The truth of the Way was much more profound than the truth of the simple answers that stood guard over my faith. I grew up in the same kind of religious environment as Rachel Evans and I know whereof she speaks. I will be forever grateful for the voices that brought me to questions I never dreamed existed and a Way that led to more comprehensive answers.
A recent find that illustrates the above idea.
While browsing in a used bookstore (some people still do this), I came across The Jewish Annotated New Testament. The Editors’ Preface explains the reason for this book:13
…Jews and Christians still misunderstand many of each other’s texts and traditions. The landmark publication of this book…will serve to increase our knowledge of both our common histories and the reasons why we came to separate.
…in addition to emphasizing the Jewish background — or better, the Jewish contexts — of the New Testament, we pay special attention to the passages that negatively stereotype Jews or groups of Jews…..13
Jesus and Paul were both Jews who were faithful to their heritage and traditions; this book provides valuable insights into the Jewish world in which they lived and worked. I just completed reading Common Errors Made About Early Judaism, one of many excellent essays in the back of the book. It gives much-needed insight and correctives to our assumptions about the New Testament world. One that was not new to me is that there were many divisions within Judaism and no single belief in the role of the coming Messiah. Diversity marked the religious world of that time even as it marks the world of our time.
There is no better way to understand Judaism than to listen to Jewish writers talk about their faith.
Questions for Reflection and Conversation
1 Does my interpretation of the episode in John 9 make sense to you?
2 What do you understand to be the difference between an answer and a way?
3 Are you comfortable with the discussion about a broader base for reading?
7 Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life (New York: HarperSanFrancisco), 124.
8 Rachel Held Evans, Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 53.
9 Ibid, 64.
10 Ibid, 155.
11 Michael J. Fox, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist (New York: Hyperion, 2009), 160.
12 Ibid, 180.
13 Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, eds., The Jewish Annotated New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1911), xii.
Chapter 2:
Ecclesiastes
Is Right
The teacher often says things we don’t want to hear.
Ecclesiastes is ordinarily not one of the biblical books read for inspiration. It begins on quite a low note and never really seems to rise above its basic pessimism. The usual translation of verse two in chapter one is the teacher’s lament: Vanity of vanities — all is vanity. My preferred translation is: Meaninglessness! Meaninglessness! (TNIV). This unnamed teacher then begins a catalogue of the many ways he has sought meaning for his life, including: pleasure, wisdom, riches, and hard work. His discourse is filled with much of what we would term “negative thinking” ending with: “What difference does anything make anyway? We all have the same destiny — the grave.”
It is to be noted that, as one of the Wisdom books in the Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes does have much to offer. Who has not heard chapter three’s familiar opening verse: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens? Following his list, most are surprised by verse eleven: (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart. Another widely-known verse is found in the opening of chapter seven: A good name is better than fine perfume. There are also some excellent proverbs in this chapter as well as the call for moderation in all things: Do not be over-righteous, do not be over-wicked (3:16-17). A large piece of wisdom which remains highly controversial will be discussed in chapter fourteen (9:11).
Aside from some memorable phrasing, the Teacher’s conclusion has been the text for many sermons: Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of every human being. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (12:13-14). James Limburg gives this commentary:14
“The end of the matter,” says verse 13, and the book of Ecclesiastes comes to a close. As a good teacher…(he) summarizes the whole thing in just a few words, “while standing on one foot,” as the rabbis liked to say: “Revere God, and keep God’s commandments!”…And then says the Teacher, translating the Hebrew literally, “This is everything for humans.” (Mine: The CEV translates: “This is what life is all about.”)
There’s a great day coming.
I find verse 13 to be a key in bringing meaning and purpose to life: it is the word of judgment; it is the word of accountability. Most of us remember that when a High School teacher made a reading recommendation not on the required list, someone would always ask, “Will this be on the final?” If the answer was, “No,” the number who read the suggested book took a significant downturn. When we know we are accountable for everything then everything takes on new meaning. There is One who cares about what we do, about how we live. There is One to whom we are accountable. Our lives matter; we matter. Limburg informs us that Jewish tradition directs that in reading Ecclesiastes publicly, verse 13 should be repeated, so that everything ends on a positive note.15
You don’t read Ecclesiastes like you read the book of Romans.
A good rule of thumb is that before you begin reading anything in the Bible, you find out what kind of literature you will be encountering. I remember how helpful it was to hear in my Old Testament survey class at seminary that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are often referred to as “The Theological Prolegomena” to the Hebrew Scriptures. They contain the stories that set the stage and provide the context for the history of the Hebrew people that begins in chapter twelve. You immediately sense a change in the nature of the text when you read: Now God said to Abraham…. Thus begins the story of Abraham and his descendants which fills the next thirty-eight chapters of the book. You immediately notice the difference in the tone of the writing from what you encountered in the first eleven chapters.
Another quick illustration: you don’t read the book of Job the same way you read the book of Romans and you don’t read Romans the way you read Paul’s other letters. To begin with, rather than a typical piece of correspondence written to a congregation in order to address questions or specific problems, Romans is more or less a theological treatise. It is the most carefully crafted of Paul’s writings and is intended to be for congregations everywhere rather than just the church in Rome (which Paul had not visited). The book of Job, except for the brief Prologue and briefer Epilogue, is poetry. Most translations (except for a few like The Jerusalem Bible) do not reflect this in the way the text is laid out. This massive dose of poetry in a book labeled “wisdom