I was Buddhist in college. Not really. But I thought I was.  I thought Protestants spoke in tongues and handled snakes and were creationists… I didn’t want to hang out with them. I took a world religions class, and I liked how Buddhism didn’t skirt around suffering. They acknowledged that there is suffering and the way out is through the practice of non-attachment.

The prayer practice and mindfulness exercises are compelling. I like the openness Buddhism has. What I was seeing from the Christian church was the cover ups of abuse, abuse of power, and partisan prayers from Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham. What I was seeing was the Westboro Baptists. What I was seeing was anti-intellectualism and hate in Jesus’ name.

Jesus needed a new public relations team. At the name of Jesus, my knee didn’t bend, it jerked. My knee-jerk reaction when someone said “Jesus” wasn’t adoration or devotion, it was skepticism. My guard was immediately up. I was waiting for them to ask me for money, or ask me loaded questions attacking my beliefs or condemn me or my friends who were on a list of unapproved denominations, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, or anything else… I didn’t like Jesus very much.

Then much to my surprise, I was back in church. We checked out a ton of churches in the northern-Virginia area. It was mostly what I feared. Closed-minded, anti-science, anti-women, and anti-gay folk.

Then I found the UCC. I found a whole bunch of writers and thinkers who were from all sorts of walks of life who opened up the Bible for me. They taught me new ways to think about the Bible. They taught me that context matters. They taught me a world of scholarship beyond the literal reading of the scripture of my youth.

This is what I had been waiting for! It was like drinking from a firehose! Turns out, I liked Jesus. In fact, I loved Jesus, it was his followers that freaked me out. I loved the stories he told. I was ethical, but I lacked a Biblical literacy. I found a church and a pastor that really opened me up and opened up the scriptures.

During one Bible study, I said to the pastor, “Thanks for really teaching me the Word of God.”

The pastor had a quizzical look on his face. “By Word of God, you mean the Bible right?”

“Yeah,” I said, not knowing I was walking into a trap. “That’s what people say after reading the scripture for the day, they say, ‘The word of God for the people of God, thanks be to God.’”

“Yeah,” sighed the pastor. “And I hate when they do that. There’s only one word of God and it’s not a book. The Gospel of John begins with ‘the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.’ The Word isn’t a book, it’s Jesus.”

I was blown away. I felt like I had to reevaluate everything. The difference between the Bible being the word and Jesus being the Word is massive, and many Christians get it wrong. Many Christians make the Bible an idol or a weapon. An idol is when we worship something that isn’t God, and it’s ironic that the Bible has become this for many. A weapon is when we make the Bible about Them. About “the gays” or “the unwed single mothers” or about whomever and thus we protect ourselves from allowing the Bible to work our soul and attend to our faults.

Pete Rollins, an author and theologian, gives us this Parable called “Translating the Word (Adapted from a Buddhist Parable)” in his book The Orthodox Heretic[1].

It has been said that many years ago there lived a young and gifted woman called Sophia who received a vision in which God spoke to her as a dear friend. In this conversation God asked that Sophia dedicate her life to the task of translating and distributing the Word of God throughout her country. Now, at this time the printing press had only recently been invented, and the only Bibles to be found were written in Latin and kept under lock and key within churches. Sophia was from a poor farming village on the outskirts of the city, so the task seemed impossible. She would have to raise a vast sum of money to purchase the necessary printing equipment, rent a building to house it, and hire scholars with the ability to translate the Latin verses into the country’s common tongue.

However, the impossibility of the task did not sway her in the least. After having received her vision, Sophia sold the few items she possessed and left the village to live on the streets of the city, begging for the money that was required and dedicating herself to any work that was available in order to help with the funds.

Raising the money proved to be a long and difficult task, for while there were a few who gave generously, most only gave little if anything at all. In addition to this, living on the streets involved great personal suffering. But gradually, over the next fifteen years, the money began to accumulate.

Shortly before the plans for the printing press could be set in motion, a dreadful flood devastated a nearby town, destroying many people’s homes and livelihood. When the news reached Sophia she gathered up what she had raised and spent it on food for the hungry, material to help rebuild lost homes, and basic provisions for the dispossessed.

