Last Sunday after Trinity – Bible Sunday 27 10 24
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Job 42. 1-6, 10-end
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Hebrews 7. 23-end
GOSPEL READING Mark 10:46-end
Bible is central to our Christian faith. The liturgies that we use to worship God are full of verses from the Bible. In our worship we have the texts from the bible read to us. We find the messages from the Bible reflected in the hymns that we sing. We look to the Bible to shape our character.
The reason we do this is because the Bible points us to God and tells us what God is expecting from us as individuals, as the church and as world. This helps us in having a living relationship with God.
The Bible is sacred writings because we believe that the writers have written in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and therefore the books of the Bible are considered inspired writings. Our understanding is that the Bible contains the word of God. All our understanding of God are derived from the biblical texts. God is a God who is not distant or detached but loves people and communicates with people and leads our history.
In the 39 books of the Old Testament we find people write their everyday stories, stories of individuals and communities, their difficulties, their challenges, their failures and victories and every other experience that we all experience in our lives. They of course write their stories placing God at the centre and there by they are narrating their experiences from a faith perspective. There for they continue to inspire us when we read the Bible.
What do we get from the Bible? We find words of comfort when we are afflicted, we find inspiration when we are feeling discouraged, we find guidance when we don’t know the way. We are corrected when we are wrong, and we find words of the Bible challenge us when we go out of control and become evil.
Bible Sunday reminds us that we need to love the Bible and be nourished and enriched by it. In the Book of Exodus it is written, ‘Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.’ (Exodus 19.5). The basis of the covenantal relationship God has is on the basis of our willingness to obey the voice of God and live by it.
The book of Proverbs tells us that ‘Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.’ (Proverbs 30:5). The word of God is the truth and it can never be false.
Prophet Isaiah writes in his book, ‘Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go.’ (Is. 48. 17). Through the word of God, God teaches people for their own Good.
The Gospels in the New Testament brings Jesus before our eyes and reminds us of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. And tells us of the redemption that Jesus established for people on the Cross.
The Epistles of the New Testament resource our christian faith and character by telling us the significance of our faith and the church and explains to us the Christian experience.
As we observe Bible Sunday, let us resolve to love and value the Bible and let our life and faith in God be enriched by it. That we may know Jesus more and more and love him more and more and serve him more and more.