Getting life from God's Word is vastly freer than anyone's formulation of how to get it.
Mary was a young woman famous for learning at the feet of Jesus. She makes it sound easy. For me learning has not always been easy. When I was a teenager my parents had big expectations that I do well in college and outside of school I was subject to daily studies and written and verbal comprehension tests. I didn't handle it well, and as I grew up my attitude toward learning worsened. I felt so much pressure that by the time I found my own place on campus in college, I remember opening up a textbook and I could not even read a sentence. I just stared at the page. All I felt was stress when I looked at a book. I graduated college without reading for tests with a 2.4 GPA.
In spite of near failure at college it was in that time that I became a follower of Jesus Christ. After graduating I accidentally joined a cult who told me I was not saved. I needed to find truth in the Bible for myself. I spent the next three years trying to understand the nature of baptism and salvation. I thought I had answers on paper. However I got something more out of all that searching. It was by the life-giving experience of receiving love and restoration through His power and presence in His Word -- I noticed -- I finally enjoyed learning. Jesus changed me! For years I failed to identify who He is in relation to me and what it would do to me now. Why didn't I perceive what He was going to do? Later I went into the pre-nursing curriculum for a year and everything was different. I studied anatomy and physiology and got the highest score in about half of the exams. My attitude toward books transformed in the turning leaves of scriptures.
Mary had a true love for Jesus and meditated deeply before Him. She was praised for choosing the "better" thing in receiving the truth, because it was better than her sister Martha's attempts to earn God's intimacy through works. She attempted to be a captive listener, but I wonder if she really believed what she "learned." When their brother Lazarus died in John chapter 11 I would have thought that Mary would be first to understand that Jesus wants to give life right now, not just final resurrection from the dead. Mary didn't greet Jesus when He arrived "too late." She was only grieving. Consequently Jesus did not test her faith. She sat on the sidelines as an onlooker. Though Mary failed to anticipate what Jesus was going to do, she was so grateful afterward she poured all her wages on His feet. She finally identified Him correctly; that believing in Jesus was the same as believing in the presence of God.
To Martha's credit, she was a woman of action and she rightly interpreted Jesus through those lenses. Now she understood what Jesus would do for her and she applied her less-intensive base of scripture to trust in God's power. "But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You," she said to our Lord (Jn. 11:22). If the Father has given Himself to Jesus, then Jesus has given Himself to us. Jesus' rebukes always fell to strengthen Martha: "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (Jn. 11:40).
Jesus prayed out loud so that all would believe that the Father has sent the Son. It is through this amazing abiding relationship that Jesus showed He was God's only begotten heir, the first of many sons to come (Heb. 1:2, 2:10). Jesus was God and also With God from eternity and He came to us as such (Jn 1:1). When he prayed concerning Lazarus to the Father He showed us the intimacy of the Trinity and therefore displayed how approachable He is to us all. Identifying with another is integral to the image of God. When we identify with one another in the Body, we imitate Christ (1 Jn. 4:17, 5:1). We reflect Christ's image of the God-Man who was identified as With God; we also see the glory of God in our circumstances (Jn. 17:22-23; 14:13; 15:7-8).
Believing in Jesus is to trust Him to affect me because of who He is. Though I regret my GPA I have lasting joy over God's life-giving transformation in me. He will continue to do wonders I don't even dream of asking if only I abide in greeting Him and His people. He has glorified Himself in this small way of granting a love to learn. I believe that those reading here can identify many of their own experiences of Jesus giving life. Whether you are like Mary and are praised for learning or like Martha who was ready to see God's power, may we continue as one Body to encourage each other when in our human imperfections we miss the holy mark of receiving life right now by eyes of faith. God is with us -- grow deep.
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| "The trees of the LORD are full of sap" Ps. 104:16 |
In spite of near failure at college it was in that time that I became a follower of Jesus Christ. After graduating I accidentally joined a cult who told me I was not saved. I needed to find truth in the Bible for myself. I spent the next three years trying to understand the nature of baptism and salvation. I thought I had answers on paper. However I got something more out of all that searching. It was by the life-giving experience of receiving love and restoration through His power and presence in His Word -- I noticed -- I finally enjoyed learning. Jesus changed me! For years I failed to identify who He is in relation to me and what it would do to me now. Why didn't I perceive what He was going to do? Later I went into the pre-nursing curriculum for a year and everything was different. I studied anatomy and physiology and got the highest score in about half of the exams. My attitude toward books transformed in the turning leaves of scriptures.
Mary had a true love for Jesus and meditated deeply before Him. She was praised for choosing the "better" thing in receiving the truth, because it was better than her sister Martha's attempts to earn God's intimacy through works. She attempted to be a captive listener, but I wonder if she really believed what she "learned." When their brother Lazarus died in John chapter 11 I would have thought that Mary would be first to understand that Jesus wants to give life right now, not just final resurrection from the dead. Mary didn't greet Jesus when He arrived "too late." She was only grieving. Consequently Jesus did not test her faith. She sat on the sidelines as an onlooker. Though Mary failed to anticipate what Jesus was going to do, she was so grateful afterward she poured all her wages on His feet. She finally identified Him correctly; that believing in Jesus was the same as believing in the presence of God.
