John 1: 1-18 (Common English Bible)
The gospel reading from the Lectionary this Sunday, isn’t really a Christmas reading, it might be considered a Cosmic reading that began long before time existed. I still encounter people who read this so wrong, thinking the Word mentioned here is the Bible. The Word here is the Eternal Christ long before Jesus was born in a manger and long before any scriptures existed. But we do use the Bible quite a lot don’t we? So I wanted to focus my sermon on the Bible, how it’s been used and misused.
This library of books we call the “Bible” began as the sacred stories of the Hebrew tribes, passed down and written by the Israelites and later by the first Christians. This was done during a period of nearly 2,000 years. By the modern era, many of these stories have been regarded as myth and superstition and replaced with technological triumph and rationalism.
We’ve come to an era, with two extremes, either everything in the Bible is literally true or just about everything in the Bible is not true. I reject both extremes. I reject the Domino theology, if one domino falls, everything else falls. This is the mindset of Christian fundamentalists. But the problem with modern people is that they have lost the insight their ancient ancestors had. Or ancestors read much of the Bible through symbolism, metaphors and idioms. And those readings were as powerful to them, as if they were literally true.
You can be inspired by fictional books that bring you closer to God. I’ve been inspired by the fictional novel “The Word” written by Irving Wallace in 1972. It’s one of the few fictional books I’ve read several times. In 1978 the novel was made into a TV miniseries with David Janssen as the main character. Some of you might remember him from the 1960s TV series, “The Fugitive.”
During our time, it could be an era of evangelical opportunity for the church if it is done correctly. The old methods of guilt and fear will no longer work, especially among the younger generation. Science must be respected instead of believing mythic stories that contradict every scientific fact. The fact is evolution is true and there was no literal worldwide flood when humans walked the earth. Now I will say this, geologists agree billions of years ago there could’ve been such a flood, but no humans existed then.
There were probably local floods when the glaciers began melting around 12,000 years ago. And another thing, humans and dinosaurs did NOT coexist, despite what the fundamentalists try to push.
We’re not going anywhere with the unchurched people unless Christians separate themselves from this fundamentalist foolishness. The best way to turn people toward real faith is to concentrate on the teachings of Jesus. Everyone should love what Jesus taught if they have a conscience. The only famous person I recall who hated Jesus’ teachings was the author Ayn Rand, who accused Jesus of attacking capitalism. Maybe not a bad thing for Jesus to do.
People should be encouraged to read different translations of the Bible, such as the Revised English Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, the Common English Bible and perhaps The Message which is one of the better paraphrases of the Bible.
Unfortunately, many people use the same Bible all their lives. I still find some churches with an outdoor sign that says King James Version only. I just wonder what would happen if someone used another translation in that church? Would they be kicked out? And I respect the Eastern Orthodox Church, like to visit one before I die, but they only use the Septuagent, a Greek translation of the Bible written between 285 - 246 BC. But guess what? The oldest manuscripts of the Bible were written in Hebrew and Aramaic. A seminary professor I remember told the class I took, the older the manuscript the more accurate is the translation. A lot can get lost in translation. The oldest Hebrew translations say that Moses crossed the Reed Sea and not the Red Sea. The Greek translation of this miraculous event got it wrong. But crossing the Reed Sea with the Hebrew people led by Moses escaping the Egyptians is still a miracle.
Of course the church can still do what it has been doing since 381 AD, impose unity from above, establishing the “correct” Eccelesical authority. But in recent years there has been a righteous reality among many churches the status-quo must change. In the late 20th century, Latin American Christians read the Bible as Liberation Theology despite the anger toward it by the Roman Catholic Church. There are more than 2,000 verses about social-justice in the Bible but it seems most ministers whether Catholic or Protestant still seemed obsessed about the dozen or so verses about gonad issues. Why is that? I will tell you why. It’s easier to put Mary Jane on a guilt trip for a wild date, instead of having the courage to condemn a nation obsessed with greed, bigotry, selfishness and war. You don’t have to agree with me, just read the gospels.
The church has always had a problem with biblical interpretation. There has been a division of who has the correct reading. Women, ethnic groups and other people who have been on the side-lines, can reveal facts of scripture that white academics and clerics would never see, because these scriptures challenge the professional classes.
Questioning or insisting on one true reading is one way to understand God. We Christians might be better to rediscover a more Jewish way to interpret scripture reading. I still believe one of the biggest mistakes of the 16th century Reformation leaders was to use thousands of divided sentences “verses” in the Bible. The context of the reading is lost and it’s crazy using one verse as a doctrine. The Jewish people and Jesus didn’t read scripture divided by verses. The Jews believed in a multiple of approaches as the best way to interpret the sacred words. This preserved the scriptures as the center of the Synagogue open to teach one another.
Embracing pluralism does not stop critical engagement with one another. Not all biblical scriptures were created equal or even inspired. After all, even the Accuser, “Satan,” can quote scripture and misuse it. Read the scriptures closely. Would Jesus agree with what is written? He is our standard above all else. Would Jesus agree with what is written in Psalm chapter 137, verse nine?
The best way to persuade others about reading scripture, is not necessarily by telling it, but by showing one’s convictions and not just opinions. Opinions are things of debate and discussion. Convictions on the other hand shape our lives and service.
The first chapter of the Gospel of John invites all of us to look and listen anew for the God who cannot be fully known but continues to create and speak the Word that shines the Light into our lives, the world and the universe.
AMEN
