is inside you.

7. For God did not give you a cowardly spirit but power, love, and clear thinking.

8. Therefore, you should not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord nor my imprisonment for him, but rather share this suffering of evil for the gospel by the power of God.

A fairly straightforward opening helps us get our bearings straight. Paul is not writing to a church, like Corinth, but to a person, a man called Timothy. This Timothy is like a beloved child to him. Timothy of course is not his child, but it reminds us that within the bonds of church life and ministry the family dynamic is always in play — for we are like a family. Timothy is not his child, he is like his child, and therefore his feelings are paternal. Timothy should read Paul’s words as if they were from his father. Of course, Timothy’s father is nowhere to be found, because he was not a believer. Paul has carried part of the responsibility for spiritually teaching and leading Timothy.

In that vein, there is something else I Read going on here that I’m not certain is often brought out. In quick succession Paul says six important things to Timothy: 1) I pray for you all the time because of how sad you were (tears) 2) your faith is a memory to me, as in, it used to be 3) Your grandmother and mother are heroes of the faith and they set you on this path 4) I remain convinced their faith is in you (perhaps despite current evidence?) 5) Rekindle the gift – relight the fire – 6) Don’t be ashamed of me, instead be brave.

If I put these together I get a picture of Paul trying to bring the young pastor back around to faithful ministry. Something has happened in Timothy’s life and ministry that has caused him to waiver. He is questioning his calling or his faith. Therefore, Paul has to give him this refresher course on where he began — even going back to what we might call his ordination when hands were laid on the young man. I tell you as one who has done ministry for thirty years, when you have to go back and revisit your calling just to keep going, you are in a crisis of faith. I read this as Timothy being in the midst of such a crisis of faith.

Textually, at least, it seems like the crisis might be linked to the persecution and suffering that was happening to Paul and others. If we take the words literally, then Paul is concerned Timothy would have shame because of what had happened and was happening to those who follow Jesus. It is the kind of shame that is understandable when people you look up to are arrested, imprisoned, executed by the state, and they always mention that Jesus himself was crucified as a criminal. But Paul wants wants Timothy to adopt his own personal mindset best vocalized in Romans 1:16, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.’ Paul indicates Timothy had turned into a shameful coward.

Timothy was beat down, worn out. He felt cold inside. So Paul reminds him of all these things about his past — how he used to be about his faith, how he once was emotionally linked to Paul, his godly mama and grandma, even his own moment of calling in order to get him to rekindle the fire that had gone out. That is the word-picture of verse 6, to rekindle the gift. The gift is like a fire that has smoldered down to mere embers. It is time to blow it gently with fresh wind of the Holy Spirit, feed it with a little fuel from the word of God, and watch it burn brightly again in faith. The word for rekindle here in the original text is a compound which as best I understand it something like ‘again’ +’to life’ + ‘fire’.

Bring it it to life again. Resurrection.

The gift God has given us sometimes grows dim, cold because the world beats it down. Faith then calls us to rekindle it, and bring it to life again. In the same way we read this as Timothy, we must also be as Paul to help others get to that great recovery by reminding them who they are, where they came from, how they used to be, and what they need to do. Such work of reminding is a great description of pastoral ministry.

Easter Matters

It is Easter Sunday and I am using my blog as an extension of my sermon. I reference four New Testament verse today about the resurrection. Here they are, along with a much briefer explanation than the half hour sermon that accompanies them.

The first one is Romans 6:9-11.

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. so you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

The key theme here is dominion — Jesus exercises dominion over death, which is on the same spectrum as sin in Pauline thought. Jesus dominion means we are liberated from sin and death. For the sermon, cue exciting allegories and correlations like Juneteenth and bell bottoms.

The second one is 1 Peter 1:3-5.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Chris from the dead, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

In which I contrast a living hope with a dying wish. We don’t have dying wishes, we have a living hope that exhibits three attributes: imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

The third is Philippians 3:10.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection . . .  

Our power comes from Jesus’ resurrection. It is constructive power, not a destructive power like the overwrought example of power being the same word as dynamite, which, is a gross overstatement.

