Andy Cornett | living in the new creation

endlessly captivated by the person and work of the resurrected Jesus

on hope deferred

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I am preaching at our church this coming Sunday on “Hope Deferred.” Our texts are Psalm 25 and Hebrews 11:32-12:3. It’s been a fascinating week of study, thinking, and prayer as I work on this message. Here are three quotes that have been fresh in mind as I prepared for Sunday.

“The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock … What are we to fear? Death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Exile? ‘The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord.’ The confiscation of goods? We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it. I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.”

– Excerpt from a homily by St. John Chrysostom (Ante exsilium, nn. 1-3, PG 52, 427-430). (Thanks to a college student friend for pointing me to this one.)

“… the only sure source of our consolation: by the good and admirable providence of God the things which we consider adverse somehow contribute to our salvation. We defraud God unless each of us lives and dies in utter dependence upon His sovereign and good will.”

– John Calvin, letter to a pastor friend who had also lost his wife to death, 1557 (can’t remember the date exactly).

“And now Christianity! Christianity teaches that this single human being, and so every single human being, whether husband, wife, servant girl, cabinet minister, merchant, barber, student, etc., this single human being is before God … in short this human being has an invitation to live on the most intimate footing with God! Furthermore, for this person’s sake, for the sake of this very person too, God comes to the world, lets himself be born, suffers, dies; and this suffering God, he will-nigh begs and implores the human being to accept the help offered to him! Truly, if there is anything one should lose one’s mind over, this is it!”

– Soren Kierkegaard, A Sickness Unto Death, 117-118. (see also 100-110 on Kierkegaard defining sin as “before God, or with the conception of God, in despair not wanting to be oneself, or wanting in despair to be oneself.”)

16 tweets on the gospel of Mark

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On November 14, I was speaking to students at our church on following Jesus and knowing him through his word. On the fly, I challenged them to take the remaining 16 days of November and read the gospel of Mark, 1 chapter for each day. So I took my own advice.

[I’ve been trying to read in the gospel every day, working my way through one of them at a time. Sometimes I read large chunks. Sometimes I eke out a chapter a day, reading with more thought and attention. I picked this up from Steven Dilla and his plan for reading the gospels. I highly recommend it, and think I might try to follow it in a disciplined manner this January.]

But back to the main idea. As I went through Mark this time around, I tried to read it through a double lens: 1) what does this story say about who Jesus is and what he does, and 2) what would a follower of Jesus do in response? I have being thinking about this kind of read more and more, ever since I heard John Ortberg challenge us back in 2008: are we in the church making disciples who follow Jesus (not just fans, or admirers, or users) or just Christians, commonly understood?

So here are my 16 tweets through the gospel of Mark. I hope the call is clear (it was to me).

#gospelofMark 1: Jesus proclaims the good news: God’s kingdom is near! Followers of Jesus hear his call, repent, believe, and follow him.
#gospelofMark 2: Jesus lives/loves/heals with a divine, joyful freedom. A follower of Jesus lives/loves in that freedom.
#gospelofMark 3: Jesus chooses people to be with him and for mission. A follower of Jesus is with Jesus, learns from him, and gets sent out.
#gospelofMark 4: Jesus gives the kingdom and grows it to fruition. A follower of Jesus hears, receives, & pays attention.
#gospelofMark 5: Jesus shows power over evil, suffering, and death. Jesus heals. A follower of Jesus moves from fear to faith.
#gospelofMark 6: Jesus has sharp words for the “righteous” but healing hands to the desperate. A follower of Jesus learns inside-out living.
#gospelofMark 7: Jesus focuses on the command of God over/against all human traditions: a follower of Jesus pleases God, not people.
#gospelofMark 8: Jesus is Israel’s Messiah who will suffer, die, and rise again. We deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.
#gospelofMark 9: Jesus takes the downward road from glory to cross. A follower of Jesus lives that out: the cross is the way to glory.
#gospelofMark 10: Jesus is here to serve and be a ransom. A follower of Jesus embraces Jesus and his kingdom: serving, not lording.
#gospelofMark 11: Jesus is king, speaking and acting with God’s authority. A follower of Jesus has faith, believes, asks, receives.
(Update on #gospelofMark 11: sometimes a follower of Jesus is just mystified by what Jesus says and does.)
#gospelofMark 12: Jesus is provocative, cutting past appearance, hypocrisy, and all posturing. He reveals love is the heart of the law.
#gospelofMark 13: Jesus makes the End known to those in the middle. A follower of Jesus lives the messy middle in light of the coming End.
#gospelofMark 14: a follower of Jesus might still betray or disown Jesus as he walks his downward path. Jesus still breaks bread with them.
#gospelofMark 15: Jesus is the crucified, forsaken King of the Jews and the Son of God. A follower of Jesus trembles, tearful.
#gospelofMark 16: Jesus is risen and goes ahead of us into the world. A follower of Jesus moves from fear to faith & sees/meets him there.

on the letter of the text

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In his latest book, Deep Exegesis: The Mystery of Reading Scripture, Leithart for the first time steps back to self-consciously reflect at some length on his craft and to offer counsel for those wishing to cultivate it themselves. The book’s central thesis is a simple one: taking cues from the way Jesus and Paul read the Old Testament, interpreters today ought to pay attention to the letter of the text – its particular form, the way the words go – and not only the supposed matter underneath that form, its “spirit” or “content.” Or, rather “attending to the specific contours of the text – the author’s word choices, structural organization, tropes and allusions, and intertextual quotations” – just is the way to engage the “spirit” of the text. If you like, paraphrasing Derrida, there is no spirit outside the text.

— Wesley Hill, “Loving the Letter of the Text.” (emphasis in the original)