Bible Lecture 3
With us on the way to the end of the age
Matthew 5:3-12 and 43-48
It had been a long night … but what a night!
They thought they had known their Bible. They had been so sure Jesus was the One,
another Joshua, a prophet mighty in deed and
word to overthrow the Romans and to
set Israel
free. And with his death their hopes had
been dashed.
They had heard him countless times before, they had seen him
at work, they knew deep down in their hearts he was the One. And yet they had not got it.
The conversations he had with them, all he said as they
walked the long walk home had been wonderful, their hearts were burning within
them as they walked and talked on
the road –
Beginning with Moses and
all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the
scriptures.
It’s not just what’s written there … it’s what you read
there … and the heart of the matter
Love for God, Love for neighbour – and
no limits to who your neighbour is!
It had been so memorable; an approach that opened what had
been a closed book to them before – he had indeed opened the Scriptures to
them.
And then in the breaking of bread they knew it was him,
Jesus, risen – his reading of the Scriptures vindicated.
It had been so exciting the walk back to Jerusalem took no time at all, but the
evening was not over.
Peace be with you – he was there with them – not just bread
this time, but a piece of broiled fish.
And more of the same, so much more – this time with all the others too.
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still
with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.
They could see it now – a whole new way of looking at the
world - and it’s there in the
Prophets – As Prophets speak truth to power and
Kings endeavour to rule – this is what it takes to rule in God’s way, to be
King in the Kingdom of heaven –
Bring good news to the oppressed,
Bind up the broken-hearted,
Release to the prisoners
With righteousness, with justice he shall judge the poor
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth
Righteousness, justice shall be the belt around his waist.
It was wonderful the way he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.
All of the Scriptures!
Something happened that was very special on that
resurrection day. It’s something that
shaped the way those people read the Scriptures. Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And that way of understand ing
the Scriptures, their Bible, what we think of as the Old Testament shaped the
way those people went on to read the Scriptures we think of as the Old
Testament.
Read on into Acts and
the Letters and you will find the
preaching and the teaching of those
very people and their close friends
recorded – the way it draws on a particular way of reading the Hebrew
Scriptures bears the imprint of Jesus.
Read back into the Gospels and
again you will find that they have a way of reading the Scriptures that’s not
simply the inspiration of the first followers of Jesus, the Gospel writers and so on but owes so much to the insights of Jesus
as well.
How do we read the Old Testament?
To read the Scriptures of the Old Testament how important it is for us to seek out the strategy Jesus adopted in reading those Scriptures.
To read the Scriptures of the Old Testament how important it is for us to seek out the strategy Jesus adopted in reading those Scriptures.
Think back to our first Bible Lecture. Remember the questions Jesus asked of the
expert in the Law.
What is written in the Law?
What do you read there?
Remember the response Jesus accepted.
Love God
Love your neighbour
Remember the Midrash Jesus gave on what is written in the
law, the story we think of as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and we must realise that we can put no limits on who
our neighbour is!
Think back to our second Bible Study and
the way we asked those same two questions this time of the Prophets …
What is written in the Prophets?
What do you read there?
Remember the prophets hold the powers that be to account and show what it takes to rule in God’s way in God’s
kingdom –righteousness and justice,
good news to the poor, release to the captive.
As Pentecost people who are called to take on the mantle of
that prophetic role Jesus fulfilled we have the presence within us, guiding and enriching us of the very Spirit that was the
inspiration of those first followers of Jesus, the writers of the
Scriptures. We need to cultivate the art
not just of studying all that is written there, but actively seeking the guidance
of Jesus and the inspiration of the
Spirit that inspired those first writers in seeking out what we read there –
what the nub of the matter is.
From Luke and
Mark, today we turn to Matthew.
Pause for a moment and ask people to turn to the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 5:3-10, 43-45, 7:12 and what
this is saying to us.
The Hebrew Scriptures are known as the Tanakh – that’s
simply an acronymn
T stand s for
Torah – the Law
N stand s for
Nevi’im - the Prophets
K stand s for
Ketuvim – the Writings
There are influences at play in the teachings of Jesus and the Gospels in the third part of the Hebrew
Scriptures, the Writings.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Chroniclesand
in the style of apocalyptic writing Daniel too address questions of identity.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles
God so loved the world that he gave his only son that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life is itself
almost a commentary on Ezra and
Nehemiah and 1 and 2 Chronicles
When Jesus says the Son of Man came note to be served but to
serve and to give his life a ransom
for many, you cannot help but feel he has partly in mind Daniel’s talk of a Son
of Man.