The fourth is the longest, coming out of Colossians 2:11-15.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from. The dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Jesus disarmed the enemy. The rulers and authorities — spiritual entities which try and enslave us to sin and death, only have one tool. Jesus disarmed them and left them feckless. We have a supernatural savior who cannot be killed. Like Godzilla, except Godzilla swindled that from Jesus because he is the one and only.

Top Oscar Contenders: My Personal Picks

Okay, it is more accurate to say I am telling you who I think should win, because, Hollywood. Never forget Birdman won best picture, Oppenboredom beat Barbie, and Gandhi beat E.T. So, there is that.

I’m not covering all the categories — only those I am conversant on. All of the documentaries are not available to me. I will take them in order listed on the official Oscar website.

Actor In A Leading Role– this should be Colman Domingo for Sing Sing. That is a great movie and he is great in it. Timothée might win, and that wouldn’t make me mad. If Adrien Brody wins I will shout and scream and say mean and ugly things.

Actor In A Supporting Role — Kierkan Culkin is the only appropriate answer.

Actress In A Leading Role — There is about a thirty-five minute period of time when Mikey Madison channels Marisa Tomei in Anora. That alone might give her victory, but the winner should be Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.

Actress In A Supporting Role — I hated Emilia Perez, but Zoe Saldaña ought to win.

Animated Feature Film — Honestly, all of these are good and better than many of the Best Picture nominations. Flow has a punchers chance, but the best of the amazing bunch is The Wild Robot.

Cinematography — Dune: Part Two is my pick. Some people are going to say The Brutalist, but I don’t think that was great cinematography. I think it was schizophrenic.

Costume Design — This is between Gladiator II and Wicked, and I think Wicked takes it.

Directing — I don’t like any of these, so I don’t have a favorite. Therefore, I believe Hollywood will pick Brady Corbet for that awful no good for anything terrible The Brutalist.

Film Editing — Editing and Sound usually go together, but I think Dune will win Sound and it is not nominated here. That puts me thinking Wicked will probably win editing.

International Feature Film — The usual technique is whichever one is nominated for best picture, but we have two here, plus Flow which his fantastic. But I think I’m Still Here wins this one.

Music (Original Score) — The Wild Robot. However, as awful as The Brutalist is, the soundtrack is really nice. It has a mid-century jazz sound. Just don’t look at the names of the individual songs because those are just as grotesque as the movie.

Music (Original Song) — A very lackluster offering this year, which is odd considering how many musicals and music oriented movies we had. The winner will be El Mal.

Best Picture — There are three contenders, IMHO: Wicked, Conclave, and I’m Still Here. Some would put Anora as a contender but I think that is the fever dream of overactive social media users. Conclave is the favorite, since it has done so well. I will not be mad if Conclave or Wicked win. However, I’m Still Here is the best movie that was nominated across all categories this year.

Production Design — Dune: Part Two

Sound — Dune: Part Two

Visual Effects — Dune: Part Two

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) — Conclave – the dialogue is so well done.

Writing (Original Screenplay) — A Real Pain. This movie is carried entirely by the acting and writing.

Oscars 2025: An Overview

Something has gone terribly wrong with the best picture nominations at The Academy. Fortunately, whatever is wrong there has not bled over, for there is great delight in what we might call the drop down categories. Particularly the International Film and Animated Film categories.

I’m breaking up this blog post into three parts. It should probably be three different posts, but we’re here for it now so here we go. First I will give you my top ten films from the Oscar list. Then, I will analyze the ten movies nominated for best picture. Finally, I’ll spend some time on snubs.

Greenbean’s Top Ten

I’ll start with the more family friendly entries and then move toward the harsher films I liked. Other than that distinction, there is no specific order.

The Wild Robot — This movie should be in the best picture nomination, hands down. In fact, I think it might be the best picture. So many great themes of love, family, adoption, friendship, and perseverance. I can’t sing the praises of this movie enough.

