Jesus stood and read aloud
from the scroll
of Isaiah. (Luke 4)
Dear Owen,
This morning, I was able to read your syllabus on Biblical Studies, Looks to me like a very capable instructor providing a very thoughtful and thorough syllabus. The course description: “An introduction to the principles of the inductive method approach to studying the Bible…;” reminds me that all courses are an “introduction” to new worlds of thought. That is why we go to college—to be introduced to places we have never been.
The course seeks to develop in you “a lifelong commitment to independent, self-directed Bible study.” “Independent” and “self-directed” may give one the notion that of myself I can inductively discover the true meaning of Scripture. That is a modern idea. For one thing, it assumes we all have the printed page, which has never been the case till the15th century. Before then, Scripture was handwritten and rolled up into a scroll. You can’t carry around 66 scrolls. The scroll would be the valued possession of the synagogue to be read allowed to those gathered to hear. Thus, Scripture was experienced communally rather than independently (Luke 4:16:21):
When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought
up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up
to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled
the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me…” And then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and
sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
Like Jesus, one would have to come to the synagogue to read it and to hear it. That is why the first thing the Apostle Paul asks of preachers like me, is that we remain faithful to “the public reading of scripture” (1Tm 4:13). That is the most important thing we do—read aloud the sacred text. When we do it right, it is like Jesus reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah.
Love, PAPA
