The Rev. Carol S. Wedell
October 21, 2007

Do your ears itch?  Mine do when my allergies are acting up! But, I'm guessing that's not what the author of the second letter to Timothy meant when he spoke about "itching ears!"  The writer tells Timothy that a time will come when folks will not be interested in solid teaching, but "having itching ears" will follow whatever suggestions seem easiest at the time.  They will follow their own teachers - whatever works best for them.

Sounds familiar.  Our ears often "itch" for solutions that are best for us - whether or not they're best for everyone else. Easy answers are almost always more popular than tough ones.  Like the people of Timothy's day, we may not want to do the work it takes to address life's challenging issues with faithfulness. We may be drawn to "feel good" approaches to faith that promise material prosperity or no problems of any kind. The problem is that easy answers generally don't truly address life's more complex questions.  In writing to Timothy, the author quickly acknowledges that being faithful may involve suffering, but calls Timothy, and by extension, us, to "carry out our ministry fully."

One of the reasons I love teaching confirmation classes is that high school students rarely are satisfied with easy answers.  It seems to me that they have built-in radar that detects when someone is trying to pull a fast one, or gloss over a topic. They are quick to see and point out the discrepancies between what they're learning and the world as they know it. This year's class is no exception! 

I invite each student to raise any question at any time.  Right away this year questions arose about how to make sense of what they were learning in science classes in light of what the Bible says.  It's a great question, as it touches them where they live, here and now.  It brings together different parts of their world - making sure that issues of faith aren't merely relegated to an occasional Sunday morning time slot.   

As we talked further, though, the question really became, "how do we use scripture?  How do we interpret it?  How does it help us?"

The Bible was very useful in the German prisoner of war camps around 1944. Both the Red Cross and the United Bible Society were suddenly flooded with requests for New Testaments, and were not sure why.  Apparently, by then there were absolutely no cigarettes available anywhere, but there still was some pipe tobacco. It didn't take long for prisoners to discover that the pages of the Bible made absolutely perfect cigarette rolling paper. (A story told by David H.C. Read, in a sermon by Fred Anderson).

Today's reading says a great deal about how scripture is to be used - far beyond supporting a bad habit!  An experienced pastor is writing to a less experienced pastor about leading the church in a difficult time.  All kinds of new teachers have popped up who are offering easy solutions to all of life's problems. 

In some ways, it was a time not unlike our own - when traditional institutions were being called into question, when a wide variety of novel approaches to life and faith were being sought,  when folks wanted a faith that was tailor-made just for them, something that  "suits their own desires."

The issue of how we use scripture, how we interpret it and what difference it makes in our lives is also right in the middle of some of the most hotly debated issues of our day.  As most of you know, our denomination, along with many others, is facing the likelihood of some significant divisions.  From my perspective, many of those divisions arise from our varying approaches to the Bible.

As Christians, Protestants and specifically as Presbyterians, we are people of "the book."  The Bible is at the center of all that we do and are.  A portion of our denomination's constitution reads:  "The church confesses the Scriptures to be the Word of God written, witnessing to God's self-revelation. Where that Word is read and proclaimed, Jesus Christ the Living Word is present by the inward witness of the Holy Spirit." Book of Order W-2.2001.   We look to the written words of the Bible to make the living Word, Jesus Christ, real in our lives.  In other words, the Bible itself isn't what is most important - but rather who it points to - Jesus.

The Bible is the incredible story of God's desire to be in relationship with us since the beginning of time - and continuing even today.  However, the Bible is not, nor do I ever think it was intended to be, an "easy answer book," that answers all of life's questions and concerns. It wasn't written as a science book.  It wasn't even written as a history book, in the sense that its primary concern is about accurately noting the particulars of date, time and place.  Its primary goal is to tell of God's love and faithfulness throughout all generations - and by so doing, to draw us into relationship with the God who came to us through Jesus Christ. 

The author of 2 Timothy goes further in letting us know how scripture is to be used.  2 Timothy 3:16, an often quoted verse, says this, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work."  In many circles, this verse is used to talk about Biblical authority - even to claim that every single word was whispered directly by God, and must be taken with absolute literalness.  Yet it really doesn't say that!

Remember that at the time this letter was written the scriptures that are being referenced would only have included the Hebrew scriptures - the Torah, the prophets, the writings. And even those had not reached a settled state, where everyone agreed which books should be included in the official scriptures. 

The writer is very clear that scripture has a purpose - that of giving us the tools we need for the work God has for us to do.  Its purpose is to enable, to build up, to guide - so that we will be better able to serve faithfully. 

Methodist Bishop William Willimon, in a sermon on this text, offers some guiding principles for how we should approach the Bible.   This is not an exhaustive list, but does give us some helpful hints.  (William Willimon, Instructions for Salvation, Pulpit Resource, Vol. 29, No. 4, 2001, 12-13).

