Essays in honor of Robert H. Smith

Currents in Theology and Mission, Dec, 2003 by Ralph W. Klein

A number of nouns come to mind when I think of my long-time dear friend and colleague Bob Smith: grace, style, class, carpenter, preacher, wordsmith, fidelity, insight, art, warmth, humor, exegete, love, leader. Wherever God's call has led him--to parish ministry, seminary teaching, academic leadership, writing, editing, marriage--Bob has served and continues to serve with high distinction. As an exegete Bob has a unique gift of getting to the heart of the matter, in a fresh way, with fresh questions, and with theologically penetrating answers. Both church and academy have profited immeasurably from his presence among us.

So it was no surprise when the people I invited to write for this special issue responded positively and with enthusiasm, and the firstfruits of that harvest are contained in this issue. And they replied not only in quality, but also in great quantity. Hence a second Smith issue of Currents will appear in February, 2004, with the names and titles of those essays listed at the conclusion of this editorial.

John H. Elliott offers a commentary on the hymn of praise from the LBW's eucharistic rite, "Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain." This hymn is taken from the book of Revelation, a book that has often bewildered Lutherans. In a fresh, in-depth summary of the meaning of Revelation (with many allusions to our time), Elliott points out that the opening letters to the seven churches are combinations of praise and censure, calls for repentance and non-compromise, and they lead on to the second part of Revelation in 4:1, with its account of what will take place in the future, based on the Seer's heavenly journey. The Seer identifies the ultimate agents in the present struggle and predicts its final outcome. The churches appear to be under pressure to relax their exclusive allegiance to God and conform to the ways of their Gentile neighbors. Rome had a stranglehold on the Mediterranean world at the end of the first century C.E. and expected praise and honor in public from its obsequious clients. In this context Revelation is an urgent call to remain steadfast, to repent of complacency and compromise, and to have confidence and hope. It anticipates the ultimate victory of God and the Lamb over Satan/the primordial Dragon of chaos, on the one hand, and Rome and its allies on the other. Scattered throughout Revelation are hymns celebrating God and the Lamb's victory, now deftly reworded in LBW. Victory in Revelation is celebrated with a feast, now echoed in our eucharistic meal. In Revelation and LBW Jesus morphs from the one slain to the one reigning. The conclusion compares the message and context of Revelation with the imperial context in which we live.

Everett R. Kalin, one of Robert Smith's oldest friends, discusses Romans 1:18-32, especially vv. 26-27, a central passage in the current discussion of homosexuality. He asks why Paul wrote these words and what role they play in the context of this chapter and of the book of Romans. The sinners accused in this passage are solely Gentiles, and they are accused of failing to acknowledge the God they knew by observing God's work in creation. The Wisdom of Solomon expresses a similar thought but then goes on to say how differently God treated the Gentiles from the Jews, how God showed kindness and mercy to God's own ancient people. Paul, on the other hand, follows his condemnation of the Gentiles by stating that we Jews are just like those Gentiles as far as sin is concerned. The pessimistic picture of humanity in Romans 1-3 is followed by the utterly glorious news in 3:21 to 11:36 that Jew and Gentile are united under God's righteousness conferred through the atonement effected through Christ. As Christians struggle with how to deal with Rom 1:26-27 they need to remember that a principal reason Paul wrote Romans was to encourage members of various Christian congregations in Rome, divided over issues they saw as vital to faith and life and worship, to welcome one another despite, and even before resolving, these differences.

Linda Maloney reflects on Smith's Easter Gospels, published twenty years ago, and particularly on his unique interpretation of the ending to Mark: The women ran straight to witness to the disciples without speaking to anyone on the way. This plausible proposal has not been widely accepted, and the author notes a variety of other understandings of Mark 16:8. Dewey, for example, concludes that the women's failure to speak, while inappropriate, may indicate that failure need not be the end of discipleship. Maloney notes important structural clues in Mark that point to the evangelist's intention in his final scene. At both Transfiguration and Resurrection the humans involved are both terrified and struck speechless. Archbishop Williams has observed that a descent into silence is the necessary condition of emergence into effective speech. The women's silence at the end of Mark is the necessary precondition for proclamation. In a sense, the reader is the lost ending of Mark. We have to discover for ourselves what difference is made by this life, this death, this resurrection. Until the ambiguity emerges as mystery we must remain silent.