Psalm 129 is the scream of an oppressed people – like Malaysian Catholics whose internal weekly newspaper is barred from calling God “Allah”; like Malaysian non-Muslims struggling to get planning permission for their buildings; like the Malaysian government hiding the truth about the abduction and disappearance of pastors and non-mainline Muslims.

What goings-on do people read in the world? Three pairs of words come into my mind: success-failure, calmness-storminess, health-sickness. Perhaps Buddhists have best stated the most pressing question: why is there suffering and how should we respond to it? I say this partly because many writers[4] and actors[5] whom I admire say they’ve adopted Buddhism.

… I think of how adherence to dietary laws divides society, makes it more difficult to build communities. I think of how sensitive people are to words like “weaker.” I think of how necessary truth is, in God’s plan to establish his Kingdom of God on earth. And I think of two principles framed by Lutheran theologians: status confessionis and adiaphora

You’re at the door, to leave the building. A man is standing there, as gatekeeper. He says only those who “name one ancient Christian whose name doesn’t appear in the Bible” can leave. … Whose name will you give?

As I read the sermon, I wondered how most preachers I know would respond to it. I realized immediately that they would tell me of the many flaws in Beecher’s theology and personal life – just like they say of Desmond Tutu and Martin Luther King Jr, even Dietrich Bonhoeffer – and many others whom non-Christians regard as great Christians.

The father of Bishop Peter Storey, a South African anti-apartheid activist, understood that theology is the root of practice. In one of his memoirs,[4] the Bishop writes that his father told him, “everything begins in theology and ends in politics.”

Jesus used his disciples, those who followed him on his journeys, to distribute the food he miraculously produced. But he didn’t use his disciples to dismiss the people. No. He sent his disciples away – into a dark and stormy night, in a boat, on a lake known to be dangerous. And then he personally refused to enlist the men; and ordered them home.

From these two texts, we may say that Israelites are the people to whom God gave the law through Moses. And true Israelites are those who apply themselves to obeying the law. Pharisees applied themselves to being true Israelites. Applied themselves to waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah who would fulfil the promises God made through his prophets. Promises enshrined in the first part of our Bible. The part which we call the Old Testament.

Today, Matthew tells us that after Jesus explained the parables to the disciples, he asked them whether they now understood them. And they replied, “yes.” I wonder if they lied. I wonder because I’ve read many books about the parables, produced by scholars after years of study.