Second Corinthians was written in a difficult time for Paul, and its tone is emotional and personal. Paul speaks of his afflictions and trials, and this brought us to a discussion of suffering. Why do we suffer? How shall we find meaning in the seemingly random events that can be so traumatic? A handful of brave ladies shared personal experiences of receiving an outpouring of grace to help them through a time of trial. Spencer W. Kimball (who knew a great deal about suffering) said, "“Being
human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and
assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we were to close the
doors upon sorrow and distress, we might be excluding our greatest friends and
benefactors. Suffering can make saints of people as they learn patience,
long-suffering, and self-mastery." There is a lesson for us in the story of Jesus and Lazarus. Jesus knows his friend is ill, and he does not come. He knows Lazarus is dead, and still stays away. When he finally arrives and sees Mary and Martha, grieving for their brother and wounded by the seeming neglect of Jesus, He weeps. Though he must allow us to suffer, it pains him. He feels our pains and sorrows, and weeps with and for us. Lazarus is raised, joy returns, and everyone is changed by the experience.
Suffering may not feel like a friend, but most of us would agree that it has been our greatest teacher. Do we remember to reach out to Jesus for help and grace in hard times? Prayer brings revelation, healing blessings bring relief and comfort, the temple brings perspective, and angels stand unseen but oh, so near. Christ's grace is all around us, shoring us up in every kind of trouble. In chapter 4, Paul sums up how, no matter what we suffer, grace can make the difference in what life looks like when viewed through an eternal lens:
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Corinth, strategically located on the isthmus that linked ancient Greece to Achaia, was a port city with a reputation for debauchery. The Temple of Venus with its 1,000 "priestesses," and various pagan temples were frequented by the merchants and sailors that did business there. Paul had success in establishing a church in Corinth, but after his departure divisions and dissensions arose among several factions of converts.
In his response to these various challenges Paul creates a masterpiece. The many subjects he covers are bracketed by his testimony of the physical resurrection of Christ. If Christ's resurrection was literal and corporeal, then it matters what we do with our bodies, for they are eternal. Paul leaves no room for doubt about this, and his challenge to those who would dismiss the resurrection as some kind of mysterious, spiritual transformation is timeless. Without the resurrection, Jesus is just a great teacher.
As he writes, Paul is building a Christian code of ethical behavior. Which of the Jewish laws will remain in force for Christian converts? Paul uses the Lord's supper to introduce the concept of spiritual gifts, and ends by describing Christ's love as the greatest of those gifts. The transcendent thirteenth chapter reminds us that the kind of love Christ offers is the kind that heals and lifts, and that we can receive it as we ask Jesus to help us see our loved ones, not "through a glass darkly," but clearly, as He sees. It is this love that matters, and it is a gift of grace. And where do we learn that love? At home. Byron Katie reminds us of a simple truth:
"The people we most need are the people we are living with now. Again and again, they will show us the truth we don't want to see, until we see it. Our parents, our children, our spouses, and our friends will continue to press every button we have, until we realize what it is that we don't want to know about ourselves, yet. They will point us to our freedom every time.” (Byron Katie, Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life)
The thirteen letters of Paul to the various congregations predate the gospels, and are the first documents from early Christendom. 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are the oldest. Each of Paul's letters is written in a definite rhetorical style, with a formal greeting, reports on the state of the ministry, exhortation, some doctrinal exposition, and a formal benediction and blessing. The letters are "occasional," meaning that each was written in response to issues that concerned that group of people, so we are not surprised to find some differences among them. The pattern of Paul's missionary journeys was consistent: enter a new city, preach in the synagogue, find sympathetic souls and make converts, establish a "house-church" and then revisit the congregation or send emissaries later on. And then write letters. These letters give us a glimpse into the lives of the first Christians, trying to understand what it meant to be a follower of Christ in a Jewish society. The saints in Thessalonica were convinced that Jesus was coming soon, and apparently some of them had stopped working and