01/26/2025 ~ Third Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoUOIiFDNi0
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1051182374

Understanding

“So they, the Levites, read from the book, from the Torah of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” — Nehemiah 8:8.

When I was in my last year at Bangor Theological Seminary a well known New Testament scholar, the Rev. Dr. David Trobish, took over the reigns of the New Testament Department. Trobish came to Bangor from Heidelberg University in Germany.

Was it strange that a scholar with an international reputation might choose to come to a small Seminary in a rural State? No. Why? The Rev. Dr. Trobish filled the slot of the late Rev. Dr. Burton Throckmorton, the professor with whom I studied the New Testament, also a scholar with an international reputation. That alone made this a prestigious position.

This is just one of Burt’s books, The Gospel Parallels, published in 1949. [1] )The pastor holds this book up.) Often used in both college and seminary courses on the New Testament, the book lays out the three synoptic Gospels— Mark, Matthew and Luke in three columns while referencing ancient Greek manuscripts. It shows where the words of the Gospels are, indeed, in parallel— meaning the underlying Greek is the same word. By definition, hence, it also shows where the underlying Greek is not in parallel.

Back to Dr. Trobish— I was never in a classroom with him since I was in my final semester when he arrived but we spoke, shared meals. That happens at a small Seminary. Just in doing that I heard many fascinating stories. This is one.

Germany has a very different church/state system than we do. Everyone is taxed by the government to support the churches.

Hence, seminaries are paid for by the state. Mind you, I think there is actually more separation of church and state in Germany than there is here, but that’s a topic for a 3 hour lecture, not a sermon, so I think you’re probably glad I’m not going there.

In Germany, if a person wants to be a pastor at a state supported church, even someone whose background is a fundamentalist background, that person has to go to a state sponsored seminary. When David taught a New Testament Survey Course at Heidelberg he started by asking the students to examine the ancient Greek manuscripts. There are thousands.

Each manuscript of exactly the same passage has many words which are different from one manuscript to another to another. It was at that point, when the students who thought Scripture should be taken literally started to examine the manuscripts, said David, that he could see the scales of that idea fall from their eyes.

In short, it is impossible to read Scripture literally once you examine the ancient manuscripts. The reality is, in order to understand what is there, the text needs to be interpreted. Meaning is not obvious. Meaning needs to be gleaned. (Slight pause.)

This is what we hear in Nehemiah: “So they, the Levites, read from the book, from the Torah of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” (Slight pause.)

One of the great precepts of the Protestant Revolution is everyone should be able to read Scripture in the vernacular, in their own language. Before that time people were burned at the stake for simply trying to translate the text into another language.

But one of the things we fail to ask about the era in which this idea, that anyone should be able to read the Bible in their own language was promulgated, is ‘who could read?’ Those who could read were a fairly small percentage of the population.

Further if you could read, the odds were you could read not just the vernacular language of your own area, but you could also read Greek. Why? That literate people studied Greek was a given back then and the Scriptures were available in Greek.

Indeed, when Calvin came to the pulpit in Geneva, Scripture passages were read in the Greek. It was assumed everyone in the congregation would know what was being said.

Now, you may have noticed I try to avoid saying Jesus Christ. I say Jesus, the Christ. Why? Jesus holds the office of the Christ, the Messiah. I say it that way because most people today don’t know Greek and that’s what the Greek means. Jesus is the Name of the person Who holds the office known as the Christ.

So one of the things we need to consider when we, today, read Scripture is the fact that there may be a need for some extra information about the underlying documents and information about the eras in which the texts were composed. Hence, I always recommend when Scripture is read privately that it is good to start with the aforementioned Study Bible, [2] one with footnotes and articles which introduce various sections. [3] (Once again the pastor holds up a book.) This one tends to be the academic standard, the New Revised Standard Version and this was just updated just last year— the New Revised Standard Version.

And you may or may not be able to see that says SBL Study Bible. That’s the Society for Biblical Literature Study Bible.

And when Scripture is read privately it’s also good to have a reputable commentary next to the Bible you’re reading. Why? In order to understand what’s there, the text needs to be interpreted. Meaning is not necessarily obvious. Meaning needs to be gleaned.

A little more show and tell: this is a one volume commentary, a reputable commentary, the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary. [4] The large version is in twelve volumes. This is the one volume version. Yes— I have it on my computer, all twelve.

Please don’t worry about what these books are. When published on my blog the text verison of this sermon will have footnotes where the books are named so you can look them up.

Back to Nehemiah— as we just heard, the people in the Fifth Century Before the Common Era, were not that different than we are today. Scripture needed to be interpreted; to draw a parallel, the Levites were the Rabbi’s, the teachers of that era. It was the Levites who helped interpret Scripture.

Now, there is something else to consider. How do we interpret Scripture? With what premise do we start? Theologian Bruce Epperly says many have forgotten about the reality of Scripture and portray God as distant and not interested in mere mortals or as a coercive power, Whose Word will separate humankind from lifeless nature.

Therefore, many turn away from the biblical vision of the goodness of creation. Many turn from our vocation as God’s agents of Shalom, God’s agents of peace, God’s agents of justice, God’s agents of love.

But, says Epperly, our call as beloved children of God is to repair breaches, to strive to mend the world, to use our intelligence to work out healing. God invites us to use our intelligence to experience the wisdom and love of God. God invites us use our intelligence to live in harmony with the world rather than see the world as a place to be afflicted with domination.

Indeed, It is up to us to use our intelligence to be agents of God and to take action. What action? The actions of peace, justice, equity, freedom, joy, hope, love.

Where are these actions made explicit? These actions are made explicit in Scripture… when we read it with understanding. Let us pray that we are up to the task. Amen.

01/26/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Two things— this first thing I’ve said earlier. I do not take Scripture literally. I take Scripture seriously. Next, this was said by theologian Walter Brueggemann: ‘The Gospel is a dangerous idea. Our task is to see how much danger we, ourselves, wish to perform in our own lives.’ I might be wrong but I suspect the dangerous idea in the Gospel to which Brueggemann refers are the actions we know as seeking peace, justice, freedom, joy, hope and love, the love of God.”

BENEDICTION: Through God’s grace, by being attentive to God’s will, our deeds and our words will change our world for we will discover ways to proclaim release from the bondage of narrowness. Let us seek the God of Joy. Let us go in love and peace to serve God. Amen.

[1] Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels, New Revised Standard Version; ISBN-13: 978-0840774842.

[2] The Study Bible was brought up earlier in the service.

[3] The SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) Study Bible – ISBN: 0062969439

[4] The New Interpreter’s Bible One-Volume Commentary, Abingdon Press; ISBN-13: 978-0687334117.