A couple of weeks ago I was struck with the idea that there are a lot of verses in the Bible which are difficult. To paraphrase F.F. Bruce in "Hard Sayings of Jesus", some verses are difficult because we don't know what they mean, and some are difficult because we know exactly what they mean.
As an experiment, I read through the Sermon on the Mount with the youth group, and asked them to mentally keep track of how many times they thought to themselves, "Golly, I hope Jesus doesn't mean that exactly like it sounded." We came up with about 20 - in just three chapters.
We all have our favorite Bible verses that bring comfort and meaning to our lives. But I think that it is a healthy exercise to confront those parts of scripture that make us distinctly uncomfortable. Finley Peter Dunne said the job of the newspaper was to "comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." (He was being sarcastic when he said that. It was his way of saying the media of the time had assumed too much power for themselves.) But I think that phrase describes the role of the Bible pretty well - it is the role of the prophet, or the prophetic text, in a nutshell.
So here's a Bible verse that freaks me out, and encourages us to look closely at the other verses that afflict us as well:
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires; and will turn their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths." - 1 Timothy 4:3-4
Paul's challenge to Timothy in this situation is "Preach the word!", "endure hardship," and "do the work of an evangelist." Not a bad challenge at all.
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In my household growing up, my mother used to do needlework. Very often she would cross-stitch a verse of scripture, frame it, and place it on the wall. Whenever I see these "difficult" verses, I think to myself, "You won't see that verse cross-stiched on the wall." And then I think, maybe we should - nothing like a few of these Bible Verses that Freak Us Out to keep us living a little straighter. One that freaks me out is John 14:12. Jesus is talking about performing miracles and adds "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Really? I'm supposed to be doing greater miracles than Jesus? Not just me but anyone with faith? How do we take this?
Good stuff!
I think we'll have contest, and I'll award prizes to people who do a cross-stitch of a particularly freaky Bible verse!
And I agree on your selection. Strangely, Bruce doesn't cover that one in "Hard Sayings." And there's a LOT of that kind of in the Gospels.
The usual justification is that because unlike Jesus, we remain on earth, we have the opportunity to do more (different kinds?) of things for the kingdom.
Yes, i've heard that justification. I've also heard that collectively (and therefore not necessarily individually) we shall do more and greater things than Jesus. Still sounds crazy to me.
Hey Patrick,
I've borrowed your recent post for my own today. I gave you credit my friend. Blessings.
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