were just waiting around, so Paul attempts to set them straight. We learned about the various apocalyptic movements over the centuries that have arisen, always with the idea that they have the secret figured out, and know precisely when the Lord is coming. Though Jesus assures us that we will be surprised, many have tried to outguess Him. The Millerites were a movement that began in 1831, just a year after our church, but dwindled after the "Great Disappointment," when the Savior failed to appear in October of 1844. Like the over-zealous "preppers" of today, the events associated with the apocalypse began to overshadow the atonement, and disappointment and disillusionment followed. How Shall We Prepare? What is the most important thing we can do to prepare for the second coming of the Savior? As Jesus teaches His disciples about His coming in Matthew 24-25, He ends by describing those who will be found on His right hand. Is it the group with the most food storage, or the strongest defense plan? The most perfectly obedient? Here is how Jesus describes them: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” (Matt. 25:34–36) That is rather startling. Could it be that the best preparation for the second coming is to show mercy and love to the people we meet today? Elder Dallin Oaks says this: “If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow
what would
we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we
discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses
would we extend? What testimonies would we bear?If
we
would do those things then, why not now? Why not seek peace while peace can be
obtained? If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let us start immediately
to replenish them.” And that most practical of prophets, Brigham Young, concurs, urging us:“Do
not be too anxious for the Lord to hasten His work. Let our anxiety be centered
upon this one thing, the sanctification of our own hearts… Seek to have the
spirit of Christ, that we may wait patiently the time of the Lord, and prepare
ourselves for the times that are coming. This is our duty.” The Books of the New Testament in Chronological Order: While no one really knows exactly when these books were written, here is a rough chronology of the Books of the New Testament. Other commentaries place Mark as older than Luke and Matthew, though, so that calls at least that part of this list into question!
James - 50 A.D.
First Thessalonians - 52-53.
Second Thessalonians - 52-53.
Galatians - 55.
First Corinthians - 57.
Second Corinthians - 57.
Romans - 57-58.
Philippians - 62-63.
Colossians - 62-63.
Philemon - 62-63.
Ephesians - 62-63.
Luke - 63.
Acts - 64.
First Timothy - 65.
Titus - 65.
Second Timothy - 66.
Mark - 66.
Matthew - 67.
Hebrews - 67.
First Peter - 67-68.
Second Peter - 68.
Jude - 68.
Apocalypse - 68.
John - c. 85.
Epistles of John - 90-95. Source: Bible Study Tools: http://www.biblestudytools.com/resources/guide-to-bible-study/order-books-new-testament.html
The New Testament has 27 books, and the first four gospels take up over half of the pages. The fifth book, Acts, could also be titled "Luke Part 2" since it clearly was written as a continuation of Luke's gospel. It continues the narrative and takes us from the ascension of the resurrected Christ through the first thirty years of the Christian church. The remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost signals to us that, in the words of theologian Bart Ehrman,“The main character in the Book of Acts is the Holy Spirit." It also prompts us to think about the role of the Holy Ghost in our own lives, and what our own Day of Pentecost might be. Parley P. Pratt, in his remarkable book Key to the Science of Theology, describes the influence of the Holy Ghost: "The gift of the Holy Ghost … quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being. (Key to the Science of Theology, 9th ed. [1965], p. 101) To open ourselves more fully to this influence could only be a good thing, right?
The Road to Damascus
Though the book is titled "Acts of the Apostles," it focuses mainly on just two, Peter and Paul. Paul's sudden conversion on the road to Damascus takes center stage, and is actually recounted three times in Acts. Each account is somewhat different, causing critics to question the veracity of all three. In my own experience, I find that events shift over time, both in my own memory and in the way that I recount them. (For example, my husband has made the observation that the longer I am home from my mission, and the more times I repeat the stories about it, the harder it was!) The fact that there are three versions of Paul's vision gives me some insight into the several versions of the "first vision" that Joseph Smith recorded over the years. As he understood his experience better, his account of it shifted slightly. Rather than make me question the veracity of the original experience, the messiness of it's reconstruction seems more like what happens in real life. If it was a fictional story, it would never change.
