New Lamps for Old (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

My earliest recollection of the Aladdin story comes from a cartoon I saw as a child. In it, Aladdin had a magic lamp. Whenever he rubbed it, a Djinn would grant his wish. There were two problems, though: (1) he stole the lamp from 40 thieves (who wanted it back), and (2) another, evil man wanted the magic lamp for his own, evil purposes.

Aware of these dangers, Aladdin, employing cartoon logic, "hid" the magic lamp at home . . . with other lamps. There is a scene where the evil man, having discovered the lamp's "hiding place," comes up with a scheme to possess it. Posing as a merchant, he walks down the street calling out "New lamps for old! New lamps for old!" At Aladdin's house, he makes his offer to the housekeeper who, thinking it a great bargain, swaps the old lamps for shiny new ones. And just like that, the magic lamp is possessed by the evil man who, presumably, is out the expense of all those new lamps. But, hey, magic lamp.

The housekeeper was tricked by an analytical fallacy: like many people, she concluded new was better than old, but without ever considering the key element---the lamps themselves. "New versus old" was enough of a basis, for her and for many of us, on which to make her choice. Like most of us, she believed, all things being equal, new was better.

New is not enough.

But make no mistake, quite a few people believe exactly the opposite. If you doubt that, go to an antiques auction, sometime, and see the passion folks bring to the battle to own something old. The fallacy remains, though, if the item itself should be ignored in the decision-making.

Old is not enough.

When Peter travels to the home of the Roman Centurion Cornelius in Acts 10, his traveling companions are all of the "old is better" school. They are expecting SOMEthing to happen, but are completely unprepared for what God decides to do: "The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles," (NRSV Acts 10:45) According to the old ways, only the descendants of Jacob would be granted a portion of God's spirit. Yet, here God went a NEW direction.

The mistake those early believers made was to view Jesus and His teachings through the lens of their religion, their culture, and their history (i.e., assuming the old way was the only way). Two millennia later, we must also guard against this kind of fallacious thinking. Everything---especially our culture and our religion---must be viewed and evaluated through the lens of Jesus and His teachings, not the other way round. In this case, we must go with the new.

In this case, there's no magic in that old lamp.
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For more on the blended tales of Aladdin and Ali Baba see: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin

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[Note the connections among this week's Lectionary scriptures]

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 10, 2015)
First reading
Acts 10:44-48
Psalm
Psalm 98
Second reading
1 John 5:1-6
Gospel
John 15:9-17

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Once again, we gather at the Waco "Egg And I" restaurant Friday morning. Join us at 8:00 for something new and fresh, some news that is truly good.

Enjoy the week!
Steve