Gospel of John

Asking for a Friend - Literal v. Literate: Can We Square Scripture and Science?

John 9:1-12

As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”


[I chose this morning’s Gospel, not because I’m going to spend a lot of time unpacking it, directly, in response to today’s question. I chose it – with the notion of Science and Scripture in mind – to simply show the gulf that exists between the life and times of Jesus in the First Century, and our own day and age. And how differently we are invited to understand Scripture because of that.

The short of the long – and the obvious expression of this – is to see how the people around Jesus believed that that man’s blindness was the result of divine judgment for his sins – or for the sins of his parents – and how he was cast-out and ostracized because of it. We know so much more than that now – and so did Jesus, it seems. Which is why his healing – and the point of the story – wasn’t about a health problem or a physical defect.

Just like those First Century onlookers, we want to pretend this story is about sickness or science, when really it’s all about the forgiveness of sins and showing how wide and merciful God’s love and forgiveness was, is, and can be, when we share it.]

Anyway, shifting gears somewhat to today’s question, which came through in a variety of ways from a variety of sources: Grace Notes, some conversations, the Men’s Bible Study crew, and even a second-hand text from one of our college kids by way of his mother.

I had tried to address it when we kicked off our last sermon series – the one from July, about Genesis, and the primeval mythology of its first 12 chapters. I threw out the phrase “LITERAL v. LITERATE,” and throughout that series Pastor Cogan and I tried to unpack the way those stories in Genesis (Creation, The Flood, The Fall, The Tower of Babel) speak to larger, universal, cosmic Truths, even if we aren’t required to receive them as historically or scientifically accurate accounts.

So, here is a list of the several questions we tried to summarize and roll up into today’s single query:

One was a series of non-sequiturs, asking about Creation in 7 days versus Evolution and the Big Bang Theory, dinosaurs, and how people add up the life-lengths and say that is the age of the earth, …etc.

There was a reference to “Talking snakes,” the Nephilim, and the plural use of God in Genesis 3:22 – where God was apparently concerned that Adam and Eve would become like “one of us.”

Did God actually walk in The Garden with Adam and Eve?

How do you reconcile “time” in the Bible, including the ages of people? (Like how did Abraham live to be 175 years? Or Moses 120? Or Adam 930? Or Methuselah 969?)

I don’t want to be too simplistic, or to dismiss the thoughtfulness and concern over these kinds of questions. But I have to say that faithful people – especially rationally-thinking, scientifically-minded faithful people – have been making more of this than is necessary for far too long. It can be fun to do, don’t get me wrong. And there may even be meaning to be found in some of it.

But all of the math, numerology, guess-work and mental gymnastics it takes to “make sense of” what are often nothing more than literary devices or culturally particular context clues or plain-old hyperbole reminds me of the way Swifties dissect Taylor Swift’s liner notes, album covers, wardrobe changes, or even the tchotchkes on the wall behind her during that interview with the Kelce brothers a couple of weeks ago. Again, it can be fun. And every once in a while you might find an Easter egg. But you don’t have to go into those weeds in order to enjoy or find meaning in the music’s big picture.

The short of the long – where the Bible is concerned, is – we don’t need to get into those weeds, do all of that math, or believe that Moses lived to be 120. Or that Methusela died at the ripe old age of 969. Or that Noah built a boat big enough to hold two of every creature on the planet, including the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Or that God jumped off of a cloud to walk with Adam and Eve.

(For the record, even though I don’t believe God left actual footprints in Eden, I did have a moment once at the cemetery in Lindsay, Ohio, where my maternal grandparents are buried, to the degree that I think I know what Genesis means when it says they heard the sound of God “walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze.”)

Nonetheless, we don’t always have to connect all of those confusing, confounding impossible dots, either.

To put it plainly, the Bible is not a science book – and it doesn’t pretend or need to be. Every part of it isn’t a history book, either – and it doesn’t pretend or need to be. The Bible is a book of books – oral history, letters, poems, songs, stories, prophecies, and more, that never intended to be collected, assembled, and bound into a single tome. Humans did that. Male humans – with power and privilege – did that. And we should be wary of what male humans with power and privilege can do with things like science, history, and the stories of people. (That may be another sermon or another day.)

But in spite of that … still … by the grace of God, the Bible is beautiful and points us toward God’s love and plan for creation at every turn – or it should. And that is how I hope we are inclined and inspired to read, receive, and report what we find in God’s word through the pages of Scripture.