There’s great poetry and
wisdom in the writings too.
Read through the Sermon on the Mount and
it has the feel of the poetry and
the wisdom of the third part of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Writings – Job,
Psalms, ProverbsProverbs, Ecclesiastes
There’s the feel of the poetry of the psalms
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Ask, and it will
be given to you;
seek, and you
will find;
knock, and the
door will be opened for you.
For everyone who asks receives,
There’s the wisdom of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job –
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not
clothed like one of these.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring
worries of its own.
Today’s trouble is enough for today.
There’s the prayerfulness of the Psalms – even in that
moment of agony –
My God, My God why have you forsaken me? Psalm 22.
How do you get from Psalm 22 and
its desolation to the glory of Psalm 24 –
The earth is the Lord’s and
all that is in it,
The world and
those who live in it
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of Hosts,
He is the King of glory
You have to pass through Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures
He leadeth me beside the still waters,
He restoreth my soul
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness / justice for
his name’s sake
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil for thou art with me
Thy rod and thy
staff they comfort me
How that imagery of the shepherd resonates through the
teaching of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
There’s a real sense of form in the writings that make up
this final part of the Hebrew Scriptures
There are five books of Psalms – look carefully and each book ends with a wonderful acclamation of
praise and glory to God, a doxology
1-41 Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel !
42-72 Blessed
be his glorious name forever
73-89 Blessed
be the Lord forever.
90-106 Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel
107-150 Let
everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
There are five books in the Megilloth, the five little books
that are read by Jewish people at the great festivals of the Jewish year
Ruth Pentecost
Song of Solomon Passover
Ecclesiastes Feast
of Tabernacles
Lamentations Commemoration
of the destruction of Jerusalem
Esther Feast
of Purim
The craft of Hebrew Poetry is nowhere seen more clearly than
in the Book of Lamentations.
Five chapters –
Chapter 1 22 verses
Chapter 2 22 verses
Chapter 3 66 verses
Chapter 4 22 verses
Chapter 5 22 verses
Why 22 verses? There
are 22 verses in the Hebrew alphabet. It
is structured around the acrostic – each verse starting with consecutive
letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Bleak, awful – lament at destruction
It follows a pattern used in the Middle
East .
Whereas our western way of thinking tends to think logically
– the argument works through from point 1 to 4 and
reaches its conclusion at 5 – and
that is the point of it all.
In the Middle East there is
a pattern – called chiasmus.
Whereby the middle part is most important.
Chapter 3
And then to the middle bits of that chapter and what do you find?
19 The thought of my affliction and
my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!
20 My soul continually thinks of it
21 But this I call to mind,
[25] 22 The
steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never
come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your
faithfulness.
24 ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘therefore I will
hope in him.’
The inspiration of one of the greatest hymns – Great is thy
faithfulness –
What tremendous hope.
And what do you find in Matthew’s gospel?
The clue to Matthew is at the very end as Jesus commissions
the disciples …
Make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey
everything that I have command ed
you.
How can you do that?
You need a compendium of the teaching of Jesus. And that’s what Matthew collates together.
His gospel is structured around five sets of teaching
5-7 The Sermon on
the mount beginning with those great blessings and
ending with three parables of choice
23,25 Jesus’ final
sermon – beginning with woes and
ending with three parables of choice
Commissioning
of the twelve
18 What it takes
to be the church
And in the middle 13 – a chapter of parables – teaching on
the Kingdom of heaven – the heart of that message taken up by John the Baptist
Repent, have a whole new way of looking at the world, for
the kingdom of heaven has come near
The very message of Jesus
Repent – have a whole new way of looking at the world – for
the kingdom of heaven has come near.
So what is this kingdom of heaven like?
That’s what the whole book is about, not least the Sermon on
the Mount.
It starts not so much with words of comfort as with a call
to action.
Elias Chacour is a Christian a leader of the church in the Holy Land – he
is an Arab – and he makes the
observation that in the language of Jesus, Aramaic, which has come down through
the centuries the word that is translated here as blessed is a much more
pro-active word – he suggests translating it …. Get up, go ahead, do something,
move. Try it and
the Beatitudes become a call to action in the work of the kingdom!
Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you who are hungry and thirsty for justice,
for you shall be satisfied.
Get up, go ahead, do something, move, you peacemakers,
for you shall be called children of God.
