In the last post I gave some thought to the resurrection in the development of theology. One of the questions of Christian theological development is: when did the earliest Christians start believing that Jesus was divine? It's a good question. But there is a question that is prior to that one. A revelation for Christians who take their theology for granted is the extent to which as James K.A. Smith has written, “worship precedes doctrinal formulation.”[1] So, the question is: (when) did the earliest Christians (initially a bunch of good Jewish boys) start worshipping Jesus? Books by top New Testament scholars like Hurtado, Bauckham and Dunn have all responded YES with a variety of nuances. The following imagined dialogue between Simon Peter and his brother Andrew takes place between the ascension of Jesus and Pentecost. It is inspired by the following passages, though it draws on many others:
Matthew 28:16-17: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.(NRSV)
Acts 1:4-5 & 12-14: While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of* James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. (NRSV)
(A rooftop in Jerusalem):
Peter: “The wind is coming up.”
Andrew: “Finally.”
P: “We should tell the others to come up here, we’ve been hiding in that room for…”
A: “Not yet. Besides, the lot of us up here would draw attention.”
P: “Hm.”
A: “Simon?”
P: “Yes Andrew?”
A: “I want to say something.”
P: “Well?”
A: “Okay… I was worshipping him… There. I said it.”
P: “Yes, Andrew. We all were.”
A: “Well?! What does that mean?!”
P: “Andrew… What exactly are so bothered about?”
A: “What am I bothered about?! Simon! Don’t you get it? You and I were worshipping a man!! James’ big brother!! We were worshipping our friend’s big brother!”
P: “Okay, I think its time I told you something…”
A: “Was I adopted?!”
P: “NO!”
A: “Was Jesus adopted?!”
P: “NO! Well, sort of… by Joseph… I guess… Mary said… Look, it not about that! It’s about something we saw… James and John and I… one of those times, you know?”
A: “Ahhh… Yes! Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
P: “Okay, it was not to long after I said he was the Christ and then he said he was going to get crucified and I tried to talk him out of it and he called me Satan and all that… and he told us not to tell anyone about what we saw until after he rose from the dead.”
A: “Wait. He told you he was going to rise from the dead!?!?”
P: “Well… he sort of was talking about it all over the place to everyone, it just wasn’t so clear…”
A: “SIMON!! I’m your brother!!”
P: “I’m sorry! He told us not to tell! You know he wasn’t real keen on family-before-rabbis kind of stuff…”
A: “I am adopted… No, it must be worse than that…”
P: “Andrew, I’m sorry! Listen, please. I’m sure James and John didn’t tell anyone either. We went up on the mountain and he changed to… blindingly white. His clothes were… whiter than anybody could ever wash them… shining! And then… you’re not going to believe this…”
A: “Seriously, Simon?”
P: “Right. Okay… Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus talked with them!”
A: “…What? How did you know it was them?!”
P: “See? I knew you wouldn’t believe me …I don’t know… I don’t remember. Maybe he… I don’t know, it just was them!!”
A: “Well, what did they talk about?”
P: “I don’t know.”
A: “Were they whispering?! Were they a kind of… off a ways? What did you do? Does this story have a point?!”
P: “Ah… I don’t know! Look, I didn’t know what to do! It was kind of scary! So… I asked Jesus if we should make them each a tent.”
A: “TENTS!? Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah and you asked them about tents!? Forgive me. I totally believe you now…I mean… tents. Was it Sukkot?”
P: “I just didn’t want them all to leave! And I was nervous! I needed something to do… wanted to make a good impression…”
A: (Stifling laughter) “Okay. Okay. So… what did Jesus say?”
P: “Well, then this cloud came down, and we heard the voice of GOD!! He said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” and then everything just disappeared and it was just us and Jesus and he told us not to tell and then he said some things about Elijah and it seemed like he was saying that John the Baptist was Elijah who came to prepare the way for him.”
A: … ‘Listen to him!!’ I guess so! So, what am I supposed to make of that?!
P: “We were worshipping the Christ, the Son of the living God of Israel! I may not have gotten many things right, but I got that right. He said so himself.”
A: “Yes, Peter, your declaration was a fine moment, but didn’t he also say, “Hear O Israel, The Lord your God the Lord is One!?” (“Shema Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad”?!) Echad, Simon!! One!”[1]
P: “Look, I cannot answer whatever the question is that you’re trying to ask! Perhaps if my tale is not good enough for your troubled intellect, I can run out and find a couple good Shammaites[2] to discuss the question with you. Maybe they’ll think it’s such a good question that they will let you ask the Sanhedrin.[3] Maybe if the Sadducees[4] can’t resolve it, then perhaps they will let you talk to the Roman governor! Ha!”
