SECOND FROM LAST WEDNESDAY OF THE KINGDOM
13 November 2013
Readings:
Key Verses:
1 Tim. 4:13: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” (New International Version)
Matt. 5:17: “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (World English Bible)
Reflection
The first Christians had a very complex relationship with Scripture, which in their day meant “Hebrew Scripture” or the “Old Testament”. Those Jews, like the apostles, who came to faith in Christ retained their devotion to Scripture, studying it now through their experience of Christ, searching in it for more insight into the meaning of Jesus’ life. However, those Greeks and Romans who converted to the new Christian movement had little to no knowledge of Hebrew Scripture, and probably even less interest in it. For them, Jesus’ message was so radical, so new, and so universal, that there could be no more link with the past, especially the past of a singular people.
We can trace the development of this complex relationship back to Jesus’ own time. Mark, the earliest Gospel, reports from the very first chapter that the synagogue-goers in Capernaum were “astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes”, and they even call it a “new teaching” (Mark 1:22, 27). What they heard Jesus say was definitely not what they got from the religious authorities, and Jesus knew this. But he also knew that his “new teaching” could be taken in ways he didn’t intend. In today’s Gospel reading, then, Jesus prefaces his discourse on Scripture—the “Sermon on the Mount”—with a kind of disclaimer, as if to say: “What you’re about to hear me say may sound controversial and even heretical, but… ‘Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.’”
But it was controversial, it did lead to heresy, and it did destroy, not just in the Gospels, but also through history. Jesus’ earthly life was destroyed over this. Christianity severed its connection to Judaism. The Church itself took about four centuries to agree on a “canon of Scripture”. Along the way, some Christians would have completely jettisoned Hebrew Scripture because Christ “fulfilled” it. Although the Church came to rule against this viewpoint, it’s still notable today when we talk of the “New” Testament as a ‘fulfillment’ of the “Old”. “Let the old document yield to the new rite” says an ancient Latin hymn. I don’t think this is what Jesus intended either.
It’s clear from the Gospels that Jesus had a profound love and respect for the Law and the Prophets. He “didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill” them. I’m starting to think of “fulfill”, not as “to complete”, but as “to fill full [of meaning]”. Jesus didn’t just read or quote Scripture; he lived and breathed its words in such a fresh and extraordinary way that left onlookers amazed and speechless. Every day of his life, Jesus approached Scripture, not as a rote obligation, but as a daily dialogue, one in which challenging the letter of the law ironically resulted in a stronger and deeper connection to the spirit behind it. In all things, Jesus embodied Scripture so much that his followers could no longer tell where the Word ended and Jesus began.
Today’s words from the First Letter to Timothy might as well have been spoken by Jesus: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (New International Version). For his most important lesson to us is that we can follow him, follow his life, his example, and this is the way. May we live, breathe, and embody the spirit of Scripture in such a way that we no longer know where we end and Christ begins.
Prayer of the Day
O Lord, heavenly Father,
in whom is the fullness of light and wisdom:
Enlighten our minds by your Holy Spirit
and give us grace to receive your Word
with reverence and humility,
without which no one can understand your truth;
for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
—adapted from a Collect for “Bible Sunday” in The Book of Prayers, by Leon and Elfreida McCauley, 1954.
Hymn: “Book of books, our people’s strength”
(Words: Percy Dearmer, 1925; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013
Tune: ‘Liebster Jesu’, by Johann R. Ahle, 1664)
Book of books, our people’s strength,
Statesman’s, teacher’s, hero’s treasure,
Bringing freedom, spreading truth,
Shedding light that none can measure;
Wisdom comes to those who know you.
All the best we have, we owe you.
Thanks to those who toiled in thought,
Many scrolls diverse completing:
Poets, prophets, scholars, saints,
Each a word from God repeating,
Till they came, who told the story
Of the Word, and showed his glory.
Praise to God, who has inspired
Those whose wisdom still directs us;
For the holy Word made flesh,
For the Spirit which protects us.
Light of knowledge, ever burning,
Shed on us your endless learning.
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