Today we will begin a run with William Placher in "Struggling with Scripture." For a devotion, this may seem odd that we will be focusing on how to read scripture. And yet, I find that spending the time to reconsider how we look at scripture may be good for our overall devotional life.
In dealing with the various ways people view scripture (fundamentalist through those who scarcely attend to it at all) he notes: taking the Bible most seriously means one does not affirm its truth apart from struggling to understand it meaning. In speaking about understanding the genre of the text he goes on with an example. ...We do not check the records of the Jerusalem-Jericho highway patrol to see whether (the good Samaritan incident) really happened. Even if we had those records, we would not feel the need to examine them. We recognize that Jesus is here not reporting historical fact but telling a story that will make a point, a parable. In understanding the story as parable, we understand what it really means.
So when people say they take the bible literally, we must already ask about this story. Is the parable taken literally...or could it be "made up" in order to make a point about the truth of the vision of the Reign of God? If we say it is "made up" - let's say to teach a lesson. Do we disregard it? I hope not. But then how do we read the material in the gospel that is around this story. Is it a minute-by-minute historical presentation of Jesus' life...or is it a version (a faithful one at that) of Jesus life as it is put together by Luke? Remember, we don't have this story of a "good Samaritan" in the other gospels. Why only here? We learn quite quickly that the different things we read can be taken in different ways. The genre of the writing must be considered so that we can - in essence - receive from the text the truth that it holds. A parable tells us more about 'who is my neighbor' and the wide embrace of that term...and its potential for controversy, than it does about that dangerous road and what can happen to you there. We must talk about what it means. Not merely what is said. It is in the wrestling with the text and how it is written and even who the writer expects will be hearing it. In that wrestling, our notion of truth may be expanded rather than put in a box and fixed in one way.
Connection: Try this in worship. Before the sermon begins, let yourself wander through the lesson. It may be that your "reading" of the lesson brings to light something other than the preacher. It may be you find yourself in a personal dialogue with the lesson even as you hear the preacher take his/her look at it with you. This is all a part of a faithful journey of reading scripture that is dialogical and helps us all find what could be meant in the lesson.
By your Word, O God, we are presented with life that expands our perception of who we are called to be and how your love and grace shapes us for this life today just as it shaped the saints of old. Guide us as we read and guide us as we listen again to the truthfulness of your blessed Reign. Amen.
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