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| Painting by Mary Grace Thul |
Have you ever wondered why Jesus never left his disciples and followers and faithful friends anything in writing? The only time we hear of Jesus writing at all, he is writing in sand. Hardly something that you can hand down. Even the writers of the Gospels cannot remember what he wrote that day, as the sand eventually became blown smooth by the wind...
Perhaps that is Jesus way of telling us, his spirit and his message is not static, cannot be held on to by pen and paper, is not something any amount of words can capture and accurately portray for all time. The spirit of Jesus cannot be contained between the covers of even the most beautiful book.
I think Jesus is telling us, take that word out of the book and plant it in my soul, where it can take root, spring forth, and bear fruit. I think I keep the spirit of Jesus alive when I understand it, not from my reading, but from my living. I think that the words of the Gospel are powerful only as far as they influence not just my thinking, but my choices.
That is what I think. What are your thoughts?
I agree His Word is not static, but if those commissioned to write an account hadn't I have to wonder what we would know of Jesus and His teachings today. So in a sense it must be static. How would we ever know what happened or what God wanted if those words and actions of Jesus were not static? It is what we do with the static Word. We must 'eat' the Bread in order to know the Bread and for the Living waters to come in and flow out. The Word in us does not remain static, but without the static Word, we would not have the Bread to eat or share.
ReplyDeleteStatic= written, printed, bound. :)
Elizabeth: You are making the point I failed to make clear! The Word is important, but cannot stand on its own. We must take it through Lectio Divina and find the pulse of Jesus within!
ReplyDelete