Jeremiah 31:31-34

This passage is covered in year C of the Lectionary. It's here again just before Easter because it mentions the new covenant. The so-called Judeo-Christian tradition is still with us because it changed over time. Ideas like a "new" covenant eventually became a "new" testament.

Hebrews 5:5-10

Who the hell is Melchizedek? I have never heard a preacher preach to this. That's not saying no one ever has, I've only been to a few hundred sermons and read a few hundred more online. Sometimes I do research on odd things like this, but for this one, I'm just going to quote Rob Bell's book "What Is The Bible." He discusses the appearance of this other tribe that seems to know something about God, despite not being part of the flow of the narrative. Abraham gets blessed by them in Gen 14 and he gets a mention in Psalm 110. Here's what Rob says about what this means to us today,

- "Don't be surprised when you meet people who have none of your religious background and baggage and yet clearly have a genuine connection with the divine. This is normal, healthy and Biblical. Don't be caught off guard when people show up from outside of whatever system or institution or religion or perspective or doctrine or worldview or culture you've created and they have something profound and good to give to you. This is often how the story goes, isn't it? Don't let lame critiques of the Bible sidetrack from actually reading the stories."

John 12:20-33

Sometimes I try to soften words like "hate" or "evil" when they show up because I actually do believe that they are translation and interpretation problems from earlier languages and cultures. Sometimes it's really hard to do that. Especially knowing that there are people out there who "hate their life" because this is a world of sin and they are just waiting to get out of it and get to heaven. Life is just one big long payment of penance for them. Matthew 10:39 uses the much softer "whosoever will lose his life… shall find it." But either way, they are talking about giving up your whole self for this cause.

I like that a little skepticism creeps into this passage. In the earlier Mark gospel it is much less clear who Jesus is until he is actually resurrected. Here God comes down to glorify him, but some said it was just the sound of thunder. At least we get a little humility from Jesus, the servant lord. Also included, is not only the theology of the sacrifice, but the larger narrative of why an all loving and all knowing God has us living in a world where there is evil. There is this other "ruler", the one "of this world." Without that, questions of God's benevolence would be much more difficult to address.