ICCM 1.27.19 Sweeter than Honey; 3 Epiph C; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson
Each of our texts for today point our attention to the role the Word of God plays in the lives of God people.
The Old Testament reading from Nehemiah gives us a peek into the life of the Judeans, after their exile in Babylon. Emperor Cyrus of Persia had beaten the Babylonians and established his own, more tolerant rule. He allowed the Jews to return to a small portion of the land that had been theirs, to resettle there and live as they wished. The Jews had lived for two generations or so in a foreign land. When the returned, their homes and temple and familiar places had been destroyed and taken over. They had been exposed to new ideas and world views and struggled to rebuild and adjust. They couldn’t just pick up where their ancestors had left off. They had changed, their world had changed, their understanding was broader. They had new questions. In today’s reading they gathered to hear the word of God read and interpreted for them, and they were overcome with emotion, weeping and rejoicing both.
Over the past seven years the world has witnessed another exile of people from the middle east. I imagine that sometime, maybe it will take one or two generations like it did in the Old Testament times, or maybe it will take longer for some of the current refugees’ descendants to return to Syria and face the same sort of disorienting re-settlement. Having lived their whole lives with the stories of their ancestors’ memories told and retold to them first from resettlement camps in Turkey, or Sweden, or Germany and later from established homes there or elsewhere, they might return to be overcome and overwhelmed to the point of tears at being able to worship in the old ways in the old places once again.
The epistle for today comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. He instructs them in how to handle their divisions and differences, encouraging them to recognize their interdependence as mutual giftedness. In the early church there were Jewish people, like Paul himself, who saw Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. They were steeped in traditional Judaism, the Hebrew Scriptures and practices but were challenged to understand them in new ways because of Jesus.
There were also growing numbers of followers of Jesus who came from the Greco-Roman worldviews, who hadn’t been circumcised, who didn’t know the Jewish law and the prophets. That was just one of the divisions the early church struggled with. Apparently, in Corinth, there were factions developing, those who spoke in tongues and those who didn’t. In the chapters just before our reading for today it seems there were cliques, the rich eating by themselves in their gatherings and not sharing what they had with the poor. The Roman world was highly stratified, and those social distinctions set people apart, rich and poor, slave and free, Greek and Jew, men and women. It is a timeless problem.
Our congregation here is a bit like the one in Corinth, I think. We come, like they did, from various parts of the world, from various backgrounds and yet we are the body of Christ, one body with many parts. Just in the last few weeks I’ve been asked several questions that speak to our differences as a body.
I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago about the different ways we read the Scriptures. She shared a time early in her Christian walk when she gobbled up every opportunity to learn and to read the Word, attending study groups, reading stories to her boys before bed. And the changes that have occurred in her understanding over the years, sometimes reading for answers and clear direction, and later growing into an approach that is ok with a recognition that we don’t know all the answers. Through the course of our conversation I could see that even though she and I approach the Bible differently, the Word has generated deep faith in both of us.
I grew up in the church. I learned the song “Jesus Loves Me” as I learned to speak I think. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so… We went to church most Sundays and prayed before meals and before bedtime. My mom taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. I was steeped in the Word. I grew up in a family where I was encouraged to speak my mind, to question and explore. For me that meant asking questions about faith too. I participated in a 5-year-long confirmation program with weekly release time from school. I had great pastors and teachers who welcomed my probing questions.
When I was in about 7th grade or so I went to bible camp. It was a powerful week for me, a turning point in beginning to make faith my own. At camp Emmaus we learned a song based on our psalm for today.
