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Bible-Sunday-2004
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 24th October 2004
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Do you read the Bible?
Some of you are feeling guilty already!
It's written all over your faces!
That's not my point.
Guilt is a great motivator,
• but faith isn't about guilt
• it's about life.
No. Whether you read the Bible everyday,
• or once a week,
• or less than that,
• the question remains, do you read the Bible?
Do you really read it?
Do you study it?
Do you mine it like a seam of precious metal?
Do you open it expecting to encounter God in new ways?
It's difficult to do that.
I don't just mean lack of time,
• lack of motivation,
• or lack of knowledge.
It's difficult because when we read the Bible we come to it with a lot of baggage:
• baggage that we started collecting in Sunday School
• when we learnt that Jesus was a kindly, gentle friend,
• rather than a sharp-tongued revolutionary.
Baggage that has grown through years of coming to church
• and sitting through hours and hours of Services -
• and sermons.
When we come to read the Bible we approach the check in desk with over weight baggage.
And the cost can be high.
Let me give some examples.
The Gospels are the heart of our faith in Jesus.
We have nowhere else to turn to read directly about how he lived and what he taught.
It's a good job there are four.
But we often amalgamate those four gospels.
We know intellectually that they are different
• and John very different to Matthew, Mark and Luke.
But we have a tendency to turn them into one story.
The stories of Jesus' birth is the best known example,
• and one I've used before.
We all know how Mary and Joseph were in the stable
• and how the shepherds came,
• followed by the wise men.
Mark and John don't even mention Jesus' birth.
Only Luke's Gospel mentions the inn and the stable
• and only Luke describes the visit of the shepherds.
Only Matthew describes the wise men and their gifts
• and Matthew has them entering a house.
What about the things Jesus taught?
We all know the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes,
• "When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain … and taught them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
That is Matthew's version.
Mark's version?
There isn't one.
Luke's?
• "He came down with them and stood on a level place … and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled."
Notice Luke says "Blessed are you who are poor"
• rather than Matthew's "Blessed are the poor in Spirit".
And notice the adds something Matthew doesn't include,
• "Woe to you who are rich …Woe to your who are full now."
It's part of Luke's socio-economic interest,
• rather than Matthew's more religious tone.
Another example of those themes is another story we know so well.
The story of the rich young ruler.
The one who asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.
In the end, Jesus tells to sell his possessions and give to the poor.
We often think of this as the story of the rich young ruler.
But it is in Matthew that he is young;
• and in Luke that he is a ruler;
• in both he is rich.
Then there are the wonderful stories Jesus told – the parables.
The parable of the Sower, for example, is in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
But only Luke has two of the Jesus' best parables:
• the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son.
So we come to the Gospels with accumulated baggage.
And the cost when we check in?
The cost is we miss the richness of Scripture.
We miss the opportunity to explore why Matthew says "Blessed are the poor in spirit" and Luke has "Blessed are the poor".
We miss the urgency of Mark's Gospel:
• Mark who doesn't waste time with describing Jesus' birth,
• but dives straight into his ministry.
Mark who is always saying "immediately"
• "And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness"
• "Immediately he called them … and they followed him."
And we miss the most exciting part of all.
The chance to think about the disagreements between the Gospels.
The idea that the Gospels agree on all details is comforting;
• perhaps that's why we amalgamate them.
But in fact there are significant disagreements.
Another example of the baggage we carry is the relationship between the New Testament and the Old Testament.
These labels in fact give our bias away straight away.
We as Christians see what we call the Old Testament as a prequel to the New Testament.
Hence "Old" and "New".
The Old Testament is the first half;
• the New Testament the necessary second half.
It's not surprising we view it like this.
What's questionable though is the idea that the Old and New Testament are a seamless whole.
The Jewish people don't need a New Testament to their Scriptures.
Also, there are 3 or 4 centuries between the end of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
3 or 4 centuries with plenty of literature that fills the gap between Hebrew Bible thought and New Testament thought.
Literature that for one reason or another didn't make it into the Bible,
• but that was still recorded and is available to us.
We read the Hebrew Scriptures through Christian eyes.
And particularly through the eyes of Matthew's Gospel.
Matthew is often referring to prophecies
• say in Isaiah or Micah.
We now know that Matthew was often creative in his interpretation.
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel".
For one thing, "virgin" depends on which version of the Old Testament you read.
• The Greek version, known as the Septuagint says "virgin".
• The Hebrew version says simply "young woman".
Matthew is quoting from Isaiah.
But Isaiah was talking about a child of his day,
• not one many centuries later.
A clearer example is one which Matthew actually gets wrong.
At the end of Jesus life when Judas has betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver.
Matthew has "Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah".
Its actually Zechariah that mentions 30 shekels
• and hardly in relation to Jesus being betrayed.
Jeremiah once mentions 17 shekels being paid for a field
• but again the context is very different.
One more point about the Hebrew Bible.
As Christians we read the Old Testament with very heavy baggage.
We focus on certain parts that support our case,
• whilst large parts go unread.
When was the last time, for example, you read Amos?
And that's hardly one of the obscure books.
You might be thinking,
• "but all this requires years of study and reading many books".
It doesn't.
There are simple things to be aware of.
For example, people in the Bible believed in a triple decker universe:
• a flat earth; sky and heaven; and the waters above the heavens.
That effects what's in the Bible.
Equally they believed that Moses did write the first 5 books of the Bible
• and that David wrote all the Psalms.
Notice that Jesus would have believed those things too.
There are many simple commentaries that include these things.
Some are individual books.
Others have up to date scholarship arranged in notes for each day of the year
• like these "Guidelines" produced by the Bible Reading Fellowship.
It's important to be aware of the baggage we bring to the Bible.
There's once carry-on though that we should always keep with us.
One piece of baggage that we need to approach the Bible with.
That is the expectation that we will encounter God in its pages.
All the Biblical knowledge and Biblical scholarship in the world won't do us any good
• if we aren't open to meeting God in the Bible.
Approaching the Bible with that expectation is crucial for the Bible to be a living book,
• rather than just wonderful literature or historically interesting.
And its not unreasonable baggage to expect to meet God.
The Bible is a record of God's relationship with God's people –
• Jewish in the Hebrew Testament
• and Christian in the New Testament.
It's a record of how God's people believed God was working in their lives
• and how they experienced God,
• with all the limitations of their particular time, culture and knowledge.
But despite those limitations God spoke to them,
• just as God speaks to us today if we will read God's word
• and listen carefully for God's voice.
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