September 10th

'Difficult' Passages

To my dear TFMC family,

What do you do with scripture passages that you don’t like?  Are you like a colleague of mine, who, after reading the book of Judges, was so angry that they threw their bible across the room?  Or are you like Thomas Jefferson, who took a razor blade and glue to his bible and literally cut out the parts of scripture that he didn’t like or agree with?  Or perhaps you’re a little less extreme, and you simply flip past those stories, not giving them any attention.

I ask this question because I am wrestling with our scripture reading for this week, The Binding of Isaac, found in Genesis 22.  I’m having trouble with it for two reasons.  First, as a parent of a child, and second, what it might suggest about God.  More thoughts on this come Sunday.

But this isn’t the first ‘difficult’ scripture passage that I’ve encountered.  Take, for example, the story of Jephthah’s daughter in Judges chapter 11.  I find it difficult to find ‘good news’ in this story.  And perhaps the point of the story is not to do what the characters in the story do.  I’ve heard many people mention that they struggle with some of the writing of Paul, be it too patriarchal, exclusive and judgmental or even too doctrinal, misrepresenting the good news of Jesus.  I get it, and yet, it’s there.  So, do we just take out our scissors and start cutting away?

No, I don’t think we do that, we would certainly be left with a very different, hole-y book.  Ignoring these passages, or cutting them out all altogether, is just avoiding the reality that they are a part of the biblical story.  I don’t believe that avoidance is a solution for ‘difficult’ scripture passages.  

These passages are a part of God’s story and our story.  Our story hasn’t always been pure, spotless, and shiny.  There are many tarnished bits.  I remind myself, often, that the story of the Bible is, sometimes, the story of God’s people missing the point.  It’s sometimes the story of what not to do, rather than what to do.  And if we can remember this, then perhaps we create space for both the parts we like and the parts that we struggle with.

As much as I’m wrestling with this week’s scripture, I’m still engaging with it.  I’m still wrestling with it because by wrestling with it, I’m forcing myself to grow.  It’s forcing me to ask questions, to wonder what’s going on here, and to even wonder why this is included.  I might not like what I’m reading, I might not want to preach on it, and yet, there is something to be gleaned from the tough passage that I’m sure of.  It might just take a bit more effort to find the ‘good news’ in it.

Yours, 

Craig Janzen Neufeld, Pastor