Deep Reading of Holy Writ
- davidwperk
- Sep 26, 2024
- 6 min read
Devotional, Thursday, September 26, 2024
Proper 20, the week of the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 985)
AM Psalm [83] or 146, 147; PM Psalm 85, 86
Esther 7:1-10 or Judith 12:1-20; Acts 19:11-20; Luke 4:14-30
Today we celebrate the Feast of Lancelot Andrewes. (see below).
David’s Reflections
Pope Gregory the Great once observed about Holy Scripture:
“Sacred scripture is as it were a river through which a lamb may wade, but in which an elephant must swim.” * The church finds itself repeatedly torn and riven within over different ways of reading and understanding Holy Scripture. The text can look deceptively simple while being simultaneously incredibly complex.
One can take the simple surface approach, laden with proof texts and certainty about the meanings of the terms (especially if dependent on translations, with no access to the original languages), and forget that deeper and elusive mysteries lurk beneath those surface readings; but then, Scripture can become all the more elusive even as those readers become all the more confident that they’ve found the depths of the river. Elephants will be swimming just out of view of those confident wading lambs.
Jesus’ reading of the Hebrew Scriptures went to those elephant depths, much to the chagrin of the wading lambs of his day. In Luke’s narrative, he found in Hebrew Scripture a deep, recurring message of inclusion of all peoples in the mission of God’s saving love. The wading lambs had proof texts aplenty to buttress their sense of exclusivity, an exclusivity that minimized the value of those labeled unclean within their society and of nonJews. That way of reading created religious barriers nearly impenetrable for those persons. Jesus’ rereading found the deep underlying theme of God’s inclusive love beneath the surface current of their proof texts and traditions based on them. In today’s Gospel, he cites two instances from the elephant depths.
I can imagine Jesus in synagogue worship or instruction feeling found by this text and called to embody it’s energy and truth in his life. Isaiah does offer a succinct summary of Jesus’ life and ministry. Could this have been a foundational text for him, one that defined his ministry?
If we are to find any overarching unity within the church, a return to humility and the sense of the mysteries of Holy Writ must lie at the heart of that reweaving of our community. Jesus offers us the ultimate model of a way of reading and living that vitiates the expression of faith of emotional and religious violence. His opponents responded with emotional and religious violence in this attempt to kill him.
Is there a clue here that rage and emotional violence and rejection among the religious may speak to a lamb-wading lack of humility and sense of the ineffable elephant-depth mysteries involved in reading Holy Writ?
I resonate with these lines about deep reading from a poem by Polish Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz.
You asked me what is the good of reading the Gospels in Greek.
I answer that it is proper that we move our finger
Along letters more enduring than those carved in stone,
And that, slowly pronouncing each syllable,
We discover the true dignity of speech.+
*Gregory the Great, cited by Gerhard Ebeling, The Truth of the Gospel: An Exposition of Galatians, trans. David Green (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), p. xi.
+Czeslaw Milosz, New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001, (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), p. 262.
Collect of the Day, Proper 20, the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 233-234)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Lancelot Andrewes, bishop and scholar (died 26 Sep 1626 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Lancelot Andrewes
Perfect in us, Almighty God, whatever is lacking of your gifts: of faith, to increase it; of hope, to establish it; of love, to kindle it; that like your servant Lancelot Andrewes we may live in the life of your grace and glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the same Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for Guidance
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP 100)
For the Parish
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 817)
A Prayer for Light
Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, Jesus Christ, Amen. (BCP, 111)
A Collect for Mission
O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 124)
Daily Office Gospel, Luke 4:14-30
14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ 23He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”’ 24And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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