Sermons

"Blasts from the Past Part II"

Delivered from the Pulpit of First Congregational Church

of Anchorage by The Reverend Mark E. Long

on August 9, 2009

Lections:  Ex. 32.15-16, Deut. 4.1-8

                  II Tim. 3.14-17

                  Jn. 5.39-44

Last week, I "set the table" by answering some preliminary questions.  What is a canon and in particular what is the New Testament canon?  How does a writing - gospel, letter, apocalypse, etc. - qualify to get in the canon?  What has been the history of the writings making the cut - some just barely?

All of this to give some thoughtful response to the essence of the question drawn from the "sermon box" for last week:  Is the New Testament canon closed or does the Christ bare witness to God in other places and ways then and since?"  This is really the issue; the question goes beyond the specific question asked about the Gospel of Judas.

Four gospels, no more and no less, said Irenaeus.  How many more could there be anyway?  Many, very many - some with fascinating things to say, and others frankly the stuff of Disney.  Gospels have been written by or on behalf of (more likely) James, Mary of Bethany, Mary (Jesus' mother), Pseudo-Matthew (a welcome bit of honesty), Nicodemus, Bartholomew, Peter, Thomas, Phillip, our friend Marcion, a "Secret" gospel of Mark, and the recently discovered Judas.  These are the ones that have in some form or fragment survived.

The rest of the known list of extra-canonical writings - letters, writings of doom (the apocalypses), and "the Acts" or supposed historical reports - conservatively number well into the hundreds.  Can it be that God has nothing to say to Christians or the communities of Christians in any of these?

It is hard to imagine.  But if you are in the early stages of trying to get a tradition around Jesus as the Christ to catch hold and you are trying to make clear who "gets it" and who doesn't, the heretics in other words, the line has to be drawn somewhere - and so it is - the canon was closed.

When the existing canon was unexamined by the people this all worked out quite well.  The people couldn't read; it was performed for them in those days by those who could read - at least a little.  But most clergy honestly had not read it much more than those they performed for.  The performance was the important part.  No one was the wiser that the canon may not really contain writings close to magic.

But time has not been kind to the canon; chinks in the armor of Christ began to appear as the Holy Words became accessible to more than the clergy.  The hope by some to re-make the Church more into an image of their liking and the invention of the printing press exposed the Holy Words to scrutiny.  In time, scrutiny came; studious types began to line up to win academic favors by writing the next article or book revealing if not that the "emperor has no clothes" they are, at minimum, less well tailored than had been believed.

The writings of the existing canon no longer look so different than those that were excluded from it.  The Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Thomas, even the Gospel of Truth that we considered several weeks ago - why not them?

How do we decide?  Trust me, I have read with great amusement (I might add) some of these that didn't make the cut; most should be far from consideration as "more light and truth breaking forth from God."  They are positively bizarre.  But others - well it is hard to see much difference.

So for the moment, assuming there may be "more light and truth" out there what should be the "litmus test" for a place of authority in church life?  Most candidates make the claim of "apostolic origin" so that doesn't exclude them.  Many of those excluded were used by some group somewhere in church worship - so that is not a good test.  What should be the rule or measure of authority?

With apologies to the church as it has evolved, I think we have to go back to the beginning - before the beginning of the Christian Church, at least at first - to the beginning of the story of YHWH, Moses, and a ragtag bunch of exiles who stumbled more than they walked with their God.

Our Scriptures this morning are for the most part the same as last week -as I simply continue my thoughts.  But as I began to think about the question from the "sermon box," Deuteronomy 4 came to mind which led me to my answer to the question "What should be the rule or measure to give any writing a place of authority in church life?"

In particular I draw attention to verse 2, which ironically has been used to argue that the New Testament canon is tightly slammed shut.  "You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you."  How people could argue for a closed New Testament canon on the basis of this verse which the existing canon violates is perplexing.

It also leaves me to wonder whether there should have been all of those other Jewish laws, which (you gotta smile) Jesus seemed to enjoy breaking , e.g., healing on the Sabbath, picking berries on the Sabbath.

Maybe there never should have been more than the wisdom of the Torah to guide us.  Jesus said as much didn't he?  All the commandments given to Moses hang on but two - love God wholly and love your neighbor as yourself.  You do these two things and the law is fulfilled - at least we have a gospel in the canon that says that.

But let's be clear the New Testament canon is tightly slammed shut; it is not re-opening.  There may be yet more light and truth breaking out all around us but the canon is not going to reflect further light and truth outside of its existing pages.  Just not going to happen.

But this does not mean that God has not and is not speaking outside of its pages.  The test of Christian authority, I suggest to you, is whether any writing helps rather than hinders us to fulfill the law as given by YHWH and broken down to its essence by Jesus - love God wholly and your neighbor as yourself.

If the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Thomas, or some less celebrated  gospel, e.g. the Gospel of Truth helps you fulfill the law and so ensures that yet more light and truth will break forth into your life, then I say, go for it. 

Just remember that God speaks in places and ways other than words.  "[For whom] has a god so near as the Lord our God is whenever we call?"  Just look around; we live in Alaska.

This is how I see a canon closed forever but a god speaking everywhere that the people are listening.  Amen.