People have all sorts of opinions and thoughts and feelings about scripture. Some people have Bibles that are all marked up, with passages underlined and scraps of paper with notes on them tucked between the pages. Others feel that the Bible is too sacred to write in, and they have clean and neat and orderly books. Some people have Bibles with worn covers, and others keep their Bibles so well that they seem brand new.
There have been, over the centuries, great debates about which books should be in the Bible, and the Protestant Bible is lacking the books of what we call The Apocrypha, while those books are considered as scripture to Roman Catholics. There have also been significant disagreements about the nature of scripture. Some believe that the Bible contains the inerrant, infallible Word of God; that means that there are no errors within it and that every word is to be considered as perfect. Others believe that we have to interpret scripture with regards to the historical setting in which it was written, the culture of the people and the writers, and the type of literature that it reflects. In other words, we have to read the words of scripture with the understanding that it is not without human error and fallibility, and that it can only be understood within its context.
In spite of all the ways in which we disagree over scripture, I would hazard a guess that all Christians would agree that scripture has great worth. How else would we know the God who reveals himself within its pages? How else would we understand what God expects of us? And where else would we learn about Jesus? I choose to take the Bible seriously, but not literally. I believe that the message of scripture is the Word of God, but not all that is contained in the Bible is of equal value. Not all of what is in the Bible is intended to be understood in 21st century America the same way that it was understood two or three thousand years ago. For example, while it is interesting to read the laws about food restrictions and cloth that is not to be of mixed materials that is found in Leviticus, I doubt if anyone would follow those laws today. But when we read the words of Jesus that we are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves, we understand that those are moral imperatives meant to be kept for all time.
Most of us could name scripture passages that are our favorites. Psalm 23. Luke 2. 1 Corinthians 13. And most of us can remember a time in our lives when a particular passage of scripture spoke to our hearts and our spirits in powerful ways. Maybe when we were grieving the loss of a loved one, or trying to make a difficult decision, or having to undergo medical treatment for an illness or injury. In that moment, we remembered the words of the Bible and found comfort or inspiration or encouragement in them.
I have always been interested in the story I read from Nehemiah. You need to know the context of this story in order to appreciate what it means. The people of Israel had been conquered by the Babylonions and many of them, the wealthy, the educated, the powerful, had been carried off into exile in Babylon. The Persian Empire had later conquered Babylon, and the decision was made to allow all the exiles to return home.
And so, the descendants of those original deportees were allowed to go back to their homeland. Once they returned to Jerusalem, they knew that they needed to rebuild its temple in order to restore proper worship and its walls in order to provide safety in case of attack. This work was made more difficult because there was opposition to the rebuilding. There were foreigners who had been resettled in Israel as they were exiled from their own countries. They offered to help with the rebuilding but were turned away. These people then tried to interfere with the building projects, but eventually the temple was completed, and Ezra led the dedication of it.
Nehemiah, who served as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persian, was sent to Jerusalem to help organize the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. Once the wall was rebuilt, again in the face of opposition from their neighbors, the people were assembled in Jerusalem to hear the reading of the Book of the Law of Moses by Ezra. We are told that Ezra began by praising God and all the people stood and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then Ezra read the Law to them from daybreak until noon, while the people remained standing. And as the Law was read, the Levites (the priests) taught the people so that they understood its meaning. All the people listened attentively as Ezra read. And after the reading of the Law, Nehemiah told the people to go and enjoy a feast to celebrate the day. And all the people went away and celebrated with great joy because they understood the words that had been read to them.
The reading of the Word of God was a part of this national celebration of having rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem. In those days, there was no separation of church and state; Israel was a nation centered around their faith. Matters of state and matters of faith were closely related. On significant days in the life of our own country, there are religious observances. For example, there is usually prayer included in the inauguration service for the President, as well as a national prayer service. And when there are tragedies, such as the wildfires in California or the flooding in North Carolina, our elected officials from the president to the state reps offer prayers for the victims. And there are times when scripture is quoted or referenced by our political leaders or in the worship/prayer services held in the National Cathedral. Often we hear words from the Psalms. And sometimes from the Gospels.
