Living our scriptures
(Studying scripture as a spiritual discipline)

John 8:31-38
Deut 6:1-9

ד  שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל:  יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ, יְהוָה אֶחָד.
ה  וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ
וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁךָ, וּבְכָל-מְאֹדֶךָ

I have probably pronounced this very poorly but it is one of the most familiar sentences from the Hebrew bible – known as “The Shema” from the first word and known probably by all Jews in its original language even if Hebrew is not commonly used by them. Last Monday I was at a multi-faith celebration at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture and the president of the ACT Jewish Community, Bill Arnold, began his reading with these very words. They are of course verses 4 and 5 of Deuteronomy chapter 6: 4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

When I was preparing for my BD exams at Ruschlikon I knew that I would have to recite and translate some verses from Deuteronomy, and I was very relieved when my OT professor turned to these verses – its always nice to have something familiar in an exam.

In fact there is a requirement of faithful Jews to recite The Shema twice each day, so no wonder they are familiar words. The Shema pronounces the uniqueness of God – in its original context at the time of Moses an affirmation of Yahweh as the one true God over against the Baals and other deities that vied for attention, and Yahweh’s claim on the whole of one’s life. Jesus claimed that these were the most important words in the Hebrew law. The passage goes on to say that these words should be kept in the heart, memorised, taught to children in every place and on all occasions through life, and they should be written down.

But Jews have always taken the study of scripture seriously. Jewish boys in particular were expected to memorise long chapters to recite at their Bar Mitzvah and it is considered a commandment for all male Jews to study and understand the law. The whole of the Torah – the first five books of the OT – is read in worship each year, and worship revolves around readings from the other Jewish scriptures as well. There are a number of occasions recorded in the gospels, especially John, where Jesus challenges Jews who are listening to him, and often they defend their heritage and their knowledge of the law. And they are probably right – they probably did know and study scripture far better than many of us could claim to do.

We will come back to Jesus’ discussion with the Jews in a moment but let us return to Deuteronomy to see how it was intended that scripture be studied. The passage we read follows on from Deuteronomy’s version of the Ten Commandments. If we translated the Hebrew literally they would be known as The Ten Words – reflected of course in the Greek translation Decalogue. So as the passage says “Keep these words that I am commanding you today” it is probably referring to the whole law, but especially the summary found in the Decalogue. What is interesting to me is that keeping the words seems to be possible for everyone. “It is for you and your children and your children’s children.” In another passage from the end of the book of Deut (Deut 30:11-14) they are told “God’s word is very near to you.” In other words, God’s instruction for how to live was within the reach of every ordinary person. This is why they were told that all are to be present when the law is read: men, women, children and the aliens living in the land. (Deut 31:10-13)

Jews have taken the next words in Deuteronomy 6 very literally – “8Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” The latter instruction probably reflects a widespread ancient custom of inscribing a saying of good omen over the doors of houses. On Jewish owned buildings you can see small boxes on the doorposts where a tiny scroll with a portion of the law is kept. Of course for Israel the words had to do with Yahweh, so reinforced the command that the Israelite must give their whole allegiance to Yahweh. By having these symbols on the place where they are constantly passing their attention is directed regularly and repeatedly to the law as the basis of life. There is a discipline in keeping the scriptures in one’s focus of attention. Orthodox Jews also wear little boxes containing portions of the law strapped to wrist and forehead when worshipping – these boxes are known as tefillin in Yiddish or phylacteries in English. I discovered a lot of symbolic significance about these objects and how they are tied when reading through a Wikipaedia article about them, but it occurred to me that they simply ask followers of God’s law to think regularly about the law (bind them on your forehead) and to do what is commanded (bind them on your hands).

There is a story amongst many told about Mark Twain’s quick and witty replies – in this one an industrial baron said to him “Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land – I will climb to the top of Mt Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud.” According to the story Mark Twain replied “Why don’t you just stay home and keep them?”

When Jesus says “continue in my word” I think he is also talking about keeping God’s ways continually in focus: studying them and doing them. It is not enough to trust in one’s heritage – the Jews were content in being descendents of Abraham – but to really know what one was following and how it would change one’s life. Jesus was a Jew, and he too was grounded in the Hebrew Scriptures, but his interpretation and emphases were new and challenging for those around him – especially those who felt that their comfortable way of life may be threatened. We often hear people say our country is a Christian country, based on Christian traditions. But is this enough? Is our tradition enough to keep us as a nation focused on God’s ways and practicing – living and acting out – God’s laws? Do our nation’s laws protect our comfortable way of life at the expense of others?

But I am straying from the topic for today, which as part of our Lenten series on spiritual disciplines is focused on reading and studying Scripture.

