Changed by a Book

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Pray with me. Oh, gracious God, thank you for your spirit that inspired the writer of this Old Testament book of Kings. And so now we ask that you would anoint us as we listen to your scripture, open our eyes and our hearts and our minds so that we can truly know your transformational message for us today, today. Amen. This morning, our scripture comes from the book, the second book of Kings, 22, verses 1 to 13, and it's on page 310 of your Pew Bible. Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign. He reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah, daughter of Edaiah of Boscath. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, son of Azilah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, go up to the high priest Hilkiah and have him add up the entire sum of the silver that has been brought to the house of the Lord that the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. Let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the Lord. Let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the Lord repairing the house, that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons, and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly. The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king and reported to the king, your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the Lord. Shaphan the secretary informed the king, the priest Hilkiah has given me a book. Shaphan then read it aloud to the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, son of Shaphan, Achbor, son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and the king servant Asaiah, saying, go inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. [00:03:44] Speaker B: Well, happy Reformation Sunday, everyone. Today we recall and celebrate the Protestant Reformation as a church. And each year this celebration, a time to recall the Reformation, takes place on the last Sunday of October. We do that because something very significant happened, happened on the last day of October. Back in 1517, a remarkable piece of writing was released. A monk and teacher in Wittenberg, Germany, named Martin Luther had written 95 theses regarding church theology and practice. These 95 theses were quite critical of church practices in Luther's time. In October 31st or the last Sunday in October, All Saints Day 1517 was the day Luther dropped that album that was would go on to become a best seller and get millions of likes and listens on Spotify. On that day, Luther delivered his 95 thesis both to the local archbishop and at least according to Philip Melanchthon, he also affixed it to the very public door of the Wittenberg All Saints Church. This incendiary little book, Luther's 95 Theses, also got reprinted and spread widely. Here are the first two pages of that little book. And it clearly was printed as a pamphlet of maybe six to eight pages. And this pamphlet got spread. You'll recall that it emerged in Germany, this thing called a printing press. It actually emerged in Korea some 200 years before northern Europe, but in Germany by Luther's time, not only had the printing press been invented by Gutenberg, or at least Gutenberg popularized it, but it had spread to more than a hundred locations around Europe and allowed a pamphlet like the 95 thesis or this little book to spread like wildfire and become a national best seller. And that little book changed people. When it got in their hands. They read this little book, or very often heard it read by somebody who could read. And when it reached their ears, they thought, wait, wait. This practice that church officials have been doing, promising that if we give what was called an indulgence, if we put donations towards the Pope's big building campaign, if we do that, when our promise that a soul will be freed from purgatory by doing that, that practice is not scriptural. In fact, Scripture challenges such a practice like the indulgence or indulgences. And so people began to question church practices and theology at that time. And that would set off a whole firestorm that would eventually become the Reformation. Now, Luther's 95 thesis was not the only piece of writing that was a big part of that Reformation. It's easy to think of John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion or John Knox's Scott's Confession, also having a tremendous impact on hearts, churches and nations. But Luther's 95 thesis was the first and earliest work to be released of those. And so Reformation Sunday is marked by the release date of that little book from Luther. A little book, even a pamphlet, can change the world. Haven't you been changed before by a book? Hasn't there been a book or maybe many books that have changed your life? I wonder what that book would be. That question was asked of a number of Harvard professors, and one of them, a professor of classics, ethics and political science named Danielle Allen, first answered, well, of course, the Bible. Good answer. She went on to describe the ways that Bible Weekly Daily had an impact on her. But then she cited other books as well. She listed Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and then she named Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man. She told of how that book helped her see her country as, quote, the extraordinary tragicomic mix of dark and light that defines us. I still remember reading that book when I was in college and being riveted by it. It's a dramatic story, but then also having my heart torn apart reading the impact of racism on one particular black man's story and identity. It is heart wrenching and it can be life changing. So many other times I've been changed by a book and I know there are hosts you could list. I still remember where I was in Albany Airport in New York waiting for a delayed flight to San Diego back in my college days when I was reading CS Lewis Mere Christianity and something about how he presented the Christian faith in that book. Thoughtful, intentional, inspiring, even winsome portrait of the Christian faith that I read in those pages spoke to me, brought me in, changed my life. I remember as a seminary student encountering the book Binding the Strong, a socio political reading of Mark's Gospel by Chad Myers. And suddenly the Jesus of Scripture emerged in ways that he hadn't quite emerged from me before. And I felt my understanding of him and the Gospel upended, reformed and catalyzed. It was powerful. And I can recall exactly where I was in New Haven, up in the third floor of this apartment complex while Jill was studying for her PhD at Yale. And I remember taking a class with Serene Jones on Calvin's Institutes. And as I was reading those institutes I found myself in a conversation with a brilliant theological mind. And I remember thinking, I want