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June 12, 2004 – As noted in the last post, we are now in what Catholics call Ordinary Time. Others – including myself – call it the Season of Pentecost. That long church season – it can take up half a year – starts on Pentecost Sunday (last May 19). It isn’t over until the First Sunday of Advent. (This year, December 1.) So in the Revised Common Lectionary (what I use) we are now in “Proper 5,” the week of the Sunday closest to June 8. And on June 11 of this week, we remember the Feast Day of Saint Barnabas, who we may call “Apostle of Second Chances.”
Which – when it comes to God’s final judgment – can offer some good hope. As does the idea of Purgatory, even though my – the – Episcopal church rejects that idea as a “Romish Doctrine.” But me? I’m all for it. I hope it’s true. “Hey, I’ll take all the help I can get!”
There’s more on Purgatory-as-second-chance below, but first, back to Barnabas.
The Bible first mentions him in Acts 4:36: “Joseph, a Levite, born in Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (son of encouragement), sold a field he owned, brought the money, and turned it over to the apostles.” And the site Barnabas the Apostle – Justus added that even after Paul’s Damascus Road experience, most Christians in Jerusalem “wanted nothing to do with him. They had known him as a persecutor and an enemy of the Church. But Barnabas was willing to give him a second chance.” (Which is pretty much what Jesus is all about.)
In short, if it hadn’t been for Barnabas willing to give Paul a second chance – Paul, once the most zealous persecutor of the early Church – he might never have become that Church’s most important early convert, if not the “Founder of Christianity.” But then came an ironic twist, after Barnabas gave that new “Apostle Paul” his Second Chance:
Paul and Barnabas went on a missionary journey together, taking Mark with them. Part way, Mark turned back and went home. When Paul and Barnabas were about to set out on another such journey, Barnabas proposed to take Mark along, and Paul was against it, saying that Mark had shown himself undependable. Barnabas wanted to give Mark a second chance [again] and so he and Mark went off on one journey, while Paul took Silas and went on another. Apparently Mark responded well to the trust given him by the “son of encouragement,” since we find that Paul later speaks of him as a valuable assistant (2 Tim 4:11; see also Col 4:10 and Phil 24) .
So again, we might just call Barnabas “the Apostle of Second Chances.”
Which raises a question: If Barnabas – as God’s servant – was willing to give both Paul and Mark a second chance, why wouldn’t God do the same thing for us? Which brings up the idea of Purgatory. (Even though some refer to it a “Romish doctrine.”)
I did some new research on the subject (listed in the Notes), and from what I can glean the Episcopal opposition stems from two offshoots. First, the idea that purgatory necessarily involves a lot of pain, suffering and anguish. And second, that people in the Middle Ages could get their dear-departed relatives released from such pain, suffering and anguish – and on to the blessings of heaven – by paying substantial sums of money to the Catholic Church. (Indulgences, the abuse of which led to Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses.)
Which is why my two favorite – and comforting – Bible passages are John 6:37 and Romans 10:9. In the first Jesus promised that He would never turn away anyone who comes to Him. In the second Paul said, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” No ifs, ands, or buts.
In the meantime that idea of Purgatory-as-second-chance is just one of many mysteries we can’t fully understand. (Yet.) Still, there are some Christians who hate that sense of uncertainty, of “having to totally rely on an Unseen Force” that is such a part of a real Christian’s life. Those “other Christians” choose to act as if they know all there is to know about the Bible. “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.” To them I would say, “Consider Thomas Jefferson.”
As smart as he was, Jefferson never could comprehend the Trinity [a]s God in three Persons. But it seems that he – like many of us – fell into a common error: Thinking he could ever “really understand everything there is to know about God.” But like many parts of the Bible, the Trinity is simply beyond our ability to comprehend, fully. “It’s a reality we may only begin to grasp.”
On that note, consider John’s Gospel, 21:25: “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” Or Psalm 40:5, in various translations, basically saying God’s wonderful deeds “are more than can be told.” Or Isaiah 55:8. In the NLT: “’My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the LORD. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.’” Or as one professor put it, “in the final analysis, our human minds are just too limited to ever fully understand ‘God:’”
We are simply not up to the task, not wired for such an overload. We are no more prepared to comprehend an answer than – to make use of a memorable example – cats are prepared to study calculus. It’s just not in our nature.
