A couple passages that have riddled me for a while now are found in Luke 15:31 and 1 Corinthians 13:5b. In the discipline of hermeneutics, or as some call it, Bible study, there are many different barriers. Barriers to getting at the heart of what the text is actually saying. Some of those barriers can be dealt with very scientifically through understanding the background of the text, the grammatical construction, and various other methods for digging out the main point. However, there are some passages I come across that are beyond my bible study abilities. They take something of a moral study, they demand something of a moral fiber which will then connect the reader with the text. A thief understands another thief but hardly ever can an arrogant man understand the humble. So there are times during my Bible study where I’m forced to throw up my arms in defeat, sheepishly admitting that I am missing the moral fiber which is needed to experience a certain text. An example of this lack of moral fiber can be found in the two verses stated above. Both of these versus seem to be pretty straight forward and yet I am convinced that the depth of meaning is beyond where I’m at.
Luke 15: 31″ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
Hmm. Everything I have is yours? How does that work? What does that mean? Should we cease to work because we are guaranteed to already possess all that is worth possessing? Or do we try to have everything while possessing nothing? Do we move in the tension without depending on it? “Everything I have is yours”. Whoa. What if that is true? Do I give up my pursuits of justice, peace and mercy? How does he share all things and yet desire us to take things to the next level? My lack of clarity is an indicator.
1 Corinthians 13:5b “love is not self-seeking”. Who is not self-seeking? How do you seek without being self-seeking? Should no one seek at all? Can a person look without looking? What kind of release is necessary to be free from the things we want? How can we want and not be self-seeking? Moral fiber. Does my desire for a certain moral fiber disqualify me from attaining it?
Randomness on a precise day. Thoughts? Reactions?
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