The Word More Precious Than Gold – sermon on Jan 24, 2016
Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech; they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth. The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Luke 4: 14-21 Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 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 favor.” 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.” Sermon: The Word More Precious Than Gold by Rev. Doreen Oughton So we had bible study this week, Norma and I, looking at the passages recommended by the lectionary, exploring themes, thinking about their relevance to our lives as individuals, and as a community of faith. What do you hear as the main theme in the 3 readings today – Nehemiah, Psalm 19, and the Gospel of Luke? All relate to scripture right? We talked a bit in the word for all ages about Nehemiah, so let’s focus more on the Psalm and the gospel reading. I may bring Nehemiah in later. The Psalm starts out talking about communication beyond words. The heavens and the skies pour forth speech without words, without sound. And yet they say so much about God, about God’s glory, about God’s omnipresence, about God’s blessing to all, everywhere. Look how the sun rises and makes its circuit, warming everything. And then it moves on to say that this omnipresence, this glory, these signs of blessing from God can be found not just in the heavens and skies, but in scripture, so full of things that refresh the soul, are trustworthy, give joy to the heart and light to the eyes. These precepts, statutes, commands and decrees – all synonyms – are more precious than gold, sweeter than honey from the honey comb. Who here feels that way? Is there anyone who finds scripture refreshing to the soul, who uses it to bring a joy to their heart and light to their eye. I admit I don’t quite have that experience. Certainly I find wisdom and challenge and beauty in scripture. Sometimes I find it does refresh my soul, but I confess that I don’t often turn to it. I am more likely to sing a hymn to myself for inspiration or comfort. I am more likely to read a devotional that expounds on a line or two of scripture rather than read a chapter of the bible, let alone a whole book. I rarely let the scripture speak for itself, but always move on to what someone else says about it. And when I have time for recreational reading, guess which book I do NOT pick up. Maybe the reason I had trouble finding inspiration for this sermon is because I find it hard to preach to you about a passage in which I am convicted. I am grateful for such passages though, and I am glad to have the example of people who love scripture so. In some ways, perhaps, it will be like my journey to Jesus. Even after I realized that I was, indeed, a Christian, that Jesus was the one I wanted to follow in my faith, it seemed more of an intellectual acceptance than a relationship. Staying in my head seemed safer. I was still suspicious of “Jesus freaks,” as it had taken me awhile to distinguish between those who loved Jesus so they could better love the world and God’s people, and those who loved Jesus so they could condemn other people. But over time I would hear good and loving people talk about their love for Jesus, see them get teary in talking about him, and I would think, hmm, I want that. I knew there was a meaningful difference in the quality of faith, and I believed that my life would be richer in relationship rather than in my head. And so I did things to try to get closer, to open myself to a relationship, and it is better, for me. Likewise I have been suspicious of bible-lovers, assuming that most of them take the bible too literally, denying the importance of context, and use it as a means to judge and condemn others. In seminary we learned about the bible, and now in my work, I try to do what others have done for me – help unpack the meaning of various passages in the bible. But I haven’t really revered the bible. I haven’t felt deep down that it was more precious than gold or sweeter than honey. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get to that place. Perhaps this week’s lectionary passages are an invitation to me, and perhaps to you too, to let scripture become so – an invitation to explore different ways of growing in love for the bible, this sacred word from God. I wonder what Jesus thought and felt about scripture. Certainly he studied it and discussed it, and, according to Luke, even at the age of 12 astounded people with his understanding of it. Did he love it? Was it more precious than gold and sweeter than honey to him? Certainly he challenged some interpretations of it, challenged what it meant to the ways people lived. He called out religious authorities for putting heavy burdens on the people based on scripture. He talked about the heart of the law rather than the letter of the law. He said things like, “the law was made for the people, not people for the law.” Yet he also said he came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it – that not one dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Hmm, but what happens when all is accomplished? Perhaps the law, the scripture will pass because life itself will be like the wordless expression of glory the psalmist lifts up. So Luke has Jesus starting his public ministry back where he is quite comfortable – in the synagogue with scripture. He chooses a passage from Isaiah, or a combination of passages, and reads them: “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 favor.” And then he proclaims that this scripture has been fulfilled in their hearing. He takes on the mantle of the messenger of good news to the poor, the captive, the blind and oppressed. What if all who claimed to be Christian took on that mantle? What if we found those words to be sweeter than honey and more precious than gold? Isn’t that what Jesus commissioned all his followers to do – proclaim the good news? You wouldn’t know it by what you see in the papers, by what you hear on the campaign trail by candidates who make much of their Christian credentials. The poor tend to be vilified. Captives here refers more to military prisoners than criminals, but either way the loudest message I hear is that they are to be feared or hated, and certainly not liberated. There is general denial of any oppression, as I’m sure the Romans denied it in Jesus’ time, and the Babylonians denied it in Ezra’s time. As Nancy Rockwell points out, “As a nation and across the world, we are deeply divided in our responses to refugees, the poor, and minorities.” She goes on, “Ancient as Jesus’ words are, and belonging as they do to a culture almost completely unfamiliar in our world, still there is a ring of truth, that these are the priorities we must embrace, and the Holy Spirit of Christ anoints us all to these works.” She says, “Jesus’ words challenge us to choose to hear that he has not come to save us individually, apart from one another, or privately, through our personal belief, but he comes for us all, and is revealed in us and through us, as we reach out to embrace one another’s needs.” She notes what a welcome wonder it would be for any of the professed Christian candidates to stand up in an ad on TV and read Jesus’ agenda. But it would also be a welcome wonder for any of us Christians to let these words reach deep into our hearts – not just this gospel passage, or the Isaiah passage, but all of it. What steps can we take to love the bible more, to make it more central to our lives? I suppose before we figure out how to, we have to decide if we want to. The psalmist promises that there is great reward in keeping God’s law. For me, the bible is more than the law, which is what the psalmist calls the Torah, the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible. I think the love being expressed is about more than following commandments, but about revering the gifts of God offered in scripture. In the movie “War Room” the heroine follows the example of her mentor, not only reading scripture, but writing out the passages that touch her, taping them up on her walls, surrounding herself with it. In these practices she finds something that makes me say, Hmm, I want that. How about you?
