In a March 1993 edition of the Reader’s Digest appeared this story of a preacher and his friend: “When the preacher’s car broke down on a country road, he walked to a nearby roadhouse to use the phone. After calling for a tow truck, he spotted his old friend, Frank, drunk and shabbily dressed at the bar. ‘What happened to you, Frank?’ asked the good reverend. ‘You used to be rich.’ Frank told a sad tale of bad investments that had led to his downfall. ‘Go home,’ the preacher said. ‘Open your Bible at random, stick your finger on the page and there will be God’s answer.’ Some time later, the preacher bumped into Frank, who was wearing a Gucci suit, sporting a Rolex watch and had just stepped our of a Mercedes. ‘Frank,’ said the preacher. ‘I am glad to see things really turned around for you.’ ‘Yes, preacher, and I owe it all to you,’ said Frank. ‘I opened my Bible, put my finger down on the page and there was the answer — Chapter 11.’

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried the open and point method of listening to God, but I did quite a bit in high school and college. I was taught that that is a viable method of listening to God. But it seemed like every time I tried I ended up with a verse like Numbers 4:22 – “Take a census of the Gershonites also, by their ancestral houses and their clans.” Really helpful, right? In many churches, the pastor preaches in a way that is not too dissimilar. They will select a few random verses, use them completely out of context and preach a whole sermon from that one verse or collection of single verses. And while that doesn’t mean their messages are unbiblical, but most of the time, they are shallower. And, yes, sometimes just dead wrong. Putting the Scriptures in their context is crucially important to interpretation.

In our passage for this morning, Jesus is preparing to ascend to heaven, and his disciples are gathered around him. He begins by saying to them that everything that was said about him in the law and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Now, Jesus’ name is never mentioned in the law or the prophets or the psalms. So, what is Jesus talking about here? At this point, his disciples have come to believe that Jesus truly is the Messiah, which means the Scriptures Jesus is referring to are those that talk about the Son of Man and the coming Messiah. But Jesus knows his disciples, while believing he is the Messiah, don’t entirely know what that means or how to reconcile some of those Scriptures with who Jesus is.

We still don’t know entirely how to reconcile those Scriptures with who Jesus is. Some of that is because we’re so removed from the context in which the Scriptures were written, some because we’ve been fed lies at times in that past, and some because we simply don’t want to make the effort to understand. Studying Scripture is not easy. I would argue that the Old Testament is even more difficult to understand than the New Testament. A lot of the time we just want someone to give us the answers. Many churchgoers believe that is the role of the pastor. The pastor should study and understand the Scriptures in order to tell me what they say and how I am to live my life in a way that is faithful to the Scriptures. And while there is SOME truth to that, pastors ARE trained to study God’s Word more deeply than your average Christian and many of them take that very seriously, the reality however is that Scripture is best understood in community.

There is a story about two brothers who were regularly misbehaving, “so their mother went to the local priest to look for advice. The priest thought it would be best if the boys learned integrity, by way of understanding that ‘God is everywhere, and He sees everything you do so you shouldn’t misbehave.’ The mother and the priest thought it best [for the priest to talk] to the boys, so the mother agreed to take the boys in one at a time to talk with him. She brought the first boy (Ray) to the church and left the second boy (Jim) at home. She took Ray into the priest’s office and stayed outside while the priest and Ray talked. ‘Where is God?’ the priest calmly asked, planning to make the point that God is everywhere. Ray, petrified, said nothing. So the priest asked again slightly louder, ‘Where is God?!’ Ray still said nothing. [Getting frustrated], the priest stood up and slammed his hands on the desk yelling, ‘WHERE IS GOD?!?!’ Ray stood up and ran out of the office, past his mother, and all the way home. He came screaming in the front door and ran straight to Jim’s room. He opened the door and said, ‘GOD IS MISSING AND THEY THINK WE TOOK HIM!’”

One person alone can easily misunderstand something they are told. A group of people, though slightly less likely, can also misunderstand something they are told. And even when we understand what we are told, that information is not always true. So what do we do? How can we figure out what to believe? The reality is that it’s not easy, and we will always make mistakes. But the best way to find the truth is to allow our minds to be opened to the truth by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God may be manifest to us in different ways, but it is the Spirit that speaks the truth to us and gives us understanding.

In the reading from the gospel of John that is designated for Pentecost next week, Jesus says to his disciples, “”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.’” We have been set free to open ourselves to the teachings of Jesus that we gain understanding of through the Holy Spirit. And a part of that is being open to the beliefs and ideas of others.

“A man walks into a psychologist’s office. The psychologist says, ‘Tell me about yourself?’ The man replies, ‘It is my deeply held belief that I am in fact a moth.’ The psychologist is a little surprised, but being a professional, he thinks for a moment and says, ‘Well, I am sure I can help you overcome that.’ Indignant, the man shoots back, ‘No way! I love being a moth, thank-you very much!’ ‘So why on Earth did you come in here?’ ‘Oh, well I was just passing by and I saw your light on…’” Sometimes the beliefs of others seem ridiculous and very obviously mistaken, but that doesn’t mean that we can treat them poorly or dismiss them as crazy or push them out of our lives simply because they don’t believe the same way we do.

After opening the disciples’ minds to the Scriptures, Jesus proceeds to give them a directive. He says to them, “You have seen me die and rise from the grave. You understand that I have the power to forgive sins. Now, go and proclaim those truths to the nations.” And he promises that in a few days they will receive a helper to go with them and give them power. Being open to the truth is important. We do that through prayer and Scripture reading, we do that through communal worship, and we do that through listening to the thoughts and beliefs of others.

But God calls us beyond understanding. God calls us to do more than seek truth for ourselves. God calls us to proclaim that truth to others. This morning we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. And in doing so, we proclaim the truth we believe…that Jesus’ body was given for us, that his blood was shed for us, that he died and rose again for us. Through the death of Jesus, we have been saved and, through his resurrection, we have been granted life eternal. That is the truth of the Scriptures. Everything in God’s Word comes together around that truth.

As witnesses to this truth, let us open ourselves up to the hurting, the suffering, the stressed, the diseased, the lonely, the depressed, the broken, and the oppressed. Let us open ourselves to people who most need to hear good news. Let us open ourselves to love, to hope, to peace. And let’s proclaim the truth of the gospel to our world through our words, our actions, and our lives. Jesus came so that we might live. That is a surprising and beautiful truth that the world needs to know. May we be open to how God is speaking to us and may we be set free to proclaim God’s love for others by the way we love them. Amen.