READING JESUS

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Preface.........................................................................viiIntroduction....................................................................xiChapter One The Bible and How We Got It (or didn't get it)......................1Chapter Two The Word is the Word................................................15Chapter Three A Good Jewish Boy from Nazareth...................................32Chapter Four Give Me that Old Time Murder.......................................45Chapter Five What Are You Looking at?...........................................54Chapter Six D-I-V-O-R-C-E.......................................................64Chapter Seven Promises, Promises................................................74Chapter Eight An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind.....................85Chapter Nine Who Loves You, Baby?...............................................95Chapter Ten The Last Word.......................................................106Appendix—On Scrumptious Scriptures........................................115Bibliography....................................................................119

Chapter One

The Bible is the number one best-seller of all time. Walk into any bookstore and you will be confronted with a number of different translations, perhaps as many as two or three dozen. Globally the Bible is translated into hundreds of different languages. What a privilege it is to have so many choices. Prior to the sixteenth century people did not have such choices. The Reformation really began in earnest when Martin Luther defied Church authority by translating the Bible into German, the language of his people. Before that, the common people were dependent upon the interpretation of the priests and bishops who read the Bible only in Latin. But, did the translation of the Bible into common language make it any more widely read?

This German Bible (this is not praise for myself but the work praises itself) is so good and precious that it's better than all other versions, Greek and Latin, and one can find more in it than in all commentaries, for we are removing impediments and difficulties so that other people may read in it without hindrance. I'm only concerned that there won't be much reading in the Bible, for people are very tired of it and nobody clamors for it any more.

The Bible is undoubtedly a bestseller because, like other books I have on my shelves, it is primarily a book we intend to read; or feel we should read. Before I take my last earthly breath I am certain that I will not have read every book that is currently cluttering up my home and office. Some I have read parts of, because sometimes parts are just as good as the whole thing. Some I think I should read, but probably never will. And some I have read and may read again.

A key thing about sacred scriptures is that at one time or another they existed in oral form. Stories like the two creation stories in Genesis were passed on to many generations before they were ever written down in some form or another. There are, then, a lot of changes that go into these stories and histories and poetries and letters before anyone ever gets to read them. It is not unlike the telephone game we play as children, whispering something into ear after ear until we finally hear the result on the other end of the line. Rarely do the two versions match.

A search on Amazon for history books about Abraham Lincoln resulted in 3,742 results. There must be some differences between these histories, otherwise there would be fewer to be sure. I am not a history buff, per se, but I would imagine that, if I were, I would read several of these histories and biographies of Lincoln and decide which one fits my particular slant on Lincoln. I would wish to make a case that Lincoln had something to say in the present, and therefore would lean toward the biography that best supported my bias.

Every author of written scripture ultimately used this same, very human method of decision-making. They wanted to make a point, to get their bias across to the reader. There are four gospels in the New Testament, each with their own agenda. There are two creation stories in Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2:4 and Genesis 2:5-2:25), each with their own emphasis. The rest of the Bible is interpreted history, and artistic expression of the experiences of a people, experiences of a people with their God, or, to again use Crossan's reference, their experiences with "God in sandals."

So we tend to read the Bible in a way that supports our point of view. This is a perfectly natural tendency. In the Introduction to his very helpful book How the Bible Became the Bible, Donald L. O'Dell writes,

Most of us don't read the Bible. If we do, it's a verse here, three verses there. The Bible is not in a language we easily understand. It's dull and seems irrelevant. Besides, every time we've tried to read the Bible, we were confronted with all sorts of emotional baggage associated with Bible/church/religion that muddles the issue ... So we don't read the Bible.

Perhaps you have felt this way. Perhaps this is the reason why you couldn't find a Bible in your house even if your life depended upon it. If you did find one, you might use it to stamp out a stove fire, or to squash a poisonous insect, or to knock out an intruder in your home. One of the things that might help in our approach to The Bible is to understand what it is; what it was meant to be in the first place. O'Dell continues.

I believe if we understand what the people of the Bible are trying to communicate, we can begin to see beyond their words, cultures, or history. When we've done that, we can see ourselves in them or, conversely, them in us. Then they become very real people and their experiences can relate to our experiences.

I had an experience with this right in the middle of a worship service. I had written my sermon on the gospel lesson from Luke chapter 6. I had given the first lesson a passing glance and the second lesson hardly a glance at all. But I totally ignored the Psalm, which we read responsively. It was Psalm 149, a coronation or kingly psalm, which began innocently enough.

Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.

Let Israel be glad in its Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.

For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.

Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.

Those first five verses sounded like a party with music and dancing and perhaps a little wine and ale. Those first five verses sounded like something people could understand, like an evening at a wedding dance. The king is the centerpiece of this celebration, which we might need to translate into with those first five verses. I was all happiness and joy. But then, suddenly, there came the rest of the verses like a 20 mega-ton bomb.

Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron, to execute on them the judgment decreed. This is glory for all...