scripture Archives - New Joy Lutheran Church & Preschool https://newjoy.org/tag/scripture/ Welcome. Grace. Faith. Promise. Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:26:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Sermon in Progress: my Second Take https://newjoy.org/2024/11/20/sermon-in-progress-my-second-take/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sermon-in-progress-my-second-take Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:26:27 +0000 https://newjoy.org/?p=11943 Earlier this week at my clergy text study and New Joy’s Wednesday Bible Study I had my First Look at Sunday’s Scripture. After some study, prayer, reflection and conversation, here’s my Second Take.   Our readings for Sunday are: Daniel 12:1-3 The deliverance of God’s people at the end Psalm 16 My heart is glad and my […]

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Sermon in Progress: my Second Take

Earlier this week at my clergy text study and New Joy’s Wednesday Bible Study I had my First Look at Sunday’s Scripture. After some study, prayer, reflection and conversation, here’s my Second Take.

 

Our readings for Sunday are:

Daniel 12:1-3

The deliverance of God’s people at the end

Psalm 16

My heart is glad and my spirit rejoices; my body shall rest in hope. (Ps. 16:9)

Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] 19-25

The way to God opened through Christ’s death

Mark 13:1-13

The end and the coming of the Son

 

Toward the end of the church year every November, and at the beginning of a new church year each Advent, we read Scripture that looks ahead through difficult times toward God’s renewal of all things - an event variously described as the “second coming” of Christ, the “Day of Judgment,” or the establishment of a “new heaven and a new earth.”

 

Some parts of Christianity, particularly some sects of American protestant Christianity since the 19th century, have clung enthusiastically to these “apocalyptic” verses. They try to parse and interpret them so as to determine with confidence when the “end times” are coming, to anticipate the cosmic conflict between God and the forces of evil, and sometimes even to provoke such end times through their own violent deeds.

 

Christianity is a forward-looking, hope-filled faith that seeks God’s reign of justice for all humanity. We do not eagerly anticipate some sort of annihilating doomsday that will destroy the many only to save the few. Such is the unfortunate religious fantasy some Christians have broadcast into our culture.

 

These “end times” readings - such as those we have assigned to us this week - are words of hope written amidst times of great sorrow and struggle for God’s people. From the prophet Daniel this week we read of “a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.” Jesus, speaking with his disciples in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, tells his disciples that “Not one stone [of the grand temple buildings] will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” War, conflict, violence is coming.

 

These Scripture passages do not relish the conflicts they anticipate. They do not cheer for violence, as if widespread human suffering would initiate God’s heroic intervention. Nor do they look ahead with any specificity to the year 2024 foretelling from ancient Babylon and Judah what would be happening today in North America. No. That’s not how Biblical prophecy works.

 

These passages describe real conflicts that real people faced in the times and places these Scripture were written. In Daniel’s time the people were returning to Jerusalem after 40 years in exile, only to face continued conquest and war from larger nations. In Jesus’ time Roman-occupied Judah was a tinderbox of political and social tension, ready to spark and ignite in flames at any moment. That’s exactly what would happen in the year 70 when the Romans sacked Jerusalem and burned the Jewish temple to the ground.

 

And in the midst of such tension, conflict, and anticipated warfare, God’s message is clear: God will deliver his people. War and suffering are not the end of the story. God is with us amidst our trials and tribulations. God will lead us through.

 

So have hope, beloved of Christ. In whatever challenges you face in this season of life, whatever worries you have about the world or your own household, you are not alone. The hardships of the world do not define us. The sorrows we see are not all that there is.

 

Instead, Sunday’s Scripture are full of hope and promise:

  • Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit aids and comforts his followers
  • Daniel tells us that “those who lead the many to righteousness [will shine] like the stars forever and ever”
  • The letter to the Hebrews encourages us to “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful”
  • Psalm 16 praises God, singing, “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy”

 

Beloved, let us face the sorrows of the world with a sober mind and a heart of hope, trusting in God’s promises. Come, Holy Spirit!

Pastor Chris Duckworth

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]]> The Gospels and their Authority https://newjoy.org/2024/06/04/the-gospels-and-their-authority/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-gospels-and-their-authority Tue, 04 Jun 2024 19:33:37 +0000 https://newjoy.org/?p=11727 The Gospels and their Authority In Sunday’s sermon I said a few provocative things – more than usual, it seems. I don’t think what I said was provocative because it stood outside the teachings of our church, or that I was being insanely controversial. No. But some of what I said clearly provoked questions among many of you following […]

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The Gospels and their Authority

In Sunday’s sermon I said a few provocative things – more than usual, it seems. I don’t think what I said was provocative because it stood outside the teachings of our church, or that I was being insanely controversial. No. But some of what I said clearly provoked questions among many of you following worship, particularly about how we interpret Scripture. Thanks for asking! Here’s a follow-up to some of those questions and comments.

