Acts 16:16-34

If there was any question last week that Paul and his buddies were not in a country that was friendly to Jewish people, this should clear that up. Also, I usually don't hear of other gods or diviners in the world when I go to mainline Protestant churches. I was well into my adult years before I understood that the Bible acknowledges belief in, and even shows the magical powers of other supernatural beings. This one is interesting in that it knows about their God and what it's up to. Jesus of course is way more powerful, so that is dealt with, but at first Jesus doesn't save them from the crowd and its authorities.

But the plan is always the same, keep the faith, pray, sing hymns, even when you're in jail. That will result in the real miracle, and we get hymns like Wesley's "And Can It Be". The setup here is for the new recruit, the jailer, who is just doing his job and believing his authorities are the right ones. He sees the miracle and converts. At least he had some logic to his actions, unlike those fishermen back in the early chapters of Mark who just dropped everything because Jesus told them to.

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

We are done with this year's Easter section of the Lectionary, a good time to read the end of the end of the last book. It's that weird one, so they break up the verses like crazy. Just go read chapter 22 starting where we left off last week. John tells us we should believe because he saw these things, and I suppose if I'd seen them, I'd be a believer too. You'll have to decide for yourself if he is believable. We hear again that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega and that everyone who is thirsty should come to him. The Lectionary skips it, but we also hear you are blessed if you wash your robe and you'll enter by the gates, while the dogs and fornicators will be left outside. If you are reading this and there are still walls in the world, like in Jerusalem, Mexico or Berlin, then you can see these are not a new idea.

On the one hand, I'm glad they cleanse this stuff out of the Bible readings in Sunday service, but unless they also point out that they did and flat out say, those verses are wrong and we don't believe them, there is no value skipping over them. Sometimes, there is an explanation, like recent scholarship that the Anti-Christ from earlier chapters was allegory for the Emperor Nero. That should also be mentioned in any theological discussion, but it doesn't change the divisive nature of the skipped verses here.

John 17:20-26

The setting for this is the Thursday night before the Friday crucifixion. Christ knows he's going to get it, just like Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X knew there were people who would eventually succeed in killing them. The John chapters are split up in the Lectionary, so you can find the preceding verses a year ago. He's summing up his mission as one that will bring everyone together. If it weren't for verses like those skipped over in Revelations above, it might have even worked. He wants everyone to see the love and believes that will lead them to the source of love and generally more love all around. If this is what the church actually did, instead of all the not loving things it did in the centuries to come, it might have even worked. If it had freed the righteous from prisons run by despots, if it had continued to heal like the miracle stories say they did, if it had accepted their enemies into their group if they just agreed on simple things like the Golden Rule, if they had remembered the widow, it might have even worked.