A Lenten Reading of Matthew - Day Thirty-One

Scripture Reading: Matthew 22:23-46 (NRSVUE)

We see Jesus as a Rabbi, engaging Pharisees and Sadducees with his own interpretation of the scriptures.  This would have been normative for rabbis to converse about and was not as contentious as when they are trying to catch Jesus in a trap.

He explains the resurrection to Sadducees who deny it.  They seek to show the absurdity of the resurrection with regards to the Law where a woman is bound to bear a son for her deceased husband's line with the brother of her dead spouse. This is all about lineage and property rights and Jesus informs them that we won't have these kinds of concerns in heaven.

Then later, Jesus seeks to show that the Messiah could come from any line - not necessarily the line of David - and that the Messiah would be mightier than David.  Of course, we know about the coming resurrection that the Sadducees were trying to debunk.  By turning back death, Jesus will be mightier than David.

Maybe the Beatles were on to something

In the midst of this, we find the lens that Jesus uses to interpret scripture.  He names the greatest commandments as loving God with all our being and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.  If there is any mistaking his importance for this, Jesus declares, "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  The twin loves of God and neighbor are the ways in which we interpret the rest of scripture.  I saw a cartoon of David Hayward's that has Jesus stating to some of his modern followers, "The difference between you and me is you use scripture to determine what love means and I use love to determine what scripture means."

Mark contains this lens as well.  In his version, Jesus states, "There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31b)

Luke also shares the greatest commandment with Jesus concluding, "Do this and you will live." (Luke 10:28b)

Luke follows this teaching with the parable of the Good Samaritan lest we seek to narrowly define our neighbors.

As we think about scripture, there are many times when some passages will trip us up.  How might you use these two commandments to interpret the tough passages?  How might they be a lens for decision-making for our own lives?  What if before we followed a course of action, we asked, "Does this increase my love of God or my love for my neighbor?"

Prayer for the Day:

God, help me to be more patient with you and with the people I encounter today.  May I be kind as an initial greeting and as a response to what I encounter.  Keep me from envy.  May I set boasting aside. Let arrogance and rudeness find little hold on how I present myself.  Help me to be open to the ideas of others and may I not find myself irritable when I follow their agenda.  Finally, lessen in me a need to keep score.  Let me rejoice in this truth of love today and always.  Amen.

Prayer based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 by Paul of Tarsus, 1st Century

Photo by Barb Watson via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license. 

Daily Devotion for Lent 2023 - Day 9

What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people.

                                                         John 1:3b-4 

Today, I'm grateful for the tools for the interpretation of scripture instilled in me through The United Methodist Church.

Growing up, we were regulars in church.  I can't recall ever missing Sunday school or worship for illness.  I'm sure I must have missed at least once, but I don't remember it.  We also discussed the scriptures regularly in our household.  Dad would especially talk about them after the sermon.  

When we switched to United Methodism, it was as if a light switched on for my parents.  They were so impressed with a contextual understanding of the biblical world.  What was going on in the lives of the authors?  What was happening in the world at the time it was written?

How do previous scriptures impact the message of later ones?

When I was in high school, I remember our pastor, Dr. Mouzon Biggs, coming to our Sunday school to teach for a period.  I was really impressed that he didn't sugar coat it.  He brought out source theory in the Old Testament and showed us how some of the Israelite tribes referred to God as Elohim in the original Hebrew - this was E Source.  Other tribes in the southern kingdom of Judah referred to God as Yahweh and this was called J Source (Yahweh can also be translated into English as Jehovah).  There was also a D source which wrote Deuteronomy and is also found in some of the books following.  And lastly, there was a P source which was a priestly source that deals with a lot of technical stuff like worship specifications or lists of genealogies.

In their original form, these were all separate writings like we have four Gospels today.  Later, a redactor or editor merged the four sources together into the first books of the Bible.  It helps explain why there are some duplicate stories in the Old Testament!

One thing in particular I still remember from a sermon was when Dr. Biggs brought up the critique that the Ten Commandments may have been based on Hammurabi's Code.  He didn't see this as a problem for people of faith at all.

"Who's to say that God didn't inspire Hammurabi as well as Moses?"

Later, I understood this as another great example of prevenient or preceding grace!

I came out of a more fundamentalist tradition prior to United Methodism and I am thankful for the way we look at the Bible.  It is not scary to interpret the Bible and it is not a bad thing to prioritize some scriptures over others.  Even people that say they take everything literally do this.  

When Jesus was asked which commandment in the Bible was the greatest, he did not respond with, "That's a dumb question!  They are all equal!"

Rather, he gave us the love of God with all our being (the Shema) and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  These are to be the lenses with which we interpret the rest of scripture.

As we move through Lent, which portions of scripture stand out to you?  Which are some of your favorites that help you interpret others?  How do these give you life?

This is the plate from my 3rd Grade Bible