Early in my sermon I got into issues of Scriptural authority. “The gospels are authoritative in what they tell us about Jesus. Full stop.” What we learn of Jesus’ character, his compassion, his commitment to the poor and vulnerable, his wisdom and truth that turn our understanding upside down, his power and promise … all of this is reliable and authoritative. The gospels were written precisely for this – to tell us who Jesus is so that we may believe in him and live according to his way.

Then I made the claim that we are NOT to have the same level of confidence in the verses of the gospels that describe Jesus’ adversaries. Yes, some parts of the gospels we hold onto tightly. Others, parts we hold loosely, such as when the gospels describe “the Jews,” or what they say about important but secondary or tertiary characters such as particular Roman rulers.

Why would we not take these other details as seriously as we take the parts about Jesus?

For one, those other details are not as important. The gospel writers did not sit down to write a story about first century Jews or Roman rulers. No. They sat down to write a story about Jesus, the Word made flesh, so that we might have faith. If we want to learn about Jesus, we should read the gospels as our primary source. If we want to learn about first century Jews, we should consult other materials as primary sources.

Additionally, our faith is in Jesus, not in the secondary details of the Gospels’ narratives. When we read Scripture, we look for Jesus and for the Good News of God’s justice and mercy that Jesus articulates and enacts. This is our priority in how we read Scripture – we read Scripture looking for Jesus and his Good News.

"We read Scripture looking for Jesus and his Good News."

 

In his Preface to the Old Testament, Martin Luther describes the Bible as the manger in which the Christ child is laid. “Here [in Scripture] you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies, and to which the angel points the shepherds. Simple and lowly are these swaddling cloths, but dear is the treasure, Christ, who lies in them.” (from Martin Luther’s Preface to the Old Testament, 1523, Luther’s Works, Vol. 35, pg 236).

Sticking with Luther’s manger analogy, we know that the shepherds worshiped neither the manger nor the straw. They worshiped Jesus, the Holy One laying in the manger’s straw.

So too for us. When looking at the Bible as if it were the manger of Bethlehem, we look past the manger’s legs and wooden frame, because are not looking for a manger. We look past the warm bed of straw, because we are not looking for a warm bed of straw. We look for Jesus, the Holy One laying in the manger. Jesus is our rubric for reading Scripture. Jesus is our interpretive lens.

There are over 30,000 verses in the Bible, and they are not all the same. It is not only faithful, but common sense that we would rank and prioritize some parts of Scripture over others.

  • Do we anchor certain ethics in Saint Paul’s preference for celibacy (1 Corinthians 7:8-9), or do we take inspiration from Jesus’ broad promise of abundant life (John 10:10)? [Psst – the answer is Jesus’ broad promise of abundant life.]
  • Do we place the only reference in the Bible to “baptism for the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:29) on the same plain as the beautiful poetry about baptism’s marvelous power and promise (Romans 6:3-11) that resonates with other teachings throughout Scripture? [Answer: No, we do not.]
  • When it comes to understanding the call to generosity, do we cling to the story about Ananias and Sapphira – who were struck dead upon being confronted about their failure to share their wealth with the church (Acts 5:1-11) – or do we cling to the proverb that the Lord loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7)? [Let’s be cheerful.]

"Even the Devil can quote Scripture."

If the concept of prioritizing some parts of Scripture over others seems iffy, remember that even the Devil can quote Scripture (see Matthew 4). Not all citation of Scripture is faithful. Just throwing Bible verses around doesn’t get us anywhere.

Jesus is Lord over Scripture and over our interpretations of Scripture. When given a choice in how we interpret Scripture or which Scripture verses we’re going to emphasize, we choose Christ’s grace and mercy every single time.

Here’s what it looks like when we don’t choose grace and mercy, but instead lean into the worst possible ways of interpreting Scripture.

In Sunday’s sermon I talked about the dangers of giving too much credence to certain secondary matter – the anti-Jewish language – in the gospels. As stated above, such material is not central to the grace and mercy of Christ, and thus does not carry the same weight. To use Martin Luther’s analogy, this ant-Jewish language is straw, not baby Jesus. Since it is straw, we can notice it but then move on until our eyes gaze upon the Christ child.

Nonetheless, over the centuries Christians have latched onto this material and used it to inspire all kinds of evil against the Jewish people. When Christians read this material in the four gospels and glean from them that “the Pharisees” and “the Jews” cared more about religious law than about life, they come away with the impression that the Jews were heartless. When Christians read that “the Jews” chanted “crucify him” and were plodding against all the good things Jesus was doing, they are led to believe that such people were blood thirsty animals.

