Today’s Readings: Psalm 69:1-36; Genesis 24:28-51; Matthew 27:32-44; Acts 13:1-12
When I hear folks say they take each and every word of the Bible as the literal and inerrant word of God, I wonder just how carefully they have read their Bible. I wonder that because there are a lot of things in the Bible that would be hard to explain if you only took a literal approach to the Bible. Today’s passage from Matthew provides a good example of this. Today’s Gospel passage tells the story of Jesus’ last moments on the cross. According to Matthew’s telling of the story, there were two criminals who were crucified beside Jesus – one on his right and one on his left. During Jesus’ final moments, the Gospel of Matthew clearly tells us that not only did the crowd mock Jesus but that the two criminals “joined in the mockery” (Matthew 27:44 – The Message). If you were to read the telling of Jesus’ final moments on the cross as recorded in Luke, however, you would get a very different story. Luke 23:39 tells us that while one of the criminals did in fact mock Jesus, the other criminal said something very different. The Gospel of Luke tells us the second criminal rebuked the taunts of the first criminal when he said: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him – he did nothing to deserve this” (Luke 23:40-41 – The Message). It would be difficult to account for these differences if you took a literal approach to the Scripture. As someone who reads Scripture on another level – a figurative rather than a literal level – I experience these passages as honest expressions of the authors underlying theology. The Gospel of Matthew for instance wants to stress the complete alienation of Jesus by the crowd; hence the authors decision to explicitly include both criminals in the mockery of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke, on the other hand, wants to stress the radically inclusive nature of God’s kingdom as revealed through Jesus - a kingdom so radically inclusive that it even includes criminals! Working with the discrepancies between the Gospels reminds me how important it is for you and I to stay in touch with our own theological emphases (and biases) as we tell of our own experiences of the God revealed through Jesus. Our temptation is to tell our story as if it were the one and only perspective. The Gospel accounts, however, remind us that other stories of people’s encounters with the God of Jesus might sound different than ours. The challenge is not to succumb to the temptation to fight about which version is right. Instead, the real challenge is to honor each story and focus on the God who lies at the center of each account. Til next time…
When I hear folks say they take each and every word of the Bible as the literal and inerrant word of God, I wonder just how carefully they have read their Bible. I wonder that because there are a lot of things in the Bible that would be hard to explain if you only took a literal approach to the Bible. Today’s passage from Matthew provides a good example of this. Today’s Gospel passage tells the story of Jesus’ last moments on the cross. According to Matthew’s telling of the story, there were two criminals who were crucified beside Jesus – one on his right and one on his left. During Jesus’ final moments, the Gospel of Matthew clearly tells us that not only did the crowd mock Jesus but that the two criminals “joined in the mockery” (Matthew 27:44 – The Message). If you were to read the telling of Jesus’ final moments on the cross as recorded in Luke, however, you would get a very different story. Luke 23:39 tells us that while one of the criminals did in fact mock Jesus, the other criminal said something very different. The Gospel of Luke tells us the second criminal rebuked the taunts of the first criminal when he said: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him – he did nothing to deserve this” (Luke 23:40-41 – The Message). It would be difficult to account for these differences if you took a literal approach to the Scripture. As someone who reads Scripture on another level – a figurative rather than a literal level – I experience these passages as honest expressions of the authors underlying theology. The Gospel of Matthew for instance wants to stress the complete alienation of Jesus by the crowd; hence the authors decision to explicitly include both criminals in the mockery of Jesus. The Gospel of Luke, on the other hand, wants to stress the radically inclusive nature of God’s kingdom as revealed through Jesus - a kingdom so radically inclusive that it even includes criminals! Working with the discrepancies between the Gospels reminds me how important it is for you and I to stay in touch with our own theological emphases (and biases) as we tell of our own experiences of the God revealed through Jesus. Our temptation is to tell our story as if it were the one and only perspective. The Gospel accounts, however, remind us that other stories of people’s encounters with the God of Jesus might sound different than ours. The challenge is not to succumb to the temptation to fight about which version is right. Instead, the real challenge is to honor each story and focus on the God who lies at the center of each account. Til next time…
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