Bible Sunday

This Sunday is Bible Sunday. I always smile when I realise Bible Sunday is on its way. I absolutely love the Bible. When I was a teenager I had a collection of different Bibles and matching Bible covers. I had special highlighting pencils for my favourite verses. I even got tabs to go on the side of the books in the Bible so that I could easily find a particular book whenever it was mentioned at a Bible study. I was a Christian bookseller's dream. I had all the gadgets.  

I couldn't get enough of the Bible. Of course, the appearance is nothing compared to the words. I don't want to sound as if I am showing off, and having all the various aids to help me read the Bible didn't always mean that I read it as much as I could.  

The most important bit then and now is  making time to read the Bible. Time to pray about what we are reading. The Bible is the way in which we learn about God, and it gives us advice on how to live. 

In the gospel reading (Luke 4:16-24) we heard of a time when Jesus took scripture and used it to surprise people. Imagine the scene. The well known son of Mary and Joseph was  back home, and as would be customary, He went to the synagogue. He then read a passage of Isaiah. The passage was certainly well known, in the passage was the promise of all that the long awaited Messiah was going to do. 

The people had been waiting in hope of God intervening by overthrowing the Romans who were in control of their land. The people knew that they had been promised a better way. They had been promised an anointed One, the Messiah who would make life better. 

They were waiting.  When Barack Obama was president of the United States there was an occasion when he was asked a question to which he gave a great answer. An answer that made it clear that he knew what he was talking about. He then dropped the microphone as a sound that all was completed. In the gospel reading Jesus has His own microphone drop moment. This was that after reading from Isaiah about the one who was to come, the one who would bring freedom, Jesus announced that His presence meant that the reading and the promise had been fulfilled. 

A microphone or even a pin drop moment. I always love picturing the scene afterwards where the people said, ‘isn't this Joseph's son.’ I am never sure whether the people were impressed or whether they were thinking, ‘who does he think he is?’

Either way, there is a surprise. The surprise that the promises of God were being fulfilled. Jesus was the fulfillment. Not only this, but the one they had been waiting for had arrived.

There is an element of surprise. Of course the scene doesn't end there as immediately Jesus responds by saying that He knows what they are likely to say as He quotes a proverb to them. Then He says that He can’t do in his hometown what He has done elsewhere as He wouldn't be accepted or listened to.

I could shake my head at them for not understanding who Jesus was. I could be rather exasperated. Then I wonder if I forget sometimes that God can speak to me through scripture in a way which surprises me. It may be through something that someone else says about the  passage. It may even be something I have read.

The Bible is God's word to us. Why wouldn't we expect to be surprised by what He is saying? The Bible challenges us. The Bible isn't meant to gather dust. It is alive and we need to make sure we read it. 

I was once a helper with the under 5’s at a Christian conference called Spring Harvest. One of the leaders of the group I was with had written a song. It often runs around my head 25 years later!!! 

The words are, “The Bible is a special book, it tells us that God love us. The Bible tells us what to do, we want to do what it says.” 

It is very simple, and of course, there is more that can be said but maybe 25 years later some of the children who were there remember that the Bible is special.

The song is not that different to the beginning of the Psalm (119:) for this Sunday.

“Your decrees are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.”

This Psalm is all about keeping God's word and commands. It is almost a love song of joy at God’s word. 

Bible Sunday is special not only because we remember that the Bible can surprise us, but also because we can love the fact that God continues to speak to us through it.