Being disected

Have you ever read something just to, well, get through it? No doubt, this is the plight of students everywhere. "Just gotta get through this... just gotta get through... ." It could be an assignment for school or work, or even an article or a book a friend recommended and you feel obligated to "read" it. The pile of books and magazines to read is ever growing. Add blogs to that, if you happen to be a blog reader (and I say thankya).

What about the Bible? Ever read it just to get through and check it off your list of... whatever list it is you have for yourself? (Yeah, I know. There are a ton of issues with this attitude, but I don't want to address them here and now.)

Often times, we approach texts the wrong way. We seek to plow through but the texts never get through to us. This is especially true of the Scriptures. There are loads of books out there that speak to us, but the Bible is a book that speaks to us and reads us. It's not always a pleasant thing being read, but we so desperately need a good reading and often.

Hence the need for meditation on the Bible. It is food for the soul and we need it to get into us. To get through us. As Mark Batterson puts it in his book Primal, "If the goal of reading is to get through the Bible, the goal of meditation is to get the Bible through us." This getting the Bible through us takes time and effort. But the work is good and the results are healthful.

I've often read the Bible like it was some sort of cadaver to be dissected and analyzed and pulled apart so I could argue it, often against other Christians, sad to say. What I need is a dissecting myself, that I might see and, perhaps, show others that they too might see and savor the glory of God (Piper-influence phrase, I admit).

Steve Schlissel says it well: "The word of God is a living and active sword, not a cadaver awaiting dissection." May you and I be dissected today, that we might be healthier tomorrow.

This is a reminder: Form informs as much as content(?)

I've said this before, but I'm going to repeat it again.

In writing, content obviously communicates to us. This goes for novels and stories, essays, plays, poems, etc. Content communicates.

I will add to this that form communicates as well. By "form," I mean that the way the words are placed on the page, the order of the words, sentences, ideas, sections, chapters, etc., all communicate as well.

So what? you may be asking. Fine. That's a fair comment.

Here's an example from the Bible.

The book of Matthew is about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This is the content part of the book. This is the easy part for most of us to get--the events, the plot, the characters--basically the sorts of things we'd be tested over if we were in school and this was one of our text.

What many of us don't see, is that the way the story is told is also part of its message. In this case, we can point out that the book of Matthew is written with a Jewish audience in mind, an audience that understands the various national and religious nuances that we Gentiles overlook or don't understand. We can add that the order in which the content of the book plays out loosely follows the events of the Jewish Old Testament. For example, Matthew 1-2 have many similarities to Genesis and Exodus; Matthew 10 is like mission instructions, similar to Joshua; Matthew 13 is similar to the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, etc.

Other "form" elements that can inform our understanding of the book? Matthew structures the genealogy at the beginning so it is symmetrical, listing fourteen names between Abraham and David, David and Josiah, Jechoniah and Jesus (see 1:17). He chooses to tell the birth of Jesus so that we see it from Joseph's perspective (1:18-25). At the beginning he continually interjects that these things happening around the birth of Jesus are fulfillments of prophecy. Further in the book, Matthew begins to tell something, but then shifts gears before the story is completed (at least in the sense that we think of "completed"). For example, when Jesus is sending out the Twelve disciples in Matthew 10, he gives instructions but there is no mention of them actually leaving or returning (Luke 10 records both).

***~***

I grant that there is much more to see and say about this--you may not be even remotely convinced. Even so, consider this as the bottom line: When you read the Bible--or any work of literary art--try to pay attention to form as much as content. It informs. I think you'll start to see your understanding of the piece opening up in your imagination and understanding.

Sacrifice... from Abraham's perspective, part 4

Today I'll offer a brief conclusion to our look at Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac from his perspective.

~~~*~~~

All is still. Breathless. Reader, Abraham, Isaac—all wait to see what will happen. Then the narrator interrupts our reading as the angel interrupts the sacrifice: “But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said ‘Abraham, Abraham!’” For the third time in this story, Abraham is addressed by name and for the third time he eagerly responds, “Here am I” (22:1, 7, 11). The angel explains, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (22:12). Now God has the ocular proof of Abraham’s devotion; he has experienced it firsthand. Abraham has passed from questioner and become the constant responder. He is, in word and now in sacrificial deed, a selfless, God-honoring, devoted “friend of God.”   

