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What Does it Mean to Say: "Scripture is a Human Product?"

8/25/2024

Marcus Borg--
The Bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees things.

~~ Convictions: How I Learned What Matters Most

We’re going to step away from John’s Gospel for just this one week and look into a broader concept – one we’ve been skirting around for some time; one that’s been at the heart of our discussions about John’s writings. We’ll come back to John next week but just for today I’d like to step aside from there and briefly look into the question of how do we understand scripture when it is clear to us that readings often contradict each other, tell different stories that don’t fit together, and speak with too many voices, each telling their own, unmatching versions of how things happened.

You all probably know by this time how I am about my love for random quotes—I’ll see something that speaks to me and stick it up on a post-it somewhere where it will hang out until I notice it again and it becomes fodder for a sermon. This one didn’t even take very long to move to the head of the list.

Just a couple of weeks ago I posted a piece in our weekly Newsletter. It was something I found on-line, and it addressed the New Testament specifically, but I think it applies just a well to the Hebrew Scriptures:

“The New Testament [it says] makes a lot more sense once you realize that it was written by a scattered bunch of authors, vehemently disagreeing with one another, over the course of several generations, rather than a united front of authors channeling the Word of God with a single voice.”

This had been posted online under several different names, but I don’t believe it was ever attributed to any one author so, author unknown, but it certainly sounds like a reasonable, factual statement to me.

“The New Testament makes a lot more sense once you realize that it was written by a scattered bunch of authors, vehemently disagreeing with one another, over the course of several generations, rather than a united front of authors channeling the Word of God with a single voice.”

If we can accept this as factually true it removes many of our difficulties in reading and believing scripture. And it helps even more if we can accept that the bible is less a single historically accurate document similar to reading the Congressional Record and more akin to parables, or better yet, stories told around a campfire – stories with a core of truth wrapped in a storyteller’s semi-mythological narrative.

William Sloane Coffin, who was a well-known peace activist and long-time pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City (and one of my favorite people whom I was privileged to meet and talk with in seminary) using words similar to those quoted from Marcus Borg, once wrote that “the Bible is a human product. However, when we describe it as such, we are by no means denying the reality of God, rather, we are simply admitting that there is no escaping our personal and cultural history, nor the personal and cultural history of all writers, no matter what their subject matter.”

Another of my favorite bible scholars, Walter Brueggemann, reminds us; “We should never confuse biblical authority with biblical infallibility….There is no interpretation of scripture that is unaffected by the passions, convictions, and perceptions of the interpreter,”…..“Nobody makes the final read; nobody’s read is final or inerrant, precisely because the Key Character in the book, the one who creates, redeems, and consummates, is always beyond us in holy hiddenness.”

We hear the words of scripture as our own biases tend to lead us. This message, it turns out, is a perfect example. In discussing how we interpret the bible I’ve used quotes from three highly respected biblical scholars to bolster my point that all interpretation is shaped by our personal and cultural understanding – but it’s no accident that the three men I chose to quote are the one’s with whose thoughts I agree – or maybe those whose thoughts agree with me.

I didn’t do this to make a point. I only realized it myself after I had written it. There are dozens of other “experts” I could just as easily have quoted—but I chose these three. Because I like and agree with their interpretations. This is how we often read scripture – glossing over versions that challenge us and disagree with us, and latching onto those verses that confirm what we already want to believe.

We all do it, and maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. Maybe, if we are aware of this tendency and work at always truly seeking, we will then receive the understanding our hearts and souls need, and are ready for, at any given moment in our lives.

And remember the quote from Marc Borg with which we opened here? I didn’t write this message with that opening in mind. It was already finished – completed – before I discovered this quote. I actually had to go back and edit Borg into my text so that it all hung together. Finding the quote from him was like an assurance to me that this is what I’m meant to share today.

God leaves us little love notes like this from time to time.

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BORN OF FLESH AND SPIRIT

8/11/2024

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John 3:1-8
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit…You must be born from above. The wind blows where it chooses, and you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes...

I skipped over another story to get to this reading for today so we can spend our time on the reading I just read. The one I skipped is the one about Jesus throwing out the money changers to cleanse the temple. This is a story that is found in all four gospels. The only thing that is unique to John about this bit is its chronological placement. In John, this story comes in chapter two – just after the wedding at Cana – right up at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. In the Synoptics it occurs in the last week of Jesus’ life and is the final act that pushes the authorities to call for his death. Some believe there was only one “cleansing,” others posit two separate occasions -- one to go with John's dating and one to fit in with the Synoptics. There is only speculation about this point - and not much to be gained by arguing.

I want to spend the time we have here today on the reading with which we opened. This story is another that is found only in John’s gospel. We are introduced to a Pharisee named Nicodemus who, like this whole story, we only hear about in this gospel. We will meet him again a couple of times – particularly after Jesus’ death when he helps to prepare his body for proper burial.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a respected member of the Sanhedrin—a teacher and leader of Israel. (As an aside, he is also considered a saint in the Christian world.) He is a man who has paid attention to Jesus and feels called to know more about him but he’s not ready to just jump into full belief just yet. He is a man who recognizes the significance of particular “signs” he has seen or heard of and in spite of his traditional conservative Jewish training he is curious and wants to know more about this wandering rabbi.

