here<\/span><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"dependence\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1222\/2022\/06\/SJ2172.png\")
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\u00a0<\/p>\n
These itinerant workers were to be characterized by dependence, not independence. In the U.S. today, we live in a hyper-individualistic culture where we are subjected daily to the philosophy of independence and self-sufficiency. Many of us forget that no matter how much we may strive for individual self-reliance and independence, we are still connected to one another. We are part of one another, and we cannot escape the fact that we are in reality truly dependent on one another. The COVID-19 pandemic is just the most recent example where independence and interdependence were brought into stark contrast. While many were crying about personal freedoms and individual rights, others focused on the safety of others, society\u2019s common good, and not unnecessarily risking communities\u2019 exposure to a very lethal infection.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for the masks, vaccines, boosters, and other treatments that have helped reduce infections and deaths from COVID since 2020. But through each of these years, we have seen the conflict between those who did not want anyone telling them what to do and those who realized that society\u2019s well-being and safety requires each of us to keep one another safe.<\/p>\n
Regardless of which version we read, Jesus\u2019 instructions to his followers all emphasize dependence on those they were going out to serve rather than independence from them. Contrast this with Paul\u2019s teachings\u2014and this is one of the differences scholars recognize between Jesus and Paul:<\/p>\n
\u201cAm I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. Don\u2019t we have the right to food and drink? Don\u2019t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord\u2019s brothers and Cephas? Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living? . . . If others have this right of support from you, shouldn\u2019t we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.\u201d (1 Corinthians 9:1-6, 12)<\/p>\n
Paul, as a tent-maker, could be highly independent from those he sought to serve. In some circumstances that might be commendable but given our cultural philosophy, I find Jesus\u2019 instruction more life-giving than Paul\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
We deeply need to reconnect with the reality that we are part of one another. Either we survive and thrive together, or we don\u2019t survive or thrive. I love how Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis of Middle Church express this: \u201cIf there is such a thing as salvation, we are not saved till everyone is saved.\u201d It reminds me of a joke one of my daughters used to tell when she was younger: \u201cCommunist jokes aren\u2019t funny unless everyone gets it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephen Patterson shares another insight I\u2019d like to draw your attention to in the context of this week\u2019s reading. We\u2019ll end this week, with that.<\/p>\n
(Read Part 3<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We deeply need to reconnect with the reality that we are part of one another. Either we survive and thrive together, or we don\u2019t survive or thrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":4919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729],"tags":[1968,1166,2611,1056,73,1842,1175,1178,432,176,2720,2049,284,777,58,453],"class_list":["post-4926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liberation-theology","tag-connectedness","tag-dependence","tag-ecological-justice","tag-economic-justice","tag-feminism","tag-immigration-justice","tag-independence","tag-individualism","tag-interdependence","tag-jesus","tag-lectionary-reading","tag-lgbtq-justice","tag-liberation-theology","tag-racial-justice","tag-social-justice","tag-socialism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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