Now, bear with me, but another way I have explained this, is to tell the story of my dad’s Caesar Salad. My dad makes a mean Caesar Salad. It’s been a while since I’ve had it, but growing up it was a staple, whenever we had family or friends over for a nice dinner. The dressing is made with, among other things, a raw egg, Worcestershire sauce, a ton of garlic, lemon juice, and anchovy paste. And even though I can picture him whipping up this concoction a million times while I was growing up, I never really realized or thought about what I was eating, until I asked for the recipe, the first time I tried to impress Christa for a Valentine’s Day dinner when we were just dating, 500 years ago, back in the 1900’s.

(See what I did there? That’s the kind of hyperbole that makes a point, without needing to be historically accurate. Bible writers did that too.)

Anyway, the problem was, my dad never used a recipe when he made his Caesar Salad, so his instructions, delivered by e-mail and then over the phone, were more than a little vague. There were no measuring cups or Table spoons involved. It was, “Use one egg or two depending how much lettuce you have.” It was, “Use a lot of garlic. You can’t really use too much garlic.” It was, “Throw in a couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce.” And it was, “Squeeze a line of anchovy paste into it, about the length of a couple of knuckles.”

Actually, the clearest – and most meaningful – instruction I received that first time around, after giving him grief for how impossibly unclear he was, was when he said, “Mark, you know what it’s supposed to look and taste like when it’s finished. Just make it like that.”

All of this is to say – again – in answer to the question about if and how we are able to square Science with Scripture – is that we don’t have to.

Martin Luther described the Bible as a cradle that merely, but meaningfully, bears the Christ child. And it is a liberating relief for me to say that we don’t worship the words in a book, we worship the Word made flesh, in Jesus.

We worship Jesus – and the unmitigated, radical, counter-cultural, uncomfortable love and grace he shares. The love of God in Jesus is to be the heart and soul and goal of whatever we’re reading into and pulling out of Holy Scripture. We are reading the Bible faithfully – we square science and scripture (or we liberate ourselves from checking our brains at the door or from trying to cram square pegs into round holes) – when and only when, the crucified and risen Jesus, the loving and living God, is what we receive and share through our best interpretations and our most humble understandings of what we find in its pages.

My dad suggested that I'd know it when I saw it, tasted it, presented it, and shared his version of a Caesar Salad with Christa. Throughout Holy Scripture we are invited to see a whole picture of God’s love and grace, in Jesus. Some stories seem harsh and unforgiving. Some are packed with immeasurable grace. So many ancient tales just can’t be reconciled with our modern understanding of how the world works.

But when we toss them all together and when we turn them over in our minds with hearts set on God’s larger story and finished product of love, mercy, forgiveness, and hope, these stories tell a story of grace for the whole wide world that can’t be measured or made sense of, no matter how hard we try to do the math or crunch the numbers. It all only makes sense and measures up by grace, through faith – not because of the words in a book, but because of in the Word of love, made flesh, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Asking for a Friend - Do Churches change the meaning of Scripture to fit what they want it to say?

John 1:1-4, 14-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”)

From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.


We’re in week three of this series: Asking for a Friend. Real Questions. Honest Faith. We gathered your questions and promised to answer them faithfully. This week: “Do churches or denominations change the meaning of the Bible to fit what they want it to say?”

It’s a timely question. Just this week, I saw too many stories and news clips about a pastor in Idaho saying things like: women shouldn’t vote, “godly women are designed to make sandwiches,”

and that Southern slave owners weren’t sinning because their relationships with enslaved people were based on “mutual affection and confidence.” Doug Wilson, the pastor who said those awful things, believes they are gospel truth because he thinks he has Scripture to back it up.

Like Titus 2:5 which says: young women should be “good managers of the household, kind, and submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.” Or Ephesians 6:5: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”

If we don’t agree with him, he’d probably say we’ve changed the meaning of the Bible to fit what we want it to say. Anyone who believes there’s only one correct meaning of a text would say the same. Disagree, and you’re wrong. But here’s the thing: there isn’t just one correct meaning.

For too long, we’ve treated the Bible like a locked box, hunting for the interpretive key to the writer’s original intent. But words are more complicated than that. They carry layers of meaning, history and emotion. Most communication holds more than one meaning.

So No, we don’t change the meaning of the Bible—because there isn’t just one. We interpret it. We ask: what does this mean for us here, now, in our lives? Sure, some twist Scripture for personal gain. Paula White, for instance, claimed John 11:44 meant people should give her $1,144 to receive a prayer cloth that could possibly bring them miracles.