We do best when we read and study the Bible together.  This is not to say that we will not benefit from personal reading. Certainly reading the Bible devotionally, and allowing a verse or passage to speak to us is beneficial.  But the Bible is the church's book-a community book.  If you have ever participated in a Bible Study, you know that often the richest discussion comes from the group, as questions are raised, or ideas and insights shared.  Other people see things we might miss, and vice versa.  Before we go assigning particular meaning to particular texts, we need to allow God to speak to us through others as we wrestle together with what God might be saying to us.  We aren't Christians in isolation.

We also need to learn how to read the Bible.  How many of you have decided to read the whole Bible, started at Genesis - and never made it through Leviticus?  It isn't a novel that we can simply sit down and easily make our way through.  Some of it is tough going.  We need to learn how to listen for the main themes.  We may need to use some outside materials to help us understand the context in which a particular passage was written.  Did it start as an oral story that was widely shared or was it directed to a particular group or person?  Knowing its original context, knowing what it meant then is important before we ask what it may mean now. 

Using our imagination is a critical key to approaching the Bible.  Instead of asking, "did this really happen?" there are better questions.  "How is this true for me - for us - now?"  "How is this passage asking me to change?"  "What is keeping me from hearing the message the Bible wants me to hear?"  Changing the questions allows the Bible to impact our lives today.  And isn't that the point?  If I am so hung up on whether or not a particular event occurred just as it is recorded, I am likely to miss what God wants to say to me today!  Author Madeline L'Engle, said, "I take the Bible much too seriously to take it literally." 

Along those lines, to take the Bible seriously suggests that we actually spend time with it - and not just a verse here or there.  Few of us here today are Biblical literalists.  We don't look like A. J. Jacobs,  author of  The Year of Living Biblically:  One Man's Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, whose hair and beard grew long and shaggy in just a few months.

But we may have taken another "easy way" - that of thinking we pretty much know what the Bible says without spending much time with it.  Unfortunately, too many of us are Biblically illiterate.  Our Biblical education may have ended in elementary school.  Even if you are in worship every week, you are only getting bits and pieces - not the complete story. 

Most mainline churches don't do much in the way of memorizing scripture.  Last year during our Disciple Bible study, one of the more humorous classes was the week we attempted to memorize one short psalm.  You would have thought we were attempting a graduate class in rocket science!  Definitely this is something where you kids have a distinct advantage.  Our middle-aged brains simply couldn't keep up. Yet the reality is those passages we know by heart have the most power to form us.

Some of you will remember Ray Bradbury's book, Farenheit 451, the title of which refers to the temperature at which paper burns.  The main character is a fireman, who has the surprising job of setting fires:  he is to burn books that have been banned.  A group of dissidents finally decide that the only way to preserve some of the books it to memorize them.  Each person memorizes a book.  But in the process, they actually become the book - and in turn can teach their book to others.  This kind of memorization points to more than mindlessly committing words to memory, but absorbing the words in such as way as they have the power to change you. (Referenced in Lectionary Homiletics, Vol XVIII, Number 6, page 21).

Fred Anderson, pastor at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, tells the following story about a professor at Princeton Seminary.  I also studied under Dr. Becker - although I have to admit that at times, he intimidated me!  Fred writes, "Dr. J. Christian Becker was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary when I was a student. Much of what I know about scripture -- especially the New Testament -- and much of my passion for, devotion to, and approach to proclaiming it come from what Dr. Becker taught me. But he was a most unusual biblical scholar who would abide no false piety, and relished dismantling the idolatry so many students had wrapped about the Bible. Leading a class with a particularly conservative group of students he had spent the day stripping away their false notions about the Bible. There is a subtle but significant difference, you know. When asked if he believed in the Bible, he emphatically announced that he did not. He believed in Jesus Christ, and Christ alone as the Bible witnessed to him. When asked if he thought the Bible inerrant he said, "Only with regard to presenting Christ." Finally, in utter exasperation, one of the students said to him, Dr. Becker, if you don't believe in the Bible, why do you bother to read or study it?" Chris, as we students affectionately called him, thought for a moment, stroked his chin, looked up and said "Because when I do I hear God speak to me, and that changes my life."

That, I believe, is what this passage from 2 Timothy is about.  Knowing the Bible well enough that it changes who we are.  Listening with heart and mind as the Bible points to Jesus.  Instead of settling for an easier path, we are called to put in the work that it takes to become living witnesses to God's love.

It's easier to be entertained than changed.  It's easier to pass over the surface and avoid the depths.  It's easier to take scripture literally than seriously.

Let's not take the easy way out!