“Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” How did Jesus approach the Jewish Scriptures? We have no record of Jesus sitting down to a bible study, but we find his entire life and teaching saturated with the stories of his Jewish faith. As a young boy, he asks provocative questions of the rabbis and priests. He uses the wilderness stories of Israel as a source of strength while he was being tempted in the wilderness. He viewed his entire ministry as living into the teachings of the prophets. Though questioned and challenged by the Torah scholars of the day, he chose not to explicate an encyclopedic knowledge of the Scriptures. Jesus spoke of love for God and neighbor and told stories to show how these can be lived.
Jesus lived his life in and by the stories of Scripture. Jesus did not approach the Scriptures as a textbook to study, memorize and use to pass a test in Sunday school. He showed much more respect for it by looking to it for the words of life. Algebra and biology textbooks did not shape your life in high school. It was the stories of Friday night football, the stories of friendships lost and won. The stories of fighting with and learning to trust your parents. The stories of stupidity and courage. For better or worse they shaped your life and helped to mold the you that is you.
Living in the way of Jesus means to live in the way of the stories that have been handed on to us in the Scriptures. The stories of heroic women and men of faith messing up and getting it right shape our lives. The stories of God’s grace and intervention in our broken world inspire and change us. The stories of the kingdom of God challenge us to live according to a different reality than what the gods of this world offer.
In order to live into the stories of Scripture, you have to read it. But how do you get excited about reading through something such as Leviticus when the next season of The Office arrived from Netflix? I offer two words: commitment and listening. It takes commitment to work through and read the Scriptures; a commitment that can be fostered through the practice of daily reading. Secondly, actively listening will help to reframe the question in the first place. Do we not expect to hear from the voice of God when we read the Scriptures? It is in our reading that we learn to listen for the voice of God. Do we not also believe that God is present everywhere? Through our practiced listening to God in Scripture, we can expect to hear the voice of God anywhere. So it is not that we have to choose The Office over against Scripture as though they are in competition, but it is our active listening to God in Scripture that reshapes our listening (viewing) of The Office.
Commit yourself to reading and learning the stories of Scripture. Listen for the voice of God and allow his words to shape your life and reframe your story.