to be in this kind of conversation all my life. A book can impact you, can't it? It can change you. Well, that's the kind of story we read today. We read the story of a book that changed a person and it would go on to change a people. That book, we believe, was an early version, or perhaps the version we now have, or some form of Deuteronomy, maybe in part or in full. Based on what we read in Second Kings and First Kings, it looks like it was some form of that fifth book of the Pentateuch or Torah that we call today Deuteronomy. And the person who read it and was changed by it was King Josiah. Josiah would reign over the southern kingdom of Judah for 31 years, from 640 to 609 BCE. Well, this is how a 17th century Swedish artist imagined King Josiah. And you'll notice maybe just a slight resemblance he has to our Josiah. You know, maybe it's a push, I don't know. The beard, maybe. Anyway, this Swedish artist has no idea what Josiah actually looked like. None of us do. But we can imagine. And so that artist did. What we do know about King Josiah from Second Kings begins with this remarkable introduction. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David. He did not turn to the right or to the left. Now, if you've been hearing these sermons, if you've been listening carefully as we've been reading through first and Second Kings, you know that that is a wildly different introduction to a king than we've heard prior to this point. The kings, as they are described in first and Second Kings are again and again described in resoundingly negative terms, people who did evil in the sight of the Lord. Sure, there was great King David that we read about back in Second Samuel and First Samuel, but then we get to two kings and it's Solomon. And he starts well enough, you know, he prays for wisdom. God grants it. He attends to the building of God's house, which is portrayed as a good thing. Oh, but then he turns to worshiping false gods. He moves to oppression, oppressive, even tyrannical tactics. And then because of his failures, we read that what had been united 12 tribes of Israel into one cohesive whole falls apart. And there are then two separate realms, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. And then as we read on about the kings of these two realms, the kings of the north, they are just terrible. Time after time, the kings in the south, well, they fare a little better. But still. You might recall back in October 6th when we read about King Jehoram, we read that he did what was evil in the sight of God. Striking that today we get a picture of someone who did what was right. And then we read of how Josiah cares for the temple, attends to make sure it's able to be rebuilt and that the workers and laborers are paid, that they have the money they need to purchase materials. That indicates to us this guy really is concerned for the law or instruction or Torah of God, which values attending to God's house and values fair work, paying your labors fairly before the sun goes down. Justice is important in Deuteronomy. But then we read that in this work, making sure that the temple's repairs are made. Perhaps in some hidden corner of the temple, perhaps in some closet or long forgotten room. The priest Hilkiah discovers a book, a book of the law, a section of writing we think was a section from Deuteronomy. And this is then given to the king's secretary. And then it's brought to the king himself. And the secretary offers to read it. Josiah then listens as these words are read. I love stories where a hidden book is found and then read and it changes the whole story. Don't you love that time in Mikhail Ende's fantasy novel, A Never Ending Story, when that overweight and imaginative young boy is trying to escape some bullies and hides out in an antiquities bookshop and there he finds way in the back, an old book called A Neverending Story. And then he opens the pages and starts to read in. A whole new world emerges for him. It changes his world, draws him in, makes him new. I love stories from history, of long lost books that are found. Like that story from 1947 where a shepherd boy just happens upon a cave. And in that cave he walks in and notices that there's these jars with scrolls in them, thinks they might be of value. So he takes them to a local antiquities dealer and this antiquities dealer buys them. And eventually they're discovered by a professor at Hebrew University and they turn out to be the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts in existence. They transform our understanding of the development of the Hebrew Bible, the history of Palestine and the early development of Christian and Rabbinic Judaism. Book discoveries, real or imagined, they can remind us a book can change us. But for that to happen, for a book to change you, it has to be not just found, but read. And it has to be not just read, it has to be heard. In today's passage, there is an original Hebrew word, shamma, that is translated both as heard and as obeyed. In verse 11, you will see it translated as heard when Josiah heard the words read. And then in verse 13, you'll hear it translated as obeyed, as Josiah laments that his ancestors did not obey the words of this book of the Law. And in truth, shammah means both. It means hearing and obeying. It means both hearing and understanding. It's not just words hitting your ears, it's when words change you, a story engulfs you so you're different as a result of it. That's what happens to Josiah. And to make it absolutely clear, not only does he, Shema, does he hear, understand and obey, but we see him take immediate action. He tears his clothes. And that, of course, is a classic sign of repentance, that your heart has been rent, that you've been changed and you're turning from one path. You've seen you've gone on the wrong path and you're moving to a new one. Your actions, your understanding have shifted. That's what happens with Josiah. And we see not only as he rents his garment, but we see it also as he then makes moves to reform worship practices in his time to make sure that God and God alone is worshiped, that anything that might distract from that is taken out of the worship spaces. And there are other reforms too, he institutes. He's like a Martin Luther, but not of the 16th century, way back in the 7th century BCE and like Martin Luther, way back in this time of Josiah, what spurs his imagination, what changes him, what leads to this reformation of him and then of a people is words, specifically the words we call scripture or the word of God written. Something powerful can happen when the words of scripture are read and Shabbat heard, obeyed, understood. It's something we pray happens every Sunday. And so Nancy prayed today that it would happen. When we listened to the scripture, we pray that God will work something in us, that when