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Go Deep in the Summer

If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, nether will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Do we live as if Jesus really rose from the dead? Do we live as if Christ reigns? Do we live as if the Kingdom of God is already among us? These are the big questions of the “ordinary time” Sundays after Trinity.

You see, reading the Athanasian Creed once is not enough. It defines the boundaries of what we believe about God, but it is not sufficient for us to know God. We know God to be one God of three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost not just because that is who is clearly presented to us in the pages of Scripture, but because the experience of the saints and teachers of the Church are further witnesses to this reality.

Parables, Desire, and Salvation: A Counter-Reformation Reading of Mark 4:10-12

In the Synoptic Gospels, each Evangelist narrates an event where Jesus explains to the Disciples and the other people standing around him the reason for his use of parables (Matt 13:10-17, Mark 4:10-12, and Luke 8:9-10). Jesus says that he teaches those who follow him the μυστήριον τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ¹ — the “mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11). To those outside of his circle, however, he does not reveal God’s mystery. To outsiders, Jesus instead teaches in παραβολαῖς — parables — “μήποτε ἐπιστρέψωσιν καὶ ἀφεθῇ αὐτοῖς τὰ ἁμαρτήματα” — “lest at any time they should turn, and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12 GEN). For John Calvin, this pericope teaches sovereign predestination and places Jesus as the “executor of reprobation” to the un-elect². Calvin’s reading of this pericope, especially Mark’s rendering with μήποτε in 4:10-12, renders Jesus using parables expressly to prevent — through obscuration — some people from receiving the mysterium that leads to forgiveness of sins.

The Mystery of Reality

In this week’s readings, Edward Yarnold examines the initiatory sacramental actions of the church through the lens of the great 4th century theologians Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, and Theodore of Mopuestia. Though each of these theologians work in the era of the yet undivided catholic Church, they each bring their own personal and regional flavor to the meanings of the initiatory rituals of Christianity. Yarnold collected and translated the works of these great theologians in an effort to give richer background to post Vatican II liturgical reforms and catechetical programs within the Church.