Sunday, October 11, 2009
St. David’s Episcopal Church, DeWitt NY
The Rev. James C. Bresnahan, Interim Rector
“On Listening to Scripture”
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Then Job answered: "Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge. "If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!
Mark 10:17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'"
He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible." Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."
The Gospels of our New Testament were not written to record past events. Those who wrote the Gospels did not fashion themselves historians. They were evangelists, whose concern was for the present. And they adapted and rewrote stories in the hope and with the prayer that through their words the living God would address people in their day, by challenging them, provoking inspiring, consoling, arousing, and lead.
We misread and mishear Scripture’s intent, then, when we ask questions like, ‘How old was the man in today’s text who knelt before Jesus and asked about eternal life?’ Or ‘How much wealth did he have?’ Or, ‘Where did this event happen?’ And all the other historical questions that curious minds want to ask.
Of course, there’s a place for such questioning, if you’re an historian, a scholar of ancient texts and ancient history. Then you might want to probe behind the texts to reconstruct their literary development and their historical origins.
But we here, gathered as Christian community, have it not as our purpose in this moment to do historical research. We read and hear the Scriptures a different way.
When we hear and read Scripture, we open our minds and hearts to hear God speaking to us –about where our heart is, what we treasure, what our strivings are and where we are heading in life. We listen for how we may be stuck, where we have not allowed ourselves to be challenged, how past experiences have hold of us for ill. We listen for what God is calling us to, inspiring us to be, opening our hearts and minds to become. We listen and reflect - individually and as a community.
Example: When we listen to Job’s story, highlights of which we are hearing read aloud over a few weeks time, our attention turns to the suffering of our own day and how God speaks to us in our suffering world.
Although the Book of Job ends with no answer to the question “Why do we suffer so?,” it does bring us to deep reflection about all suffering – others and ours, and what God wills for us in those circumstances. We reflect on how we deal with suffering, and how we respond to suffering, and how we hear God in our suffering.
In listening to Scripture in this way, and in light of Christ, Christians have learned not to regard suffering as God’s punishment. We have come, rather, to hold those who suffer in mind, body, and spirit in our prayers and in the response of our heart. We have learned that the answer to suffering is always to respond to it - with help, support, and comfort, and to be comforted in our suffering that God has not forsaken us.
Example 2: Today’s Gospel story of a rich man and his encounter with Jesus.
As we consider this reading, we resist the impulse to wonder curiously about things way back when. Rather, we listen for God speaking to us. We reflect on the hold wealth and accumulation have on our life. How what we own eventually comes to own us. How easy it is to fall into the trap of pursuing a life of goods rather than a good life.
We reflect on the difference between ‘the American dream’ as the promise of individual prosperity and the prophetic dream of justice for all and peace.
We reflect on our own anxieties over things, and how much it can and does absorb our time and energies.
So we listen to this ancient story not to learn about the past but for God to address us about our present and what owns our heart, and what should, and could We ponder what Jesus meant elsewhere in Scripture when he said, ‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ We ask what it means to follow Jesus and to go where our heart and not our fears take us.
That is how we listen to Scripture – not for historical report, not either for advice, practical tips, or a small dose of inspiration or pick-up, but for God to probe us, shake us, heal us, forgive us, excite us, warn us, caress us, lead us, and change us – that we mat be drawn into a life of deeper faith, hope, and love.
Some final words about silence.
You know how following Scripture readings, sermon, and Eucharist, there are times set aside for silence. Silence is maintained with great intention – for pondering. Of course, there’s not enough time for long pondering. That extended pondering comes later - throughout the week as we let scripture sink deep into our soul. But the silence within the service is there to keep us from rushing on to what is next in our liturgy. It allow us to name what we need to reflect more on and have different in our life, or in thre moment to rejoice in God’s love, or be caught up in gratitude over what Scripture, sermon, or Eucharist has brought to our mind or heart.
It is a time for what has entered our ears through listening, or our mouth through Eucharistic eating and drinking, to begin to take root in our heart and soul without the impatience of rushing on. “Be still,” we read in the Psalms, “and know that I am God.”
So we work to be still. We practice being still, so that we may hear within the voice of God.