Celebrating the Bible Sunday
Sermon by Reverend Matt Harbage
Nehemiah 8.1-12; Psalm 119.9-16; Colossians 3.12-17; Matthew 24.30-35.
“Heaven and earth will pass away,” Jesus says, “but my words will not pass away.”
My the words of my mouth, be true to the living Word of God, Jesus; and the written word of Scripture. Amen.
There is power in words.
We learn it when we’re young. I have memories of teachers at my primary school standing over me and with a word, building me up and making me feel 10 feet tall. I remember other moments with a teacher shaking their head with frustration and sadness in their voice as they say, “You’ve let yourself down. You’ve let me down.”
There is power in words.
There is power to change lives, like when you rehearse and rehearse what you’re going to say, and finally you get up the courage… You kneel down, and open your mouth and say, “I love you. Will you marry me?”
God knows the power of words. In the beginning God spoke into the darkness and said, “let there be light, and there was light.” God’s words always have an impact, and often, so do ours. Words can build people up, or tear them down. Words can bring peace to a troubled mind, and comfort to the dying and inspiration to those looking for direction.
The Bible has the power to do all of these things, and more besides.
The Bible is a record of God’s ongoing dialogue – verbal and non-verbal – with humanity. A record of God’s actions, and God’s self-revelation. As the Second letter to Timothy puts it – Scripture is ‘God breathed’ no less. It has guided the church for 2000 years and continues to guide her today. Every tradition of the church, and every teaching of the church, must be rooted in its rich soil for it to bear fruit.
So where did the Bible come from? It all started with the Jewish people, thousands of years before Jesus Christ. There was a strong oral tradition amongst the tribes of Israel. Stories were not at first written down, they were spoken. Stories were shared, exchanged, reflected on. They kept their shape and their content, because it was important nothing was lost.
The most important stories were spoken often, shared often. These were stories of where they had come from, and where they were going. Memories of famine, flood, riches, and conquest. Memories of miracles: of strange sights of burning bushes, of seas parting, of grand-parents and great grand-parent rescued from slavery. Recollections handed down of encounters with divine messengers, and divine promises.
At various points in history, well before Jesus, these oral histories were written down. Some in the land of Israel, others in Babylon after the great Exile from the land when it was conquered. God inspired priests, prophets, poets and musicians over thousands of years to scribe what has become some of the most foundational law, poetry, and political critique the world has ever known.
Now, most people outside the church, if you were to ask them “what’s in the Bible?” Would probably reply by saying it’s a book of rules, used by many to hit people over the head with.
And yes, one of the genres in the Bible is law. But most of the Bible isn’t law and rules, but narrative. It’s a record of people’s experiences of God, of who He is and what he is doing, recorded first by Jews and then, in the New Testament, by Christians. The Bible is, at its heart, an invitation: to join in with God’s activity in the world.
Moving to the New Testament, it begins with the biographies of Jesus’ life – Matthew, Mark, Luke (who we celebrated last Sunday) and John. In our parish book group over the summer we followed a modern scholar who provided clear and solid evidence for the accuracy of the Gospels. They weren’t written down centuries after Jesus and his disciples. They were written down within a lifetime. It is most likely that Matthew and John were eyewitnesses; Mark knew St Peter and Luke travelled with St Paul.
You’ll probably have noticed that in church, when we read from the Gospels, we give them special honour: In many Anglican and Roman Catholic churches across the world, before the Gospel is read the people stand. Often, like here, a special Gospel book is processed in –and you’ll probably have seen me do three signs of the cross before I read the Gospel. It’s part of a prayer: “Jesus, may your words be in my head, and on my mouth, and in my heart.”
How then did Jesus approach the Hebrew Scriptures, what we now call the Old Testament?
As a faithful Jew, Jesus taught his disciples to honour the Hebrew Scriptures. He said,
“not an iota, not a stroke of a pen, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Then, to those on the road to Emmaus, after he was raised from the Dead, he explained to them, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets” how He, the Messiah, is there throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
So to understand Jesus and his teachings we must continue to study and honour the Old Testament. Yes, there are some challenging messages about violence, and some confusing passages, yet the image of God in the Old Testament is not replaced by Jesus and his teachings. Rather, Jesus brings our understanding of the ONE God into focus and clarity.
I hope I might encourage you all to read the Bible more. Find a time to do it after dropping the kids off at school and you take a moment for yourself over a morning cup of coffee. Do it on the commute to or from work.
There is so much the Bible can give us: a guide for life, helping us to understand God’s plan for our lives and all of creation, and helping us to read the signs of the times. Its teachings can help unlock our full potential, both as a church and as individuals, as we try and live as disciples of our teacher and Lord.
There are words of promise, challenge and comfort. Words which can inspire: words like these from the prophet Jeremiah (29:11) which I believe God wants declared over us today:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
What a message, one we need now more than ever.
Let’s trust God for our future. For our family’s future. For our nation’s future. Let’s grow closer to God by learning more about where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Falling in love with Jesus in the Gospels and our brothers and sisters in the early church.
Amen.
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