January 13, 2015
Tuesday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Jesus Calls Us To Think
The people were astonished at his
teaching,
for he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes.
The “scribes” were the respected,
approved religion teachers in Israel. They passed on faithfully what they had
been taught. They didn’t question it and didn’t go beyond it.
They
also hated Jesus. He was a threat to their position among the people, because the
crowds recognized prophetic insight in his teaching: He taught them as one
having authority from mind and Spirit, and not as the scribes.”
The greatest block to hearing the
voice of God in Scripture is fundamentalism. This can be the “biblical fundamentalism”
of those who insist on taking every word literally (which, in ordinary speech
and writing, would make communication impossible); or it can be the
“magisterial fundamentalism” of those who interpret everything strictly
according to whatever teaching is considered “official” in the Church.
For fundamentalists, all truth is
contained in simplistic formulations of doctrine, officially approved. They
take the words at face value, and the face is always the face of current
Catholic culture in their time and place. They do not accept any theological
explanation, historical exploration or extension into mystery. For that reason
they misread Scripture. Twice Jesus reproached them for this: “Go and learn what this means… If you had known what this means…” (Matthew
9:13; 12:7; 23:13). To learn the meaning of God’s words, we have to study the
mind and heart of God as a disciple. Today’s “scribes” are closed to this.
People with the “scribe” mentality
confuse the “ordinary magisterium” of current bishops and religion teachers
with the truly authoritative magisterium of authentic tradition passed down
throughout the universal Church. This closes their minds and locks out the
Spirit.
One remedy for this is to compare
the beliefs and practices of “cultural Catholicism” with the words and example
of Jesus in the Gospels. But for that we have to read the Bible. The reason we
don’t is because, in the “cultural Catholicism” we were brought up in, reading
the Bible was not emphasized as important, much less presented as an
“obligation.” But for anyone who thinks with an uncorrupted mind, it is
perfectly obvious that, for those who can read, there is just as much
obligation to read the word of God as there is to go to Mass on Sunday. No one
can argue against this except the supporters of the “Pharisee party” who
believe that nothing is obligatory unless it is explicitly required by law;
even reading the words of God himself!
Jesus says his authentic disciples
are those who “come to me, hear my words, and act on them… If you abide in my
word, you are truly my disciples” (Luke 6:46; John 8:31).
“Those who love me will keep my
word… The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life... Whoever is
from God hears the words of God” (John 14:23; 6:63; 8:47).
No one familiar with these texts
could honestly believe that for any literate person it is enough to learn
Catholic doctrine out of the catechism and never go to its source in the living
words of Jesus himself. If we weren’t excused by the “invincible ignorance” of
our legalistic religious formation, we would be guilty of actual contempt for
the word of God.
“If today you hear his voice, harden
not your hearts.” The Pharisees would say you can avoid sin just by making sure
you don’t hear his voice. By not reading
the Bible!
What should we conclude from this?
“If today you hear his voice, harden
not your hearts.”
The first thing we need to do is
make sure we “hear his voice.”
For that we need to read the Bible.
Do I choose to read and think about the
words of God?
Pray: “Teach
me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth” (Psalm 86:11).
Practice: Keep your
Bible on your pillow. Never go to sleep without reading one line.
Discuss: Do you think Christians
are obliged to read the Bible?
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