Jesus and Some Film Noir

Do you think Jesus was above using his Godly knowledge and power to inject a little dark humor into the gospel?

John 8: 12 and following is the basis for my sermon this Sunday.   Jesus says “I am the light of the world”, a reprieve of John 1, turning back the darkness as the light of life.  And the Pharisees are on him like grit on sandpaper.  You can almost hear them whining, “You can’t testify about yourself…your testimony is no good…”  They cannot stand up to the arguments that Jesus is making, so they try and undercut the person.

Jesus, being Jesus, turns their argument against them.  How about this? He suggests, how about the fact that in the law of Moses, there cannot be the testimony of one, but there must be at least the testimony of two?  Now, me, sent by the Father, is one.  And…the Father…the one who sent me, Creator of the World, Speaker through the Prophets, Bringer of Plagues to Egypt, Giver of the Land of Israel, the Big Kahuna, well, he is the other one who testifies for me. 

So, Jesus cannot be believed because he is testifying about himself.  On top of that, there need to be at least two witnesses to make the testimony rise to the litmus test of the Law of Moses.

Now flip back a dozen pages or so to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14 to be exact.  It is time for Jesus to be executed.  We are on the cusp of Good Friday.  He is in front of the High Priest and an assemblage of leaders that want to see him dead.  And they have witnesses, lots of witnesses.  But the litmus test is that two of them have to agree on their stories.  And none of them do.  Lots of false witnesses, but they can’t get their stories straight. 

They do find a little something, something that sounds seditious about Jesus destroying the temple and rebuilding it.  Yes, that was a Jesus-ism, but the testimony of two witnesses cannot even be put together for that.

Then the high priest puts the screws directly to Jesus.  ‘Have you no answer?’ the high priest demands, ‘What is it that they testify against you?’   But Jesus was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah,^* the Son of the Blessed One?’ ⁶²Jesus said, ‘I am’.  And it all hits the fan.

Jesus is condemned because of the testimony he gave about himself, exactly what the Pharisees state does NOT count in John 8.  They could not find witnesses to testify as per the law of Moses, they said they could not use the self-testimony of Jesus, until they had to, because it was all they had, in Mark 14.  In John 8, Jesus’ testimony was the basis for a conspiracy to kill him.  In Mark 14, it would be the means of killing him.  Is that not in the tradition of the Film Noir?  A little dark humor?

And the rest of the story is history, and theology, and the basis of Holy Week.  And I leave you to consider whether Jesus pushed the Pharisees in John 8 precisely because he knew what was going to happen when they did try to line up the witnesses.

Love, a Word Unspoken, but an Action that Saturates the Magnificat

⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
   in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
   to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

She doesn’t say love.  Nowhere in the piece does she say love.  He has ‘looked with favor’ on the lowliness of his servant.  Is that love?  Perhaps love is not found in what Mary says about God, but rather, it is found in what Mary says about what God does.  Would God favor His lowly servant if He did not love her?  Is it not love that is being expressed when she says all generations will call her blessed?  God has indeed done great things for her.

Love is also evident in the way that Mary ends her Magnificat, in vss. 54 and 55, “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’  What God has done for Mary is in fulfillment of the promise He made to her ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants for ever.  It is the promise of Jesus, who will be Emmanuel, God With Us…Them…

As peace rests upon love, we must know it is not simply a word.  Love rather is an attitude, it is an activity, it is ongoing.  It does great things.  It is assumed by Mary as she sings.  When God “scattered the proud”, bringing his justice into the world, that is an expression of his love.  When his faith is raised within, “my soul magnifies the Lord”, that is an expression of his love.  Indeed, God’s whole plan, his whole purpose, from the promise he made to Abraham to making Mary blessed, all is for the expression of His love. 

The argument could be made that ‘all you need is love’.  Love as an activity, peace as an activity, they could be considered synonymous.  But Jesus has developed his thinking about love in his recap of the Law.  First, love the Lord.  What is that but faith?  Second, love your neighbor.  How can that be better expressed but in the provision of justice?  After all, everyone is my neighbor. 

Upon these three, we build ‘peace’.