Reading Scripture Relationally

As many of you reading this already know the past few years have had me on a journey towards an emotionally healthy spirituality. At times this has been a deeply enjoyable process and at times it has been a deeply painful process. In a lot of ways, that probably describes just about each “journey” you or I have been on, doesn’t it? A part of my journey and story has included some fresh ways to engage with scripture, more specifically the person of Jesus as revealed in scripture. Reading the Bible has been a part of my spiritual journey for as far back as I can remember. I was taught from a very young age the important role that the word of God would play in my personal and spiritual formation. As I’ve grown older though knowing more facts about scripture, and continuing to develop a strong theology at times seemed to make God more distant than near for me. Has anyone else had the same experience? How could that be?  I think in a lot of ways I was taught the importance of knowing my faith, defending my faith, studying scripture to show myself approved as the King James Version I had grown up with declares. Sometimes I and I think many of us can overreact to themes or patterns that we are seeing and I certainly don’t want to do that. What I mean is that with most things there are two ditches that we can fall into. In the case of studying scripture, we can fall into the ditch of studying or reading only to harvest facts about Jesus in a way that has no real or deep connection to the reality of our everyday lives or we can fall into the ditch of making God’s eternal and living word exclusively about our lives with no value of facts, theology, etc.  How then can we balance out our study to yes, learn about Jesus because that is important but also to know the person of Jesus through our time in God’s word? 

Like any relationships that you and I enjoy, time was spent getting to know the person.  I didn’t read a book about them, study the facts about their lives and show up to a relationship where a deep intimacy had been formed. If I can’t reasonably expect this with my wife, my children, or my friends, why then do I expect this type of intimacy to flow out of reading about Jesus like I'm on a fact-finding mission? As I examine a lifetime of reading and engaging with Scripture I find myself somewhat regularly wrestling with two challenges. One of them is an over-exaggerated understanding of myself. The other, a diminished understanding of who I am in Christ and what that affords me. Let’s take a quick look at each of these:

Over-exaggerated understanding of myself

We can’t interpret scripture solely through the lens of our experience. Everything in scripture can’t be about us and nothing in scripture can submit to our values, ways of thinking, or ways of viewing the world. When we try to do that, we become the god living on the throne of our lives. This can be very dangerous and toxic not only for us, and our faith but also for the people around us. In many ways, this is the birthplace of cults and heresy.  That is not to say that our values, our ways of thinking, or our ways of viewing the world are unimportant generally and specifically to our reading of scripture because they are. The invitation is to interpret our story through God’s story, not God’s story through our story. 

Diminished understanding of who I am in Christ

We also don’t want to engage with Scripture so impersonally that it becomes a way for us to study for an exam that we aren’t actually ever going to take. When Scripture is consumed in a similar fashion that we consume a literature book in preparation for an English Final we lose the heart of what Scripture is trying to communicate, namely an intimate relationship with Jesus. Through faith in Christ, we have been invited into participation in the life of God through Christ. As Ephesians 1 declares, in Christ, “We are blessed with every spiritual blessing.” When God declares at Christ’s baptism that Jesus is His “beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased,” He’s declaring the same about you and me! All that is Christ’s is ours! This affirmation from God became the foundation from which the life and ministry of Jesus flourished. How would a deepened understanding of this truth shape and transform our lives? 

Several years ago I was challenged to read scripture relationally. And Honestly, I didn’t even know where to begin. I assumed that is how I had always engaged with Scripture. As I’ve continued to learn about how my past has influenced my present and how past wounds in relationships affect my current relationships. I’ve certainly experienced that in relation to God. In many ways, the way that I engage with God has been deeply influenced by the ways that I engage with and have engaged with my dad. A part of my story includes a dad that worked a lot of hours to provide for us. I always had everything I needed in life and rarely didn’t have even the things that I wanted. I’m deeply thankful for that and connected to that I’ve never had trouble trusting that God would provide for me and my family even so much so that Tiffany and I have rarely had an argument connected to finances and provision over the past thirteen years of marriage. My dad’s absence from large portions of my life though created some difficulty in receiving aspects of God’s character. While it hasn’t been difficult trusting that God would richly provide for me tangibly, it has been deeply challenging connecting with God as a loving and present Father. Intellectually I can understand that these things are true, but emotionally that has been a deep challenge. God for large parts of my life has felt very distant and connected from my world. Learning to read the Scripture relationally has provided a means for God’s grace to re-parent me and my understanding of how God engages with me as one of His children. 