The whole sermon on the Mount finishes with a rousing call
to action – we must not only hear the words of Jesus but act on them and be like that wise man who built his house on the
rock.
Here, right at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, those
two questions are more than hinted at.
You can almost hearing him asking, those two questions What
is written in the Law, the Prophets and
the writings?
He makes it absolutely clear that he values all that is
written there …
17 ‘Do not think that
I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but
to fulfil. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the
law until all is accomplished.
But equally, he makes it clear that what’s important is what
you read there and so you can almost
hear him asking the second of those two questions: what do you read there? In chapter 5 it is as if he unpacks what it
means to Love your Neighbour.
Six times Jesus says, You have heard that it was said … but
I say to you.
In Chapter 6 through to the first part of chapter 7 Jesus
explores what it takes to Love God.
And then he comes to the point at which he wants to sum up
what you read in the Law and the
Prophets, and by implication in the
writings, in the whole of the Scriptures …
Chapter 7 verse 12 says it all.
In everything do to others as you would have them do to you;
for this is the law and the
prophets.
Just the same thought we have met before.
What is written in the law and
the prophets takes up 947 pages in my Bible.
What do you read there amounts to this – in everything do to
others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Bearing this remarkable insight in mind I want to introduce
a tool I have found really useful in reading the Old Testament
The time cone.
It is based on the ‘double cone’ which has been used to
describe the relationship of space and
time. The central point where the two
cones meet is the present moment in one place.
All that comes into the left hand
cone is the past which leads up to that moment; all that is in the right hand cone is the future which is affected by that
moment.
Outside the cone are events which cannot affect or be
affected by the present moment – that is, other things which happen at exactly
the same time.
As we meet together in this hall – where the two cones meet
is this moment, now.
To the left is all that’s past – all that has happened to
make you the person you are today.
This is a precious moment -
We don’t know all that’s to come – but we can be sure all
that is past, this moment too will help to shape what’s to come.
You could think of a significant moment in your life – think
of a joyous moment – a day when something special happened –
Think of that moment at the point of intersection – and then think of the things that led up to that
moment – and then think of the
things you can put into the right hand
cone that have been shaped by that moment.
You might think of this moment in the story of the NACCC the whole history of Congregationalism is past, the more recent history through the 50's and 60's, the most recent period of planning for change, the decisions taken this weekend: all now in the past. And then think of what's to come.
And in a year time the intersection, the 'now' will be a year on - see how much has come to pass!
You might think of this moment in the story of the NACCC the whole history of Congregationalism is past, the more recent history through the 50's and 60's, the most recent period of planning for change, the decisions taken this weekend: all now in the past. And then think of what's to come.
And in a year time the intersection, the 'now' will be a year on - see how much has come to pass!
For Bible study we are going to put the life, death and resurrection of Jesus at the point at which the
two cones intersect.
In a sense beyond the scale to the left is Creation – in the
beginning. And to the right beyond the
scale is Glory – the new heaven and
the new earth.
We are located over here
The Law – the Prophets – the writings – make up are over
here – and all went to shape Jesus.
The Gospels, Acts, Letters Revelation – came afterwards then
you can see 2000 years of history – and
then it’s us – and then the future
goes on.
There is an immediacy about the Bible which means it can
often speak to us in wonderful ways immediately.
But often the Bible is a puzzle.
At that point get the time cone out!
A gospel quote – has behind it Christ – and the whole of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.
A quote from Joshua, Judges – remember all that has come
since, especially remember Jesus – and
take him into account.
How has Jesus brought all that that passage is a part of to
the point of fulfilment – and now
what must I be doing in the light of what has happened since as well?
Let me take one example.
I want to go back to the second Sunday in September a number
of years ago.
We were following some lectionary readings.
In our evening service we read together a Psalm
The Psalms are in the Writings and
so, using the time cone we need to locate the Psalm – [click click]
The Psalm of the day was Psalm 139. It is one of my all time favourite Psalms.
I grew up chanting Psalms at church – so many a song and a hymn and
a sermon inspired by these wonderful words.
But the hymn book I grew up with had edited the Psalm down.
We have the Good News Bible – people read the Psalm from the
Bible.
Wonderful – verses
Psalm 139
1 O Lord, you have searched me and
known me.
2 You know when I sit down and
when I rise up;
you discern my
thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and
my lying down,
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee
from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in
Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
10 even there your hand
shall lead me,
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me
together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made.
Then we get to these verses.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
20 those who speak of you maliciously,
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe
those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my
enemies.