~~~*~~~

Yes, I've fudged a bit and offered some of God's perspective here. Even so, we know that Abraham is called and goes, apparently without hesitation. We know that he viewed the offering he was to give as some sort of worship. We know that his inner devotion is deep, perhaps unshakable, at this point in his life. He truly lives up to his epithet of "friend of God."

Beginning in the near future (perhaps next week), I'll begin a series of posts that look at this same passage but with a closer eye on what God is requiring and what he is doing in this test. Remember, as readers, we know this entire encounter is a test. God knows the episode is a test. Abraham does not. 

God's ways are clearly not our own. His character, although revealed to us--at least in part--in scripture, is deep and difficult to plumb. We must be careful how we interpret the Bible; we must be careful about the conclusions we draw.

~~~*~~~

Almighty God, open our eyes wider that they might see more wholly who you are and what business you are about here on earth. Amen.

Jesus Journal #6

I was flipping through the journal I've started keeping about the life of Jesus and I came across a few of my comments over Matthew 7:1-5. The passage's subheading in the ESV is "Judging Others." In light of all the political hoopla over the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day, called by former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, I thought the passage fitting.

As I mentioned yesterday, many people were getting hot and bothered about the event--on both sides. People for it and against it had things to say, some very heated and vitriolic. And, no doubt judgments were made.

Now my intention is not to "go off" on this or throw some Bible verses at you about how judging is BAD. In fact, to not make judgments about things is nearly impossible. Rather, I want to print the passage and then give a few comments in hopes of giving a new perspective.

Matthew 7:1-5:

 “Judge not, that you be not judged. ²  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

I've always thought about this judgment in terms of judging sins. But don't we make so many more types of judgments? Don't we "judge" whether or not we can make it through a yellow light before it turns red? Don't we "judge" whether or not the milk is bad when we see that it's out of date? Don't we "judge" when we see someone's face is cast down and then ask them what's wrong? Don't we make all sorts of "judgments" like these ALL THE TIME?

Sure we do. So if this is the case, then maybe Jesus isn't just talking about pointing out people's sins so we can help them.

Jesus' primary point seems to be that people should be aware of themselves before seeking to help others with--well, I'll use the term "sight problems," since Jesus gives an analogy of specks and logs in the eye. We should be aware of how we "see" before we go and help others with their sight. 

In other words, a key aspect of this so-called "Judging Others" passage has to do with point of view or perspective. This, of course, is why so many of our judgments are made in the first place, isn't it? Don't we make judgments of other people because they see the world differently than we do? Sure, sometimes these differences are sin issues; but sometimes they're just differences in understanding, learning, up-bringing, experience--any number of things.

I'm not trying to soft hand sin. God hates sin, judged his own son because of his people's sin. Still, we need to see that Jesus is talking about perspective and sight problems. And, whether we like it our not, part of the reason why we think other people have issues that we need to "judge," is because of our own sight problems. It may turn out that our own issue is much greater than the issue that we're judging... we just can't tell because we're seeing other people's specks through our logs.

Eating Your Words

Today I want to announce the official release of my latest book, Eating Your Words: An Introduction to Reading Biblical Narrative. (Available on Amazon.com--click the cover for a link.)

"What's it about?" you might be asking. "Food? 'Cause I think of food when I look at the title."

It is about food, namely the word of God, which is food of the highest culinary transport. The Bible mentions in several places that God's word is food, a delight to the heart. For example, in Jeremiah 15:16, the prophet says  

Your words were found, and I ate them, 
and your words became to me a joy 
and the delight of my heart, 
for I am called by your name.

One can almost picture Jeremiah's exhuberance as he finds the word of God, the savor of the flavor in his mouth (pardon the rhyme), and the swelling delight of his heart.

King David mentions something similar in Psalm 119:103:

How sweet are your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

In his lengthy celebratory discourse on the law of God in Psalm 119, he stops multiple times to proclaim his delight in God's word. Here he says the words are actually sweet to his taste, sweeter than honey.

And so it is.

And this is the starting point of Eating Your Words. The Bible is a feast, waiting to be tasted and savored, waiting to nourish and brighten our souls. But if we do not come to the table aware of what we're eating, we’ll surely miss some of the experience.  
 
