There’s an old saying in liturgical churches–What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist.
Fr. John Z. intends to poke fun at liturgists, but he ends up unwittingly illustrating the joke.
Lost in the discussion is Jesus’ own command:
Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
As Fr. John Z. says so often: SAY THE BLACK, DO THE RED.
5 responses so far ↓
Al T // March 20, 2008 at 3:41 pm |
Doesn’t your reply count as prooftexting? Jesus does say to wash one another’s feet, but he was addressing a room full of bishops (at least from the Catholic perspective).
At any rate, it would seem that the disagreement between Fr. John and yourself boils down to a disagreement over authority. If as Fr. John believes that authority lies in Rome then you should do the rubrics as Rome says. If the authority doesn’t lie with Rome and with the Bible as you say, then you need to engage in a different sort of debate. Quite frankly I don’t know what a SDA theological debate looks like, or how a conclusion is reached, but I would guess it wouldn’t be just quoting the Bible. I assume there must be some appeals to history, to original Greek, what was done by Jews in Jesus’s time, etc.
Bill // March 20, 2008 at 10:42 pm |
Yes, it’s proof-texting. It’s going to Scripture for direction, rather than relying on human wisdom or tradition.
You seem to be taking this further than the Roman liturgy, however. It says this means a priest should wash the feet of selected men. You’re saying only bishops should wash one another’s feet? Hmm … do you think it would ever happen?
Liam // March 21, 2008 at 5:20 am |
If the rubrics say only men’s feet be washed then perhaps only men’s feet should be washed. The debate is not about the validity of the rubrics but about Jesus’ words and his example of service, something, by the way, that all Christians are to imitate, not just clergy.
Liam // March 21, 2008 at 5:40 am |
p.s Bill, are you working from a red letter edition? Is that what you mean by do the red? I think a penny just droped.
Bill // March 21, 2008 at 7:18 am |
A little play on words. Yes, many Bibles do have the words of Jesus in red. I highlighted in color just the specific words here.
My point, of course, is Jesus’ words have priority over any words or traditions of men.