Bryan Richardson

Gift

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 12:4-31 (day three)

And now I will show you the most excellent way.

He means love, of course. Paul was ramping up to the resplendent summation of love’s life-bringing strength and power in what we now call chapter 13. As he did so, he reframed the Corinthian congregation’s understanding of the gifts of spiritual ability. Prophecy exists because there is someone who has lost his way and needs a light to follow. Wisdom makes its way through a congregation because foolishness has not ceased to plague the church. Healing comes because we are sick and weak. Interpretation of tongues rises up because accuracy and accountability escape us so easily. The abilities come amidst our weakness. We handle them poorly. And yet in love’s excellent way, we give them to one another. This is another reason we call them gifts.

Debates

Re:Verse reading—1 Corinthians 8; 10:22-23 (day three)

“Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”

Living as a “good witness”—a reliable conveyor of the gospel—is a good and right aspiration, but that’s not Paul’s focus here. Rather, his stated reason for refraining from meat is the well-being of his Christian brother. He marks the controversy in the fellowship—to eat or not to eat—as an unsolvable clash of opinions. It’s ultimately a sham question, not unlike the one the Pharisees put to Jesus: Give to Caesar or nah? Jesus transcended the arguments. Paul does the same. At issue here isn’t “Who’s right?” but “Will we love one another?” Vexing conflicts that become zero sum games always call us to stop debating and, instead, to love.

Body

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 5 (day three)

And you are proud!

When Paul said that this kind of incest-y behavior didn’t occur among the pagans, he meant it didn’t occur as a practice accepted by the establishment. Neither did murder, but people still got bumped off. Paul’s point is that even pagan society addressed the ethical implications of human desire. This is good and right. If by contrast the emerging ethics of Christianity would begin to resemble undisciplined minors whose parents have left the house for the weekend, few would take it seriously for long. “The rules were always holding me back” is not a vision for the gloriousness of the human person. The Incarnation shows us God’s regard for human beings—and for bodily behavior in particular. If we’re going to live with our bodies any way we please, the tomb might as well have remained occupied.

Weak

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 3:1-17 (day three)

“You are still worldly.”

Paul has articulated how ridiculous the church’s proclamation of the kingdom of God will sound to the wider world’s thought systems: scandalous to Judaic thinking, foolhardy to Hellenistic thinking. Their prospects don’t look good. For this project of cultural shift, they will need all hands on deck. But they can’t muster all hands on deck. You know why? The energy one spends on outmaneuvering those who disagree—so that one’s own faction can achieve and maintain dominance—leaves little-to-no energy for anything so demanding as representing that apparently ridiculous kingdom. And furthermore, no kingdom will be represented at all if factions and dominance are the treasures of the church. They will have sold their birthright for worldly gain. The strength of the gates-of-hell-crashing church isn’t political muscle. It’s the clasping of one another’s hands in weakness.

Time

Re:Verse reading–1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (day Three)

Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

Let’s all spare one another the claims of how we’re big-time on board with Paul’s words: “Of course we’re on board! It’s the Bible!” Look, if we’re already on board with everything the Bible says, then we…really don’t need the Bible. Come on. Jesus punched holes in conservative theologians’ tests for purity and devotion, and found little worth conserving in the ways most people actually mapped out their spirituality. He refused to lift a finger to build a sycophantic following, and his rejection of political finesse got him killed. But we get it now, right? We love him now, right? Jesus pointed out our tendency to cherish prophets safely after the fact. Paul gets in our faces here, declaring it’s time for a gut check.

Foundation

Re:Verse reading–Philemon 1-25 (day three)

I appeal to you on the basis of love.

The modern Western mind might view the stakes in this way: A man who had temporarily clawed out a sliver of respite from life as a subject of human trafficking could end up disappearing into a system of forced servitude in which death is the only limiting factor. Paul’s mind was not a modern Western one. But his spiritual and intellectual brilliance led to the rise of that mind as he helped lay the foundation for what would become Western civilization. How did that happen? Paul concedes that he could force the issue by any means necessary: authority, position, coercion, shame, threat. He rejects those means, discerning that regardless of the short-term outcome, they would produce only more of the same kind of world which gave us the present moment. Love alone is transformative.

Political

Re:Verse reading–Acts 12:1-19 (day Three)

When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.

The Bible has never shied away from shining a light on the cynicism present in the state’s attempts to cement its hold on power. When David exploited the loyalty of a soldier and a general to cover his tracks, the Bible was there to bring you the story. When Solomon used the institution of marriage to widen his geo-political influence, the scriptures laid it out plainly. When Jesus called out the crafty political maneuverings of Herod Antipas, referring to Herod himself as “that fox”, the Bible’s reporting gave us a window into that tense moment. Now, when Herod Agrippa curries political favor via persecution, the Bible faithfully takes us there. This is what earthly powers do, the Bible tells us. Reserve your deepest loyalties for the Lord.

Blow

Re:Verse reading–John 3:1-21 (day three)

The wind blows wherever it pleases.

What about doctrine? What about order? What about truth? What about sin? What about right-and-wrong? Usually, questions like these have already been answered a long time ago in the minds of the ones asking. In fact, they’re not really questions, but signals—signals that we’re the ones standing strong against the howling winds of ungodliness, that others are wrong, and that the fate of the world hangs on whether people will listen to our unbending answers. What others perceive as good news, the religious establishment always views as threatening, even if Jesus is the one saying it. Perhaps especially if Jesus is the one saying it. We reveal that we’re still holding onto our age-old tower-building dreams. Then along comes the Lord who essentially says to Nicodemus—and to us: You must be blown away.

Groups

Re:Verse reading–Mark 9:14-29 (day three)

Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene.

From actual to virtual, from “Crucify him!” to lynch mobs to online bullying, people do not behave well in crowds. Before a crowd could have time to form, Jesus did his necessary work with a community of tender, troubled people. Crowds reinforce. Communities relate. Crowds criticize. Communities confess. Crowds excoriate. Communities edify. Perhaps smaller is better at first, so that community can take root and grow. It’s no wonder that Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name…” From that small community, the church will grow into a beautiful, worldwide representation of the eternal community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Home

Re:Verse reading–Hosea 1, 3, 14 (day three)

Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness.

Nothing ever hurts like family. Family can nurture and encourage and teach and give. But family can also strip-mine your soul until your life is a wasteland of scarred earth. With family possessing that kind of potential for joy and sorrow, it’s no wonder that the Lord would point to Hosea’s family story in order to reveal the depth of sorrow, anger, and betrayal that arises within God himself when those whom he loves turn their devotion and allegiance and attention away from him. The resulting woundedness did not spare even God from desertion and death. And still he longs for a home with human beings. Those who turn toward him seeking reconciliation will find all is not lost. There is a family to come home to after all.