42 FEATURE
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PREACHER AND THE BIBLICAL TEXT
A preacher today must recognise and engage the distances of time , translation and context . It ’ s about 2000 years since the New Testament texts were first written ; longer in relation to Old Testament texts . They were first written in languages now not spoken or written as they once were , and they ’ ve been translated a number of times in order that we , the preachers of today , are able to read them at all . The original hearers of these texts lived in a world almost incomprehensibly different to our own .
How do we go about beginning to overcome such distances ? I ’ ve found it helpful to simply acknowledge that these distances exist ! It sometimes prompts me to discover what an original word or phrase meant . I do look up what the little ‘ a ’ and ‘ b ’ footnotes refer to in the passage I ’ m reading , and this often suggests an alternative for a hard-to-translate word that opens up new thinking for my sermon .
To help me in this endeavour I ’ ve invested in and relied heavily upon resources . I have commentaries and use them . Thank the Lord for good biblical scholars who can write ! In more recent years I ’ ve signed up to some of the many decent websites containing articles and sermon ideas , and subscribed to resources like Preach : good preaching has always included the practice of borrowing !
But not just commentaries : theological and devotional resources too . All sorts of insights that help reduce distances of time , translation and context appear in resources about mission , pastoral care , discipleship and studies on the Trinity , etc . When a writer employs a biblical quote or reference I ask ‘ How are they using it ? Why here , in relation to this topic ?’
Then there ’ s the biblical text itself . Because only reading about a text , however helpful the source , isn ’ t enough for effective preaching . Remember that a good deal of scripture , particularly the New Testament – and especially the Gospels – is itself ‘ preached material ’. It was preached before it was written down . And it ’ s often written down in a way that hints at how it was preached . So approach and explore a text as being itself a sermon as well as ‘ scripture ’, and sometimes things appear . Let a text speak to you before you think about speaking about it . If you discern a shape , or a progression of thought , or a repeated phrase in the text , faithfully preach the sermon that you discern in the text , not another one !
Of course we can ’ t always know the original meanings or contexts , but that of itself doesn ’ t mean a faithful and effective sermon can ’ t be preached from that passage . Scripture is multilayered and multi-vocal , and the Holy Spirit is helping us . I often read the passage aloud several times over several days . I emphasise different words , read it in different versions . If there ’ s speech in a passage I play around with how it might have been spoken . How I imagine Jesus saying ‘ as the Father sent me , so I send you ’ in John 20 , and how Peter might have said , ‘ I ’ m going fishing ’ in John 21 – and where I put the emphasis , and what mood I impart – yields all sorts of insights .
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE CONGREGATION AND THE BIBLICAL TEXT
Many preachers , myself included , thoroughly enjoy the processes I ’ ve outlined so far . And that ’ s fine , sermon preparation is meant to be exciting and rewarding . But of course the essential object is that a particular congregation and the word of God are brought closer together and worship and discipleship deepened , causing the angels in heaven to rejoice . The preacher is ( merely !) the chosen vessel for that critical task and holy privilege .
I believe preaching which reduces distance between people and text finds its best and most fruitful environment in the Christian year . The Christian year – Advent , Christmas , Epiphany , Lent , Easter , Ascension , Pentecost , Trinity – is the cyclical rehearsal and remembrance of the Christian story . It ’ s the huge redemptive tapestry in which sermons that reduce distance locate themselves .
This mustn ’ t be heard as an appeal to slavishly follow the lectionary on , say , the evening of the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost ! There ’ s plenty of space in the Christian year for topics and themes a preacher feels they have been given by the Lord to preach to God ’ s people . But it is an appeal to let the key themes and moods of the main Christian seasons shape and colour our sermons . A critical question for an effective preacher is ‘ what time is it ?’, meaning , ‘ where are we in the metastory of our faith ?’
There are times when the actual example recorded in a biblical text appears very distant to a modern congregation . Before deciding to preach on something else , an effective preacher will pause and ask whether there is a principle lying under the example : a piece of teaching which is actually hugely applicable .
An example : in 1 Corinthians 8 , Paul talks about eidolothuta , food offered to idols . It ’ s perfectly proper for a preacher to explain something of the practices of the ancient world , perhaps allude to the significant scriptural themes of sacrifice and offering , and remind people that meat offered at idol shrines was sometimes given to the poor – like early foodbanks ! But the fact is that most of us today buy our meat already dead , from butchers or supermarkets , and the actual practice spoken of here is distant to our experience and lives .
But the principles for living Christian life together that Paul goes on to teach are very near to home . To a congregation disagreeing and divided about whether it ’ s sinful to offer food to idols ( after all , ‘ Thou shalt not worship idols , for the Lord your God is One ’), or just pointless ( because as there is only one God , the idols are without power or force ), Paul reminds