The second question I ask when studying the Bible with others, is ‘Where’s Jesus?’
By this time, we’ve spent some time discussing what is strange about the text in question. We’ve got under the skin of it a bit and are trying to face it on its own terms. We have not applied it, discussed its relevance for us, or anything similar; we’ve deliberately kept exploring the text for some time.
It takes people a while not to jump to application (which is question 3) because we’re inclined to assume that’s what Bible study is about. Before we get there, I make sure we address another question: ‘where’s Jesus?’
For this I make the assumption that Jesus really meant what he said to Cleopas and his friend on the Emmaus Road: Moses and the Prophets really are about him. The whole Bible is a unified story that not only points to Jesus but is about Jesus in its details.
It’s important to not paste Jesus over the top of Old Testament narratives with their own distinctive warp and woof, but we have by this point spent a significant amount of time exploring the text on its own terms. Instead, once we’ve grasped the text, we assume Jesus meant what he said and ask how this particular text in front of us speaks to him.
Every text will. I mostly study Old Testament narratives with people and this question works in the New Testament but not in quite the same way. Certainly, in the gospels it can seem silly to ask, but instead we can ask ‘what does this tell us about Jesus?’ That can seem like a comprehension question but almost always turns to worship fairly quickly.
Where is Jesus in Ruth or Exodus or 2 Chronicles? If readers aren’t used to this question then they will need some hand holding in the study to have anything to suggest. It is my experience that over a prolonged period of time—and all Bible study is not short haul but long haul if it’s going to be done really well—readers will learn patterns and ways to spot the shape of Jesus in, with, and under the text.
The simplest answer is the one attuned to story, that says ‘Jesus is in chapter 4 of Ruth because the genealogy nets us David and that nets us Jesus which is pretty cool because Ruth is in Jesus’ line and…’ That’s important and not something to graduate from; placing a text in the grand storyline is helpful especially if it didn’t come up in your discussion of what was weird.
The next layer of answer (in complexity, not in importance) would be the one attuned to typology, that notices how Boaz the kinsman-redeemer is like Jesus and how we (the church) are like Ruth in so many ways.
The more complex answer is the one attuned to symbol, that ponders the connection between the roasted grains that Boaz gifts Ruth to eat in chapter 2 and the bread of the Lord’s Supper. How is this gift like and unlike the one we partake of on a Sunday? I find that it’s often the sacraments that these echoes speak of when reading the Old Testament.
These layers aren’t always easily distinguishable from each other. All three come into view when we explore the encounter Ruth has at Boaz’s and we ponder the connections between this and the Song of Songs and therefore between Christ and his Church. The layers themselves aren’t important as a device for anything other than giving examples, the important thing is to assume that Jesus—and therefore the Church—are being spoken of by all of Scripture.
That isn’t all this text is saying, but if we fail to ask the question then we fail to authentically read the Bible as Christians. Reading the Bible is by its nature an encounter with divine speech, we should always therefore ask with the primary author of Scripture, Jesus, has to say about himself in every text that we read.
I try to end most Bible studies with a time of worship. It’s this second question that gives us prayers to pray in worship back to Jesus. We come full of everything that he’s taught us in his word and reflect it back to him in praise. By a time of worship, I don’t mean anything fancy, ‘can anyone find a song in the songbook that reflects some of themes we’ve talked about?’ Then we sing it, then one after another we pray praise and thanks to Jesus for whatever we’ve seen in the text.
Particularly when the text is difficult, this is vital. We don’t leave the study without being deliberate in taking ourselves to Jesus to speak back to him in response to the encounter we’ve had with him in the text. We anticipate that turning to praise will not only lead us into his presence but also cultivate affections in our hearts that will bear fruit in our lives. Responding to difficulty with questioning, with wrestling, but also with praise, is the authentically Christian way to deal with our questions, difficulties, and doubts.
Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash
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