A: “I’m sure that day will come, Simon! ‘They will drag you before kings and governors – on account of my name’? you recall?!”
P: “’So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute’ so stop preparing your defense!!”
A: “’But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish (does that even make any sense?). By your endurance you will gain your lives.’ Simon!! Listen to us! Like a couple of rabbis debating our teacher’s Torah… I just want to be faithful to the God of Israel. Please don’t mock.”
P: “Oh, Andrew… You know I don’t the mind for this! Why don’t you talk this out with Philip, or Thomas or Miryam.”
A: “Maybe I’ll talk to John.”
P: “John. May he live forever. Ha! Look, Andrew… All the years we went up to Jerusalem for Yom Kippur. How did you feel as we returned to our boats?”
A: “Good. Secure. At peace.”
P: “Really?”
A: “Yes, why?”
P: “Hm. I didn’t expect you to say that.”
A: “Why? How did you feel?”
P: “Wait… Who is that?”
A: “The zealot… Hold on. Simon! Hey! Listen man, you don’t want any part of this pilpul.[5] I’m about to hemorrhage, myself. We’ll be down in a minute and then you can come up and enjoy the breeze, okay? …So… what?”
P: “Look, forget it. Maybe I felt the same way. I don’t know… But answer this question: How did you feel when we were with him?”
A: “…Hm. Before or after he told us all we would have to eat his body and drink his blood?”
P: “Ha! Yes! Well… here we are, right?”
A: “Yes. Okay, when we were with him… I felt… that perhaps I would never return to the boats… and perhaps I did not… need(?) to go up to the Temple. Not that I will not go! Just that perhaps…”
P: “’Better is one day in your courts, than thousands elsewhere’? Indeed. Did you ever think, even once, while we were with him, that you wished you were at the Temple, or fishing or home!?”
A: “’The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ And neither did we.”
P: “Please. You’re just being stubborn. We had lots of places! Just no single place. And besides, that man could fall asleep anywhere. He didn’t need a place to lay his head. You’re missing the point.”
A: “Which is what?”
P: “We have been waiting for the Lord’s redemption for generations. For the promises of the Prophets to be fulfilled. Immanuel, yes? Not in some box in a place we can never enter in a Temple enriched by Roman coin and half-breed kings!”
A: “Should I call the zealot back? He would enjoy hearing this.”
P: “Bah! We saw what the Lord thought of our zealotry, such as it was… Look, you wanted to have this conversation! Stop sidetracking me!”
A: “I’m sorry! I never meant to start an argument… I just don’t know if we have considered what all this means. Are we willing to say that Jesus was…”
P: “Was? ‘He is the God of the living and not the dead’ Andrew.”
A: “He was talking about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Simon.”
P: “Alright. Maybe he was. My point is that whatever he was, he still is, yes?”
A: “…Yes… okay, yes. If anything he is more now than he was and not less.”
P: “Now you are talking some sense brother! And wasn’t he the most pious and devout and righteous man you ever met!? Did he not ‘love the Lord our God with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength’ in a way that we had never witnessed!?”
A: “And mind.”
P: “What?”
A: “And mind. He said ‘heart and all his soul and all his mind and all his strength.”
P: “Yes. Well. You are the thinker, I hardly need to remember that I suppose.”
A: “You especially need to remember it, brother! …But yes… we talked of his character many times. We never tired of it. How proud we were of our rabbi.”
P: “And when we worshipped him… Did the most pious ‘rabbi’ rebuke us? Did he chastise us? Did he quote to us ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’ or ‘why do you call me good, none is good but God alone’? No! There was no ‘get behind me Satan’ then and the man certainly knew how to rebuke error!”
A: “And how to forgive…”
P: “Yes. And how to forgive… ‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ they asked. Can we take a break from this? ‘The Spirit will guide us into all truth’ in time…”
A: “Whatever that means, but yes… let’s yield the rooftop to the others… Thank you Simon… Peter, whatever your name is now.”
P: “You want me to give you a special nickname?”
(Descending the stairs)
A: “I thought you were tired of talking.”
P: “How about ‘DIANOIA’?”[6]
A: “Kind of feminine, isn’t it?”
P: “Precisely.”
A: “I’d call you ‘raca’[7] but I don’t want to go to the Sanhedrin.”
P: “Forget the Sanhedrin, I’ll tell our mother.”
(Exit)
[1] This statement is the opening of the Shema from Deuteronomy 6, the primary confession of Judaism through the ages. Jesus quotes it in his recitation of the greatest commandment.
[2] The dominant party of the Pharisees in the 1st century, known for their strict interpretation of Torah.
[3] The Jewish council of respected elders, teachers and leaders.
[4] Leaders in the Temple, the largely well-off priestly class. They did not believe in resurrection.
