Interpreting the Bible

Once you start reading the Bible, you realize that you also have to interpret it. What does it mean? You read a passage and decide it means one thing. Your neighbor reads the same passage and decide it means something else. And then the fight begins. How do you determine who is right. Here are some ideas about interpretation.

1. Jesus is at the center of the Bible. Everything revolves around Jesus. (Of course, this is only true for Jesus Followers.) Therefore, our interpretation of what we read in the Bible should flow through Jesus. A question we might ask as we begin interpreting any scripture is, "How does the Good News about Jesus relate to this scripture?" Let's take an extreme example. Psalm 137:9 talks about the babies of Babylon, "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" Most people when they read this are repelled. What an awful thought. A few when they read this say it proves that God is going to bring an awful punishment on His enemies. 

I would say, you have to consider this passage in the light of Jesus and His Good News. Can you imagine Jesus saying something like this? Neither can I. 

2. Consider Jesus' words. When I think of Psalm 137, I immediately think of Jesus' rebuking his disciples when they tried to shoo the loud children away from him. “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” (Matthew 19:14) Jesus loved children. Jesus speaks of God as a loving father. Can you imagine a loving father who is not repelled by the words of Psalm 137.

3. Consider Jesus' actions. We should not stop with Jesus' words. We also must look at what Jesus did. In the previous example Jesus confirms what he says about children by acting,  "And he laid his hands on them and went on his way." How often do we ignore Jesus' actions in order to arrive at an interpretation that is more culturally comfortable to us.

I read yesterday that John Paul II (who I believe did many admirable things) ordered that women could never be considered for ordained ministry because all of the apostles were men. Of course, you could argue that Jesus never said, "Let women be ordained." And you would be right. You could point to the Apostle Paul's restrictive words on women's ministy. But of course you would have to overlook the prominent place that women played as Followers of Jesus--first at the tomb, first to anoint Jesus with oil, part of the company of people who followed Jesus wherever He went. Jesus seemed to go out of his way to elevate the place of women in His work. He even met privately with a woman, which would have been a scandalous thing for a rabbi to do (woman at the well, John 4:4). 

How do the actions of Jesus inform our understanding of the place of women in the Bible. And, don't forget that Paul is not Jesus Christ.

What I am suggesting here is that there is an interpretive hierarchy in the Bible. All scripture is not equal. Jesus is the King of scripture, and in order to understand scripture properly we must bring it to the King for interpretation.

All Those People

Matthew begins his Gospel by talking about Jesus' family tree--three groups of 14 forebears of Jesus. This makes us mindful that the Jesus-story does not begin with us. That God has been working with people for a long-time. That we are part of a long-story. This reminds me of the long-story that made my life and my faith possible. "Maude had Luther, and Luther and Merrimon had Randy, and Luther and Maude and Edgar started Randy on the path to Jesus, and Randy...." well, it gets complicated pretty quickly. Maybe it's best to just list the names. 

And after the family tree we get to the focal point of the story, Jesus (Yeshua). His very name means God saves. And then Matthew lists his nickname, Immanuel--God is with us. In those two names we hear the two most important parts of the Gospel Good News. 

First Part--God Saves: God is at work in the world bringing salvation. The words of the spiritual "Jesus, I'll Never Forget" start playing in my head. I can hear the Soul Stirrers sing it.
             Jesus, I'll never forget what you've done for me.
             Jesus, I'll never forget how you set my soul free...
             You took my feet out the miry clay

             I'll never forget..
Yes, that's the Jesus I love! And my soul is stirred at 3:06 a.m. as I write this now.

Second Part--God is With Us: We are not in this alone. Jesus is with us...Right Now! Jesus is with me...Right Now! I am not alone. Jesus came to be with me. As I live, I am living with Jesus. As I die, I die with Jesus. Hear Him, "I will not leave you comfortless...I go to prepare a place for you...Where I am, there you will be." 

Yes, that's the Jesus I love! And the words come alive in me, even right now.

Reading the Bible with New Eyes

I'm not preaching every Sunday now. This removes an enjoyable stress from my life. Preaching was stressful in that each week you are asking yourself a question that you cannot immediately answer: What does God have to say to US this week. The US being our church family. My assumption has usually been that the Holy Spirit of Jesus is leading us. And that the preacher's job is to try and figure out how God is speaking to us at this given point in time and at this particular place.

I also assume that preaching is an imperfect task. It is imperfect because the preacher is imperfect. Maybe the preacher is hearing God wrong. The preacher may be following an idol. For example, the preacher may want something in his/her life more than the preacher wants God. Memorial Day is a good example of this. Maybe the preacher cares more about being seen as patriotic and God-fearing than the preacher cares about being a faithful servant of a God who doesn't really care how the preacher looks to others. In that case, God's word for the people is filtered out by the preacher's desires. "God couldn't want me to say that because then I will look like a non-patriotic, God-hater."

Preaching is enjoyable because it kept me on my spiritual toes. Beginning early in the week (say Tuesday, unless I'm procrastinating) I would begin praying, "Lord, help me. What should I preach about this week?" This prayer would gain in intensity and sincerity as the week progressed. Culminating with me getting up very early on most Sunday mornings to re-evaluate what I had thought up to then about the sermon.

I don't want to lose either of these components of the preaching life, neither the stress nor the enjoyment. I've begun reading Eugene Peterson's translation of the New Testament called The Message. Peterson tries to capture the Message of Jesus in the language that people speak today. 

It's hard for me to believe that God still loves me even though I'm retired. But I certainly preached that. God loves us because that is Who God is. I don't earn God's love because of what I do. 

          Donald Trump and the Growth of 

          Global Fascism

This is an opinion piece by Peter Baker appearing in the 5/29/16 NY Times Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism16 

WASHINGTON — The comparison was inflammatory, to say the least. Former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts equated Donald J. Trump’s immigration plan with Kristallnacht, the night of horror in 1938 when rampaging Nazis smashed Jewish homes and businesses in Germany and killed scores of Jews.

But if it was a provocative analogy, it was not a lonely one. Mr. Trump’s campaign has engendered impassioned debate about the nature of his appeal and warnings from critics on the left and the right about the potential rise of fascism in the United States. More strident opponents have likened Mr. Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

To supporters, such comparisons are deeply unfair smear tactics used to tar conservatives and scare voters. For a bipartisan establishment whose foundation has been shaken by Mr. Trump’s ascendance, these backers say, it is easier emphasizes aggressive nationalism and often racism. In places like Russia and Turkey, leaders like Vladimir V. Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan employ strongman tactics. In Austria, a nationalist candidate came within three-tenths of a percentage point of becoming the first far-right head of state elected in Europe since World War II.

In Hungary, an authoritarian government has clamped down on the news media and erected razor wire fences to keep out migrants. There are worries that Poland may follow suit. Traditional parties in France, Germany, Greece and elsewhere have been challenged by nationalist movements amid an economic crisis and waves of migrants. In Israel, fascism analogies by a former prime minister and a top general have again inflamed the long-running debate about the occupation of Palestinian territories.