All that fire

"Were not our hearts burning within us?"


It's one of my favorite quotes from the Bible and it comes from Luke's story of two people walking the road to Emmaus.  A  stranger joins them on this journey and pretty soon the stranger is talking scripture (the Hebrew scriptures or what we Christians would call the Old Testament since that was all that there was).  It turns out that this stranger is the risen Jesus and he is connecting the dots in the scriptures .....which, I would guess firmly point to him as God's Messiah.  When the two companions finally figure it all out, one says, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened to us the scriptures?" Apparently, God's Word and fire are not uncommon. Luke 24.32

In the book of Exodus, Moses encounters a bush that is burning but not consumed....the famous 'burning bush' story.  As Moses comes closer to inspect this phenomena, a voice says,  'take off your sandals.  You are standing on holy ground'.  Yep, that was God, calling Moses to be God's servant and the liberator of the Hebrew people.  Exodus 3.1ff

The prophet Jeremiah is another example.  In the 20th chapter, after having endured consistent and nasty responses to his faithful preaching, Jeremiah has had all he can take.  "You have enticed me, and I was enticed" Jeremiah cries.  [There are some very interesting variations on the translation of that word 'enticed']

If you have read all the previous 19 chapters you would probably agree with the crowd; Jeremiah, who is known as the weeping prophet, is a buzz killer.  As a result, he was called names, called out, ostracized and pushed around, and just because he is doing what God called him to do (see chapter 1), that is, to speak the words that God put in his mouth.  No one likes the message, so they want to get rid of the messenger.

Jeremiah wants to get rid of the Word of God that is constantly coming to him; he wants to retire from his job as prophet.  So he says,  "If I say, 'I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,' then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot."  God's Word was a fire in his bones.  Wow.  Jeremiah 20.9

When the disciples gathered after Easter for the feast of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came among them like tongues of fire with a tongue of fire resting on each one present.  Soon everyone was speaking and hearing languages they didn't otherwise know.  Hmmm  Acts 2.3

When was the last time God's Word lit a fire in your belly?  When did it compel you to speak?  When did God call you to be a servant and liberator of others?

I would guess there are times when a gentle nudge is no longer enough to get God's people moving.  Sometimes it takes a little heat, applied wherever God believes it will do the most good.

Have you felt the heat lately?

Opened the scriptures

Seems I have been trying to get folks to open the scriptures my whole life.  When I was young, I wanted the adults to open the scriptures by reading the story deeply and asking it the thousands of questions that come to mind.  What do angels look like?  Can you hear their voice or do the words just sort of appear in your mind?  Did God ask someone to be the mother of Jesus before asking Mary?  How do we explain Jesus healing people from miles away? and so forth, and so forth.  You can imagine rightly that I drove both my confirmation pastor and countless hapless adults who were trying to teach crazy. They confused my curiosity with impertinence.

Road to Emmaus by artist  He Qi

There was little improvement when I began studying with other adults.  Seems most of the adults simply wanted to be told what it meant.  Interpret it for me; just lay out the lesson for me.  My questions just seemed to confuse the issue.  (How could they confuse the issue when we sure what the issue was?).  I was not really welcome at a lot of places.

Then I went to 'deacon school' where I met a New Testament scholar by the name of the Rev. Dr. Richard Carlson, and boy could he teach the scriptures.  There wasn't a question too outrageous for him.  Speculation was one of his tools for engaging the stories of the Bible.  What if?  What could this mean?  What do we know about doctors or women or merchants or Roman soldiers from that time?  What does this tell us?  I fell in love.....not with him, but with the scriptures.

I always knew there was something more.  I always knew that these stories were complex and most of the time I was just skimming the surface.  God talks to us through these stories and it takes very close listening to discover God's revelations.  A story as dense and complex as the story of God working in and through humankind and all of creation requires wrestling, not skimming.  There are many voices and lessons to be heard.

In the gospel of Luke we are given two post-resurrection stories of Jesus appearing to disciples and in both it says that 'Jesus opened the scriptures' for them.  "Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened the scriptures to us?" they ask.  This leads me to wonder....

,,,,,God's Word and fire are often associated in the Bible. Think about Moses and the burning bush, Jeremiah and the fire in his belly, and now these disciples.   I wonder why fire?

....Jesus 'opened' the scriptures for them.  Was this just a deeper explanation.......or was it the revelation of Jesus as the interpretive (hermeneutical) key to the whole God story? What were they learning about God that was new or surprising?

....That burning sensation....Was it heartburn (like I often get when I need to really concentrate on some complex problem of logic) or was it that 'burn' that comes when, although you are working hard, you know you are accomplishing much?

....What would it take to 'open the scriptures' for us today?  What am I missing?  What treasure lies just below the surface, ready for the ones who are willing to dig a little?

Very little gives me more pleasure than doing this work with fellow explorers, to read and question and speculate and listen to God speaking through others as they wrestle with God's word.  As we huddle over a story and listen to one another, we hear God speaking through multiple filters.  In the end, I have often heard God speak in new and exciting ways.  The scriptures are opened once again.

You can do this.  Find yourself some companions for this adventure.  Stick with it.  Be prepared to encounter God in new ways.

But please, open the scriptures and take the time to read and listen.  God has so much to say.