Flow — This movie has no words and no humans. It is an enchanting film about a world where humans have disappeared and the water keeps rising, but a spunky boatful of animals find a way to form a community. Did I mention a lovely capybara?

Inside Out 2 — This is the third best animated film, and you know how much I love Inside Out! This second installment is not as good as Inside Out, but I still hold the two films should be required viewing of all parents and those who care for children and teens.

Wicked — Wicked is a strong contender for best picture. The cast is amazing, and so is the music. There are continuity problems the film inherited from the play (which, I was blessed to see in London last year). This is also a relatively safe family film that would give parents a great chance to talk about friendships, good and evil, and whom we should trust.

Conclave — This has a better than 50% chance of winning best picture. Dominant performances by Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and bravo to Isabella Rossellini.

The Seed and the Sacred Fig — This movie is long — a long, slow burn. The amazing thing about this film is the way it was made. The director filmed it in secret in Tehran during the uprising and protests in Iran in 2022. Then the raw takes were smuggled out of the country and finished in exile. This film is not only good, but compelling.

Gladiator II– This is the first film on this list I would not show anyone under the age of fifteen. Lots of blood and lots of violence. Lots. Mrs. Greenbean was all in on this one talking back to the screen like it was some kind of soap opera. It wasn’t as good as the original Gladiator, but it was very enjoyable storytelling. Historically it was a disaster. And no, there were never sharks in the Colosseum.

Sing Sing — I can’t for the life of me figure out why this wasn’t a best picture nomination. The language is strong, but man, this film will get to you in all the good ways. This is one of those films that were it not an Oscar film, I would never have seen it. I am glad that I did. So glad.

A Real Pain — This movie is great character development set against issues like history, family trauma, mental health issues, and grief. Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg are fantastic together. I want to see more movies with them in it. In fact, a sequel would be spectacular.

I’m Still Here — This movie should have been in the production design and editing categories as well for it captures the 1970s marvelously. The acting — those children are superstars. The teen girl, the second oldest daughter played by Luiza Kosovski should have been nominated for best supporting actress. Although it is set fifty plus years ago, it feels shockingly contemporary.

Those are my ten best films. If you ignore all the others and work through this list, you’ll be enjoying the best cinema produced this past year. Forget the popularity contest and the talking heads. These are straight up quality movies. If you have time for one more, watch September 5th.

The Best Picture Nominations: An Analysis

Half of these are bilge and will be given the treatment here that trash should be given. I will take them in order of their listing on the Oscar homepage.

Anora — Interesting plot, but garbage because of unnecessary and exploitive sexual content. Dialogue is poorly and sloppily written. Interesting idea for a movie, but gross. Everyone knows to never trust a Russian oligarch. Never.

The Brutalist — This movie has no redeeming qualities, other than the soundtrack, which is very good and could win an Oscar. It is long, pretentious, and filled with on non sequitur after another. Trash. Three-and-a-half hour trash.

A Complete Unknown — This is a pleasant movie, especially if you like Bob Dylan. However, Johnny Cash was never Dylan’s friend as depicted in the film and so much is simply conjecture and simplification. The acting is wonderful, but just not good enough to win best picture.

Conclave — Overall, this is a well put together movie. It’s also in my wheelhouse — middle aged men talking about politics, religion, wearing great hats in a beautiful historical setting. The ending is a fascinating, and challenging, to Roman Catholic teaching which makes it even more enjoyable for this Baptist. Bonus: If the Pope dies soon, as he is in very bad health, this movie could be somewhat prescient this year.

Dune: Part Two — I liked this movie, but it was so long, kinda preachy, and to be honest, a little dull. It reminds me of a Star Wars movie where the cast is loaded with great actors but they are handcuffed by a plodding plot and heavy handed editing.

Emilia Perez — Fun concept, and a musical about a transgendered drug lord is brave. It doesn’t work for me, though, except for Zoe Saldana. She is a treasure and one of the best actresses on the planet right now.

