How to Read your Bible
Riding the Wave of Easter.
This Eastertide, we have been walking with those who first walked with the Resurrected Jesus. First, the Marys at the tomb, who went and told. Then the disciples, behind locked doors, who received his peace. Today, we come to two travelers on the road leaving Jerusalem — one named Cleopas, the other unnamed — trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. They had heard the words. They had seen the deeds. And none of it added up with a cross and an empty grave. Into that confusion, the Resurrected Jesus drew near and walked with them. What unfolds on that road is not merely another resurrection appearance. It is a lesson. Luke alone records this encounter, and in it, Jesus himself teaches us how to read our Bibles.
Notice the pattern. Jesus walks with them incognito. They unburden their confusion. Something about this stranger compels them to keep him close. And then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he opens the Scriptures to them. Only after the word is expounded, and in the breaking of bread, is he finally revealed. The word comes first. The meal comes next. Their eyes are opened last. This is the order of discipleship, and it is no accident. Out of this encounter, two lessons arise for us about how we are to read the Word of God.
Jesus as the Main Character.
Luke 24:27 (NASB95) — Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
This verse has a way of rearranging a person. Most of us were handed a Bible and taught, with every good intention, to find ourselves on its pages. Adam and Eve became a cautionary tale about trusting God. Cain and Abel became a warning against hating your brother. The Exodus became a lesson about God rescuing you from your enemies. David and Goliath became a pep talk for your personal giants. And on and on it goes. The stories become mirrors. The Bible becomes about us.
But Jesus, walking alongside Cleopas and his companion, will not let them read that way. Jesus calls them foolish and slow of heart, not because they failed to find themselves in the story, but because they failed to find Jesus. The Scriptures are written to us, yes—but they are about Jesus. Every page. Every patriarch. Every prophet. Every psalm.
Read this way, the stories open up. The story of Adam and Eve becomes the story of the Second Adam, who does for his bride what the first Adam failed to do. Cain and Abel becomes the story of the brother whose blood is shed by his own kin, pointing to Jesus who was betrayed by his very own. Abraham, leaving his father's house to sojourn in a strange land, becomes the story of the Son who leaves his Father's side and takes on the form of a servant. The Exodus becomes the story of Jesus, who ransoms his people from the grips of sin, and through his own sacrifice, allows the people to be passed over by death. David and Goliath becomes the story of Jesus who defeats the enemy we could never defeat ourselves—Sin, Satan, and Death. And the Psalms—those are not merely songs for our sorrows and celebrations. They are the words of Jesus on the cross, groaning in his suffering and offering his praise to the Father in the same breath.
The Old Testament is a catalog of characters, and every one of them is a type of the one to come. When we read this way, the Scriptures are not flat; they burn. Our hearts begin to burn within us, as the two on the road discovered, because Christ is walking with us through every chapter. The Bible is his Story from beginning to end. We find ourselves in it only insofar as we are found in him.
Sharing What You Have Read.
Luke 24:35 (NASB95) — They began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.
We have been told, and rightly so, that Christians grow through personal Bible study and prayer. But that is not the whole account. Look carefully at the last three weeks. The Marys encounter Jesus and run to tell. The disciples encounter Jesus and go find Thomas. The two on the road encounter Jesus and return that same hour to Jerusalem, so they can tell the others what happened. A pattern emerges, and it is hard to miss. Disciples grow by sharing their encounters with Jesus, not by hoarding them.
This means reading your Bible was never meant to be only a private affair. It was meant to be a shared one. There are, I suspect, many sitting among us on any given Sunday who are carrying unshared encounters with Jesus—insights the Spirit has given them through the Scriptures that the rest of us have never heard. That is a loss for the whole Body. What the Word gives to one is given through that one to many. God speaks to his people through his Word so that his people may speak to one another and be built up together.
This is why it matters so much that we gather to hear the Word read and proclaimed on Sundays. And it is why the times we gather beyond Sunday—to open the Bible together, to talk, discuss, and wonder—are not optional extras for the especially devoted. They are the ordinary means by which our faith, and someone else's faith, grows.
So we learn, from the Resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus, how to read our Bibles. We read them expecting to meet Jesus on every page, because every page is about him. And we read them together, so that what the Spirit reveals to one may set another heart to burning. Open the book. Look for Jesus. And then share it with someone. Your heart, and theirs, will be warmer for it.
Peace be with you,
Pastor Bruce
