Top 12 of CiHD: #10

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (the first week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

We’ll continue our look at the Top 12 Blog Posts at Covered in His Dust by going over my tenth-most-viewed post of all time. With the last post being on 3 John, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising to find 1 John next on the list. The post is titled “1 JOHN: Love and Truth,” which I wrote on September 21, 2016. Much like the post on 3 John, this post discussed the very Johannine (or “of John”) themes of love and truth. You can read the post here.

In this series, as we look at each post, I want to ask three questions: why, what, and what else. Why do I think this post got so many views; why were others drawn to this post? What do I hope people found when they got here; what do I hope they heard? Finally, what else have I learned about this; what else would I say about these ideas?

WHY THIS POST?

If I had to guess (which is what this section is all about), I would assume that what drove people to this post was its connection to the writings of John and Essene literature. In the last few decades, there has been an immense amount of study surrounding the Johannine books, John’s style of writing, and the way he utilizes the themes found in his writings. While there is (always) a lot of debate about authorship, these themes seem to show up throughout his gospel, the letters, and even the book of Revelation.

Also of modern interest is the study of the Essenes, arising from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. With that find, the archaeological world has become more and more aware of the theology driving those in the Essene community. The preeminence of “sons of light” in their literature is striking and significant, and many have wondered how deeply connected Jesus and his disciples were to the Essene world. It is possible that further study of these connections drove people to my blog (not to mention the disappointment of finding somebody they can’t quote in their papers).

WHAT DO I HOPE THEY FOUND?

I hope they found some ideas to propel their study forward. We often read letters like 1 John with a matter-of-fact, straightforward approach, without asking the same questions that have become a part of our hermeneutic as we read the Text. Wasn’t John a Jewish rabbi? Was John more like a first-century Jew or a twenty-first-century theologian? How does this impact the way we study and read his writings?

Because of this, context matters. If John is working off of some deep Essene roots, or writing to a world that understands these dominant teachings, then this would be significant. I’m not even sure we have enough knowledge at this point to make that case, but it certainly matters as we think about interpreting John’s authorial intent. But even with a surface level exegesis, we have a clear movement that John is working with here. If we are to be followers of Jesus, then we are to walk as he walked. John says, “Whoever claims to be in him, must walk as Jesus walked.” He also says God is light and so we must be people of the light.

What does it mean to walk in the light? To say that we ought to be like Jesus is easy enough, but what exactly does that mean to John? John will spend the bulk of his letter talking about love. John connects this idea to walking in the light. If someone says they are in the light, but they do not love their brother, they are lying. John connects this idea to walking as Jesus walked. John connects love to light, love to truth, and love to Jesus.

These are the ideas I hope people found when they got here.

WHAT ELSE WOULD I SAY?

There is much in 1 John that I am still trying to nail down. For instance, what is up with 1 John 5:6–8? Not only is the content difficult to deal with, but we have all kinds of manuscript issues throughout history surrounding this passage. Google it and see what I’m talking about. Then get back to me when you have that all nailed down, because I’m still curious. I’ve been handed some great tidbits and good ideas, but I’m still trying to figure it out.

But one of my favorite passages in the New Testament is 1 John 4:12, which says, “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” For all of the depth in John’s writing, I have always felt like the miles of depth that lie in this verse come from its profound simplicity. There is this somewhat consistent thought throughout Scripture that God has not or cannot be seen. Why is this? Good western question. Maybe because God is spirit and without form or maybe because of His greatness, purity, and transcendent holiness. Perhaps it’s just because God is far too big to be contained in our world (hence the beauty and mystery of the incarnation).

So we cannot see God in the same way we can see other people or things in this world. Now the apologist in me immediately wants to start talking about all of the evidence for God around us — natural revelation or eternity set in the hearts of men. But John goes on to speak of evidence we far too often overlook. If God is light and if God is love, then when we love each other, people have the opportunity to see God. What a beautiful idea.

THE SILENT YEARS: Essenes

But the Hasidim weren’t the only ones to react negatively to the corruption of the priesthood and the Temple system. There was also another group that responded with as much zeal and passion as the Hasidim, but with a different methodology. This group was called the Essenes.

*It should be noted that there continues to be much debate about this group called the Essenes and what we truly know about them. Every time the scholastic community seems to make some headway in deciding who this group was and what they did, a whole different discussion arises that questions even the most basic assumptions that scholars have made.

One of the places that has been uncovered and has led us to learn so much about the Essenes is the work at Qumran and the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. Most are familiar with the fact that we found an unbelievable amount of biblical text in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but we also found much along the lines of extra-biblical text as well. One of the documents that was uncovered is called The Community Rule and explains much about the lifestyle and expectations for those living in the Essene community.

From what we can tell, the Essenes were made up of disillusioned priests who recognized the corruption of the Temple system and rejected the priesthood that had become so tattered. Some of them continued to perform their priestly duties twice a year, while others abandoned their posts altogether. While we used to think that only male priests were allowed into the group, we have recently found the bodies of several females in the cemetery at Qumran, causing many to suggest that the priests’ families were allowed to live there, or maybe that others were allowed into the sect, as well.

At any rate, we know this group of priests came out to the desert in order to preserve God’s way. They were determined to know the path and walk it well. They were stationed out in the desert in order to be the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:

Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
    double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the LORD;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
        For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

They would be the voice crying out in the desert. They would be the group that would know the ancient paths when the words of Jeremiah would come to life:

This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.

When the people began coming back to God’s way, the Essenes would be ready. When people found themselves standing at a crossroads and asking for the ancient paths, the Essenes would know those paths. They were committed to knowing the path of God and walking in it.

To know the path. And to walk it.

These Essenes went to work, not only memorizing the Text, but preserving it. One of the main accomplishments of this sect is the unbelievably accurate transmission of the biblical text through copying the words and preserving the scrolls. Without the Essenes, there would be no Dead Sea Scrolls. Without the Essenes, we would still be wondering about the accuracy of our scriptures. To know the path.
But they were also committed to walking it. According to The Community Rule, in order to join this sect, you had to sell all of your worldly possessions and everything you had became common property in the community. They lived in strict, disciplined community with others, including a rigid commitment to ritual and obedience, meal times, and communal responsibility. The extent of their commitment to following God’s commands is astounding. To document the work of the Essenes adequately would be far beyond the scope of this blog post (even ignoring how much it is debated within scholarship). To walk the path.

When I travel to Israel with groups, one of the most significant stops we make is at Qumran, as we observe the dedication and passion with which these men (and apparently women) devoted themselves to learning, knowing, and walking the Text. I have stood on the mountain overlooking Qumran many times and shouted, “I want to be an Essene!”

To be the voice of one crying in the desert. To be the answer to the one standing at the crossroads and asking for the ancient paths and the good way. To know the path. To walk it.

I want to be an Essene.