Pentecost 15 – 2021
Mark 7:24-37
Marian Free
In the name of God, known to us in creation, through the life of Jesus, by the prompting of the Spirit and in the written word. Amen.
Last week I attended the Northern Region Clergy Conference. In our Conference bags was a copy of a recently released book written by a British priest, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes – “How to Eat Bread – 21 Nourishing Ways to Read the Bible .” In a novel and accessible way, Miranda guides the reader into a deeper understanding of the ways in which one can and should approach our scriptures. In so doing, she takes away some of the mystery that can be associated with a book that is often difficult and which contains themes and ideas that are foreign (and even distasteful) to our experience.
The Bible is our story, the basis of our faith, the source of our knowledge about the one true God. Its complexity should not daunt us, but we may need some tools to help us to get the most out of our reading.
For example, when we read the Bible, it is important to bear in mind including that it was not written in one sitting, nor was it authored by just one person. It is a collection (a library even) of sixty-six books. Within the bible we find different styles of literature written during different periods of history to address particular situations. Books of the Bible cover history, law, poetry, proverbs, stories, prophetic books, gospels, letters, sermons, and apocalyptic literature. Each book has to be read according to the type of literature that it represents. If we were to read a book such as one of the wisdom books (A Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes) as if it was history, we would completely miss the point and would find ourselves taking literally something that was intended figuratively.
Because the Bible was written over a long period of time, those who wrote at a later date would have known and used pre-existing writings (explicitly and implicitly) to speak to their own time and place. Unlike modern scholars, they would not have had to use footnotes to reference where their quotes came from, nor would they have felt any obligation to be precise. (For example, the quotation attributed to John the Baptist is a combination – coming from both Isaiah and Micah for example.) Knowing that the Bible itself includes a number of different forms of interpretation, means that we do not need to feel ourselves limited to one or another way of reading/understanding it.
Very little of the Bible was written in real time. The Gospels were only committed to paper thirty to forty years after Jesus’ death. During that time the stories were told and retold which allowed variations to creep in. Genesis, the first book of the Bible consists of stories that had been told and retold for thousands of years. It reflects debates regarding the nature of God and of humanity, questions and answers as to why things are the way they are.
As Miranda points out, the various writings have been gathered over time because people who believed in the God of the Israelites felt that these books captured their experience of God and/or that they were significant in building up their spiritual life. She says: “They (the books) are not simply a list of beliefs about God” (or, I would add, a collection of rules that must be obeyed). Scripture represents: “stories, thought experiments or dreams that are meant to be troubling, unsettling, or even to make you angry .”
All this is a rather long-winded introduction to the practice of debate in scripture and, in particular the practice of arguing with God – Miranda’s first chapter. As she points out, one of the ways of coming to understand and of developing a relationship with the one true God is represented through debate. This was particularly the case when it came to trying to come to grips with the question of good and evil and how it is that a good God allows bad things to happen.
Not only did our forebears argue with one another as they tried to understand what it meant to have faith, but they had no difficulty arguing with God. Abraham had no problem challenging God’s decision to destroy Sodom, Isaac wrestled with God and Job questioned God’s treatment of him – just to mention a few examples.
That Jesus was a part of this tradition is evident from the way in which he countered the arguments of the Pharisees as they struggled together about the meaning of scriptures – what did it mean to keep the Sabbath holy, which commandments were the most important, was ritual washing essential in everyday life and so on? Arriving at a definitive answer was not as important as struggling with the question. This tells us, as Miranda suggests, that the point of engaging with scripture is: “to encounter God and to let ourselves be formed and changed by the process of argument itself .”
Today’s gospel addresses, in the form of debate, the question about the inclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God. Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman was a vital step in the movement of the Christian faith from its Jewish origins to its place as a universal faith. In good rabbinic fashion, the woman refused to simply accept Jesus’ abrupt (rude?) refusal to help her. She held her ground and offered a different way of seeing the world and the relationship with God. If Jesus healed her daughter, she insisted, he would not be taking anything away from “the children” because there are always scraps or crumbs that fall from the table for the dogs to consume.
We neglect the Bible at our own peril. Not only does it tell our story, and the story of God’s relationship with us, it also encourages us to ask questions, to challenge the status quo, not to take anything for granted and to engage with the living God without fear.
If you haven’t already – give it a go!
Swallowsrest 