[5] Method of rabbinic Torah-study by way of dialogue and argumentation on texts between two students. From Hebrew for “pepper” intending to indicate sharp dialogical analysis.
[6] Greek for “mind.”
[7] Unclear Aramaic, seems to indicate a “false witness” or lying-gossip of some kind.
[1] Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 136
Matthew 28:16-17: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted.(NRSV)
Acts 1:4-5 & 12-14: While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of* James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. (NRSV)
(A rooftop in Jerusalem):
Peter: “The wind is coming up.”
Andrew: “Finally.”
P: “We should tell the others to come up here, we’ve been hiding in that room for…”
A: “Not yet. Besides, the lot of us up here would draw attention.”
P: “Hm.”
A: “Simon?”
P: “Yes Andrew?”
A: “I want to say something.”
P: “Well?”
A: “Okay… I was worshipping him… There. I said it.”
P: “Yes, Andrew. We all were.”
A: “Well?! What does that mean?!”
P: “Andrew… What exactly are so bothered about?”
A: “What am I bothered about?! Simon! Don’t you get it? You and I were worshipping a man!! James’ big brother!! We were worshipping our friend’s big brother!”
P: “Okay, I think its time I told you something…”
A: “Was I adopted?!”
P: “NO!”
A: “Was Jesus adopted?!”
P: “NO! Well, sort of… by Joseph… I guess… Mary said… Look, it not about that! It’s about something we saw… James and John and I… one of those times, you know?”
A: “Ahhh… Yes! Okay. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
P: “Okay, it was not to long after I said he was the Christ and then he said he was going to get crucified and I tried to talk him out of it and he called me Satan and all that… and he told us not to tell anyone about what we saw until after he rose from the dead.”
A: “Wait. He told you he was going to rise from the dead!?!?”
P: “Well… he sort of was talking about it all over the place to everyone, it just wasn’t so clear…”
A: “SIMON!! I’m your brother!!”
P: “I’m sorry! He told us not to tell! You know he wasn’t real keen on family-before-rabbis kind of stuff…”
A: “I am adopted… No, it must be worse than that…”
P: “Andrew, I’m sorry! Listen, please. I’m sure James and John didn’t tell anyone either. We went up on the mountain and he changed to… blindingly white. His clothes were… whiter than anybody could ever wash them… shining! And then… you’re not going to believe this…”
A: “Seriously, Simon?”
P: “Right. Okay… Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus talked with them!”
A: “…What? How did you know it was them?!”
P: “See? I knew you wouldn’t believe me …I don’t know… I don’t remember. Maybe he… I don’t know, it just was them!!”
A: “Well, what did they talk about?”
P: “I don’t know.”
A: “Were they whispering?! Were they a kind of… off a ways? What did you do? Does this story have a point?!”
P: “Ah… I don’t know! Look, I didn’t know what to do! It was kind of scary! So… I asked Jesus if we should make them each a tent.”
A: “TENTS!? Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah and you asked them about tents!? Forgive me. I totally believe you now…I mean… tents. Was it Sukkot?”
P: “I just didn’t want them all to leave! And I was nervous! I needed something to do… wanted to make a good impression…”
A: (Stifling laughter) “Okay. Okay. So… what did Jesus say?”
P: “Well, then this cloud came down, and we heard the voice of GOD!! He said, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” and then everything just disappeared and it was just us and Jesus and he told us not to tell and then he said some things about Elijah and it seemed like he was saying that John the Baptist was Elijah who came to prepare the way for him.”
A: … ‘Listen to him!!’ I guess so! So, what am I supposed to make of that?!
P: “We were worshipping the Christ, the Son of the living God of Israel! I may not have gotten many things right, but I got that right. He said so himself.”
A: “Yes, Peter, your declaration was a fine moment, but didn’t he also say, “Hear O Israel, The Lord your God the Lord is One!?” (“Shema Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad”?!) Echad, Simon!! One!”[1]
P: “Look, I cannot answer whatever the question is that you’re trying to ask! Perhaps if my tale is not good enough for your troubled intellect, I can run out and find a couple good Shammaites[2] to discuss the question with you. Maybe they’ll think it’s such a good question that they will let you ask the Sanhedrin.[3] Maybe if the Sadducees[4] can’t resolve it, then perhaps they will let you talk to the Roman governor! Ha!”
A: “I’m sure that day will come, Simon! ‘They will drag you before kings and governors – on account of my name’? you recall?!”
P: “’So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute’ so stop preparing your defense!!”
A: “’But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish (does that even make any sense?). By your endurance you will gain your lives.’ Simon!! Listen to us! Like a couple of rabbis debating our teacher’s Torah… I just want to be faithful to the God of Israel. Please don’t mock.”
