Category: Through the Bible in a Year

Through the BIble in a Year – May 22nd

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Sa 14; Jas 1; Psalm 31

So we move on from the book of Hebrews (we shall revisit it later in the year), with all its difficult obscurity, to the epistle of James, a letter all too clear.

This is the problem with the Word of God, we either choke on it as too difficult to understand, or reject it as too difficult to obey. How many for example have long ago relegated the Sermon on the Mount to the ‘when we get to heaven’ category, and thereby denied the inbreaking of Heaven in the Resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit?

Of course we are not alone. Martin Luther of all people famously refers to James as ‘an epistle of straw’, revealing that the fathers of the reformation did not perhaps have the ‘high’ view of scripture so many of their followers do . . .

For those of us in the West, perhaps the hardest theme of James is his unflinching narrative against the Rich (one that he carries on from his brother . . .) What should we as rich people, and we all are if we have the capability to read this blog. what should we boast in? We should boast in being brought low, of the loss of our worldly wealth – for in the midst of our ‘busy’ lives (how important our busyness makes us feel) – we will wither away. Says James. Perhaps we too might wish to think James just a little beneath our theological sophistication.

Be doers of the Word. Says James – yes even the Sermon on the Mount, yes Even the Epistle of James.

Through the Bible in a Year – May 21st

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Sa 12-13; Heb 12-13; Psalm 30

As we have seen, the letter to the Hebrews is most strange to our ears. We rarely if ever hear preaching based on it – and that is our loss. For it is deep and rich scripture. In places terrifying, challenging, but also immensely practical.

Here in Chapter 13 we find immensely rich council for the people of God. ‘Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers . . .’ How much of our Christian life is lived in direct contradiction to the teaching of Jesus – ‘when you throw a feast, do not invite your friends . . .’ [It is interesting to note that one of the top hits on Luke 14:12-14 is entitled ‘What does it mean?’, when the meaning is as plain as day]

Christian Life is only Christian life as it takes for its sole point of reference the Life of Jesus. The one who loves his enemies and dies for those who hate him. The one who comes into the world as a stranger. How often have we thrown parties for those who cannot pay us back, those we do not know, those we invite not because we know they will charm our table, but because we who have no charm to speak of have been fed at his? Who do we invite to sit and eat at our table??

Through the Bible in a Year – May 20th

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Sa 9-11; Heb 11; Psalm 28-29

Contrary to that visible King – that which we see securing us – we are to Learn ‘Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things NOT seen’

Faith as the 11th chapter of Hebrews sets out to describe is summed up in many examples – Abraham – who ‘set out not knowing where he was going’ – Moses who ‘persevered as though he saw him who is invisible’

This is where the age old false dichotomy between ‘faith’ and ‘works’ is resolved. For ‘faith’ is not a set of beliefs – but a Setting of a Life towards something. It is Evidenced in Living Towards God’s Kingdom. As one of my mentors puts it, it is living a life that would make no sense at all, if God did not exist.

Living by faith is perfectly expressed in Isaiah 50:10 – Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant,
who walks in darkness and has no light, yet trusts in the name of the Lord and relies upon his God? – It is Jeremiah buying the potters field. It makes No sense at all to those who watch on – but it is Life to those who walk without light except that of faith.

Through the Bible in a Year – May 19th

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Sa 6-8; Heb 10; Psalm 26-27

1 Samuel 8 is one of the key turning points in the biblical narrative. Samuel has ‘ruled’ over Israel as Prophet. Speaking the words of the Lord – but now the people for all their talk of devotion to the LORD, hanker once more for ‘security’. Something more sure to them than having to live in the radical freedom before Him to which God has called them.

As they longed for Egypt – a longing which keeps recurring – so too they long not to be unlike those around them. They long Not to be distinct. They want a King like all the other nations – even though as Samuel reports to them how they will be in servitude to their rulers . . . something which in these dying days of democracy we are beginning to learn is true of all forms of rule. He will tax you, he will take the best of all you have . . .