Others accuse us of twisting Scripture to justify our welcome of LGBTQ+ siblings, as a way of attracting more people. Truthfully, if that were our aim, we wouldn’t offer such a bold, hospitable welcome.

We are the only church in this county to do it—and we do it because the Word of God calls us to, not as a marketing ploy.

If we are following the 8th commandment (of not bearing false witness) and interpreting our neighbors’ actions in the best light, we’d say most people interpret Scripture in search of the Truth with a capital T. The real question we want answered is: whose interpretation is right? Whose is wrong? And why?

Seminary students spend three years wrestling with this. Some pastors and theologians spend their whole lives. And you want me to answer it in 10 or 12 minutes? Sure.A small caveat, I am answering from a Lutheran perspective because it is what I know. That is not to say it’s the most right, though I do think it’s pretty useful. There are surely other ways to interpret Scripture that are insightful and faithful.

But as Pastor Mark said last week, you asked me, sorta, so this is what you get. And so much more could be said, so this is not exhaustive by any means, but it’s a start.

As Lutherans, we can’t talk about interpretation without first talking about what the Word of God is. And you might think, well it’s just the Bible, that's the Word of God. Well not exactly. First and foremost, the Word of God is Jesus. John says, “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” It’s not a book that became flesh—it’s God in Christ. Jesus is the Word. What this means is that we see and understand God most through and because of Jesus.

Second, the Word is proclaimed. After the Word became flesh, lived among us, died, and rose, the story could not be contained. People shared it, again and again—witnessing, preaching, proclaiming Christ. Through that proclamation, we encounter Jesus. We hope that’s what happens here on Sundays…

That you encounter Jesus through this preaching and that it confronts us, transforms us, and pushes out into the world holding onto the promises God makes to us.

And then Third, the Word is the written Word—the Bible—because and insofar as it points us to Jesus. The whole Bible, as one story, reveals Christ. Some parts though point more clearly: the gospels, Jesus’ teachings, his death and resurrection, and for Luther, the book of Romans. These show most vividly what Christ’s life and death mean for us.

Other passages, like Titus 2:5 urging women to be submissive, reflect cultural norms more than the gospel’s promise of oneness and equality, proclaimed most boldly in Galatians 3:28. How can we say this? Jesus lifted up the role of women. He taught unity, servitude, placing others before ourselves—but never that women must submit. These messages echo far more deeply than cultural instructions ever could.

But someone might ask, how can one Scripture matter more than another if all Scripture is inspired by God, as that passage from 2 Timothy says plainly: “All scripture is inspired by God”? I’m not disagreeing with that. But Scripture points us to Jesus. We don’t worship the Bible. We worship Christ. Sometimes I fear we get that confused.

The Bible is a tool, a means by which the Holy Spirit shows us God’s love revealed in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. And when we see that, it changes us. It transforms us. It shapes how we live. What matters most in interpreting Scripture isn’t only what it means. Yes, understanding the original intent matters. But what matters most isn’t just what the Bible means, but what the Bible does.

The Word of God does something to you, to us. When we hear it, when we read it together, when we listen to it proclaimed, the Holy Spirit is at work through that Word. After all it is a living and active Word, not just ink on a page. it calls us, moves us, and shapes us, so much so that we live differently because of it.

Take for example that passage from Exodus: You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien. If you are an immigrant or refugee, that word is certainly good news because it shows how God longs for their care and well-being in every time and place. It must give comfort and hope to the desperate migrants in search of safety for themselves and their families. But it also confronts those who see no problem with the rhetoric and policies that harm them.

And it should move those of us—like me—who have done nothing, who have simply shaken our heads and said, “How terrible,” without stepping forward to help our immigrant siblings. The Word meets us here, calling us to act, to love, to bear witness to God’s justice.

You’ve heard it said that people can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say. And that’s true.

But I am more interested in what the Bible, what the Word of God makes one do. So if the meaning you find in the text doesn’t make you afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted,

if it doesn’t widen the bounds of your love,

if it doesn’t encourage unity, or extend forgiveness, or move you toward repentance,

and offer grace with no strings attached, then find a different, more Christ like meaning.

Because the way we interpret scripture is by reading all of it through the lens of Jesus Christ, through whom we all have received grace upon grace.

And that’s the gospel truth.

Amen.