P: “Oh, Andrew… You know I don’t the mind for this! Why don’t you talk this out with Philip, or Thomas or Miryam.”
A: “Maybe I’ll talk to John.”
P: “John. May he live forever. Ha! Look, Andrew… All the years we went up to Jerusalem for Yom Kippur. How did you feel as we returned to our boats?”
A: “Good. Secure. At peace.”
P: “Really?”
A: “Yes, why?”
P: “Hm. I didn’t expect you to say that.”
A: “Why? How did you feel?”
P: “Wait… Who is that?”
A: “The zealot… Hold on. Simon! Hey! Listen man, you don’t want any part of this pilpul.[5] I’m about to hemorrhage, myself. We’ll be down in a minute and then you can come up and enjoy the breeze, okay? …So… what?”
P: “Look, forget it. Maybe I felt the same way. I don’t know… But answer this question: How did you feel when we were with him?”
A: “…Hm. Before or after he told us all we would have to eat his body and drink his blood?”
P: “Ha! Yes! Well… here we are, right?”
A: “Yes. Okay, when we were with him… I felt… that perhaps I would never return to the boats… and perhaps I did not… need(?) to go up to the Temple. Not that I will not go! Just that perhaps…”
P: “’Better is one day in your courts, than thousands elsewhere’? Indeed. Did you ever think, even once, while we were with him, that you wished you were at the Temple, or fishing or home!?”
A: “’The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’ And neither did we.”
P: “Please. You’re just being stubborn. We had lots of places! Just no single place. And besides, that man could fall asleep anywhere. He didn’t need a place to lay his head. You’re missing the point.”
A: “Which is what?”
P: “We have been waiting for the Lord’s redemption for generations. For the promises of the Prophets to be fulfilled. Immanuel, yes? Not in some box in a place we can never enter in a Temple enriched by Roman coin and half-breed kings!”
A: “Should I call the zealot back? He would enjoy hearing this.”
P: “Bah! We saw what the Lord thought of our zealotry, such as it was… Look, you wanted to have this conversation! Stop sidetracking me!”
A: “I’m sorry! I never meant to start an argument… I just don’t know if we have considered what all this means. Are we willing to say that Jesus was…”
P: “Was? ‘He is the God of the living and not the dead’ Andrew.”
A: “He was talking about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Simon.”
P: “Alright. Maybe he was. My point is that whatever he was, he still is, yes?”
A: “…Yes… okay, yes. If anything he is more now than he was and not less.”
P: “Now you are talking some sense brother! And wasn’t he the most pious and devout and righteous man you ever met!? Did he not ‘love the Lord our God with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength’ in a way that we had never witnessed!?”
A: “And mind.”
P: “What?”
A: “And mind. He said ‘heart and all his soul and all his mind and all his strength.”
P: “Yes. Well. You are the thinker, I hardly need to remember that I suppose.”
A: “You especially need to remember it, brother! …But yes… we talked of his character many times. We never tired of it. How proud we were of our rabbi.”
P: “And when we worshipped him… Did the most pious ‘rabbi’ rebuke us? Did he chastise us? Did he quote to us ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only’ or ‘why do you call me good, none is good but God alone’? No! There was no ‘get behind me Satan’ then and the man certainly knew how to rebuke error!”
A: “And how to forgive…”
P: “Yes. And how to forgive… ‘Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ they asked. Can we take a break from this? ‘The Spirit will guide us into all truth’ in time…”
A: “Whatever that means, but yes… let’s yield the rooftop to the others… Thank you Simon… Peter, whatever your name is now.”
P: “You want me to give you a special nickname?”
(Descending the stairs)
A: “I thought you were tired of talking.”
P: “How about ‘DIANOIA’?”[6]
A: “Kind of feminine, isn’t it?”
P: “Precisely.”
A: “I’d call you ‘raca’[7] but I don’t want to go to the Sanhedrin.”
P: “Forget the Sanhedrin, I’ll tell our mother.”
(Exit)
[1] This statement is the opening of the Shema from Deuteronomy 6, the primary confession of Judaism through the ages. Jesus quotes it in his recitation of the greatest commandment.
[2] The dominant party of the Pharisees in the 1st century, known for their strict interpretation of Torah.
[3] The Jewish council of respected elders, teachers and leaders.
[4] Leaders in the Temple, the largely well-off priestly class. They did not believe in resurrection.
[5] Method of rabbinic Torah-study by way of dialogue and argumentation on texts between two students. From Hebrew for “pepper” intending to indicate sharp dialogical analysis.
[6] Greek for “mind.”
[7] Unclear Aramaic, seems to indicate a “false witness” or lying-gossip of some kind.
[1] Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2009), 136
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