Eating Your Words invites readers to remember the rich color and texture of the Bible, and to read it with eyes that see and understand the narrative art and craft of its stories. Why? Because grasping the biblical narrators’ literary form and technique allows us greater understanding of the Bible's meaning.  
So come. Come to the feast. Eat of God's words—as Jeremiah did. See that they are, indeed, sweeter than honey to the mouth. Hear and see and believe. Be saved and sanctified by the very active Word of God, as it pierces the innermost being. And yes, see that the true story—as story—is good.

A Psalm I can't pray

I've heard that if you're prayer life is a struggle, try praying the Psalms. This makes perfect sense, as the Psalms are like the psychology book of the Bible; they speak of or to nearly every human emotion.

But there are some Psalms that I can not pray. To do so woud be to lie, for they speak in a tone of such fidelity and righteousness, that I can not speak them in good conscience. To have such devotion is beyond my place and feeling and loyalty right now.

I am ashamed of this, a little. And maybe that's the point. I don't measure up to such a standard of righteousness and devotion. Honestly, I can't imagine it.

BUT, I can imagine Christ bearing such devotion. I can imagine the soul of one of his people being moved toward and into such devotion, such faithfulness. For, indeed, this is the work of for which Christ died--to fit us for such devotion, faithfulness, righteousness. In him, we have these things in terms of our standing before God. In time, we will be conformed to them in terms of our actual state.

So for now, I pray such Psalms in great hope that God has not left my unfaithful, unrighteous heart to die in a stuck and stagnant place. 

Psalm 26 is one such Psalm. Read it and see if you get what I'm talking about. And, should you see yourself lacking in the devotion and righteousness that David possessed, know that David's God reaches out to his people and leads them to such as this.

PSALM 26. Of David.

Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
²  Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.
³ For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.

⁴ I do not sit with men of falsehood,
    nor do I consort with hypocrites.
⁵ I hate the assembly of evildoers,
    and I will not sit with the wicked.

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence
    and go around your altar, O Lord,
⁷ proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
    and telling all your wondrous deeds.

⁸ O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
    and the place where your glory dwells.
⁹  Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
    nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
¹⁰ in whose hands are evil devices,
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.

¹¹ But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
    redeem me, and be gracious to me.
¹² My foot stands on level ground;
    in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.

MLK ~ a drum major... and a brother in Christ

Well, it may be cliche, but I'm going to talk about Martin Luther King today. It is the day to remember him, after all. And, in keeping with pastor John Piper's confession and discussion about racism in his newest book, Bloodlines (available for free download--click the title), I'll make my own confession today.

No, mine is not a confession of racism, though I'm probably guilty of racism to some degree--either in the past or today. And, if race hasn't been the issue for me, then mere difference was and is. (Maybe I'm guilty of differrentism. Yeah. Differentism is when you alienate another simply because they're different in some way. [I'm not sure if differentism is real word, but I'm adding it to my vocabulary today.] It's probably worse than racism. Both have the effect of denying the hope of the gospel, which is union and communion with God in Christ.) 

Okay. So here is my confession: I didn't give Martin Luther King, Jr. a fair listening when I first read him. No, it wasn't a race matter, as I've already said. It was a differentism matter. He didn't sound biblical enough to me--or biblical as I understood the theology of the Bible. Because of this, I didn't hear what he had to say, despite how rhetorically powerful his "I have a Dream" speech and his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

See, I missed the point. Entirely. I missed King's point and I missed the point of the gospel. Maybe King did slide into a sort of Social Gospel mentality (or maybe he was accused of such). And I'm not sure if he assumed too much hope in the power of the government to remedy the divide of the races or not. Regardless, he did long for unity of people. And, I think at the heart of this unity, he had Christ in mind, the only person in whom true unity can be found.

I confess that I don't necessarily agree with everything Martin Luther King, Jr. said and did. But I also confess that he probably understood the heart of the gospel better than I did and perhaps better than I do today.

In his own words, King (somewhat hesitantly, I gather) agreed that he was a drum major. In a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, he said, "Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that's all I want to say."

So today, I salute this drum major. I salute this brother in Christ. I salute his work for the bettering, not just of his race, but of all Americans, all people. I know that I am certainly better for his words and labors.

[Photo from bio.com]