Peter's Change of Heart
Missionary works no sooner begins than, right away, the conflict arises about what it means to be Christian. Since Jesus was a devout Jew and all of his original disciples were as well, it seems obvious that new converts would also have to be devout Jews in order to be Christians. That would mean, for adult males, submitting to circumcision, and adherence to all of the complicated requirements of orthodox Judaism. The resolution of this conundrum is one of the central themes of the book. In order to understand how big of a shift in perspective was required to welcome Gentiles into the fold, "as is," we need to understand how the Jews felt about the Gentiles in that day.
Jews were instructed by their Rabbis, not only to avoid Gentiles, but never to do anything to give them "pleasure or help." If you saw a Gentile mother in labor, you should not give her aid, nor feed her starving child, since that would bring another Gentile into the world. As one Talmudic tract stated, "The best of the Gentiles, kill; the best of the serpents, crush its head." One night in vision Peter sees a sheet filled with forbidden animals, and is told to eat them. Unthinkable! (An obvious equivalent would be a vision that commanded a faithful Mormon to smoke, drink and get high!) Yet when Peter is sent to the home of the Centurion Cornelius, the meaning of the vision comes clear: The Law of Moses was meant to prepare the Jews for Christ; He has come, and the law is fulfilled. So a compromise of sorts is reached, encouraging new converts to keep the most basic tenets of "kashruth," while excusing them from the more daunting requirement of circumcision. Whew.
Would we have had the courage that Peter had, to make a sea change in our thinking and follow God's will in a new direction? We talked about prejudice and how each of us must struggle to find the truth in the midst of our preconceived ideas. Throughout history Saints have been surprised by changes in what they perceived to be unchangeable doctrine. God decides what is unchangeable and what can be changed; we just have to hang on. We closed with that disciple of diversity, Dieter Uchtdorf, who reminds us that our most dangerous judgements are often reserved for those close to us, and instructs us simply to "Stop it!" So we ask ourselves, "Who am I judging, and how can I open my heart to be more accepting and loving of all God's children?" With that in mind, next week we take to the missionary trail with Paul.
The resurrection is one of the most carefully documented events in the scriptures; all four gospels offer detailed accounts of Christ's literal, physical return from the dead. Jesus eats, drinks, walks over seven miles on the road to Emmaus, and shows hundreds of people the marks of the nails and spear that confirm his identity as the very man who had been crucified so cruelly just days before. He encourages the disciples to "handle me and see, that it is I, myself." Ironically, almost from the start there were intellectuals who tried to reconfigure the resurrection into some kind of mystical, even hallucinatory experience shared by Jesus's followers. But that was, and is, pure silliness. Jesus either rose from the dead, or else he was a fraud. And He was no fraud. Only the resurrection and the power of the atonement can account for the millions and millions of people who have looked to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Not just a great teacher or examplar. A Savior. Hugh Nibley (the most wonderfully eccentric scholar the church has produced) had the kind of mind that perceived a relation between the resurrection and the second law of Thermodynamics, which states that everything in the universe is subject to entropy, meaning that it moves toward decay, disorder and eventual disintegration. That is, unless something reverses that process. I think he is on to something exciting here: "According to Jacob, it is the first law to which nature is subjected—the inexorable and irreversible trend toward corruption and disintegration; it can't be reversed. It rises no more, crumbles, rots, and remains that way endlessly, for an endless duration.
