IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

 Religion is, by and large, the way we would like God to be. It is

 AND THE WORD WAS

 an attempt to have God on our terms, as it were; and as one of

 ADDRESSED TO (PROSTON) GOD

 its expressions, theology is an attempt to grasp the meaning of

 AND THE WORD WAS GOD

 God in our terms, within our intellectual and imaginative

 IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING

 frames of reference. Faith is accepting God on God's terms;

 ADDRESSED TO (PROSTON) GOD

 and its lived expression, spirituality, is a pondering on the

 ALL THINGS CAME TO BE THROUGH IT

 mystery of God "in" God's terms - which is to say, in the core

 AND NOTHING THAT IS

 of being, the "place" where we encounter the Mystery that

 CAME TO BE WITHOUT IT

 addresses us, calling us into being.

 IN IT WAS LIFE

Which means that religion, and theology, are 

 AND THE LIFE

 fundamentally ambiguous. When religion is an expression of

 WAS THE LIGHT OF HUMANITY

 faith-when the way we would like God to be is in constant

 AND THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS SHINES

 and even dialectical relationship with God on God's terms

 AND THE DARKNESS HAS NOT

 religion is alive with the mystery that gives it life. It can be a

 GRASPED IT

 celebration of faith, a "Great Liturgy of Life". But when it is

 THE TRUE LIGHT

 not, it degenerates into fundamentalism ... of one kind or

 WHICH ENLIGHTENS EVERY PERSON

 another: either religious, which "knows" all about God, and has

 WAS COMING INTO THE WORLD

 God neatly in a box; or atheistic, which knows all about "god",

 IT WAS IN THE WORLD

 having buried it in a different kind of box. From the point of

 AND THE WORLD CAME TO BE THROUGH IT

 view of faith in God-as-Mystery, these are two sides of the

 AND THE WORLD DID NOT KNOW IT

 same worthless coin-for, neither believes in God, since faith is

 IT CAME TO ITS OWN

 not "knowing". Indeed, it is unknowing: letting go of certainties

 AND ITS OWN DID NOT ACCEPT IT

 and entering ever more deeply and confidently into the

 BUT TO ALL WHO DID ACCEPT IT

 Mystery.

 IT GAVE AUTHORITY

 TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD

 TO THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN ITS NAME

 WHO NEITHER BY BLOOD

 NOR BY THE WILL OF THE FLESH

 NOR BY THE WILL OF A MAN

 Why? Because the Mystery is not a puzzle to be solved

 BUT OF GOD WERE BORN

 but an invitation to "come and see". It is a word that addresses

 AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH

 us, longing to disclose itself to us; and so disclose us to

 AND DWELT AMONG US

 ourselves, our own true nature united with itself in the

 AND WE BEHELD ITS GLORY

  communion that is nothing less and nothing else than life itself

 GLORY AS OF A FATHER'S ONLY BEGOTTEN

 eternal life-a light shining in the darkness that the darkness

 FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH

 cannot grasp.

 THE LANGUAGE OF THE CROSS IS SHEER STUPIDITY

 Read from the perspective of faith in a crucified failure as the

 TO THOSE DYING IN THIS DYING AGE

 revelation of who God is, the scriptures begin to subvert

 BUT TO US WHO ARE BEING BROUGHT TO LIFE

 everything that we were taught and conditioned to think and

 IT IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SAVE

 believe. If Jesus is the revelation of what God is like, then God

 GOD CHOSE THE WORLD'S STUPID

 is nothing like what our culture and our egos would have us

 TO SHAME ITS WISE

 believe: about God, about the world, about ourselves, about

 THE WEAK

 what is good and what is not-and about the scriptures

 TO SHAME THE STRONG

 themselves. About God: crucified in all the world's crucified;

 THE LOW AND DESPISED

 about the world that crucifies: loved and forgiven; about

 THE NON-THING

 ourselves: created in the image and likeness of the crucified

 TO BRING TO NOTHING

 who loves and forgives; about good and evil: that the rain from

 THOSE WHO ARE EVERYTHING

 heaven falls on both alike; and about the scriptures themselves:

 SO THAT NONE MAY BOAST

 ....

 IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

 BY THIS

 YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS

 WHO BECAME WISDOM FOR US

 BY GOD

 AND SO TOO OUR JUSTICE

 AND HOLINESS

 AND LIBERATION

 THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE

 Instead of being something we read, the word of God 

 SHARPER THAN ANY DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD

 turns out to be a someone-the One-whose gaze sees to

 CUTTING THROUGH THE NEXUS OF SOUL AND SPIRIT

 the very bone and marrow of our being and discloses us

 OF JOINT AND MARROW

to ourselves just as we are. It is not only "truths" we

 DISCERNING THE THOUGHTS

never knew that are revealed to us, but the truth that

 AND INTENTIONS OF THE HEART
NO CREATURE IS CONCEALED BEFORE HIM

reveals us to ourselves as we are and never knew we

 BUT ALL ARE OPEN AND LAID BARE

were: a disquieting disclosure, and hardly a welcome one!

 TO THE EYES OF THE ONE

 TO WHOM WE MUST GIVE AN ACCOUNT

 In the Gospel of John, the very first encounter between

 YOU SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES

 Jesus and his disciples begins with a question that cuts to

 BECAUSE YOU THINK

 the heart: "What do you want?" (literally, "What are you

 WILL FIND LIFE; YOU

 seeking?") Whenever we approach the word of God, it is

 AND THEY

 not we but the one we approach that addresses us, who

 TESTIFY ABOUT ME

 takes the initiative and puts the basic question to us: What

 do you want, what are you looking for?

 So, what are we looking for in our encounters

 with the word of God? An answer? A solution to a

 puzzle?

 IF
YOU WANT TO BE MY DISCIPLES

 John is teaching us something very important

 YOU MUST RENOUNCE YOUR SELF

 about how to learn, how to be disciples, how to approach

 TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

 the word of God, when he tells us that the disciples

 AND COME
FOLLOW ME

 answer Jesus' question with a question of their own:

"Rabbi" - which means teacher [in case we didn't

 know! ]- `where do you live?' (literally: "where are you

 WHERE I AM

 staying?')" When you read, when you approach the word,

 THERE WILL MY DISCIPLE
BE

 let yourself be questioned to the core of your being (what

 are you seeking?) and answer the question with a question

 of your own. The word that questions you is your teacher,

 AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH

 so ask!

 AND DWELT AMONG US

 And not only that, but a "rabbi", a "teacher in

 Israel". I had a teacher who used to say, "A text out of

 ... FOR SALVATION COMES FROM THE JEWS

 context is a pretext." Take the word of God out of its

 context in Israel, the community of faith, and you (will

 soon) have a lie-or at the very least a misnomer.

 The implication for reading the scriptures is

 obvious: as an encounter between interlocutors, it is a

 series of questions that reveal both the text and the

 reader, a process by which both are "read".

RABBI

 "A text out of context is a pretext". Find its context the

WHERE

 place where it lives, abides, remains-and you've found

 DO YOU

 the common ground that will enable you to enter into a

 LIVE

 meaningful relationship with it, that asking the searching

 questions can open up. "`Come, and you will see,' he

 replied. So they went and stayed with him the rest of that

 IT WAS ABOUT THE TENTH HOUR

 day." An invitation and a promise: that is what an

 encounter with the word of God offers us.

 WE DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING

But where is that ground? Where are we to find

 HOW CAN WE KNOW THE WAY

the living word addressing us? Surely it is where we live - isn't it? 

 SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE BORN OF THE SPIRIT

Is it?

On my terms? Maybe not.

WHAT ARE WE DOING

FOR THIS MAN IS PERFORMING MANY SIGNS

The natural human inclination is to want to save

IF WE LEAVE HIM TO IT

ourselves - as a culture, a community, a society, an

ALL WILL BELIEVE IN HIM

institution-from whatever threatens, or seems to

AND THE ROMANS WILL COME

threaten us, whatever disturbs our equilibrium, our

AND TAKE FROM US BOTH

cohesion, our sense of security and identity. And to do it,

 OUR PLACE

we are quite prepared to sacrifice "an-(threatening)-

 AND OUR NATION

 other", preferably a much weaker one. There is nothing

 IT IS EXPEDIENT FOR US THAT ONE

 like a common enemy to unite a divided group into a

 SHOULD DIE FOR THE PEOPLE

 community in a common cause for the common good of

 SO THAT THE NATION NOT PERISH

 the commonwealth. Even the most cursory glance at any

 FOR LIKE THE CARCASSES OF SACRIFICED

 people's history should be enough to illustrate the point.