Hateful verses
What should I do about getting the congregation to read
these verses?
I couldn’t ask them to do that.
Then, remembering the time cone, I noticed the NT reading for that day was from
Matthew 5 – the very end – You have heard it said –
‘You have heard that
it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and
hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father
in heaven;
I decided to read alternate sections – the Congregation the
first paragraph, I the next. I arranged
it so I would be the one to read those words – and
in reading them I pointed towards the text in Matthew 5:6 – however we feel, we
must remember those words.
And then the whole congregation read the final verses
23 Search me, O God, and
know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
It was moving. A most
wonderful prayer.
It made sense.
And then that Tuesday something happened.
I was driving home when I heard it on the radio.
It was 9/11
We finish our time with you here with a couple of days in New York – just after
the museum and memorial at the World
Trade Centre has been completed.
As has become so much more apparent in the recent
revelations, Cheltenham in the UK has very close links with the USA . Cheltenham is home to the UK ’s Government
Communications Head Quarters, GCHQ and
that has close links with your National Security Agency – people from GCHQ
regularly go to the NSA and people
from the NSA are over with us.
I knew that afternoon one of our folk would be on their own,
far from home – I called round to see them simply to be with them.
That evening we had a planning meeting for a mission and outreach initiative we were involved in – the
Alpha Course –
What do you do?
I invited another group meeting in the church at that time
to join us in a time of prayer in the church.
What do you say?
I felt it was an occasion when I couldn’t choose an
appropriate passage or appropriate words.
I returned to the passages from the lectionary we had read
that Sunday evening.
And I invited people to share the words of Psalm 139 in the
same way as we had done.
The opening words were wonderfully comforting speaking into
this situation.
We alternated paragraph by paragraph.
It fell to me to read those hateful words.
And for the first time in my life I could understand how it was that you could utter such words. They expressed how so many were feeling, I
felt it too.
But then I paused – and
brought to mind, very deliberately pulling into our consciousness those words
of Jesus – from the Beatitudes from the end of Matthew chapter 5
4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God.
10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your
neighbour and hate your enemy.”
44But I say to you, Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father
in heaven;
We then paused for a moment of thought … and then together we read those last verses of the
Psalm …
23 Search me, O God, and
know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
It was one of those most moving of moments, when God’s word
spoke from the words of Scripture in a way that no one had planned and yet was so real.
Shortly after we learned that one of the main church leaders
in the UK , Rowan Williams
who was then the Archbishop of the Church in Wales and
later became the Archbishop of Canterbury was at a conference in a neighbouring
tower block. He had to flee for his life
as he was engulfed in the cloud of dust.
The next morning he had a phone call from the Welsh-speaking
radio channel back home – the journalist spoke in Welsh and
asked him for a comment.
Rowan Williams recalled later how he had paused for a
moment.
What flashed through his mind was that if he replied in
Welsh then his comment would be broadcast simply to the Welsh speaking members
of his church. If, on the other hand , he replied in English then his thoughts would
be broadcast to all the English speakers as well and
further afield. He replied in English.
He told of that moment in a very moving little book he
published. He called it Writing in the Sand , a title inspired by the account of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery when Jesus is
challenged to keep to what is written in the law and
stone the woman to death. John ’s account describes the way he takes time to
think, pauses and for a moment
writes in the sand .
At such a moment as this, Rowan Williams, wrote in 2011, but
also at any like moment, we might add, how important it is that we take time to
pause a moment, that we think through.
That we move beyond the moment.
Maybe it is good to get the hate out – to shout it at God in
prayer. He can take it.
But then we need to pause.
We need to hear again the words of Jesus. We need to reply to atrocities in another, a
different language.
And we need to pray.
In reading the Old Testament, I find the time cone one of
the most useful tools. It helps us as
Christians to put Jesus at the centre of our reading of the Bible.
How important that we ask both those questions Jesus posed
to the expert in the law
What is written in the Bible?
What do you read there?
We must go beyond what is written to what we read in the
Scriptures.
We must use the eyes of Christ to help us in our reading and
constantly seek not just a sense of the presence of God with us … but a sense
of the presence of Christ with us too.
And what do we read there?
Love God, love your neighbour
What do we read there?
In everything do to others as you would have them do and the
prophets.
to you; for this is the law
But in your reading of the Scripture always remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is with you to the end of the age, he is with you with you wherever you go
to you; for this is the law
It’s not just the Lord your God is with you wherever you go – wonderfully inspiring though that though is
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