Part IX Matthew. Matthew Introduces Joseph - The Earthly Father of Jesus

Column by Bishop John Shelby Spong on 19 December 2013 1 Comments
Please login with your account to read this essay.
 

Question

I should like to know how you understand the biblical text about whether is said that Jesus died either for all or for many. In a paper to the German bishops of the Catholic Church a year or so ago the then pope Benedictus XVI authoritatively stated that this text was to be understood to read “for many” and not “for all."

 

Answer

Dear Pedro,

I read the four page statement of Benedict XVI to the German bishops in which he sought to settle a dispute among the bishops as to the meaning of this text when it came out. He instructed them in his typical authoritarian style that from henceforth the words of the Eucharist shall not be that Christ died “for all” but “for many.” I must say that I found his argument convoluted and his biblical exegesis in which he states that “Jesus revealed himself as the Servant of God from Isaiah 53….and that Jesus identified himself as the form that the word of the prophet was expecting,” not to be scholarship, but little more than ecclesiastical propaganda. My reading of his words that the "many” stand for the “all,” is something only a Roman Catholic, who is convinced that there is only one true religion and that is Christianity and that there is only one true form of Christianity and that is the Roman Catholic Church, could utter. He has interpreted the text to justify his power.

Since I dismiss that kind of language as ecclesiastically nonsensical, it is simply not an important issue to me. I find the paper to be so insignificant that I would not bother to engage his argument. If, however, I believed that I, or the church I represented, possessed the complete truth and must, therefore hold it in its perfect and pristine form, then I suppose that the need for me to control every liturgy, every creed and every part of scripture would be imperative. I regard that stance, however, as delusional first, and as idolatrous, second. It is the language of an out-of-touch religious hierarchy. It is not the language or the tactic of one who lives in and wishes to engage the real world from a Christian perspective.

Christianity is a journey through Christ into the mystery of God. If we get to that goal, we will have left Christianity behind, not because it was wrong, but because God transcends the limits of every religious system.

Thank you for your question.

John Shelby Spong

 

Comments

 

One thought on “Part IX Matthew. Matthew Introduces Joseph – The Earthly Father of Jesus

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.