Eventually the town began to recover from the natural disaster that had befallen it and so Sophia left and returned to the city in order to start over again, all the while remembering the vision that God had planted deep in her heart.

Many more years passed slowly, exacting their heavy toll on Sophia. But there were now many who had been touched by her love and dedication, so although people were poor, the money began to accumulate once again. However, after nine more years, disaster struck again. This time a plague descended upon the city, stealing the lives of thousands and leaving many children without family or support.

By now Sophia was tired and very ill, yet without hesitation she used the money that had been collected to buy medicine for the sick, homes for the orphaned, and land where the dead could be buried safely.

Never once did she forget the vision that God had imparted to her, but the severity of the plague required that she set this sacred call to one side in order to help with the emergency. Only when the shadow of the plague had lifted did she once again take to the streets, driven by her desire to translate the Word of God and distribute it among the people.

Finally, shortly before her death, Sophia was able to gather together the money required for the printing press, the building, and the translators. Although, she was, by this time, close to death, Sophia lived long enough to see the first Bibles printed and distributed.

It is said to this day that Sophia had actually accomplished her task of translating and distributing the Word of God three times during her life rather than simply once–the first two being more beautiful and radiant than the last.

Sophia translates the Word of God not by printing the Bible, but by living out the values Jesus held. Jesus was about healing the sick, helping the poor, standing with the outcast, arguing and pleading with the hard-of-heart to be their brother and sister’s keeper. He was about love of God with our whole heart, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. That is the scripture summed up in its entirety.

The Bible is the sign that points the way to the Way. The Bible tells of Jesus, but Jesus alone is the way. The Bible is as 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”

I like the Bible. I think it’s inspired by God. I read it every day. I spend time in it and with other scholars trying to figure out what is going on, what lessons I can learn and how best to teach, preach, and live out these stories with you. But the Bible isn’t the Word. Jesus is the Word.

Pete Rollins says that “We Christians have a tendency to hide behind our Bibles and our belief statements. It’s easy that way. But this story challenges the idea of what the Word of God actually is. One can spend their whole life proclaiming, ‘Love one another,’ meaninglessly if they’re not putting those words into practice. The power is not in reading or saying ‘Love one another.’ The power is in the doing.”[2]

Jesus states, “These things I can do, you can do and greater than these…” Paul tells us to seek the mind that was in Christ Jesus. As Catholic writer and theologian Thomas à Kempis wrote “At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done.”[3]

There are those out there whose actions are counter to Jesus even though they quote the Bible. There are those out there who follow the Bible closer than they follow Jesus. Jesus needs some new PR.

I believe it’s our job to be that Good News about God’s Word. Good News like “There is another way of living that brings peace and forgiveness and harmony.” Good News like “You are a child of God, and you can NEVER lose that.” Good News like “You don’t have to have anything figured out for God to love you.” Good News that spreads good news to others and gives the hungry food, clothes the naked, gives hope to the despairing, comforts those who mourn, gives community to the lonely, speaks out against injustice, and reaches the poor and oppressed.

We are that people because we follow Jesus. Jesus who is only curse word to those who seek to judge, condemn, and control for that is who he had the strongest words for. Jesus was all about inclusion and love. Love over all.

My hope for you is that you put on the mind that was in Christ Jesus, that in all your ways you seek to be like him. My hope is that you will be the reason someone smiles today, and sees a way out of no way, that abundant life is possible. My hope for you is to find grace and peace, challenge and comfort, both in the pages of our sacred stories and in the loving arms of God, who sent God’s son Jesus to us, who has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us… One God! Who was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Word without end for God is still speaking, amen.

Works Cited

[1] Rollins, Peter. Orthodox Heretic: and Other Impossible Tales. Paraclete Pr, 2016. Audio Book

[2] Rollins, Peter. Orthodox Heretic: and Other Impossible Tales. Paraclete Pr, 2016. Audio Book

[3] Thomas A Kempis, O. S. A. My Imitation of Christ. Confraternity of the Precious Blood, 1954