Refleksi konseptual misi Yesus melalui keramahan gereja di Indonesia

Jesus, reflecting on the context of the mission in the Gospels, often touches on various dimensions, both physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual for each person and his environment. Many Gospel narratives show the face of friendliness as well as the social responsibility of Jesus in public spaces. Jesus didn't just stop at the gracious nature of God in His mission of ministry but also inspired his listeners to bring out the same kind of hospitality that Jesus did. This needs to reflect the portrait of church life in Indonesian society, which in general tends to focus on religious formalism. This paper aims to explore the concept of Jesus' mission and to realize it practically in the context of Indonesian society today. The method used is descriptive analysis and a hermeneutic approach to the narratives in the Gospels. This study seeks to offer a contextual concept and model of Jesus' ministry to the community served not only as an object of God's hospitality but also as a subject who actively participates in presenting hospitality in public spaces. In conclusion, the mission that Jesus intended to be carried forward by the church was God's mission which Jesus himself had accomplished during his earthly ministry, namely manifesting God's hospitality for humans through the preaching of the gospel and social care.AbstrakYesus, dalam konteks misi di Injil, kerap menyentuh berbagai dimensi, baik secara fisik, emosi, intelektual, sosial, dan spiritual, setiap orang dengan lingkungannya. Narasi Injil banyak menunjukkan wajah keramahan sekaligus tanggung jawab sosial Yesus di ruang publik. Yesus tidak hanya berhenti pada sifat keramahan Allah dalam misi pelayanan-Nya, namun juga menginspirasi para pendengarnya untuk menghadirkan keramahan yang sama, seperti yang Yesus lakukan. Hal ini perlu menjadi refleksi potret kehidupan bergereja pada masyarakat Indonesia, yang umumnya cenderung terfokus kepada formalisme agawami. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menggali konsep misi Yesus serta merealisasikan secara praktis dalam konteks masyarakat Indonesia di masa ini. Metode yang digunakan adalah analisis deskriptif serta pendekatan yang hermeneutis pada narasi kitab-kitab Injil. Penelitian ini berupaya menawarkan konsep dan model pelayanan Yesus yang kontekstual kepada komunitas yang dilayani, bukan hanya sebagai objek keramahan Allah, namun sekaligus sebagai subjek yang aktif berpartisipasi menghadirkan keramahan pada ruang publik. Kesimpulannya, jelas terlihat bahwa misi yang dimaksudkan Yesus untuk diteruskan oleh gereja adalah misi Allah yang telah dikerjakan Yesus sendiri selama pelayanan-Nya di dunia, yaitu memanifestasikan keramahan Allah bagi manusia melalui pemberitaan Injil dan kepedulian sosial.

Christic Visions and the Resurrection Appearances of Jesus

Recently, scholars have shown an increasing interest in comparing the resurrection appearances of Jesus with contemporary accounts of Christic visions, the aim being to show a line of formal continuity between them. Phillip Wiebe avers that neither Jesus’s resurrection appearances nor these contemporary events are explicable on a scientific basis alone, and require a mysterious X-factor in order to justify them fully. I argue that the physicalist stance taken in the later Gospel narratives does not belong to this trajectory, and that the visionary import of the earlier accounts, with which modern Christic visions do have something in common, does not necessarily require the supernaturalist explanation suggested.

How Empty Was the Tomb?

Although the term ‘empty tomb’ is endemic in contemporary literature, it is never used in the earliest Christian materials. The term makes little sense in the light of first-century Jerusalem tombs, which always housed multiple people. One absent body would not leave the tomb empty. The gospel narratives presuppose a large, elite tomb, with multiple loculi, and a heavy rolling stone to allow repeated access for multiple burials. The gospels therefore give precise directions about where Jesus’ body lay in this large tomb. Apologetic anxiety leads to the characterization of the tomb as ‘new’ (Matthew and John), ‘in which no one had been laid’ (Luke and John), but it is possible that the appearance of Mark’s young man ‘on the right’ is significant. The anachronistic question ‘Was the tomb empty?’ should be replaced by the accurate question, ‘How empty was the tomb?’

Guidelines towards plausible interpretation of gospel parables

This study is undertaken against the backdrop of the polyvalence of parables and the resultant arbitrary conclusions reached by many interpreters of gospel parables. It is aimed to set guidelines towards plausible interpretations of these parables. It identified some factors that influence the understanding of the parables and thereby formulated principles for guiding the exegete to plausible conclusions. The genre parable was defined and understood to function metaphorically, implying that the true meaning of parables lies outside of their narrated domain (i.e. in a second, distinct domain). Eight principles were formulated to enhance credible parable exegesis and were explained with illustrations from New Testament parables. They included the need to acknowledge the openness of parables, as well as the need to interpret parables within specific gospel contexts. The attention of interpreters was also drawn to five pitfalls when seeking a plausible interpretation of gospel parables. It became clear that only in a holistic combination could these principles enhance the plausible interpretation of the gospel parables, while isolative considerations would most likely mislead the interpreter. In this article it is concluded that, although parables are polyvalent, this does not justify arbitrary interpretations; hence the need for gospel parable interpreters to take seriously the methods and principles that limit multiplicity and enhance plausibility of the parables’ meanings.Contribution: The contribution of this investigation lies in a canonical approach to gospel parables, and to set guidelines for plausible interpretation from such a stance. While it is recognised that earlier forms of parables, albeit in oral or written form, are of interest in historical critical investigations, the current study works with the forms of parables as embedded in specific gospel narratives.

