Jeremiah 31: 34; 2 Timothy 3: 14; 4: 4,5; Luke 18: 5

Wandering into myths

There is a pervasive myth in Northern Ireland that part of it is a land of giants. There is even a rocky part of the Atlantic coastline that looks like a stepping stones which is known as the Giant’s Causeway.  Actually the myth and some truth to it.  Part of the population of Northern Ireland carries a gene that leads to Giantism with people as tall as “7 ft 1” last century.  In Hawaii there is the myth of the Menehune, pigmy type people who used live there and whenever something goes wrong, like a car that doesn’t start or lost keys, the locals sometimes quip: ”The Menehune did it.”  Who knows, perhaps there is truth that the first to arrive in the islands from the South Seas vanquished a group of very small people.  But probably not.

Friends, you and I “wander into myths” or as the text in 2 Timothy says “wander away

into myths.”  The text also says that people will have “itching ears.”  We humans get impatient with old stories and when things don’t go well, we get “itching ears” and we reach for myths.  Our love affair with myth is as old as time. We could even say it is essential part of being human.  Presidential campaigns are long drawn out struggles for myth.  It is not so much which myth turns out to be true, but often what myth people are most attracted to or as in this election which myth is particularly horrifying.   One definition of myth is: “a widely held but false belief or idea.”  So myth can we dangerous.  History has shown us what the myth of Aryan Supremacy can do in its description of Nazi Germany.  Myth and the fear of shattering the myth of the Kim family has made North Korea a frightening country.  So humans crave myths but at the same time myths can be dangerous.

Friends, there are all kinds of myths we create to make life manageable or bearable.  We create myths about our own abilities and value. Even resumes, including when they are full of facts, attempt to create a kind of myth that makes the applicant look supremely skilled in a particular area. Research shows that successful people are often skilled at creating a myth that inspires them to deny their limitations.  It drives them to achieve beyond what even they believed was possible.  But we also use myth to push ourselves down, creating the idea of failure when we’ve had a bad week.   I have whispered to myself when I could seem to do things right:” Aart, you’re just totally a inept.”  That is a kind of myth (although I hope it is not widely held) that doesn’t hold water, for I have been known to do some things right.   But I think you have all felt that way.

Friends, we have a habit of wandering off, of losing our way, of disregarding our compass.  It is easy for us to follow some leader, some great attractive philosophy or to come up with views that feel good at the moment.  But in the end whatever thing we believe in must be rooted in the greater story of God’s love and faithfulness.  If it is incompatible with that, the myth is a threat.

The fundamental issue is that we want stories to pay off for us. If stories don’t educate us or challenge and inspire us to do great new things, we don’t want it. That is the story of the Old Testament: when the story of the Israelites with their God did not seem to pay off, they got itching ears and they went looking for other stories.  This is what 2 Timothy warns about.

Now there is a problem that the mythological elements have made it into certain parts of the Bible.  And we have to see those elements, however inspiring they may be, for what they are.  Nevertheless the text in 2 Timothy reminds us that we must hold fast to the truth we have received.  There is a central truth in the Biblical story that moves us and gives us hope: that God does not give up when we wander off.  God is always ready for a new covenant, ready to bond again with God’s wayward people. But God wants us to be persistent too, like the poor widow who keeps on demanding justice from the judge (Luke 18).   As 2 Timothy reminds us: hold on to what you learned. God wants us to hang on and hang in there.     Jeremiah clearly brings out God’s faithfulness as the text says: “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

Friends, myths do not love us, myths do not forgive our sins. God does. Time and time again; over and over again.  Not only does God forgive sin, but forgets its: “I will remember sin no more.” And this comes out of a deep and faithful love.  God is a committed relationship with us. Thanks be to God.