I’m Still Here — This movie has a sluggers chance at winning best picture, and it is my pick. As I said above, fantastic acting highlighted by the powerful Fernanda Torres. If you’re only going to watch one movie, make it this one. Not family friendly as there is strong language, mature themes, and brief nudity. Mrs. Greenbean and I both left the movie theater thinking this was he best movie we’ve seen in a couple of years.

Nickel Boys — Very important subject about a terrible tragedy in our nations past. The natural drama of the story is lost, though, in the quirky and eccentric editing. It felt like it had the same editorial style as The Blair Witch Project — odd camera angels — and the time jumping were hard to keep up with.

The Substance — Fantastic big idea that lost its way halfway through and couldn’t find a logical ending that made sense. In fact, the second half felt like it was written by twenty year old frat boys. Final evaluation is this is garbage. Painful to watch.

Wicked — I liked this movie and it could win best picture. Strong narrative, well defined characters, beautiful acting, humor and tragedy, joy and sorrow all woven together. Well done.

Only Wicked, Conclave, A Complete Unknown, and I’m Still Here are worthy of consideration. That doesn’t mean the Brutalist might not win because, you know, Hollywood is weird.

Snubs

I’ll only address two here, although there are plenty. The first is where is Furiosa? Furiosa was completely forgotten by Oscar, but that was one of the best movies this year and why wasn’t Chris Hemsworth given a best supporting actor nomination? He was soooooo good.

The second snub is my man Denzel. He should have been nominated for his delightful portrayal of a Roman baddie.

I’ll be back later this week with some predictions on the main categories. I still have some documentaries to watch. However, in case you haven’t noticed by now, the documentary style is employed by a lot of these movies. History, and historical moments, are dominant in September 5th, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, The Seed and the Sacred Fig, and The Brutalist.

The Ordered Love of J. D. Vance

I am predispositioned to like our new Vice President. He has a beard, so, that is a plus. And my first and middle initials are J. D., too. Cool, right?

Recently, though, he seems to have gotten muddled in his thinking on love. But first, I need to be careful, because it is refreshing to me when politicians talk about genuine faith openly and candidly. I do believe his faith is genuine, unlike his boss, but if I could have five minutes with him I think I could help him see things a little differently.

Here is what he said in the interview on the Fox News Channel that has drawn a lot of conversation.

There’s this old school — and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family and then you love your neighbor and then you love your community and then you love your fellow citizens and your own country, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.

The feel of his words makes sense at a gut level. I have a greater responsibility to my family than I do to a stranger. To not take care of my family is worse, as Paul said, than an infidel, which would make me guilty of infidelity, and the root of infidelity is fides, which is faith. Not taking care of my family is not keeping the faith. The greatest infidelity is to cheat on your spouse, and a man who cheats on his spouse should never be trusted with anything truly important for he has proven himself faithless.

But I digress. I nearly let this blog post get hijacked by another topic.

There is an order to my responsibilities: family, church, community, nation, and ultimately the whole world. I don’t think anyone, Christian or otherwise, would argue the Veep is right about this basic order of responsibility. So he’s right about that.

But there are problems with what he said. The first is his use of love. This is where Professor Lewis would remind us love in English has many different contours best expressed by the four words for love in Greek. Aside from that, Jesus very famously proclaimed the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) is to love God and love our neighbor as ourself. There is, therefore only a two-pronged hierarchy with The Lord at the top and then our neighbor, whom Jesus defines as anyone who needs help (see the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37). Jesus never taught and the Bible never hints at any kind of ‘family, neighbor, community, citizens, world’ ordered love.

Now, of course I love my sprouts with a stronger and deeper commitment than I do the teenage boy who bagged my groceries yesterday. It’s not even close. But the way Vice President Vance spoke on the issue was to use an ordered love hierarchy as a wedge. The Vice President sees a world whereby I only have to love the boy who bagged my groceries after I have shown love to my daughters with all the love I have and then only care about the bag boy if I have anything left over.

Such an understanding of love inverts our baseline model for love, which is God himself. He spared not his own son because he loved the whole world (John 3:16).

