The way of imagination

“[Jesus] answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.” (Mk. 1.38-39)        Preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons – or indeed, casting out demons in synagogues (cf. 1.21-28).   It’s an intriguing way to summarize what Jesus was doing as he walked around the villages of Galilee.   As a matter of fact, most New Testament scholars – even the skeptical ones – agree that Jesus had a reputation for being an exorcist.   Needless to say, Jesus had something of a habit of disrupting the sabbath routine in the synagogues he frequented (cf. 3.1-6).   As I read Mark’s narrative, I get the uneasy sense that had I been in attendance at a synagogue when Jesus made an appearance, I may indeed have taken the side of the Pharisees.   I mean, let’s be ...

     We can read about the founding of the church in the city of Philippi in The Acts of the Apostles 16.1-40.   This was the first Christian community that Paul established in Europe (prior to this, Paul had evangelized Cyprus and what is now Turkey).   Paul and his travelling companion, Silas, had been briefly imprisoned when they first proclaimed the gospel in Philippi (situated in Macedonia, northern Greece) during Paul’s second missionary journey.   As he writes this letter to the Christians of Philippi, Paul is once again in prison (“the same struggle” that he had had previously: Phil. 1.7, 28-30).   This imprisonment probably took place in the city of Ephesus (modern Turkey; cf. 2 Cor. 1.8-11).   Paul’s time in Ephesus, during his third journey, is described in Acts 19.1-41.      Paul begins his letter to the Philippians with a typical epistolary greeting: 1.1-2.   Paul then offers a prayer of thanksgiving f...

       Paul – the “slave” of Jesus (Rom. 1.1; Gal. 1.10) – showed us how to follow a crucified King.   His encounter with the Risen Lord on the Damascus Road marked Paul’s “crucifixion” (cf. Gal. 6.14) regarding the self-assertive ethos that had guided him up to that moment and his “resurrection” into a new life of self-emptying, obedient service to his crucified-and-risen master (cf. Phil. 2.5-7; 3.4-11).   Indeed, Paul’s autobiographical remarks in his letter to the Philippians showcase two kinds of apologetic strategy – on the one hand, Paul’s former apologia had involved him in the pursuit of intellectual brilliance, socially mobility and respectability, and what’s more – zeal to the point of using violence to defend the integrity of Jewish tradition, and, on the other, a strategy of downward mobility, accompanied by the loss of status, credibility and security, that was albeit no less zealous.   Only that, once he had been commissioned as an apos...

       Narrative patterns.   In Acts chapters 2—7, there is a repetitive “cycle” that plays out four times.   Each instance of this four-fold cycle consists of three elements – a miraculous event, a sermon and the “fallout” of the event-interpreted-by-the-sermon.   The first of the 4 cycles occurs in Acts chapter 2.   The first of the 3 typical elements (the miraculous event), consists of the disciples speaking in the various languages of the diaspora Jews that have gathered in Jerusalem (Ac. 2.1-13).      Miraculous event (speaking in tongues).   The Feast of “Pentecost” was an annual festival in Judaism commemorating the giving of the Law to Moses (celebrated on the “50 th Day” after Passover).   This time, as Luke points out, Pentecost has a prophetic dimension .   At Mt. Sinai, Moses had said: “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on th...

       In chapters 2—5 of the book of Acts, the Galilean “Jesus-movement” takes Jerusalem by storm! (cf. Ac. 2.7).   In these opening chapters, we see the same pattern of “ministry” as had occurred in Galilee through the activities of Jesus and the disciples in Luke’s Gospel (= preaching and healings).   Compare this part of the book of Acts with Jesus’ “holy week” in Jerusalem (Lk. 20—23), which had been characterized by daily preaching in Temple, constant questioning by religious leaders, hostility from Temple leadership, the crowds serving as Jesus’ “bodyguard” and finally, Jesus’ arrest and trial.   In Luke’s Gospel, most of the action takes place in Galilee and involves the renewing of Israel through the 12 apostles.   In Luke’s sequel, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the action begins where it had ended in his Gospel – in Jerusalem.   In volume 2 of Luke’s work, the renewed Israel grows, and prepares to renew the world. ...

       Luke links his follow-up work with his Gospel, a.k.a. “the first book” (Ac. 1.1).   Luke tells his readers that during the 40 days following the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the apostles and spoke to them of “the kingdom of God” (Ac. 1.3; cf. 28.30-31); the theme of “the kingdom” forms “bookends” for the book of Acts.   The risen Jesus bequeaths to the disciples the promise of the Holy Spirit (Ac. 1.4-5; cf. Lk. 3.15-16; Ac. 11.16; 19.1-7).   John, the baptizer in water, had promised that the One coming after him would baptize in the Spirit.   The link between John the Baptist’s ministry and that of Jesus is an important theme in Luke-Acts; cf. Lk. 7.28-29; 9.18-19; 20.1-8; Ac. 1.22; 10.34-38; 13.23-25; 18.24-25; 19.1-7.      As Jesus gathers with the apostles on the Mount of Olives (where the Garden of Gethsemane was located), they ask him: “will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Ac. 1.6; cf. Lk. 2.25-...