But it seems that some parts of scripture are more acceptable to our nation than others. It appears to me that some of the words of Jesus are more acceptable than others. And not just to those outside the Christian community. Some Christians reject the words of Jesus as being too liberal, too “woke,” or too irrelevant to our day.
I find it interesting that the story from Nehemiah is paired with the story in Luke 4:14-21 in our lectionary. Because the story in Luke reveals to us how seriously Jesus took the Word of God and how he understood the Word of God to be a guideline for his own ministry.
First-century Jews did not worship in the Temple; that was the place where they went to make their sacrificial offerings. Regular, weekly worship took place in the local synagogues. It was the habit of Jesus to attend those services. On this particular occasion, Jesus was chosen to read from the scriptures and comment on them. He was handed the scroll of Isaiah by the synagogue leader. And Jesus chose a passage from chapter 61 to read: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me. He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” After he finished reading, Jesus handed the scroll back to the synagogue leader and sat down. Everyone was looking at him to see what he would say next. And when Jesus spoke, he said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”:
The response of the people to Jesus’ words was not surprising. They questioned his authority by reminding each other that he was simply the son of Joseph the carpenter. Where did he get off claiming to be the anointed one prophesied by Isaiah? And when Jesus tried to elaborate, they got angry, furious in fact, and drove him out of town. They were about to throw him off a cliff to his death, but Jesus escaped and traveled to Capernaum.
There are passages of scripture that I respond to with a lot of passion. There are some passages that are very comforting: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” There are passages that are very challenging: “Love your enemies.” There are passages that are informative: “This is what the kingdom of God is like.” And there are passages that kind of make me angry: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” But each of these passages I take seriously and try to see how they apply to me, to my community, to the world. I don’t just reject any passages that I don’t feel good about or agree with or want to follow.
Last week a bishop of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Budde, led the national prayer service in Washington, D.C. following the inauguration of President Trump. During her homily, Bishop Budde referenced passages from the Bible in a plea for the president to show mercy to those who are vulnerable: specifically, members of the LGBTQ community and those who are in our country illegally. While I don’t think politics belong in the pulpit as a rule, there are issues that are part of our national dialogue that are referenced in scripture. They are Biblical issues, matters of faith and conscience. While the president has demanded that Bishop Budde apologize for offending him, she has refused to do so. She doesn’t see that she did anything wrong or inappropriate in repeating the mandate of Old and New Testament scripture that we care for the aliens among us, those who have come from other countries, and that we are to show mercy to those who are oppressed.
The entire episode reminded me of the worth of scripture. While I don’t think we should create a nation based on religion – and I don’t endorse Christian nationalism – I do think that the Bible should inform the way we live and that its moral imperatives should speak to the way we behave in our public lives. There are basic ethical standards that are common to most of the major religions and could be modeled and demonstrated in our politics. For example, the requirement that we love our neighbors is part of the creeds of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism, as well as other religions. It would be considered a common moral and ethical standard.
In my life as a follower of Christ and as a minister of the gospel, I have several responsibilities that I take seriously. I must try to live as nearly as possible according to the example set by Jesus. I must love my neighbors and my enemies. I must forgive those who do me harm. I must stand up for the poor, the oppressed, those who are treated unjustly. I must speak the truth as I understand it, the truth that is contained in the Old and New Testaments of our scripture. And I must try to see and share with you the ways that our scripture speaks to what is going on in the world around us currently. I try to do that without any sort of bias, political or otherwise. I am called to speak to issues of ethics, morality, and justice. Those aren’t just political issues; they are Christian issues, matters of faith.
I would encourage each of you to examine the worth of scripture in your own lives. Is it something that you take seriously? Do you read it and try to understand its message for your life? Are you committed to living the Jesus way as presented in the Gospels? And are you going to speak up for those who have no power, no voice, no influence and work for justice in the world? If you take the Word of God seriously, it will compel you to make decisions about how you live, how you treat others, and how you are involved in public affairs.