The Dispute over the Date of the Last Supper. Its Chronology Revisited

The article discusses the issue of alleged or real disagreements between John and the Synoptics regarding the dating of the Last Supper. After showing the elements of the Gospel narratives that portray the Last Supper as a paschal supper, the author outlines eight hypotheses regarding the dating of the Last Supper. Two of them seem to be the most convincing within the current state of research: the Jesus Passover hypothesis (a final Passover unique to Jesus and his followers) and the philological hypothesis.

Resensi Buku: Liquid Ecclesiology—The Gospel and The Church

Abstrak Latar belakang masalah buku ini adalah fenomena gereja yang kaku. Menggunakan metode etnography, buku ini merupakan sebuah bahan diskusi yang menarik tentang gereja, anak muda dan budayanya. Penulis menghubungkan budaya (populer), anak muda, dengan narasi Injil untuk menghasilkan apa itu gereja. Ia menawarkan eklesiologi gereja yang lebih cair, adaptif dan responsif terhadap akar-akar budaya sehari-hari yang dihidupi. Bagian-bagian setelahnya berisi diskusi tentang bentuk-bentuk praktis yang sangat memungkinkan dari konsep gereja yang cair. Akhirnya, anjuran sikap mental dan spiritual agar sebuah gereja tetap cair dan freshbagi komunitas di dalam dan di sekitarnya adalah keterbukaan. Buku memperkaya diskusi di ranah eklesiologi, liturgi, pembangunan jemaat, pastoral, budaya populer, dan intergenerasional. Abstract Rationale background of this book is the solid phenomenon of church. Using ethnography methods, this book is an interesting discussion about the church, young people and its culture. The author associate (popular) culture, young people, with gospel narratives to produce what the church is. He offers a more fluid, adaptive and responsive ecclesiology as the roots of everyday culture of church that is lived. This study also recommends the very practical forms of a liquid church. The final suggestion as a mental and spiritual attitude so that church remains liquid and fresh, is openness. This book shares a rich discourse in the field of ecclesiology, liturgy, church building, pastoral, popular culture, and intergenerational culture.

The Gospel According to Marxism: Zhu Weizhi and the Making of Jesus the Proletarian (1950)

This article explores the integration of Marxism into the Gospel narratives of the Christian Bible in Zhu Weizhi’s Jesus the Proletarian (1950). It argues that Zhu in this Chinese Life of Jesus refashioned a Gospel according to Marxism, with a proletarian Jesus at its center, by creatively appropriating a wealth of global sources regarding historical Jesus and primitive Christianity. Zhu’s rewriting of Jesus can be appreciated as a precursor to the later Latin American liberation Christology.

Mary and the Gospel Narratives

This first chapter in the book lays foundations for later chapters which cite New Testament references to Mary. The passages which include Mary are summarized, along with interpretations by patristic theologians that led to Marian doctrines in East and West. The views of contemporary writers are also discussed. The gospels are analysed independently, revealing a development from a brief and rather minimal mention of Mary in Mark’s Gospel to greater emphasis in Matthew, Luke, and John. Those familiar with the Western traditions of Mary may be surprised to learn that, while a tradition of a first resurrection appearance of Christ to Mary originating in the gospels was posited in the West but then rejected, it was accepted by some important theologians in the East. It follows that there is an argument for Mary’s presence in sight of the cross being recorded not only in John, but in all four gospels.

Lear, Luke 17, and Looking for the Kingdom Within

The ending to Shakespeare’s Tragedy of King Lear has generated much debate. Performance history and critical interpretations of the conclusion of the Folio version of Lear have been pronouncedly divided into readings intimating the tragic hero’s redemption and readings averring his ultimately bleak condition, whether of delusion or despair. Recent attempts to describe Shakespeare’s use of scripture in this play have offered more nuance, acknowledging the play’s blending of pagan and Christian elements. While King Lear has extensively been compared to the book of Job and to apocalyptic passages in Revelation and Daniel, allusions to the gospel narratives and to Luke in particular raise the thorny question of Cordelia’s role as a Christ-figure. This essay argues that the ambiguous and suggestive nature of Lear’s final words (“Look there, look there!”) is both preserved and illuminated when read as an allusion to Jesus’ words in Luke 17:21. This previously unexplored allusion not only offers guidance for responding to Lear’s exhortation to “Look there” but also resonates within Shakespeare’s play through shared themes of apocalypse, kingdom, sight/insight, and the importance of the heart.