Many of us have been brought up in the habit of daily or regular devotional study of the bible. This is commendable and helpful but needs to be done responsibly. Not like the story of the young woman who excitedly told her minister that she had found the man she was going to marry. Despite the fact that the young man sounded quite unsuitable she insisted that God had told her he was the one. When questioned about this revelation she said “I had just finished praying about this then I opened my bible and this is the verse I read – Matt 16.24 “If any man would come after me, let him.”

Bible study as a discipline is not just flitting in and out of verses and seeking a personal application or a confirmation of our own desires. It is about trying to understand what the original author meant, what its context was, how the historical and social background which may have been so different to ours would have affected the meaning. In our worship and bible studies we usually only focus on short passages each week so studying scripture seriously may mean taking a whole book and working through it systematically. This sort of study is about appreciating the symbolic and theological meanings of words and images rather than taking them literally. It is understanding, interpreting and evaluating what we find. There are all sorts of ways that people have tried to use scripture, such as an American nutritional company called “Logia” based on the premise that the bible outlines God's plan for good nutrition. Logia even markets a range of "biblical" nutritional products, such as the Bible Bar. According to the Logia web site "The Bible Bar is a highly nutritious food bar based on a recipe from the Book of Deuteronomy 8:8. ‘For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land. . . A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;' "And guess what? "These seven foods are all contained in the Bible Bar."

This is not the sort of study of the bible that I’m commending today. Scripture itself gives us some guidance in what it means to study scripture. Is it, as the doorposts and phylacteries remind us, a choice of where we will focus. Paul in his letter to the Philippians encouraged them “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Where we choose to spend our time and focus our attention will shape the sort of people we are and will shape the sort of faith we have too. The psalms often speak of scripture as a guide to life, especially Psalm 119 – a long psalm celebrating God’s word and including that familiar statement “your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. In fact in the Old Testament the idea of “walking in the way of the Lord” is a common metaphor for living a life in tune with God’s ways. The thrust of the metaphor is not so much following someone on the path and placing your feet where theirs have been, but following the directions that have been given to stay on the right path.

Another well known passage about studying scripture is 2 Tim 3:16-17 – “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” The central purpose of study according to this passage is inner transformation, not doctrinal purity. In the words of Jesus: the truth will set us free. Is it then not worth disciplining ourselves to seek that truth?

While thinking of reading scripture as a discipline should not be a negative thing, it does take an effort. I know that I have to place myself in a congenial situation for proper study – away from the Internet where it is so easy to click onto favourite games or get caught up in emails. Away from home where it is easy to be distracted by chores waiting to be done. I heard of a young woman recently and it sounded like an echo of my former self, who just had to tidy the room before getting to study. (if you walk into my office these days you’ll see I’ve been cured of that!)

There is also a discipline in opening oneself to new ideas and perspectives. Before I went overseas to study theology quite a number of well meaning Christians in the church I attended warned me that studying theology was a dangerous thing – that I might lose my faith in the process. And I have found over the years that many Christians are reluctant to consider new ideas and perspectives. But this is essential for us – none of us has a monopoly of the truth. We need to learn from those with greater knowledge, different cultural or social experience. Last century the middle class western and masculine world of theology was completely changed when those from different perspectives began to address traditional categories, and liberation theology, feminist theology, black theology and so on were listened to seriously. On a smaller scale my understanding of many of the parables are very much enhanced by hearing from people who have lived in the middle east and experienced the sort of cultural and environmental influences that Jesus had around him. And we could think of many other examples. So when you study scripture, make use of commentaries from a range of traditions. One commentary that I often refer to is an international commentary with contributions from men and women from many different countries, continents, and languages as well as from different denominations.

Finally we need to remember that the discipline of study is not just of words. There are passages in scripture that direct our attention to the non-verbal world as a revelation of God too, so this should also be part of our discipline of study. In Job we hear “Ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth and they will teach you, and the fish of the sea will declare to you.” But it is not only nature that holds secrets to God’s ways – also in our relationships with each other and our attentiveness towards ourselves. It is a good thing to ask questions and to be critical! But we need to include ourselves. If our attitude is that we want to learn from all these encounters, then this discipline will become something that deeply enriches us.

The discipline of the study of God’s word and God’s world will always have as its goal living our scriptures. Jesus said “if you continue in my word, then the truth shall set you free”. Let us metaphorically bind this word to our doorposts where we will have it always in our focus. Let us bind it to our foreheads, so that knowledge of our scripture becomes part of who we are. But let us also remember to bind it to our hands, so that our knowledge is seen in action, so that we are living our scriptures. Amen