So I want to wrestle with some text. Today while reading Ozzie, he referenced John 5:39-40 and what he said rather startled me. First off, let’s look at the text and see what it is that Jesus is saying here that caught me off guard (The Message paraphrase):
“You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”
Like my pastor says often times, I think this Scripture is proof that man did not write the Bible. No man, or group of men, seeking to gain control of our minds and culture would say this!!
I made an earlier statement that kind of went a little further with this. It may be presumptuous of me, but allow me to work through it. I stated that the Bible is not the source of Truth, Wisdom and Life; it merely points to it – Jesus. It’s not a far stretch from what Jesus actually said here. In no way am I saying the Bible isn’t valid! I love reading God’s Word – DAILY! But God’s Word, the Bible, is merely a means to show us the ultimate discovery and realization of Truth, Wisdom and Life: Jesus Christ.
First off I want to address this notion I have about God. You may even call it a sci-fi-esque wet dream. I believe that God transcends “time”. It is man who has defined time, so what would ever compel us to believe that our Creator operates within our defined parameters of our observation of time? I was told that Jesus was perhaps only referring to the Old Testament in this passage and that it wouldn’t have the same bearing on the New Testament. But in my belief in God being transcendent of time, of Him operating in a means of infinity that we cannot grasp, I have to believe that Jesus knew that in 2000-some-odd years, I would read that verse and have twenty-seven additional books of the Bible to read, study and draw from.
But again, I’m not saying, by any stretch of the imagination, that the Bible isn’t valid and reading it isn’t important. I’m just saying that simply reading it isn’t its Purpose. The Bible isn’t meant to simply be read. It’s meant to be lived! And Jesus says it plainly, He is the only means to this life, in the quoted text as well as in this one.
Reading the Bible is great. As I’ve stated, I love it. It reveals great wisdom and has a unique way of being relevant even today in application to my life and our current culture. But, regardless of what any will say, the Bible, in its text, does not answer all of our questions. It does lead us to Who can: Jesus. God says He is the source of Knowledge. I’m reading Proverbs again and I’m seeing this urgent sense of seeking Wisdom and Discernment. But it does not say that the Bible is the means to learn either of these. It says “Fear of the Lord” is the way to Wisdom.
The more I read the Bible the more I feel a pull to live the Bible. To not simply lay in my bed and read its words but “write them on our hearts,” to live it. James (Jesus’ brother) urges us to not simply be readers of the Word, but doers! Which brings me to this whole notion of Jesus being the Word. I think too many people confine that notion of Jesus to simply mean the Bible. John says that Jesus was the Word and the Word was with God in the beginning of all Creation. There was no Bible in the beginning (but perhaps that’s me putting limitations on that notion of eternity) but there was God’s Word. He spoke existence. He spoke Creation.
God spoke before the Bible and I believe God still speaks today.
I think His Word is more than just those 60+ collections of books we read, sometimes daily, always on Sunday. God’s Word is living and active. And for me, that cannot mean that it’s simply living and active in the written text. Jesus gave us a gift, the greatest gift beyond Salvation: the Holy Spirit. I think it’s so easy, because I do it too, to limit Jesus’ power to what we’ve read and what we believe will happen. But Jesus’ power is happening. Today. Right now.
Jesus didn’t say stop reading your Bibles, but I do believe He was saying reading your Bible isn’t enough. Jesus was always speaking about action. Jesus said that he can be found in the hungry and the homeless, the sick and the cold. He goes as far, in that text, to say that it’s in how we treat the “least of these” that He judges us by, not in what we know. “For many will say ‘Lord, Lord’…but only he who does the Will of My Father.” We can learn about Jesus in the text, but we cannot gain His Wisdom, Truth or Eternal Life simply via the Bible. We can only get that through Him.
Here’s one last thing I want to touch on, then possibly explore further at a later time. We are to model our lives after Jesus, that’s a given. Jesus modeled a life in perfect harmony with the Father. Jesus woke early to pray. And think on that, for a moment. Jesus is God, but He still prayed to God. WHAT!? Jesus did things He didn’t have to do, but in doing them showed us how to properly live. I cannot recall once ever reading about Jesus studying the Bible. Don’t choke!! Jesus, like all rabbis, had the Bible memorized. Yes. The whole thing.
Talk about writing His Word on your heart!
Are you doing that? I know I’m not. I’ve memorized some verses, and I have a broad, Swiss-cheese-looking, grasp of the Bible as a whole, but I surely do not have it memorized. But think if you did.
If the Bible is the end of your searching for Jesus, then why is Jesus adamant about us going, doing and seeking? I think too many people, myself included, veil their reading of the Bible as a service to God’s Kingdom. But, in all honesty, how can me, or you, simply knowing anything have an impact on God’s Kingdom? I think I need to be more of a doer and a seeker and less of a reader.
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