Think Question Believe Kevin O'Brien

Throughout the Gospel of John “the Jews” are presented as hostile to Jesus and to all who assert that he is the Christ. They are said to plot against him, to convince Pilate to execute him; even after his crucifixion they are said to oppose Pilate placing the sign ‘King of the Jews’; supposedly the disciples hid for fear of “the Jews”.
In the past this has led to some terrible misunderstandings and crimes against the Jewish people:
This toxic history has made some conclude that the language of John is so violently anti-Semitic that the time has now come to stop using the Gospel in today’s Christian churches – that we should lay John quietly to rest.
However, so much scripture is culture bound within the first century, that were we to start editing and cutting the Bible to irradicate awkward passages we should never stop – so perhaps it is better to understand, to de-construct, to re-interpret.
Particularly, we need to be very clear about the purpose of John’s Gospel and what is truly meant by this term “the Jews”.

It can be pleasing when you find a meeting of minds, as it were, between science and religion, after all, there is no need for them to be at odds, and at best they can act as a corrective and a refiner, one to the other.
Religion can humanize science, can bring to it ethical and spiritual insights that otherwise it might lack. Science can bring to religion the challenge of intellectual rigour – otherwise Galileo would still be condemned and we would still think the world flat.
But together, and working in harmony, they can bring so much to our understanding of the world and our place in it.
In John's Gospel, and in the lesson of the grain of wheat, we find one such example – of the two working hand in hand.

J. John, the famous preacher speaks of how he was once asked at a funeral “Did your uncle leave much?” he replied “O yes - he left everything”.
He also said that the problem of the rat race is, even if you win, you are still a rat.
If you can’t take it with you, and you will never have enough - then the rat race itself better be fun - and I wonder if it is and for how many?
Sadly, we have bought the great lie. The great deception.
Schopenhauer, the 19th century philosopher said that this great lie is like seawater - the more we drink, the thirstier we become. Coveting is based on an illusion - it cannot deliver what it promises. We can of course experience temporary highs from presents, a new car, a pay rise - but how long does the effect last? How long before we are thirsty again?

Anyone who has held their newborn child in their arms knows that time, when nothing else is of any account,  when the miracle of new life is our total focus, when we become aware of the awesome continuity of it all.

As any parent knows the journey through the pregnancy is one of hope, joy, worry, optimism, struggle, expectation and fear. In a way the birth becomes such a focal point that we can’t see past that day, everything is building up to the delivery almost as if time beyond that point doesn’t exist.

 

But, of course, it does, and far from being a destination the new birth becomes just the start of such a change in our lives, inconceivable before; such a turning point, that you look back and hardly recognize yourself before.

The birth of any child is momentous and precious, the birth of this child is of cosmic and timeless significance.

And how infinitely more so with the coming of Jesus, a source of joy and hope not only to his parents and family, but soon to be a source of new hope to a world in desperate need. A tiny baby that grew up to be the most significant human being who has ever lived.

In the Gospels the writers report that Jesus warns of the times to come, of the apocalypse that his listeners should expect.
The fact that the apocalypse didn’t happen as they felt Jesus had foretold, should not blind us to the truth that for them, at the time, it truly felt like the end. After the sacking of the city and Temple in AD70 Jerusalem was never the same again, the Jewish faith and the Jewish nation, were never the same again.
In this way, the Gospel, is not so much mistaken, even if it is not exactly correct. Instead, we might regard the voice of Jesus, at least as reported by Matthew, as speaking the truth, rather than a fact.
This is an important lesson to learn in our journey of faith, to distinguish the two. The Bible offers much insight and wisdom, and right guidance to us in our lives today, despite the distance of time. But like the parables told by Jesus, which convey much that is truthful, they do not necessarily need to be factual. There are, in fact, stories made up to convey the truth.
We do the Bible a great disservice if we constrain it all within the smaller circle of fact, rather than let it live and breathe and grow within the larger circle of truth. We also need to accept that certain parts may no longer convey the truth today.

This interview was originally broadcast in February 2022 on Radio Dublin South.

The Revd Kevin O'Brien (Rector of Drumcliffe Union of Churches with Kilnasoolagh in County Clare was speaking with Revd Martin O'Connor). The interview has been edited to remove an autobiographical introduction and also copyrighted music.