How unlike the King who is to come – the one who comes amongst us as one who serves. ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God’.

The false King takes in exchange for a false security – a freedom that is no freedom at all. The true King Gives, of his very being to set us free . . . a freedom we still live in fear of. How long will we so willfully persist?

Through the Bible in a Year – May 15

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Ch 7-8; Heb 3-4; Psalm 20-21

As we saw yesterday, the Letter to the Hebrews is shrouded in mystery. It also is one which more than any other is full of warnings against falling away, a common theme throughout as we shall see, as we find in today’s reading.

But more than that, perhaps more than any other letter it emphasises the importance of relationships within the church in terms of strengthening faith.

When we consider how being part of the church is significant to our faith often we may think of this in terms of the support we receive when we pass through difficulties which are the common lot of all people. But here in the letter to the Hebrews we discover something far more significant – that of mutual ‘exhortation’ to stand firm in faith. Yes we mature in faith as we grow older, or at least we should, but the essence of that faith remains the same. All too often ‘maturing in faith’ becomes a means by which we in effect ‘turn away from the living God’. In the midst of looking after one another’s wounds common to all, we may well let this slip. As we shall see, the Hebrews clearly were under tremendous persecution for their faith, something we in the Western church know little if anything of.

In the absence of such difficulties we suffer for our faith, the common difficulties of life are intensely magnified. Did not the Hebrews also go through these things as well? Yet their concern is for ‘holding our first confidence firm to the end’.

When we face troubles in this world, common to us all, it is all too easy to lose sight of that which unites us to our brothers and sisters in Christ. In our culture, the Individual reigns supreme, and for many in the church, faith has disastrously become a matter of private belief. the Epistle to the Hebrews is strong meat for such a culture of accommodation in the church.

Through the Bible in a Year – May 14

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Ch 6; Heb 1-2; Psalm 19

As we read the Scriptures, we keep coming to the realisation that there is much in them which is beyond our ken. Over and again we find references to people or places, events or practices about which we know nothing.

One good example of this is the Letter to the Hebrews. In its ascription immediately we come upon a problem, for unlike Paul’s letters, there is no greeting, or sense of to whom it is written. All that is clear is that there must have been a group ‘in the early church’ who went by the name ‘Hebrews’.

It is hard to discern who they were. There is evidence to suggest that they are to be distinguished from ‘The Jews’ in the gospel of John. Also that they were more closely associated with the Samaritans – which may of course give another more than interesting twist on Jesus’ parable . . .

Within First Century Judaism there were many groupings, some of which are very familiar, others of which are known to specialist scholars, and we may perhaps presume that there were other groups also. Certainly the material in this book is of a very different flavour to the rest of the New Testament, perhaps with the exception of Revelation and Jude. Certainly also, we know that the early church was a place of enormous disputation. Why else would Paul have to write the letter to the Galatians, for example?

The letter to the Hebrews was only grudgingly given a place in the Canon of Scripture, but that it has we ought to be thankful. For herein lies a beautiful mysterious vision of a Christianity that allows more than most writings in the NT, the gospels excepted, for the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God into our present reality. The book of Hebrews dramatically broadens our understanding of our faith, if we will but let it.When was the last time you sat through an intensive study of this book??

And we should dwell herein, for perhaps above all books in the New Testament, again excepting Revelation and the gospels, its theme is Christ – the one who is the reflection of God’s glory, the exact imprint of his being, the one who sustains all things by his powerful word, the one who is More Excellent.

It is also to run up against our own ignorance, and challenges our easy assertions that we Know, that we See. And perhaps for that above all we should give thanks.

Through the Bible in a Year – May 13

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Ch 4-5; Mark 16; Psalm 18:31-50

Three things to say about the Resurrection in Mark’s gospel

Firstly – its not the ending we want – the church has tried over and again to write a ‘better’ ending. We’re not meant to add to the words of the book.