the words reach our ears, God will do something, penetrate our heart, our mind, our spirit. The Holy Spirit has to do something, you know, God doing something we can't do ourselves. But sometimes this happens. And when it does, well, it can put you into a whole new story. You become not just a hearer of words about God or about Christ, you become a follower of that Christ, a child of God yourself, made so because of Christ your Savior. I still remember Benjamin Weir telling his story of not just reading, but shemaing scripture when he was in Beirut. Have you heard Benjamin Weir's story before? Some of you have. I know Benjamin Weir was a mission co worker for the Presbyterian Church USA back in 1984. He did what Marilee Robertson and a number of others in our church as well, some who have departed from us. Dot Turnbull was also a mission coworker with the Presbyterian Church. Well, Benjamin Weir was serving in that capacity in 1984 when one day on the streets of Beirut, he was kidnapped. And he was held confined as a hostage for 16 months at Claremont Presbyterian Church. Back in the early 90s, he was a visiting preacher. And I got to hear him tell his story, and it was powerful. He talked about those early days of deprivation, wondering if he would survive into the next day, of not understanding what was going on, of enduring times where he was separated from every other living soul and wondered if he would have a future deprived of so many things, one that struck my heart as a bibliophile. Of course, he wasn't given books. How do you survive without books? And then one day, months into his captivity, his pleas were answered and one of his captors brought to him an Arabic New Testament. He talked about the change that occurred when he received that book. He said, suddenly a world was opened for me. Even though I was in captivity, it was like I was transported back to the time of Jesus. I was hearing his teaching as if he was speaking to me. I was watching his perform miracles as if I was there. I was there as he was crucified. I was there celebrating the resurrection. As Benjamin Weir would talk about reading the New Testament epistles, He said, it was like they were written to me. And suddenly Paul's time in prison, imagining what the grace of Jesus Christ looked like, I could sense it myself, feel it, experience it in new ways. That Bible opened up a whole new world for Benjamin Weir when he was then released, finally, some 16 months later, he would go on not only to become a moderator of the Presbyterian Church usa, but he would become a fierce advocate for Middle east peace, for alternatives to violence, to treating even his own captives. Cap Doors, a group of Islamic fundamentalists, as people who are deserving of love and care and understanding. I recall, too, other times people have been changed by a book and have told me that story. A friend of mine once described her experience being changed by a book we call the Scriptures. She'd been raised in a household that went to church, that didn't go to church or observe any particular faith tradition. And then one day, as a young high school student, A friend of hers said, oh, my parents are making me go to youth group. I don't want to go. Do you want to come with me and we can just hate it together? My friend said, that sounds like fun, going to a youth group and hating it. Yes, let's do it. So the pair did. They went to this youth group of a local church, prepared to hate it. And it wasn't this well put together operation. It was quirky. And their youth leaders, as she would later say, were not the people you describe as cruel back in her time, but something about them. Maybe their gentle spirit, their commitment, their compassion. Maybe it was the message that they spoke of and how much it mattered, or the scriptures they pointed to. Something affected her and she said, you know, I actually don't hate this so much. Maybe I'll come back. And she did. And she came back again and again and she started to read those scriptures that these youth leaders had talked about. And as she read the scriptures, she was astounded by seeing the actual portrait they painted of Jesus. It was so different from pictures she had gotten from either the media or friends or what she'd heard. She found this powerful, provocative prophet. She heard words that hit her heart, miracles that confused and intrigued her. Words of service and of giving your life that both pulled her away and pulled her in. She spoke of meeting that Jesus through the pages of Scripture and then eventually going on to help others understand those scriptures too, to proclaim their value. She became a pastor and professor. A book can change you, can't it? And can change a whole people when you let it shama you when God works in you as those words are read well this Reformation Sunday, as we recall King Josiah, may we remember the enduring power of God's word written, especially its power to reveal to us the living word, Jesus, the Christ. Too often today, the words we read and the pictures we see lifted up to us of Scripture or of Jesus present false gods like fame or fortune or security or personal power or celebrity or mastery over others. Or we see scripture used or Jesus depicted in ways that just aren't true to the Bible. Jesus might be depicted as merely about personal piety and not about reformation, about corporate, ecclesial, social, even political transformation. Or Jesus might be portrayed as a symbol of the state or of giving tacit blessing to a particular leader, even if that leader's actions, words, character or commitments might be diametrically opposed in important ways to the Savior of scripture. John Thompson, before worship last Sunday, reminded us of how Germany, centuries after Martin Luther, would turn to Ephraim who would outdo even the engulf kings of ancient Israel in the horrific words and actions he would unleash. And yet some in Hitler's time claimed faithful Christians should follow him. Why when Scripture proclaims such a different portrait of faith and of the Savior Jesus Christ there is power. Heart changing power, church changing power, world changing power and having our notions our constructions of Jesus reformed even broken down and rebuilt by not just who people say Jesus is. There's power to hearing with our own ears seeing with our own eyes that Jesus revealed to us in the pages of that ancient book we call the Bible. And there is power in hearing God's commandments in Torah with our own ears and reflecting on the words of Scripture in community committed to faithfulness, truth and learning together. Thank you for being part of sharpening all our understanding together of this book we call the Scriptures and the Savior it lifts up may we see him and shama him more each day in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost Amen.