“The law of the lord is perfect, reviving the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple, more to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
After camp, my friend Nancy and I started with Matthew and worked our way, 5 chapters a week, through the new testament. The word was sweeter than honey. We were eager to grow and learn and share. That was the beginning really, of my hunger for the Word. A few years later, my pastor, Dave Solberg taught me to use Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina as methods of study and devotion. Then in High School I was invited into an intergenerational study led by a college religion professor in our town. There I learned how to read the scriptures from an historical critical method, digging into the context of each passage, comparing one biblical text to another for clarification. In college and Seminary I learned new skills and tools, including learning the original languages and more about the history of Christian interpretation and theology. We examined the variations in ancient manuscripts and wrestled with how God still speaks across the ages, not only in the words of the Bible, but through the process of study and interpretation.
Dr. Gary Chamberlain said something to us that I’ll never forget. He said, “Don’t be afraid to rigorously examine the Scriptures. They will stand up to any examination you can undertake. Think of it as a compliment to the Bible to test it, question it, and dig for understanding.” He quoted the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer which calls on God’s people to not only hear but to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” Holy Scripture. He reassured us that Bible isn’t like cotton candy or Cheetos it won’t melt away. No, God’s word has substance! We could chew on it in all its complexity and depth. Some of the passages are difficult to digest, sure, but we risk missing the fullness of God’s word if we just stick to the parts that are simple and easy to understand.
I love that the Scriptures are like the ocean, we can wade in its shallows or dive deep into its inexhaustible depths. I’ve spent my entire adult life probing and questioning, studying and reading, and each time I dig into the Word I find new understanding. Isn’t that beautiful? We grow in wisdom and understanding, sometimes overcome with joy or tears.
The testimony of the lord is sure and righteous altogether, says our Psalm. The precepts of Yahweh are true, they gladden the heart and enlighten our sight.
The gospel today relates Jesus’ first “sermon” so to speak, at his hometown. He speaks and interprets and enlightens, drawing on the ancient texts to show his mission in the world.
Luke gives us a peek into the way that Jesus was grounded in God’s Word. Luke relates the experience of the listeners in the Synagogue on that Sabbath day in Nazareth. They reacted strongly. After his baptism and long wilderness fast, Jesus came home. It seems the whole town turned out to see for themselves what they have been hearing about him. Jesus had been prepared well for life, raised as a faithful Jew. Surely, he had been brought to the synagogue every week. That day, he was invited to read the lesson from the prophets. There was no lectionary to consult to determine this reading; the choice was up to him. Nor was there a book to flip through. Instead, a bulky scroll was brought to him and placed upon the lectern. Jesus, searching for a familiar text, unrolled it to a place near the end of the scroll. He read aloud these words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Finished with this brief passage, Jesus rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and took his seat. It was the custom for teachers to sit, rather than to stand. So, when Jesus sat, everyone looked at him, expecting some commentary, some explanation of this text that was well known to many of them. There were no professional preachers then. The synagogue president could invite any appropriate person to comment on the text. Often these remarks were less than inspiring. While the people were biblically literate, commentary on scripture by such speakers was often no more than rote recitation of lessons all of them learned at an early age. Kind of like Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Or a recitation of a catechism text. The congregation usually knew what would be said before it was said. The only question was whether it would be said correctly or not.
But that’s not what happened. Jesus didn’t recite a rote lesson. He claimed those ancient prophetic words as his own personal mission statement. God’s Spirit came down on him at his baptism to empower him to do precisely this: bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; let all the oppressed go free; and announce the sweet Jubilee Year when God’s justice will reshape society. This was not just a string of high-sounding words. Everything that followed in his life amounted to the living out of the prophecy he claimed for himself that Sabbath morning in Nazareth.
He kept doing those things every chance he got, every time he turned around, until finally it got him killed. Some people welcomed what Jesus did, but others did not because it upset their unfair advantage, questioned their complacency, and pushed them to recognize their habitual infidelity to God. They found their discomfort increasingly intolerable and expected that his execution would bring an end to the matter.
They were wrong, of course. Jesus’ death didn’t stop anything. Through the gospel, through the church, here in Mazatlan and back in Canada or the United States, everywhere… those ancient words continue to be fulfilled.
The law of the lord is perfect. The commandments of the Lord are clear, abiding forever. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Amen.