Secondly – it is clear why. Imagine arguing your case with non-believers, and saying – ‘you are pinning your argument on an empty tomb and some terrified women?’ Like our burning desire to abandon the Cross , to fail to see there the Son of God, to turn it into a neat doctrine or an example (except of course we never do use it truly as an example) – see yesterday’s post – so also we can’t bear the starkness of mark’s account. We demand more, we think we need more, more than a crucified God, more than an empty tomb. ‘They fled from the tomb . . .’ Mark tells us – how strange that we have turned Easter into a festival of joy, when the true apprehension of the Resurrection brings terror.  Perhaps we have domesticated it . . . Perhaps therefore it has lost its power amongst us?

Thirdly – the hope is in the words of the angels. You cannot see, Trust – believe – go to Galilee – you will see him there. And yes there is hope for us all ‘tell his disciples . . . and Peter’ – Yes even Peter is invited to faith. To step into the darkness of this death and resurrection account and therein to find the hand of God [Isaiah 50:10].

Through the Bible in a Year – May 12

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Ch 2-3; Mark 15; Psalm 18:1-30

Following on from yesterday’s comment, we may not therefore abandon the people of God, for a world which behaves better – for the whole world is complicit in the death of Christ. He comes not to save his own, but for the Salvation of the World, thus the World, in the person of Pilate is also involved. All of humanity.

What kind of faith can say with the centurion ‘Truly this man was God’s Son’ To see here in this naked, utterly broken, tortured, dead Jew, the Son of God

Of course we are trained in thinking that somehow Who Jesus is is utterly veiled and hid from our sight at this point. Because it is by the gift of faith that we say the Crucified One is God’s Son, suggests to us that this is hidden . . . and of course it is in a sense – for we are blind. We would rather with many many heretics in the church suggest that the eye of faith sees beyond the mangled flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, to see ‘a deeper truth’, thus revealing our own blindness.

No, the Centurion sees clearly – ‘This is your God’ – the one in whose image we are made.

We flee from this so far and so fast – we sing and speak of Christ glorified and triumphant as if this is not seen clearly at the Cross. As John’s gospel reminds us – Here Is Christ in His Splendour and Glory.

The Cross is not to be reduced to a doctrine of Salvation, or ‘a sign of the love of God’.

No in this dead Jew, nailed to rough timbers of a first century gallows, we see God – Clearly.

It might be well worth asking, how do our churches bear witness to this, for unless we get this, then the Kingdom of God is a closed book to us.

Through the BIble in a Year – May 11

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

1 Ch 1; Mark 14:32-72; Psalm 17

I wonder how we manage to read the Bible at all, if that is we are paying any attention.

Many it seems read it as it were failing to see what is going on. To put not too fine a point on it, if the people of God Understood, if the Saw the Kingdom of God, then there would be no scriptures. For almost the entirety of the Scriptural account, in the Old Testament is that of the rebellion of God’s people . . . and this continues into the new – we would have none of Paul’s letters if the early church Realised the hope to which it had been called.

And it is the people of God who accuse, abandon and crucify Christ.

How readily we line up with Peter, to deny that this is the case

how frequently we are undone

how infrequently do we notice

At least Peter saw what he had done

Through the Bible in a Year – May 10

theelvesareheadingwestLeave a comment

The scheme for May – June can be found here

Rut 3-4; Mark 14:1-31; Psalm 15-16

We hear the end of the story of Ruth – ‘So Boaz took Ruth and she became hs wife. When they came together, the LORD made her conceive’

The text gives us no out – the LORD – the God of Israel, made her conceive. It is yet another reminder of God working his promises out through the gift of a child. Sarah, Ruth, Hannah, ‘the virgin (LXX) shall conceive . . .’.

Meanwhile the work of Israel’s true king hastens on. Finally Jesus and the disciples are free of the press of the crowds. The narrative is terse – it is in haste. God’s Salvation is pressing in