Friday March 12, 2011

Matthew 7:23-25

"Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.' Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock."

I couldn't help thinking today about the way that many members of the religious right view the Constitution and the Bible - as if they are fixed documents which enshrine an unflinching set of standards to preserve us from some imagined ruin that comes with moving with the times. But I think, at least with views on the words of the Bible, that this is a more widespread method of viewing the Good Book.

But the Constitution and the Bible are both living documents. They are being actively interpreted and reexamined, retranslated, and meanings sought in new ways. We could not look to a fixed and therefore dead document for answers to the new questions which confound us. That fact that we can turn to the Bible proves that it is a living document. Fixed documents shrink over time, become less relevant and speak with less authority rather than more. They become relics of times past, whether you aspire to that remembered past or rebel from it.

How could we ever think we had come to full understanding of God's Word? And that it was therefore a fixed set of principles rather than a tool for guidance in our ever-changing world? Surely God would not be so short-sighted as He handed down His holy Word.

No the Bible is a living witness to Jesus's and God's interactions with humanity, with the Chosen People. If we believe that the Bible does or can contain an answer to every question we could pose of God and our faith journey, then we must believe that the Bible is still being discovered anew. For otherwise we must believe that God intended all of society to come to a crashing halt at a time when women were stoned for adultery. Yet Jesus was a radical. He was a revolutionary, so much so that many mistook Him for a political reformer. He wanted something far more profound from us, and a Word designed to stimulate constant revolution, for such must be the path until Jesus' Return helps us to create the perfect world, cannot be a fixed set of principles. It is a tool for finding our way in a complex world throwing new questions at our faith every day.

It is a foundation, not the entire house.

A house cannot be built on sand, but neither can it be unable to stand the test of time. Neither can it refuse to give with wear and weather. Or it will fall all the same. It must stand strong when the river rises, that is a given. But we must trust that the rock is strong - strong enough for us to be able to admit that we do not have all of the answers written down for us in a handy cheat sheet for attaining eternal bliss.

That is what I believe - that the Word of God is not a fixed set of moralities but a guide for how to approach the world with the Grace of God on our side.

Lord, may I always be willing to hear and listen to Your Word in my life. May I always be blessed to follow You. Help me to find my way.