A Big Ampersand (Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost)

Brandon Nappi and Ned Parker discuss balance, grace, and being called to account in Hebrews 4:12-16. The text is appointed for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary.

More Yale Bible Study resources, including a transcript of this episode, at: https://YaleBibleStudy.org/podcast

Brandon Nappi is Executive Director of Leadership Programs and Lecturer in Homiletics at Yale Divinity School and Ned Parker is the former Associate Dean for Institutional Advancement at Andover-Newton Seminary at Yale and former Lecturer in Homiletics at Yale Divinity School.

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Transcript

Voiceover Voice:

God calls us to account. God invites us to live boldly and radically. How do we hold those two things together?

Helena Martin:

This is Chapter, Verse, and Season: a lectionary podcast from Yale Bible Study. Join us each week as two Yale Divinity School professors look at an upcoming text from the Revised Common Lectionary.

We’re coming down to our last few episodes here as we come up to the end of another Season after Pentecost. We have a few more weeks of these conversations between professors about a biblical text. And our final episode is a conversation between me and the Creator and Managing Editor of the podcast: Joel Baden. So I hope you’ll stick around for that. And remember that once Advent comes, you can circle back around and listen to episode 1 again. All 170 episodes will continue to be available on our website, as well as wherever you get your podcasts.

For now, this episode, we have Brandon Nappi, Executive Director of Leadership Programs at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and Ned Parker, Associate Dean for Institutional Advancement at Andover Newton Seminary at Yale. Both of them also hold the title Lecturer in Homiletics. They’re discussing Hebrews 4:12-16, which is appointed for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, in Year B. Here’s the text.

[Hebrews 4:12-16]

Indeed, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Brandon Nappi:

Ned, I think Christianity is at its most dynamic and maybe its most interesting when it's holding a paradox. When it's holding two seemingly opposite messages together. And, you know, I have in my office a big ampersand, the “and” sign, on my wall as a reminder. And I think we see it here in this chapter of Hebrews. On the one hand, we're getting kind of hard message. We're being called to account. We're being called to live in integrity. You know, the way I would sort of translate this for my own personal reflection is, am I living in alignment with the call of the Gospel? Am I living the kind of life of love and compassion and faith that Jesus has invited me to? And of course, the answer is always no, right? It's always living this totally imperfectly. So I appreciate the kind of hard edge, kind of kick in the pants. Are you really living in integrity on the one hand? Of course, I mentioned the paradox, right? So that other side of the paradox is that we can trust in the mercy and the grace of God that actually empowers us to live more in alignment with the Gospel. And so, I'm really appreciating the paradox here that we get both presented to us. Historical theologian, Michael Himes, priest, a Catholic, Roman Catholic priest, the Archdiocese of Brooklyn I think, he used to say the most interesting word in all of Christian theology is “and.” There's one thing to say, God is gracious, that's kind of interesting. It’salso even more interesting to say is that God calls us to account. That God invites us to live boldly and radically. How do we hold those two things together? And I'm fascinated by those kinds of paradoxical invitations.

Ned Parker:

Yeah. Is it a paradox or is it balance? I'm not totally sure. But, I think, I don't think, I know that I agree with you. The reason I'm pausing and hesitating is that when you talked about having the “and” over your desk, I literally, I got goosebumps. I think every theologian needs an “and” over their desk because I'm tired of, whatever, whoever is speaking about a particular passage, focusing on one thing that fits one perspective and forgetting a much greater context. And this passage, as you have just described it, is a perfect example of a way in which you could either focus on this idea that God is omnipotent and watching over your every move, you know? Or you could focus strictly on grace and land one side or the other. But to think about this in the context of “and” is really extraordinary. I had a faculty member, I had a professor in seminary that once said, never put your “but” where an “and” belongs. And that is to say, every single time you say “but”, use the word “but” in a sentence, you're negating, no matter what your purposes or intent, you essentially negate every single thing that came up until your use of that word. So, to remember that you can say one thing and then include a second, as you said, paradoxical or balancing thought. And instead of using that word “but” and negating the true intent and purpose and truth in that initial saying, use the word “and”. Put them together. Love it.

Brandon Nappi:

I love that. And maybe I'll introduce another “and” that I saw in the passage. My first reflection was to think about how God is relating to humanity, but then I was also seeing, so this is my “and”, and I was also seeing the invitation to emulate the graciousness of this high priest in extending mercy and grace to others. And I feel like at many moments in our culture today there is a kind of gotcha mentality. We are waiting for people to mess up. We are anticipating their failure in the least gracious way. And when I think about workplace squabbles, certainly not here at YDS but in previous positions of ministry, so much of the dysfunction could be healed or at least mitigated by the willingness to be gracious with one another and not be so eagerly awaiting folks to mess up and then to seize the opportunity to cancel them in big or small ways. And so, on the one hand, I was really thankful that God is extending me grace. And then I thought, oh gosh, this comes with a kind of call and invitation to be gracious to others. And of course, I'm not always so good at that.

Ned Parker:

Hmm. Yeah, frankly it's frightening to me the way in which I completely agree with you and this idea of shaming or canceling. It's frightening to me the ways in which technology that could be used for such profound good, for spreading good true, you know, knowledge, whether it's through podcasts or otherwise, is instead used to publicly shame people in such ways that it devastates them. Destroys their lives. Starting in high school, when people are shamed to the point where suicidality enters in is, as I said, it's frightening to me. And I think there should be something put upon our hearts as people of faith to remember that judgment is not ours to convey. That, I understand that we, as human beings, should live by grace. That's our example. And maybe I'm doing the exact opposite of what I said at the beginning of this conversation, which is to land on one side. But there is a real opportunity here to remember that grace.

Helena Martin:

Thanks for listening. Please check out YaleBibleStudy.org for events, study guides, videos, and plenty of other resources, including a transcript for this episode.

Chapter, Verse, and Season is a production of the Center for Continuing Education at Yale Divinity School. It’s produced by: Creator and Managing Editor, Joel Baden; Production Manager, Kelly Morrissey; Associate Producer, Aidan Stoddart; and I’m your Host and Executive Producer, Helena Martin. And our theme music is by Calvin Linderman.

We’ll be back with another conversation from Chapter, Verse, and Season.