The Bible for $400

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

August 2, 2015

The Bible for $400

Luke 8:1-3

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages,

proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

The twelve were with him,

as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities:

Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza,

and Susanna,

and many others,

who provided for them out of their resources.

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The answer is: “Art Fleming from 1964 to 1975.”

The correct question is,

“who was the original host

of the game show Jeopardy?”

                          

If you are a fan of the show,

you know that Alex Trebek has been the host

for the past 30 years.

But it was Art Fleming who helped launch the show

in which contestants are given the answer

and then have to come up with the correct question.

If you are a fan of the show,

you also know that the Bible is a favorite topic.

It comes in a wide variety of category flavors:

Old Testament, New Testament,

Women of the Bible;

and when the writers are not feeling terribly creative,

just, “The Bible.”

I love the fact that they use the Bible as often as they do,

but I do question why they seem to rely on

the King James Version.

I grew up on that version,

and I love its poeticism

and lyrical writing as much as anyone else.

But I also know that when the King James Version

was produced back in 1611,

it contained dozens and dozens

of translation errors.                                 

Over the past 400 years

we’ve learned a great deal about

the ancient Hebrew and Greek languages

in which the books of the Bible were originally written.

Contemporary Bibles reflect far more

accurate translations.

The very act of translating from

one language to another

leads to issues of both style and accuracy.

If you’ve ever learned another language,

you know how easy it is to say something

that you think is correct,

but to a native speaker sounds muddled and confusing.

If you were to look at ancient manuscripts –

Hebrew scrolls from Isaiah’s time,

or Greek scrolls from Paul’s time –

you’d see a string of letters,

one after another, letter next to letter,

across the page, down the page.

No punctuation.

No paragraphs,

no chapters, no verses.

Translators have had to try their best to figure out

which letters composed a word,

which words composed a sentence,

which sentences composed a paragraph,

and which paragraphs composed a chapter.

And it is amazing to think,

but no translator has ever had access to

any of the original books in either

the Old or the New Testament.

The originals of Isaiah or Genesis

or Paul’s letters to the Corinthians

have long since disappeared.

Translators have worked from copies of copies;

imperfect copies, copies with errors;

copies where things were clearly changed,

things added, things deleted.

You remember the story of the woman

caught in adultery;

we heard a few weeks back,

a story found in chapter 8 of the gospel of John,

(John 8:1-11)

a story you heard me describe as one

that I find to be among the most powerful

of Jesus’ teaching.

There is almost universal agreement among scholars

that it wasn’t in the original version of John’s gospel,

that it was added at a later date

by some unknown editor,

added as a story he’d heard about Jesus,

a story that to him sounded like

it should be in John’s gospel.

                                                                       

Read through Luke’s recounting

of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gesthemene,

on the night of his betrayal and arrest,

shortly after he’d shared his final meal

with his disciples.

There’s that scene we know so well:

“In his anguish,

Jesus prayed more earnestly,

and his sweat became like great drops of blood

falling down on the ground.”

(Luke 22:44)

You’ll find that verse bracketed in most Bibles,

because most scholars agree

that it was not in Luke’s original,

but something that was added later,

again by some unknown editor.

The ending of Mark’s gospel proved to be

so unsatisfactory to later readers and editors,

that first one new ending was added,

and when that ending still proved unsatisfactory,

a second ending was added.

The Bible is such an extraordinary book,

filled with such a wide variety of stories,

stories we find enthralling,

compelling,

amusing,

troubling,

confusing.

As part of my reading this past week,

I read through the entire story of Sampson,

a man renowned for his strength and his faith,

a man we think of in heroic terms.

A careful and thorough reading of his story

paints a more complex picture, though:

                 

He was most definitely a man of

great physical strength,

and a man of great faith;

but he was also a man who seemed to be

a spoiled young man,

an indulgent man,

a man without much sense,

often a foolish man,

even though he served the people of Israel as a judge.

                                                                         

Listen to the words of our text

and we hear about women who were

followers of Jesus,

women who provided support for

Jesus and his disciples,

women who, in a patriarchal society,

were often overlooked.

                          

Our text is also the only passage in the Bible

that tells us anything about Mary Magdalene,

the one who all four gospels tell us

was first to find the empty tomb on that first Easter,

the first to see the risen Jesus.  

There is nothing in the Bible that tells us,

or even suggests

that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute,

yet that’s been a legend,

a myth,

that has plagued Mary through the centuries.

The Bible demands careful reading.

The Bible demands reading with an open mind,

and more important, an open heart.

To read the Bible we need help from the Holy Spirit,

to guide us,

and help us to find understanding.

It’s easy, too easy, to read to the Bible

with minds made up,

to find verses to support our own thinking.  

It’s more challenging,

more work, though

to read the Bible open to transformation,

to read it open to growing in discipleship,

to read it to learn how to grow in love.

We all love to read in the summer,

read new books, and old favorites, as well.

Include the Bible on your reading list;

make it a part of your daily reading,

a bit here, a bit there.

                 

Read it every day,

on hot humid summer days,

on cold, dark winter days;

Read the Good Book.

Read to learn;

Read to grow;

Read to be transformed.

Read the Bible and you’ll find a bonus, too:

you’ll be on your way to becoming a champion on Jeopardy.     

AMEN