Discipleship: People of the Spirit, People of Hope GOSPEL PORTRAITS OF THE DISCIPLES AND DISCIPLESHIP

Transcription

1 Discipleship: People of the Spirit, People of Hope GOSPEL PORTRAITS OF THE DISCIPLES AND DISCIPLESHIP

2 Mark the Evangelist

3 Marc Chagall Yellow Crucifixion (1942)

4 Mother & Child Pablo Picasso lo-picasso/mother-and-child- 1902

5 The Prodigal Son, by Auguste Rodin (1905)

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7 Rembrandt The Prodigal Son ca

8 The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus (1625) Artist: Terbrugghen, Hendrick Jansz ( )

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10 The Good Samaritan (after Delacroix) Vincent van Gogh (1890)

11 Prophets young and old

12 Prophets young and old

13 Prophets young and old

14 Emmaus: Journey to hope

15 Disciples in John s Gospel LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

16 I Am (Egō eimi) Bread to nourish and preserve life (6:35, 48 51) Sheep-gate providing access to pasture & protection (10:7 9) Shepherd who surrenders life for his flock (10:11 18) Source of resurrection-life (11:25 26) Path & truth by which one may navigate life & the world (14:6) Vine, apart from which disciple-branches cannot flourish or bear fruit (15:1 6)

17 Eternal life Life now and then Quality of life, an authentic life, into which we enter even now Though we will die, this authentic life endures; death cannot touch it

18 Samaritan woman at the well: model witness

19 Above all else... Agapē: Love one another! I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (13:34 35) This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (15:12)

20 Discipleship: People of the Spirit, People of Hope PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT, PEOPLE OF HOPE: THE VISION OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

21 The Apostle Paul Rembrandt ca. 1635

22 The Apostle Paul in Prison Rembrandt ca. 1627

23 The Apostle Paul VOCATION AND MISSION, SIGNIFICANCE AND LITERARY LEGACY

24 The Transformation of Paul ZEAL FOR GOD REDIRECTED

25 Paul s transformation Conversion on the Road to Damascus by Caravaggio

26 Paul s transformation Conversion of St. Paul by Chris Cook

27 Paul s transformation Paul s Conversion by Michelangelo

28 Paul s transformation Conversion of St Paul by Caravaggio

29 Paul s Message in Context THE LETTERS AND THEIR PARTICULARITY

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32 The ancient city of Corinth lay at the foot of the mountain of Acrocorinth, about 3 km inland. Corinth stood near an important natural intersection of land and sea traffic, both military and commercial. Corinth s location was a major reason for the city s prosperity, but also made it vulnerable (e.g., in the destruction of the city by the Roman army in 146 B.C.E.). The modern town of Corinth is visible at the edge of the slide on the near bank of the Corinthian Gulf (upper left).

33 View of Ancient Corinth and the Corinthian Gulf. Corinth s cultural and economic life peaked in the 2nd century C.E. It was one of the main financial centers of Greece. Devastation came in the late 4 th century: an earthquake in 375 and then destruction by the Goths in 395.

34 The Theological Vision of Paul CORE CONVICTIONS

35 Paul s theological vision Paul a contextual, pastoral theologian The Decisive Event: The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Cross: A saving event for us, for sinners Expression of God s love Puts us right with God Our access to the gift of right-relation (vindication, justification): faith/trust in the gift and the Giver Resurrection as commencement: the not yet breaks into the present and already claims us and the whole world for God s grace

36 God s Empowering Presence PEOPLE OF THE SPIRIT

37 Varieties of Gifts One Spirit Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

38 Varieties of Gifts One Spirit All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks, slaves or free and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:4 13)

39 Holy Spirit: Moral Compass and Engine GALATIANS 5:5, 16 18, 22 25

40 Holy Spirit: Guide and Power for Living For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. [T]he fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

41 Holy Spirit: Guide and Power for Living: Romans 8:1 17 The Spirit: free[s] us from the law of sin and of death guides and equips us so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. When we have the mind of the Spirit, when our thoughts and attitudes are God-focused and Spirit-centered, the gifts of God for us are life and peace. We can live in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in [us], and sin alienation from God, self, and others need not any longer dominate us and deliver us to death.

42 Holy Spirit: Guide and Power for Living: Romans 8:1 17 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.... For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, Abba! Father! it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

43 God s Empowering Presence SUFFERING AND HOPE

44 Suffering & hope: Romans 5:1 5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

45 Suffering & hope: Romans 8:18 39 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

46 Suffering & hope: Romans 8:18 39 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

47 Inscribed relief at Thessalonike s Egyptian sanctuary. Translation: According to a vow, Phouphikia to Isis for hearing. Gods and goddesses are often invoked as deities who hear the requests of worshippers. The ears in this relief probably depict the ears of the goddess, who is honored for hearing a prayer.

48 This view of the Street of the Tombs shows grave monuments from the 4th century B.C.E. Longstanding tradition in Greece and the Near East prohibited burial within the city walls. Many of the 5th- and 4thcentury monuments are spectacular in scale and design. However, restrictions on grandiose monuments imposed in 307 B.C.E. effectively ended Attic sepulchral sculpture until the 1st century B.C.E.

49 A bronze coin minted at the city of Thessalonike in the last third of the 1st century B.C.E. The head of Julius Caesar appears with the legend THEOS, indicating that Julius was acclaimed a god of the city. This coin is similar to an earlier monetary issue of Octavian in which Julius divus was presented as laureate on the reverse, and Octavian, designated as "son of god" (divi filius), was portrayed on the obverse of the coin. The monetary series shows Thessalonike s promotion of Julius Caesar s deification and Octavian s propaganda program.

50 Suffering & hope: Romans 8:18 39 Nothing in the universe, past, present, or future no matter how great and destructive the power has any power to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.