Month: February 2020

Part 1

‘The Temple in the Gospel according to St John’

Part 2

‘Who is St John (the Evangelist)?’

Part 3

‘John and the Synoptic gospels – some comments’

Part 4

‘Jesus and five women in John’s Gospel’

Part 5

‘The Nature of Christian Life’

To be continued on Palm Sunday. See St John’s Anglican Church Dunedin on Facebook for a FB Live Study – 6:30pm NZ

Following the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic – several of the talks were moved to our parish Facebook page – St John’s Anglican Church, Roslyn. Recordings can be found there as live videos

Part 12

John’s gospel as ‘the parable of the sower’

Part 13

The Wedding at Cana and ‘The Ethics of Beauty’

Part 14

Debt, Forgiveness, Money and the Cleansing of The Temple

Here is a very rough transcript of the conversation that followed for those who can’t access the FB Live video

Further questions and comments from the talk

Comment

“This way of looking at things is so different that we can hardly visualise it!”

Question

My problem is that there are always people who are take-take-take in a system where it is give-give-give . . . what of the drug addict who constantly asks for money to fuel there addiction?

Response

First point – it is interesting how our captivation to the Mammon self preservation system makes this our default response and objection.

But what is at stake here is healing. This is not a question of fulfilling people’s unhealed and wrongly oriented loves and desires – but of healing them at a deeper level. So no, we don’t give the money because that isn’t healing – (of course the request supposes that we have so much more money in the first place!)

The goal is restoration of relationship and in a very individualised society, the first thing is to get to know people. The Money system separates us and makes us far more anxious about our own existence. Much mental anxiety is down to our having lots of material possessions and little by way of shared life. Also that we are not meant to respond as individuals but as community – but money is a means by which we avoid shared life.

We have money which means we don’t have to love. The Mammon system is an anti-God system

In the fulness of time there is no trading, because trading is the fruit of disconnected life

And of course in the Mammon system people take and take and take – but it isn’t so much the poor addict, it is those who have much money. The system works by taking money as the powerful who are the most anxious – having the most to lose – take the most. (Drug addicts of course give their money to those who have far more that you do!)

We do not understand the nature of the world in which we live and don’t see it! So the TV evangelist who went to prison for cooking the books – and in prison he sat with a red letter edition of the bible – and until then “I never realised how much Jesus said about the danger of money.” Because it is an anti God System – one may very well say Satanic, as it deceives us.

We live in a money salvation system – ‘if people have enough money . . . ‘ but we never name it as such

The money system is demonic – it is always hungry and never satisfied

2 or 3 looking for opportunities to live differently – mustard seeds of the Kingdom is the way

Contrast Acts 3 – Peter and John on the way to the Temple. ‘Silver and Gold have I none!’ But money isn’t the issue! What do people really need?? What Really is Salvation? Literally Healing!
Not a debt that we cannot pay! We are enthralled to the money story and turn the salvation story into a Mammon story. We don’t charge family!

We have substituted the Mammon Salvation story for the God Salvation story

CF Mark 2 and John 5 – the man in John 5 has no friends! He is in the Mammon story – ‘stop sinning’ – why does he have no friends?? Isolation and Sin – stop breaking relationship friends will help! This is how Love works

[NB there is next to no mention of money in John, except we are meant to understand it with regard to Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple]

Part 16 – ‘What is Truth?’ Questions of Knowing in John

Part 17 – ‘Resurrection in John. Lazarus Come Out!

Part 19 (?) – ‘Seeing’ and ‘Believing’ in John – The trouble with words