“Signs” are another important concept that we will find in John’s gospel that sets John apart from the other gospels. The first half of John's Gospel is often called the “Book of Signs,” since it tells the stories of seven particular “signs,” or miracles, that Jesus performs. Miracles were pointers for the traditional faithful that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah. Certain miracles are further called 'signs' because they not only demonstrate Jesus' power, as any miracle does, but they are also particular signs pointing to who Jesus is – the Son of God. We read of one of these signs last week at the wedding in Cana.

Miracles generally benefit one person or a small handful at most. Signs touch a broader swath of humanity by explaining Jesus.

So Nicodemus comes to Jesus directly to find out more about him but, wary of his own status, he comes at night, under darkness to ask his questions. Jesus explains that there is flesh and there is spirit and if one is born only of the flesh they cannot know the mind of the Spirit. One must be born of the Spirit in order to truly understand what they see right in front of themselves.

And … what they are seeing is the sign that Jesus is not merely an especially blessed human person – he is, instead, the very Son of God, and the reason so many cannot see that is that they are closed off to the voice of Spirit. So many still live in the darkness, just as Nicodemus, at this point, is still in the dark. He almost sees, he almost hears, he is so close, and soon he will be reborn in that Spirit and then he will know what Jesus has come to show him -- and all the rest of us. Then the light that is Jesus will shine brightly and God’s people will truly see by that light all that Jesus – the Son of God -- has come to give us.

John’s gospel identifies seven particular signs that point us to the reality of Jesus as the Son of God. As I mentioned, we already have seen one of these signs last week when the six stone jars of water at a country wedding were turned into wine at nothing more than a thought. As we go along with our study here we’ll see if we recognize the other six as they come along.

Once again, we will be reminded that we must listen carefully and pay attention as we read our way through this gospel. There are important things to be seen and learned here, and we don’t want to miss them.

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A WEDDING CELEBRATION -- John's Gospel Series, pt. 3

8/4/2024

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John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

Last week I promised that we’d finally get into the Jesus stories in this gospel account and now that we’re here, we’re going to start noticing a lot that is different about John’s telling of these stories.

The wedding at Cana, which is the first of the John stories, is only found in this one gospel – none of the other three accounts have any reference to it so there’s really nothing to compare it to – but there’s still a whole lot to be found here.

In the very first chapter we begin with the Prologue -- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” – that lovely, mystical depiction of the very creation of all that is and Jesus’ connection with the Word of that creation.

This is immediately followed by our introduction to John the Baptist and the role he had to play in preparing those present to recognize Jesus as the One who had been promised for ages, the One they’d been waiting for through the centuries. Just three paragraphs, that’s all the Baptist gets, then immediately we have Jesus calling a random-seeming collection of men to walk with him and follow him and work with him and be part of all that is to come.

All of this makes up the first chapter of John – no nativity story, no angels singing, no flight to Egypt, no 40 days in the wilderness, no tempting by the Satan, but just three different vignettes introducing us to Jesus in three different ways.

So then we turn the page to chapter two and are greeted by “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.” Now if you recall, last week we discussed two different code phrases used in scripture to mean something much more important than they sound like on the surface – ‘On the third day’ isn’t a chronological marker, what it really means is that something very important is about to be brought into the conversation. Important things always happen on the third day.

The second code phrase is ‘there was a wedding’, which signifies that the story is about something much more important than an ordinary marriage – it’s pointing us toward a divine-human union, a marriage between God and God’s beloveds.

When the writer of John’s gospel opens a chapter with no lead in, no set-up, just “On the third day there was a wedding” … two of scripture’s important “pay attention” phrases, we have been duly notified that what is coming is something very important.

As I said earlier, since this story is only told in this gospel we have no other version to compare it to, but I suspect, myself, that in any one of the synoptics this would have read like just another miracle story – “Look what Jesus can do!” These stories often seem to be about the thing Jesus did, than who Jesus is, but this is John’s story than the surface story and he wants us to recognize that.

There are details here that matter. When the wine turned up short, the water to replace it came from “six stone jars of water used for the purification rites.” So this new wine will not only taste better but it will be ritually purified and will take us into its new role in the new order bursting into its fulness around them..

The stone jars that held the water were huge – six of them would, together, have held about 150 gallons – that’s a lot of premium wine. Now, remember John’s two “this is important” codes – in the middle of the wedding celebration which here we are to think of our lives being lived in and with God forever, we are now being blessed with a pure and holy wine in never ending amounts. In the midst of an ordinary seeming wedding in a small unimportant town in Galilee, something brand new is being born. In Marcus Borg’s words, it's “about a wedding where the wine never runs out and the best is saved for last.” *

Or, as Gerard Sloyan describes it: "John knows that to believe in Jesus as the Christ is to live a life within a life. Nothing is changed but everything is changed. What had been water is wine. Word has become flesh. An hour that has not yet come is already here. This is existence at the edge of the ages, a point at which the old eon and the new come together. What will be, is. What seems to be, is no more. In the Word and Light of God, who is a man, everything is new." **

This is the life Jesus has brought us. This is who Jesus is – and why. Not just a miracle worker, but the One who brings us to a new life that has always been.

This why we read John carefully – there’s so much we can easily miss if we read it too casually. This is not a casual story. This our life in Christ being opened up for us.

It’s here – it’s coming -- it’s happening now.

*Marcus Borg, Evolution of the Word, Harper One, © 2012
**Gerard S. Sloyan, Interpretation: John, John Knox Press, ©1988

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What Does it Mean to Say: "Scripture is a Human Product?"

BORN OF FLESH AND SPIRIT

A WEDDING CELEBRATION -- John's Gospel Series, pt. 3

Rev. Cherie Marckx

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