Preach the Word, Please!

At the local parish church father stepped up to the ambo, the Gospel for the day was Matthew 22:1-14, the parable of the King's wedding feast, that great exposition of the kingdom of heaven. The congregation waited in anticipation. The homilist reread the brief passage, then following;

"... the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth"

He launched into a fifteen minute tirade on improper dress in church! I suppose those who dare to show up in t-shirts or flip-flops won't go to heaven??? The point and power of the passage was lost in petty legalism!!

Meanwhile, across town, the pastor of the local "Bible" church, resumed his series on Romans, lesson 200, or so. Forty minutes later he'd covered a single verse, The point and power of the passage was lost in a cloud of Greek grammar and syntax!

In the first example the scripture was treated at such a high level that it was used and abused, in the second, the focus was on the detail so that the passage wasn't addressed at all! Neither, in my opinion is "rightly dividing the word of truth!!"

It’s a sad matter of too little or too much.. I've been a teacher and a course developer, and I've studied public speaking since my college days. NCO leadership training in the Air Force focused on; "tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em what you told 'em!" Make sure your audience gets the point! Instructor training in corporate America focused on WII-FM, "What's In It - For Me" make sure the student knows what the value of the course is to him! Neither of the examples above do either of these! Somehow in both, the beauty and power of the text, the "Mind of Christ," the very Word of God is missed!

What's called for is good, solid expository preaching of God's word! Admittedly there is a place for both exortation and detailed exegesis, both are important, but, neither tells the hearer what the text says or how it applies to the hearer! The job of a pastor-teacher, Protestant or Catholic, is to equip the believer for that "spiritual combat" that lies just beyond the doors of the church, back in my Air Force days, it was distilled down to "Prepare the Man!"

In the early church the letters of Paul or James or Peter were read from the pulpit, and application was made! Today this might require verse by verse exegesis, and lead to exortation, but the text stands alone! It speaks eloquently! Let it! Read the sermons of St. John Chrysostom, Charles Spergeon, Fulton Sheen, or Peter Marshall. They taught the scripture, they didn't disect it nor did they twist it to prove their own point! They let God speak!

This problem, has led to many former Catholics stating they "weren't bei..ng fed" in the Catholic Church, and Bible believers, lamenting endless wars and "unnecessary" Greek and Hebrew grammar, moaning that they haven't really learned anything since they learned the "Basics!" Admittedly, thankfully, there are exceptions, but they are far and few between! The people of God are hungry for the word of God! Please give it to them! To us!