To Martha's credit, she was a woman of action and she rightly interpreted Jesus through those lenses. Now she understood what Jesus would do for her and she applied her less-intensive base of scripture to trust in God's power. "But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give You," she said to our Lord (Jn. 11:22). If the Father has given Himself to Jesus, then Jesus has given Himself to us. Jesus' rebukes always fell to strengthen Martha: "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" (Jn. 11:40).
Jesus prayed out loud so that all would believe that the Father has sent the Son. It is through this amazing abiding relationship that Jesus showed He was God's only begotten heir, the first of many sons to come (Heb. 1:2, 2:10). Jesus was God and also With God from eternity and He came to us as such (Jn 1:1). When he prayed concerning Lazarus to the Father He showed us the intimacy of the Trinity and therefore displayed how approachable He is to us all. Identifying with another is integral to the image of God. When we identify with one another in the Body, we imitate Christ (1 Jn. 4:17, 5:1). We reflect Christ's image of the God-Man who was identified as With God; we also see the glory of God in our circumstances (Jn. 17:22-23; 14:13; 15:7-8).
Believing in Jesus is to trust Him to affect me because of who He is. Though I regret my GPA I have lasting joy over God's life-giving transformation in me. He will continue to do wonders I don't even dream of asking if only I abide in greeting Him and His people. He has glorified Himself in this small way of granting a love to learn. I believe that those reading here can identify many of their own experiences of Jesus giving life. Whether you are like Mary and are praised for learning or like Martha who was ready to see God's power, may we continue as one Body to encourage each other when in our human imperfections we miss the holy mark of receiving life right now by eyes of faith. God is with us -- grow deep.
5 comments:
Keeping with this developing theme of identification with another at the heart of the Gospel of John, the heart of the Trinity, and the heart of Ecclesiology, is this scripture in John 7:16-18,
Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
I highly recommend an audio file by Bob Wilkin titled,
What is the Connection Between Meditation and Exegesis?
In this session Wilkin touches on:
- the believers in John 2:23-24 who believed but those who Jesus did not entrust Himself to.
- the overuse of commentaries at the expense of trusting God to interpret the Word in your own reading.
- that good exegesis is dependent upon seeking the right thing while reading scripture.
- how the Spirit should be a major component to the "art and science" of exegesis.
- scriptural support for the necessity of meditation in God's Word, like Mary did with Jesus.
Enjoy!
There is a way to "know" God and "know" the scriptures which isn't conditioned, as Antonio asserted in our last conversation, on taking up a book on hermeneutics. It is only dependent on being humble before God in a Spiritual way.
And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days. Joel 2:28-29
You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Is. 64:5
But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word. Is. 66:2
I have not spoken in secret,
In a dark place of the earth;
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘ Seek Me in vain’;
I, the LORD, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right. Is. 45:19
Here are some negative examples, when correct interpretation does not come to those who do not want to reflect God's image:
For they would not walk in His ways,
Nor were they obedient to His law.
Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger
And the strength of battle;
It has set him on fire all around,
Yet he did not know;
And it burned him,
Yet he did not take it to heart. Is. 42:24-25
They shall be ashamed
And also disgraced, all of them;
They shall go in confusion together,
Who are makers of idols. Is. 45:16
God promises to give confusion to those who turn their back on Him. But He promises to give understanding to those who humbly meditate on His Word. Do you believe it?
But the coming of the Kingdom of God in the Messiah would change the fate of the blind, if they would only receive Him, Isaiah 29:9-24:
Pause and wonder!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk, but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
For the LORD has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”
And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”
And he says, “I am not literate.”
Therefore the Lord said:
“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work
Among this people,
A marvelous work and a wonder;
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD,
And their works are in the dark;
They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the thing made say of him who made it,
“ He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“ He has no understanding”?
Is it not yet a very little while
Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD,
And the poor among men shall rejoice
In the Holy One of Israel.
For the terrible one is brought to nothing,
The scornful one is consumed,
And all who watch for iniquity are cut off—
Who make a man an offender by a word,
And lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
And turn aside the just by empty words.
Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“ Jacob shall not now be ashamed,
Nor shall his face now grow pale;
But when he sees his children,
The work of My hands, in his midst,
They will hallow My name,
And hallow the Holy One of Jacob,
And fear the God of Israel.
These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding,
And those who complained will learn doctrine.”
This is a great passage that describes spiritual warfare in the "art and science" of interpreting the Bible.
I wouldn't want to go so far to abandon learning hermeneutics as others have learned it. What I do have is the article in the front of my bible, "How to Understand What the Bible Means by What it Says" which I believe was written by Dr. R., which teaches me a four-step process:
1 - Word focus
2 - Word relations
3 - Context
4 - Culture
I have blue letter bible dot com which gives me the word focus and word relations and a concordance study so that I can do most of those four on a intermediate level.
I wonder what tools existed in Jesus' day to interpret the Word of God properly? Did they go to school to learn it?
Still, above every lesson on how to interpret the Bible, the first of importance, I believe, is Spiritually received. For the crowds were amazed that Jesus could teach like no one else. And it says of Peter in Acts 4:13
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
This kind of education no one should be ashamed to receive. That includes all of my friends who have never gone to school. I think the opportunity believers have shy of schooling to know the truth is almost limitless. I believe Jesus can Spiritually compensate for most anything, that we may know His Word and interpret it rightly.
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