If I can put a big bow-tie on it, to love The Lord and love the world is to raise my daughters to know they have a responsibility to serve and protect the people of this world, because some of them need people to help and advocate for them. I create greedy, spoiled brats if I teach my daughters they only have to love their neighbors with their leftovers because we all know there will never be any leftovers. And we create a greedy, spoiled brat society if we teach our country to only take care of your own at the expense of everyone else. If I know anything about Americans it is we are the most generous, benevolent, and empathetic people on the planet and this is precisely because the gospel is saturated into our social psyche whether most people are aware of it or not.

My feelings for my daughters are greater than those for the grocery bagger. Yet, it is wrong to use those intense feelings to say the bag boy is far down the list of people I have to care about so, practically, he doesn’t matter and I shouldn’t feel too bad about it anyway because of the orders of love. Love, and neighbor love, has no order. It moves from the hands and feet of the body of Christ to the whole world without prejudice.

I don’t know if the Vice President is intentionally trying to twist the gospel into a, ‘I will only take care the orphan, widow, or immigrant, sick, beaten traveler on the side of the road after I have made sure everything else is okay’ because if he is, then he is turning the Levite and Priest who did nothing in the parable as the most virtuous because they were probably on their way home to love their family. Vance’s line of thought leads to a violation of the biblical gospel and takes the practitioner into a false gospel of selfish narcissism.

The second problem, though, with this is how Vice President Vance so brazenly pronounced what Christian doctrine is as though he were the keeper of the faith. I am not aware of any doctrine that even remotely sounds like what he said other than perhaps what a football coach might say as a slogan, ‘God, family, country’ kind of thing. People in government have a lot of power to do a lot of things, but defining Christian doctrine is not one of them, and defining it as if it were a completed, settled, universally understood idea is even worse. Very few things in our faith are that clearly defined. Vance is a Roman Catholic and I am a Baptist. We probably have very different viewpoints of what Christianity is all about.

Again, I want to be perfectly clear; I am not even saying here that the overarching point of Vance’s argument is wrong. In many ways he is absolutely right about civics because the American government should always put the American people first. What I object to is dragging Jesus into it as if Jesus would not 100% want us to be concerned and caring with empathy toward all the hurts of the world. The church is not the government, and the United States is not the chosen people of God. Conflating the two is dangerous for it makes one serve the other.

2025 Predictions

It has become somewhat of a tradition on the Greenbean blog to post predictions for the coming year. Some years, I am really good and can get like, half right. Last year I got thirty percent, but came forty-four electoral votes from hitting a major prediction. What do I see this year?

I am neither prophet nor seer, just playing around. These are guesses, and they don’t necessarily reflect what I want to happen. These predictions are what I think may happen. I try to cover a variety of topics.

You’ve been warned. Here we go.

1. Tik-Tok will not be banned in the United States. That is the easy one.

2. There will be a severe constitutional crisis before Thanksgiving. This too, feels like an easy one. I feel like it will involve the Senate in some way.

3. Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s ‘Bromance’ Will collapse before Valentine’s Day. Those egos just can’t coexist. The resulting tweet and insult war will be fabulous, one for the ages.

4. Vladimir Putin will survive yet another near overthrow of his government.

5. The price of milk and eggs will not go down significantly, but the price of gasoline will go up.

6. Cynthia Erivo will win an Oscar for Wicked. Wicked will win big at the Oscars with more than four awards.

7. The Detroit Lions will win the Super Bowl. I can’t believe I actually typed that line.

8. As I predicted last year, the war in Gaza did spread to engagement with Iran. 2025 will see this intensify into ground troops invading/attacking directly into the sovereign territory of Israel and Iran.

9. There will be copycat murders of healthcare CEOs and eventually other leaders from demonized industry.

10. Mike Johnson will not last long as house speaker.

11. Pope Francis will die this year of natural causes, and as a reaction to the liberalism of the last decade, the College of Cardinals will elect a very conservative pope. It’ll be like the movie Conclave, except without Tucci and Fiennes and Rossellini and the surprise ending that we all kinda saw coming.