PART ONE
Recently, a husband arrived late to one of my Bible sessions. He gave a short, affectionate kiss to his wife as he sat down. That kiss was quite simple yet very complicated. It was not just an expression of affection but the consequence of many decades together for better or worse, in sickness and in health!The Bible is like that kiss. It is a love story of God and his people. It is both simple and clear but also complicated and wrapped up in a story of human frailty covering centuries. The experience of the Bible calls us into a mystery that is unbounded and, at the same time, it is a guide to direct our lives to the ultimate reality of the human destiny, the God revealed in the Bible.
I Study and Prayer
Our approach to the Bible requires two distinct methods. One is to study the Bible to absorb the story and to grow in familiarity with the word of God. This should be done prayerfully, but basically it is an exercise of study. In the foundational exhortation of his Pontificate, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis highlights the need for all of the faithful to study the bible.
“The study of the Sacred Scriptures must be a door opened to every believer. It is essential that the revealed word radically enrich our catechesis and all our efforts to pass on the faith.” (The Joy of the Gospel #175) He goes on to say that this study must lead to the prayerful reading of the Bible for both individuals and groups.
The second approach is, indeed, this prayerful reading of the Scriptures. This task goes beyond the mind to the depth of the spirit within us. This is a truly different tactic. This has three points of importance:
- To listen to what God has to say to me;
- To learn God’s will;
- To be more committed to walk with Jesus.
This is done in the context of our experience, and especially, of our problems, both personal and in society. This prayerful reading of the Bible should direct us to an encounter with the word as if it is addressed to us personally as well as to us in community.
When we read the bible, we should always be aware that the text is more than a fact. It is a symbol, a window that lets us see the past as a mirror of today’s experience. This prayerful reading of the word of God needs to lead us into our present historical reality to unveil the mystery of God’s saving presence right here and now.
This series of four reflections on the Bible will try to address why the Bible inspires us even to this day. The key, in the final analysis, is that we have the same experience of the God revealed in the Scared Scriptures. Like the people involved in the events of the story of Salvation History, the same God is involved in our daily lives.
IISalvation History
Any fundamental understanding of the Bible begins with a basic understanding of the foundational story. This is the story that covers the period beginning with Abraham and leading finally to Jesus. We call this story Salvation History.
The story is about the call and promise made to Abraham. It is the story of salvation: the liberation from the consequences of sin revealed in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The story covers almost 2,000 years leading to Jesus.
In its broadest sweep, the story flows from Abraham to Moses to David and then to the prophets leading up to Jesus. It is a continual expression of God’s faithfulness in the midst of human ambivalence. The story moves from the promise of Abraham becoming the father of a great nation to Moses liberating the people on the way to the Promised Land. The era of David and the kings initiates the idea of the Kingdom and the Messiah. A hope evolves which dominates the last thousand years. The enlightenment of the prophets’ message nourishes that hope, always inviting us deeper into the Mystery.
During this entire journey of Abraham’s family, the hope of the promise evolves in spite of the consistent and profound infidelity of the people. Likewise, there is a continual growth in understanding of who the God is for the Chosen People and what this God wants. Finally, many centuries after Abraham, the people came to the singular awareness that there is only one God: The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