And if these people – “the Jews,” according to how we read our holy texts – were heartless animals, do they even deserve to live today? Many of our forebears in the church, mixing blasphemous spiritual authority with the power of the sword, decided that answer was “no, they don’t.” Pogroms, Inquisitions, and Holocausts flow from erroneous readings of Scripture coupled with unchecked lust for power.

Our forefather in the faith, Martin Luther, wrote a hateful diatribe called On the Jews and their Lies. In this treatise Luther called for violence against Jews. Centuries later Martin Luther’s own words were quoted by Nazis to support their terror campaign against Jews in Europe. (I've written about this before, here.)

"The Bible is rich and diverse and complicated and beautiful, and it deserve a serious and faithful method of interpretation. Let the grace and mercy of Christ be our method."

This is why we need to be explicit about how we read Scripture. We must be honest that there is a clear priority to what we read in Scripture and how we interpret it. The Bible is rich and diverse and complicated and beautiful, and it deserve a serious and faithful method of interpretation. Let the grace and mercy of Christ be our method, our lens, our filter for reading Scripture. Anything else risks an inversion of priorities, resulting in calling evil good and good evil (see Isaiah 5:20).

There’s so much more to say about how we interpret the gospels and their authority. In future posts perhaps I’ll talk about how the gospels came to be written in the first place, and how their composition history and process influences how we interpret them. We can talk about language – the gospels are written in Greek, but Jesus and his disciples likely spoke Aramaic or Hebrew. We can talk about the differences between Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – and why those differences matter, but why those differences aren’t deal-breakers, either.

Thank you for reading this far, for investing a few minutes in reflecting with me on Scripture and its interpretation. Look for Christ, friends, in your reading of Scripture and in all things. For Christ is with us, blessing this world with grace and mercy, and showing us a more perfect way of living.

Peace be with you.

Pastor Chris

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]]> Reading the Scriptures in Worship and at Home https://newjoy.org/2020/06/15/reading-scriptures/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reading-scriptures Mon, 15 Jun 2020 20:23:17 +0000 https://newjoy.org/?p=6563 Reading the Scriptures in Worship and at Home In worship on Sunday I mentioned that we are at the beginning of a long, slow, continuous read of the Gospel of Matthew during what some churches call “Ordinary Time.” With the seasons of Lent and Easter and the festival of Pentecost behind us, we now enter […]

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Reading the Scriptures in Worship and at Home

In worship on Sunday I mentioned that we are at the beginning of a long, slow, continuous read of the Gospel of Matthew during what some churches call “Ordinary Time.” With the seasons of Lent and Easter and the festival of Pentecost behind us, we now enter into a steady state of reading about the ministry, teachings, and miracles of Jesus. We will also be reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans throughout the summer, followed by Philippians and then 1 Thessalonians. Each week a Psalm will complement our readings.

The Revised Common Lectionary – the reading cycle widely used by Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterians, and more – includes Sunday readings from the Old Testament, a Psalm, an Epistle/Letter, and a Gospel. Currently we are omitting the Old Testament reading in Sunday worship, but maintaining the other three readings.

I encourage you, as part of your daily devotions, to read Scripture from the daily lectionary – especially if you don’t yet have a regular devotional or routine of Bible reading. Between Sundays the daily lectionary provides Scripture passages that connect readers to the major themes of Sunday’s scripture texts. The readings assigned for Monday through Wednesday flow from Sunday’s themes. The readings assigned to Thursday through Saturday look ahead to the coming Sunday. In this way your daily individual devotion is connected to our Sunday communal worship, and the midweek readings support and expand our understanding of the Sunday texts.

Reading the Word Each Day

Each morning at 7:30am our Facebook page includes a link to one of the daily readings.

Each Friday our News to Know email includes a listing of the week’s daily readings. Want to receive this? Sign up

The Daily Lectio app  for the iPhone  and Android. Also, the  DailyLectio website at dailylectio.net provides the daily readings along with a prayer.

 

Screenshot of DailyLectio app

 

The Daily Lectio app includes two options for the Old Testament readings: Semicontinuous, or Complementary. This refers to the way that Old Testament readings are selected for this extended “ordinary time” season in the church year. Typically the Old Testament texts are selected thematically to complement the Gospel text. For example, if Jesus is feeding the five thousand in the Gospel text, the Old Testament story might be one of the Lord providing manna in the wilderness to the Israelites. Week to week the Old Testament readings would come from different books of the Bible to compliment the themes of the Gospel text. An alternate way of reading the Old Testament during “ordinary time” is to read through parts of Old Testament books sequentially, or continuously. This summer that would include reading portions of Genesis and Exodus.

May God bless you as you stay connected to the life-giving word of God this summer.

Pastor Chris

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