Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.

I mentioned an “ah ha!” moment on Wednesday night. If you weren’t there you didn’t hear me say that my father once told me you could find almost anything in the scriptures as far as answers for living. He also said people try to find authority that isn’t there for things they want to do, too, but that’s a thought for another day. Or is it?

Anyway, sometimes words interest me. I wonder about their origins and usage, especially when Jesus spoke them. It always seems what he has said has so much more meaning than what we might catch on to on the surface, and his words are “efficient”.

I also had been thinking about something else he said. “Get behind me Satan”, which he tells Peter on an occasion where he disagrees with the Christ. Is Peter devil-possessed? Is Peter being evil, thus “satan” is not a being but is just a description of improper thinking and action? Or is Jesus simply putting a zing on Peter, saying he is “satan-like” in his thinking? You know the same way you might call someone a Benedict Arnold.

I got to thinking about these slangese comments in and out of scripture. I might refer to Washington, DC as a modern day Sodom, and you’d know what I meant. Harriet Tubman was the “Moses of her people” because she led them to safety. When people are strict we call them Pharasees, but we all want to be called Christians. Martyr is suggested to be the real name of one who died refusing to deny the Christ, now the word is used for anyone who makes a memorable sacrifice of the most silly sort.

And on it goes. It’s not a new idea, in Deuteronomy God himself warns the people that if they become unfaithful he will punish them right out in the open, so that everyone will know, and their name will “ become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the nations” wherever they go. Is it not true to this day that when you call someone a Jew many people consider that a hate crime and a derision? The Lord said it would be so.

We call someone a Job who has great patience. Sandy has called my wife the “Dorcas of the church” for all the sewing she has done for those in need and for babies. Mike often says I myself am no Barnabas, for all the teasing I do (as opposed to the encouragement I should be doing, get it?) We use these names, these events, to express details on something based on comparison to known things.

And so read again the statement at the very top of this bulletin uttered by Jesus and for some reason wondered if he was being more economical with his words than I ever realized. Is he perhaps comparing them to someone named Err? Well, I looked! And this is what I found:

Genesis 38:1-7 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.

And that’s the end of Er. Notice the “intimacy” he had with the Lord. He didn’t just live and die, the Lord slew him. I wonder since Jesus is God, is our Lord, if he was remembering that very day and if the sin or Er was similar to these Sadducees, trying to argue scripture with Jesus. If we ever find ourselves twisting scripture to try to find authority for something that isn’t there, maybe we should be careful that we don’t “Er”, too.

Randy