In sum, the early Church benefited greatly because Barnabas gave both Paul and Mark a second chance, and if only for that we celebrate his life on June 11. Which leads to a reasonable guess that God is willing to give us some second chances – maybe even seventy times seven. (Though I wouldn’t want to bet my life on that.) And maybe even in the form of Purgatory as a halfway house to heaven. But in the meantime, all we can do is keep remembering men like Barnabas, and trying to understand God and His mercy, like a “cat studying calculus…”
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The upper image is courtesy of Spiritual Growth – Image Results. Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969), was the Japanese martial artist who founded aikido. In his lifetime he had three transforming spiritual experiences. The second came in 1940 “when engaged in the ritual purification process of misogi.”
Around 2 a.m., I suddenly forgot all the martial techniques I had ever learned. The techniques of my teachers appeared completely new. Now they were vehicles for the cultivation of life, knowledge, and virtue, not devices to throw people with.
Wikipedia. See also ‘Be Clean’: Jesus and the World of Ritual Impurity and Ritual purification – Wikipedia. Also John 10:16, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them too.”
The Book of Common Prayer reference: The “corporate-mystical” prayer is on page 339, the post-communion prayer for Holy Eucharist, Rite I.
“Feast days” are designated days on the liturgical (church) calendar “set aside to commemorate events, saints, or doctrines that are important in the life of the Church. These can range from Solemnities, which are the highest-ranking feast days like Easter and Christmas, to optional memorials that celebrate lesser-known saints.” Feast Days: Celebrating the Church’s Calendar.
For this post I borrowed from On St. Barnabas (2014), On D-Day and St. Barnabas – 2021, and from 2022, Catching up from my “Big Apple” trip.
On purgatory as a “Romish doctrine.” See page 872 of the Book of Common Prayer:
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.
That’s “XXII” of the Articles of Religion, established “on the twelfth day of September, in the Year of our Lord, 1801.” On the other hand, in doing this post I found the link In Search of the “Romish Doctrine” of Purgatory. The article indicated the rejection came because of “Romish” abuses like the selling of Indulgences and the idea that such a state necessarily involved suffering and punishment. (Which could be relieved by the living paying money to the church on behalf of the departed.) The “‘Romish doctrine concerning purgatory’ … is rejected by the Article, as are its consequent abuses… Yet, as mentioned in the previous commentary, a number of Anglican authors have acknowledged the possibility of spiritual growth among the faithful departed.” (Which I certainly look forward to.) In sum, “the Article can plausibly be unde[r]stood as excluding only ‘the Romish doctrine concerning purgatory,’ rather than any and all doctrines of spiritual purification among the faithful departed.”
All of which is one of those Rabbit Trails I so dearly love, writing and blogging. (On the negative side see How To Avoid Rabbit Trails – Laura Earnest. As if they were a bad thing?) See also Thanksgiving 2023 – and an “epileptic Rabbit Trail,” where I wrote about my tendency to follow them:
I do a lot of that in my writing. That’s why my family and others say my writing “goes all over the place.” Like, sometimes I go “off on a crazy tangent” or make crazy turns in writing. But I like rabbit trails, even as I try to follow that rule about Unity and Coherence in Writing.
On Paul as founder of Christianity. See Who Is the Founder of Christianity – Beliefnet, or Google “paul as founder of Christianity.”
I mentioned the cats and calculus in The wisdom of Virgil – and an “Angel,” from Timothy Shutt‘s Lecture 11 in his course, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans: Foundations of Western Civilization.
The lower image is courtesy of Cat Studying Calculus … Image Results. Note that the cat is actually studying physics, not calculus. See also Your Cat Probably Understands Physics – Business Insider.
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On a related note, I’m researching an update on comparing Bible Literalists, Fundamentalists (etc.) to “Boot camp Christians,” as noted above. I’m thinking a more effective allegory would talk about Christians who choose – Biblically speaking – not to go beyond elementary school, or maybe even First grade. See Wikipedia, and The Guide to 1st Grade – Scholastic. “First grade is packed with important and exciting transitions as children leave behind much of the play of preschool and kindergarten, and begin to develop more academic skills.”
Your child will also go through a significant transition to more extensive learning. As your child adjusts, they may get tired at the end of the day or have trouble focusing as the day progresses — that’s normal… Most importantly, prime your child for success by continuing the learning process at home with enriching books and activities that support what they’re learning in class.
All of which seems pregnant with possibilities for further allegorical exploration. And by the way, that and the above reference refer to Galatians 4:24, “The women [Sarah and Hagar] represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar.” Which raises the question: “How do you literally interpret an allegory? Or for that matter a parable?”