This would spell an end to everything, were it not that another force works against it. "Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement" (2 Nephi 9:7), he says—in effect, a principle of unlimited application. An infinite principle is at work here... Without an infinite atonement, "this corruption could not put on incorruption." We could not save ourselves from entropy. Someone else must be there to do it. Notice what atonement means: reversal of the degradative process, a returning to its former state, being integrated or united again—"at-one." What results when particles break down? They separate. Decay is always from heavier to lighter particles. But "atonement" brings particles back together again. Bringing anything back to its original state is at-one-ment." (Temple and the Cosmos)
With this insight Br. Nibley leads us to a larger vision of the resurrection than just rising from the grave, as miraculous as that is. He is, I think, saying that Christ holds within himself a life force so great that it reverses the very condition of the universe. Under His influence the inexorable downward spiral of nature slows, halts, and reverses, and everything starts to move back toward life, integration, energy, fulfillment, order, productivity , at-one-ment. Starting from this view of the resurrection and reading back through the gospels we see Jesus infusing every situation with energy, healing, forgiveness and love. Pure life-force. It is thrilling, and it is no surprise that the grave, literally, could not hold Him. Nor, because of his atonement, any of us.
Joseph Smith envisioned the resurrection as a Priesthood ordinance in which worthy fathers would participate in bringing their families back from the grave. What an image that is! So what does the resurrection mean to us in our daily lives? It means that we may tremble at the process of death (pretty scary) but we don't fear the thing itself. One remarkable finding in the thousands of "near-death" experiences now on record is this: people who have died and return not only don't fear death, they look forward to it! Death will turn out to be the only thing that really dies. The rest of us are going on forever. Time for a little John Donne:
Death, be not proud, tho some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
A hope in Christ consists of three things: the peace that comes through the forgiveness of our sins, an awareness that he shared in our sufferings and infirmities and thus can succor us with his grace, and a knowledge that in the end we will rise with Him in the resurrection. With those assurances, we can live in a state of joy and hope, no matter what befalls us. Without those assurances we are in a state of spiritual entropy. Jesus described himself as "the resurrection and the life," and every step we take toward him brings a greater abundance of life to our souls.
Our Christmas Lesson looked at the influence of the life of Christ on history, literature, art and music. If you would like a copy of the complete lesson, here it is, and here are the slides.
The influence of Jesus Christ on the world is
enormous. Kenneth Latourette in his seven-volume work on the history of
the expansion of Christianity summarizes the influence of Jesus Christ:
No life ever lived on this planet has been so
influential in the affairs of men like the life of Jesus Christ. From that
brief life and its apparent frustration has flowed a more powerful force for
the triumphant waging of man’s long battle than any other ever known by the
human race. By it millions have been lifted from illiteracy and ignorance and
have been placed upon the road of growing intellectual freedom and control over
the physical environment. It has done more to allay the physical ills of
disease and famine than any other impulse known to man. It’s emancipated
millions from chattel slavery and millions of others from addiction to vice. It
has protected tens of millions in exploitation by their fellows. It’s been the
most fruitful source of movement to lessen the horrors of war and to put the
relations of men and nations on the basis of justice and of peace.
In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made
moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on
snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him Nor earth
sustain; Heaven and earth shall flee away When He comes to reign: In the bleak
mid-winter A stable-place sufficed The Lord God Almighty Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim Worship night and
day, A breastful of milk And a mangerful of hay; Enough for Him, whom
angels Fall down before, The ox and ass and camel Which adore.
Angels and archangels May have gathered
there, Cherubim and seraphim Thronged the air, But only His mother In her
maiden bliss Worshipped the Beloved With a kiss.
What can I give Him, Poor as I am? If I were a
shepherd I would bring a lamb, If I were a Wise Man I would do my part, – Yet
what I can I give Him, Give my heart.
Christina Rossetti Such a beautiful poem makes an even more beautiful hymn.
The question of what we
bring to the manger is central to the message of Christmas. Jesus said, “If ye
love me, keep my commandments.” He expects to not just to believe, but to do
something about it. And his great commandments were to love God and love our
neighbor. Charles Dickens concludes his story of the life of Jesus with his
definition of Christianity.
Our class sessions will resume on Tuesday, January 7th with the resurrection of Jesus. Until then have a wonderful holiday, and, as T. T. would say, "God bless us, every one!"
