(See the readings on which this sermon was based at the end of the sermon text below...)
There’s a lot at stake on this Bible Sunday. Any of you who read social media, or keep abreast of the religious pages in the Times, will be aware that the Anglican Communion is tearing itself apart at the moment. The issues are many – including the headship of women (following the nomination of the new Archbishop). Another hot topic is the way that we should treat gay couples and other LGBTQ+ minorities. There are other arguments to (such as the appropriateness of Synodical Government) but they all have their roots in the WAY that Christians read their Bibles. Is the Bible the inerrant, infallible collection of writings that many claim. Or is it something else?
The author Anne Lamott once said: “You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out God hates all the same people you do.” If Anne Lamott ever needed a sermon illustration to prove that point, she’d only have to look at how the Bible has been used through history. Scripture — this extraordinary library of poetry, prophecy and parable — has been waved like a sword in the air more times than a medieval knight with ADHD.
Psalm 119, which we heard just now, is a love song to Scripture. “Your decrees are wonderful,” the psalmist sings. “Truly, I direct my footsteps by your word.” The psalmist weeps — literally weeps — because people ignore God’s teaching. And I get that. I really do. For Scripture contains the distilled wisdom of generations: their struggles to understand justice, holiness, and love. When we ignore Scripture, we cut ourselves off from that wisdom. We become like spiritual teenagers — insisting we know everything already while driving the family car into the hedge.
But if we truly love Scripture — as the psalmist does — we must recognise something essential. Scripture is a signpost. A pointer. A witness. But it is not God. The Bible itself tells us that the Word of God — with a capital W — is not parchment or ink. The Word of God is a person. The Logos. Jesus Christ.
We see this in our Gospel reading. Jesus goes into the synagogue in Nazareth. He takes a scroll — a Scripture text! — and finds the passage from Isaiah. And he reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to bring good news to the poor… to proclaim release to captives… recovery of sight to the blind.” Then he rolls it up and sits down — congregations can only dream of such short sermons! And he says: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words: “This — this hope, this liberation, this love — this is what the Word of God looks like. And you’re looking at him.”
Scripture is not God — it points to God. The Bible is not the destination — it’s the sat-nav. And if you’ve ever used a sat-nav, you’ll know they sometimes shout confidently while leading you straight into somebody’s duck pond. The Bible needs interpretation. It needs wisdom. It needs the Spirit. It needs Jesus.
This is where St Paul helps us. In Romans 15, he urges the church to be patient with those whose faith differs from ours. “We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak,” he writes. Isn’t that refreshing? Instead of shouting “Repent, you heretics!” Paul says “Be patient. Build each other up.” And let’s be honest: every one of us has been weak at some point. We’ve all misunderstood Scripture. We’ve all clutched our favourite verses like a teddy we refuse to let go — even when it’s getting a bit threadbare and smells like old cheese.
Paul reminds us that Scripture was given “for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”. Hope — not fear. Encouragement — not condemnation. Scripture is meant to help us grow — not shrink. It’s a lamp to our feet — not a weapon to bash our neighbour on the head.
In Greek, Paul calls Scripture ‘theopneustos’ – a unique word in the Bible, which gets translated as either ‘God-breathed’ or ‘inspired by God’. I love the first translation – ‘God-breathed’ - the idea, that the breath of God breathes through Scripture. And much as our own breath cannot be caught and held onto…Scripture too is a living, literally breathing thing. But the translation of ‘inspired by God’ is lovely too. Scripture, in my mind, is inspired in much the same way as a landscape inspires a painter. The painter’s image will never BE the landscape – but it will encourage others to visit it, walk in it, smell it and touch it.
But I know — and some of you know — that there are some Christians who cling to the Bible as if it dropped from heaven fully bound in leather, signed by God personally with a divine fountain pen. There are even some who cling to the King James Translation, as ‘the original’ – even though modern scholars have uncovered all sorts of translation errors in it. I wonder whether such people worry that if one verse turns out to be poetry and not physics, the whole thing will collapse like a soufflé in a thunderstorm. We must be patient with such beloved siblings in the faith. They’re holding tight to the Bible because they sincerely want to hold tight to God. And the only way we will ever help them see Scripture as Jesus used Scripture is through compassion and gentleness. We need to help them see Scripture as a springboard to love, not a cudgel with which to beat those with whom we disagree.
Our task, as a progressive community, is not to discard the Bible or treat it as optional. Far from it! We must read it more. Delight in it more. Argue with it more! But always with our eyes fixed on Jesus — who is the fulfilment and focus of all Scripture. If our interpretation makes us more loving, more liberating, more Christ-like — we’re probably on the right track. If it makes us mean, small, frightened or angry at people who are not like us — then we’ve probably taken a wrong turn by the duck pond in the landscape painting.
The psalmist wept because people ignored God’s teaching. Perhaps today the Spirit weeps because we sometimes weaponise that teaching. I pray constantly that God’s Word — the written kind and the incarnate kind — may soften our hearts, sharpen our minds, and open our lives to love.
So today, on Bible Sunday, let us give thanks. For scrolls and parchments. For prophets and poets. For the hope and encouragement Scripture still brings. But above all, let us give thanks for the One to whom Scripture points. The Word made flesh. The scroll unrolled. The love of God with hands and a heartbeat. Jesus — our rabbi, our redeemer, our reason for reading. Amen.
The Readings on which this sermon was based are:
Readings
Psalm 119.129–136
Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.
The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.
With open mouth I pant, because I long for your commandments.
Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom towards those who love your name.
Keep my steps steady according to your promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me.
Redeem me from human oppression, that I may keep your precepts.
Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.
My eyes shed streams of tears because your law is not kept.
Romans 15.1–6
We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Each of us must please our neighbour for the good purpose of building up the neighbour.
For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 4.16–24
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom.
He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.
He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘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 favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’
He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!”
And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”’
And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.’
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