 ANIMALS

 But this "point" depends on the point from which

 THAT ARE BURNED OUTSIDE A

 it is glanced: whether from the centre or the margin, from

 SO JESUS ALSO

 the (bloody) altar or the b(lo)ody of the victim, from the

 SUFFERED

 knife's handle or at its edge. What is so utterly

 OUTSIDE THE GATES

 scandalous about the apostolic witness is that it

 TO SANCTIFY THE PEOPLE

 unveils/reveals the "righteous judgement" against "a

 THROUGH HIS BLOOD

 subverter of the people" as the mendacious murder by

 THEREFORE

 that "liar and murderer from the beginning", the "prince

 LET US GO OUT TO HIM OUTSIDE THE CAMP

 of this world", of the innocent victim. And not only this

 AND BEAR THE ABUSE WITH HIM

 man but all victims whose blood restores the peace the

 FOR HERE

 world can give the Pax Romana-the peace that is

 WE HAVE NO PLACE

 taken in the taking of a life: fratricide, the primal sin.

 BUT SEEK THE LASTING CITY

 The "apostolic witness" (the New Testament) is a

 WHICH IS COMING

 reading of the "ancestral witness" (handed down through

 BUT YOU HAVE COME TO MOUNT SION

 the Old Testament) from the (knife-)edge, the margins,

 AND THE CITY OF THE LIVING GOD

 outside the gates of the Holy City, from Golgotha.

 THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM

 AND THE MYRIAD OF ANGELS TO A FESTAL GATHERING

 A CHURCH OF THE FIRST-BORN

 ENROLLED IN THE HEAVENS

 Golgotha. Where the primal sin is undone: where

 AND TO A JUDGE
THE GOD OF ALL

 a life is given in forgiveness of the lives that are taken.

 AND TO THE SPIRITS OF THE JUST

 Where the "origin(al)" of sin is both healed and revealed:

 WHO HAVE BEEN MADE WHOLE

 takingigrasping what can only ever be given and

 AND TO JESUS

 received/accepted.

 THE MEDIATOR OF A NEW COVENANT

 TO THE BLOOD

 Golgotha.

 THAT PLEADS

 Is that where we read the scriptures? Is that where

 MORE INSISTENTLY

 the living word addresses us? Is that where we must

 THAN THE BLOOD

 "follow me"?

 OF ABEL

 How?

 I HAVE SAID THIS TO YOU

 THAT YOU MAY HAVE PEACE IN ME

 IN THE WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE

 BUT BE BRAVE

 I HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD

VERY EARLY

There is a tendency in Western academic circles to treat

ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

biblical texts as mere objects-and dead objects at that

THEY COME UPON THE TOMB
AS THE SUN WAS RISING

rather than as a "place" where the living word abides. We

AND THEY WERE SAYING

go looking for a dead body rather than a living

WHO WILL ROLL AWAY THE STONE FOR US

interlocutor. We talk about textual analysis; dissecting

FROM THE DOOR TO THE TOMB

the text; drawing detailed and exhaustive textual

AND LOOKING UP

anatomies; constructing, deconstructing and

THEY SAW THAT THE STONE WAS ROLLED BACK

reconstructing it. We search the scryptures, not because

FOR IT WAS MASSIVE

we think that in them we will find life, but to anoint a

AND ENTERING INTO THE TOMB

dead body of ancient texts or to venerate a classic corpus

THEY SAW A YOUTH SITTING ON THE RIGHT

of world literature.

CLOTHED IN A WHITE ROBE

AND THEY WERE ASTOUNDED

And ,

BUT HE SAYS TO THEM

we do so wondering how on earth were

YOU SEEK JESUS THE NAZARENE

going to get into this sealed tome; if we can find someone

WHO WAS CRUCIFIED

who has the hermeneutic key to open the door to the

HE IS RISEN

scrypt or at least break it down so that we can get to the

HE IS NOT HERE
LOOK

meaning that is-perhaps-deeply buried inside its dark

 THE PLACE WERE THEY PUT HIM

 and mysterious depths.

 BUT GO

 We go looking for meaning where no meaning

 TELL HIS DISCIPLES
AND THE ROCK

 resides: among the dead for something that is alive. For

 THAT HE IS GOING AHEAD OF YOU

 the Word is risen; and gone ahead of us into the margins:

 TO GALILEE

 to Galilee.

 THERE
YOU WILL FIND HIM

 And from the margins-with knife-edge

 precision-it reads us: for the tome is not only empty, the

 sCrypt has been left (to the dead to bury the dead), and

 the Word is alive and active ... disclosing us to ourselves.

BUT THESE ARE WRITTEN THAT YOU MAY

Exegetes have, in various ways, merely interpreted the

BELIEVE AND BELIEVING HAVE LIFE

word; the point, however, is to be changed by it.