Because of the assignment that I’ve been given at Grace Fellowship, a not small portion of my working hours involves reading the Bible. This is a tremendous gift of grace in my life, and one that I do not take lightly. The other part of this call is that I’m responsible to proclaim it and preach it to the actual people in the room with me and aim it at their hearts with simplicity, clarity, and in an interesting and engaging fashion, knowing what I know about them, every week. This is a wonderful way to spend your working hours. Trust me on that.
The Bible is a wildly fascinating book. And a bottom-line reality is that if you want to know God, you’re gonna have to know him through his Word.
We began a slow march through Luke’s gospel (with a couple of breaks thrown in, in the Psalms) in the Advent season of 2017. This means that I’ve read through Luke’s gospel in its entirety so many times. I’ve also concentrated on certain sections with intensity. Right now, I’ve been combing Jesus in Jerusalem (19:28–23:56) for months on end, in preparation for the coming weeks at Grace. It is an unreal section. When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, you better watch out. He is walking into a powder keg (for many historical reasons), and he knows what he is doing when he is doing things.
I’m undone by it and cannot fully get my mind around everything that is going on. If you know me, you can imagine this: Every time I work on it all, I get dizzy and out of breath. I run my hands through my hair nervously, my arms flail about, I hop up from my chair, walk mini circles around my office and scrawl incomprehensible drawings on my whiteboard. And I giggle some because it’s funny how at a loss I can be. There comes a point when it moves from frustrating to funny. Preachers will know what I mean.
To get one’s mind around Jesus in Jerusalem, you kinda need to understand the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament. Because of everything Jesus did in the city can really only be understood in light of all of that. And of course, the prophetic tradition of OT makes sense only in light of the other parts of the OT. There is just so much. Then you need to understand Matthew’s, Mark’s, and John’s gospel stories to figure out Luke’s unique contribution to the canon.
I find myself lost in rabbit holes and down meandering paths of study and wandering back out again slightly confused but more excited. It’s hard to explain and a weird image, but I just want to keep eating it, and chewing on it, and trying to discern all the flavors and textures.
There is a tendency for members in a church to think that pastors sort of have the Bible under their command. Let me tell you a secret: We do not.
Then, such a small percentage of this work can make it into sermons. But, it must stand in the background of the sermons. Now, what to include and what to keep on the shelves in the inventory are hard decisions to make, especially when you are a young, inexperienced preacher. I am both those things. They say it takes 10 years of weekly sermon-making to learn to do it. I have been at this for 2.5 years. Which makes me laugh sometimes. But I have a firm conviction that every single sermon is supposed to be as simple as it can possibly be.
But I have a group of folks who lean forward in their seats and look at me each week, waiting. That hear me with patience and long-suffering and compassion and sympathy when it comes to my foibles. They have let me learn on the job, which is both kind and gracious.