Open Bible
"The letters of the Bible are eternal, but not its interpretation. The whole Bible is the working out of the relationship between God and (humans),” according to Rabbi Steve Greenberg.
Oct. 20, 2019 Jeremiah 31:27-34,Ps 119:97-104. 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5 Luke 18:1-8
I like to struggle with the text, especially when our wise scholars offer up such a broad span of possibilities.
We could call this the Sunday of sour grapes (Jer 31:29). After all, a number of the people called dis-United Methodists seem to have their teeth set on edge. Luke 18: 1 ff. offers that determined widow insisting on justice before a Judge who neither fears God nor has respect for people. And the widow is no quitter!
Some will agree with 2 Timothy who speaks of a time when sound doctrine is out the window—“Having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires.” Really? Tell that to the new “orthodox crowd.” Is it possible to have “new orthodoxy”? Sounds like an oxymoron.
Jeremiah finds his voice to tell of a new covenant put within us---written on our hearts—I will be their God and they shall be my people…they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest says the LORD, I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more …Sounds like Good News. I usually save this one for the first Sunday in Advent.
What good news can we possibility offer from all of this? We live in testing times. Thank God that God is patient and kind.
Taking a different tack:
Steven Greenberg* is the first out-of-the-closet Orthodox Rabbi in America. Here is his take on the subject of homosexuality and the Bible: He believes that God and humans are “partners in a quest to reveal new meanings of the Bible…." "The letters of the Bible are eternal, but not its interpretation. The whole Bible is the working out of the relationship between God and (humans).” Greenberg will tell you that God is not a dictator barking out orders and demanding silent agreement. Was it so there would be no relationship at all? No! A real relationship is mutual. He tells us that God is like an artist who is constantly revising his masterpiece. Sometimes he nearly erases his whole work, as with the flood. Other times God listens to what humans say, like Moses, and changes God’s mind. Strange as it may seem, Greenberg believes that in the Bible, God seems to be on a learning curve. He would say to United Methodists to never blame a text from the Bible for your behavior. It’s irresponsible.
Rabbi Greenberg can be helpful to us when we allow a person in Indiana, part of the spurious Institute on Religion and Democracy, to cause pain in Iowa Methodism by bringing charges against one of our most creative pastors. Rather than having an expensive trial, why not join with God in the struggle to know some better way? After all, we are all on a learning curve these days, and that is a good place to be. The idea that we can work with God to evolve the Bible’s meanings is a thrilling idea, and I might add, a solution to our problems.
*Jacobs A.J., The Year of Living Biblically, One Man’s Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible, Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, New York, c. 2007, pp.267 ff.
Oct. 20 is the birthday of JOHN OF KANTI (1390-1473), known for teaching civility in controversy.
The Rev. Bill Cotton of Des Moines is a retired clergy member of the Iowa Annual Conference. Together with friends and colleagues he produces the weekly resource, MEMO for Those Who Preach, which is delivered by email and republished here with permission.