The Bible and its plot twists
People often ask me why on earth anyone would want to read the Bible. They think it is nice, heartwarming and inspiring, even, that their pastor would talk about the Bible on Sunday.
They like memorizing favorite passages, but that is not the same as expecting that they would read scripture… regularly even. Why should anyone? Would anyone? I mean, regular, non-fanatic people… would regular people read the whole Bible? Would any sane person read it more than once?
More than three years ago, in this paper, I shared what a gift and learning experience it has been for me to continually reread the One Year Bible – a practice I began as a young mother before I entered ministry and have maintained for over 30 years.
The Old Testament, infamous for the violence of God’s people and the harshness of God’s apparent Self, reveals – especially with slogging all the way through, often – that God is at work trying to get through with a radical new message of connection and loving justice… the kind of justice that ensures the poor and the alien are fed.
There are surprising plot twists in the Old Testament that overturn our conclusions about who is excluded and pave the way for God’s purpose of healing and hope. For example, Deuteronomy 23:3 warns that no Moabite should be permitted in the Lord’s assembly even to the 10th generation! But in the book of Ruth, there is sweet Ruth (the Moabite) welcomed in, made a part of the assembly. Later her great grandson becomes King David, God’s beloved. Furthermore, if we are really paying attention, we see that Ruth’s second husband, the great grandfather of King David, was the son of a prostitute – another foreigner – who helped the Hebrew people win the battle of Jericho!
Ruth and her husband’s mother, Rahab, are both listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. The third woman mentioned in Jesus’ lineage is Tamar, a Canaanite – another foreigner. God’s holy purpose of healing and hope clearly moves through including the previously excluded. Reading all the Bible multiple times brings this message of inclusion home to us.
Deuteronomy also forbids men who have been emasculated from entering the Lord’s assembly. But in Acts 8:26-40, the disciple Philip is drawn to an Ethiopian eunuch by the Holy Spirit. The eunuch sees in his victimization echoes of Jesus’ own and Philip helps him see the infinite love God extends and baptizes him on the spot. Another foreigner, previously doubly excluded (due to his emasculation and lineage), drawn into the people of God!
What can these plot twists teach us about God’s call to meet with compassion the resident aliens in our country? Additionally, as we see black men arrested for sitting peacefully in a Starbucks, how might the knowledge that the Ethiopian was a convert to the early Christian church through God’s direct intervention shape our thinking? The Holy Spirit called to Philip to the Ethiopian. Surely folks who read scripture can feel a similar pull to value the sacred worth of our darker skinned brothers and sisters?
A little boy in a clergy friend’s office looked at a long shelf of Bibles. My friend was proud of his collection of different translations.
“Are these all your Bibles?” the kid asked.
“Yes,” my friend answered, proudly.
“You only need one, if you read it,” said the kid.
Sigh…good point.
These days folks are frequently better at Bible thumping than Bible reading. Scripture invites us into a relationship with God and one another where we do not get to decide that one person is “worth” more than another because God’s purpose inevitably involves plot twists.
Who would we leave out? Would we send Mary back into the kitchen? Jesus wouldn’t. Foreigners? Jesus came to us through foreigners…people who Scripture said, at one point, should be kept away.
Love your neighbor as yourself is in Leviticus 19 as well as in Mark 12. God really means this!
What about those who work hard versus those we would label lazy? Remember the story Jesus told about paying laborers? The employer in Jesus’ story ensured that the ones who worked all day would see that they were paid the same as the ones who only got working for the last little bit. How might this inform our understanding of the importance of a living wage for all workers? The story of the prodigal son… the story of the “good Samaritan” (spoken at a time when there were, supposedly, no “good” Samaritans!).
God draws us into community through plot twists that change everything.
This Sunday our church is celebrating seven years of being “open and affirming.” That means for seven years we have practiced our understanding that God calls us to love and work beside, to include, affirm (and marry when they have fallen in love and want this commitment) our gay neighbors as much as we love, include, affirm and perform marriages for those of us who are attracted to different sex partners.
We are all God’s children, and reading the Bible, we learn to thump on it less and weave the plot twists into our journey.
— The Rev. Dr. Diane Langworthy is pastor at the United Church of Christ of New Smyrna Beach. To suggest a clergy person to write a Spiritual Side column, contact Features Editor Cindy Casey at 386-681-2756 or cindy.casey@news-jrnl.com.