I remember the first time reading Scripture relationally clicked for me. I was reading a portion of Mark 10 that was familiar. I had read it hundreds of times in the past, heard sermons from this text, and even preached sermons from this text. The text was Mark 10:13-16 which says, “And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.” Over the years it was easy to see me in the disciples who were trying to keep Jesus from being bothered by the immaturity of children or people who were behaving like children. It was even easy to see myself in seasons in a Christ-like way of being an inviting presence for children to engage with God. This time though as I read and perhaps for the first time I was able to read this passage and imaginatively experience this text as a child being received and embraced by God through Jesus. The text became alive to me and was used by God to transform this tension I felt between what I knew to be true intellectually and what I was currently experiencing in my relationship with God. I was moved towards tears as I envisioned myself coming to Jesus as a child and being embraced by Him, and then defended by Him. It was amazingly beautiful.

That day cemented the beauty of reading scripture relationally with imagination. God has given all of us the beauty of wonder through imagination. Somewhere along the way though we’ve matured past the point of imagination at least in relationship to God. Jesus had a beautiful way of telling a story or parable in a way that connected with each person he was interacting with. Many of these stories speak directly to our imagination. For example, try to understand Jesus as the Bread of Life without imagination. If you have never been a sheep shepherd try to understand Jesus being the Great Shepherd without imagination.  Jesus met people right where they were and evoked an imaginative response to Himself and the truth he was declaring through a story. When we read Scripture purely from a perspective of facts and information we may miss the heart of what Jesus is saying and we miss the transformative presence of God that is represented in Scripture. Jesus is the word of God-made flesh. The word of God is alive and powerful to the degree that it cuts through the deepest intentions and motivations of our hearts. What would it look like to engage Scripture as if these things were absolutely true? As if it wasn't a historical book revealing interesting facts about Jesus but as the living revelation of the person of Jesus. What would it look like to experience the healing presence of  Jesus as the woman with the issue of blood in Luke 8 experienced as Jesus declared, “your faith has made you whole”? What would it look like to answer Jesus’ question of “what do you want me to do for you”?  to Blind Bartimaeus as if Jesus was asking you directly? Our imaginative and relational engagement with Scripture affords us these opportunities. 

I’ve made it a regular practice to read one chapter of the Gospels each day on rotation. As I do I imaginatively read them as if I’m a part of the story. As if I’m there watching the baptism of Jesus as if I’m journeying with Jesus as a disciple. I ask questions about what is happening, I pay attention to my five senses. What would it have smelled like to visit the temple, what would the heat of the day be like, what did the foods the ate at Passover taste like. God has given each of us the beauty of imagination as a means to engage with Him and has given us the Scriptures to guide us in this engagement. I encourage you to channel the wonder and creativity of your inner child as you engage with Scripture. I’ve provided a historically practiced way of doing so below to help you begin engaging with scripture in this way!

Lectio Divina

Read

Read the selected passage slowly. Consider reading multiple times and reading out loud. Mark one particular word or phrase that stands out to you as you read. Pause, breath, and relax for a few minutes to let the word or words really sink in. 

Reflect

Reflect on your passage. Go back & read what you’ve marked. Sit with those words. Contemplate the meaning of those words, deeply. Consider what they meant to the original audience and reflect on what they may mean to you. Why do you think they stood out to you? 

Respond

Respond to your passage. Write down your word or phrase. Rewrite them perhaps even using your own words. Use them to write a prayer, journal your feelings and thoughts connected to them. Write down your general observations or things the Spirit of God may be inviting you to do in response to reading and reflecting upon them. 

Rest  

Rest in God’s presence. Be silent for a minimum of 2 minutes. Pay attention to your body and your breathing. Perhaps form a simple breath prayer from your words or phrase and pray it to God on the breath in or the breath out. Offer praise, gratitude, or requests if you desire, but know that He knows you, sees you and is meeting you at that moment. 

Submitted By: Matthew Korte