Luke 4:14-21 and Nehemiah 8: Read Aloud

Do you read aloud? Do you listen to the written word being read aloud? The rising popularity of audiobooks and podcasts seem to say that humans still respond to words spoken aloud, even in this culture of images. In both readings from scripture (Luke 4:14-21 and selected verses from Nehemiah 8), the word of God is read aloud. 

Ezra was, apparently, quite gifted at reading aloud. His reading brought the word of God to life in a way that touched the emotions of the hearers. The people listened, understood the reading, and wept when they heard the law of God. The gospel passage from Luke stops just before we see the reaction of the people to Jesus' reading and proclamation. The next few verses tell us that the people are "amazed" at Jesus' words...but not in a good way. Their amazement turns to rage. They drag him out of town and attempt to throw him off a cliff. 

No one can deny the power of the reading and hearing of these words. There have been other words that, when read aloud, have had the same kind of impact on its hearers. The two images at left are centered around the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. The top image  shows Lincoln's cabinet as they hear the Proclamation read for the first time. They don't show much (any?) external emotion as the words are read, though that may also be the painter's attempt to help them look serious and statesmanlike.

The bottom image, published the same year as the painting was created, also depicts a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. This time the reading is being done by a Union soldier surrounded by enslaved persons. The reaction of the hearers - members of three generations - is much more visible. Hands are raised in gestures of supplication, hats are being waved, eyes are lifted to heaven. 

I remember one of my seminary professors advocating that worshipers should hear big pieces of scripture in worship every week. Notice how that is phrased...not that we should read big pieces of scripture, but that the congregation should hear big pieces of scripture. Words of scripture spoken aloud promise us freedom and release, recovery of sight, and the joy of the Lord that is our strength. Perhaps we should be reading scripture aloud, even (especially?) if it's "only" to ourselves. These are words we need to hear.

Top image: Francis Bicknell Carpenter. First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. 1864. Collection of the U.S. Senate. Bottom image: H.W. Herrick, del., J.W. Watts, sc. Reading the Emancipation Proclamation. 1864. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.

This week on Art&Faith Matters on Facebook...someone reads a scroll.

Reading the Text

Both the reading from the prophet and the gospel reading for Epiphany 3C (Nehemiah 8:1-10 and Luke 4:14-21, respectively) are about...reading. Specifically public reading in the context of Jewish history, faith and life. In Nehemiah, Ezra reads aloud to the assembled people the book of the law of Moses. In the text from Luke, Jesus gathers with what is more than likely his "home" congregation and reads from the scroll of Isaiah, declaring the fulfillment of the prophetic text.

Each week scripture is read aloud publicly in worship. In many Christian churches there is a lectern for the reading of scripture and a pulpit for preaching. Someone rather pointedly said that the lectern was for the inspired word of God while the pulpit was for the uninspired words of the preacher. The practice of reading from a table or desk comes to Christian worship from the Jewish reading desk from which Torah (and in the case of Isaiah, haftarah, aka haftorah) is read during services.

The reading desk/table sits on the bimah, the raised platform that highlights scripture reading as the focus of the service. The desk enables the congregation and reader to see each another and facilitates the audibility of the reading. The style of the reading desk in a synagogue probably owes more to the fashion of the day and the architecture of the synagogue than anything else. Likewise, artists' interpretation of these passages probably tells us more about synagogues of their own day than those in the day of Jesus.

James Tissot. Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue. 1886-1894. Brooklyn Museum. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4471/Jesus_Unrolls_the_Book_in_the_Synagogue_J%C3%A9sus_dans_la_synagogue_d%C3%A9roule_le_livre

In Tissot's version of the story, the synagogue at Nazareth is quite ornate. The scrolls from which Jesus is reading rest on a table designed to place the scroll at a comfortable reading height for a standing man and to provide a backrest for the tall scrolls. The table highlights the woodturner's art with turned legs on the bottom and turned spindles across the top rail. The scrolls are encased in ornate covers (mantels) and each wooden shaft (atzei chayim, trees of life) is crowned by a silver kesser. Is this how you pictured Jesus' hometown synagogue?

Wooden tables don't survive from Jesus' day, of course. But we have clues to first-century synagogue design in the excavated city of Dura Europos, Syria.* Among the wall paintings in the synagogue is a full-length figure of Ezra reading the scroll of the book of the law. There is no reading desk present, though "Sunday School" materials often give Ezra a desk in addition to the wooden platform on which the text says he stands. One tradition identifies Ezra's reading of the book of the law as the beginning of regular readings from the Torah. Some scholars also credit Ezra with inspiring the haftorah readings (from the prophets).  

Ezra Reading the Scroll. Synagogue, Dura-Europos, Syria. 224 CE.

It is from the prophets that Jesus reads in Luke's gospel. The passage speaks of God's justice and freedom. It tells of good news and sight regained. It proclaims the year of the Lord's favor. Imagine, then, if the reading desk or pulpit is inaccessible for you as a reader. See how one congregation noted and addressed the reality of a reading desk that could be in itself a proclamation of good news and eyes opened, freedom for those who were captive and justice as God defines it. This article tells a story that may indicate that the year of the Lord's favor may not be as far away as we first thought. 

*Syria is still pretty far away from Jesus' hometown in the first century. Art&Faith Matters' FB page has a link to an article about archaeology in the areas where Jesus lived. See what has been discovered recently.