So have you ever had a double take while reading the Bible? Like a “whoa, THAT just happened. In the Bible. It JUST said that.” You’re so taken aback by this unexpectedly simple piece of narration that you have to read it twice. It’s like it makes sense. Like it’s well-written.
This happens to me every time I crack open the Good Book. Probably because I don’t read it nearly as often as I should. And by read, I mean read. I went (am going) through a phase where I studied the Bible in minute detail. I’m a Bible Bowler AND an Awana alumni. I could quote 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus for you. I do not need my table of contents to look up Nahum 2:4. I know where it is. You could say I know my Bible really well. I studied it. I’ve earned scholarships to Christian colleges because I know it so well. But I’ve never read it very much.
Lately, however, it’s been different. It makes me sound like an old person, but I HAVE to read something before I go to sleep. Generally, it’s some dumb novel that I’ve grabbed off the shelf. But I’ve run out of dumb novels to grab off the shelf. So, I’ve started reading my Bible. Like it's a novel. Because that’s what it is. A story. Of epic proportions. I’ve realized how much we miss when we focus only on books and chapters and verses and headers.
It’s well written. It’s ordinary writing about extraordinary events. There’s a human element to it.
Even the New Testament letters are interesting when you hear about all the names and people and then relate them to Acts. I love the portion in Acts during the riot in Ephesus where it says, “The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some were shouting another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.”
This isn’t a crowd of evil no-gooders who hate Jesus and love Satan. This is just a crowd of people. Ordinary people who are swept up in the mob mentality.
Or, in Genesis, you can hear the sarcasm when Joseph’s brothers see him in the distance and say, “Here comes that dreamer!”
But what really hit me as I read the Bible recently is Matthew 14. You look at the headers and you see three, seemingly unrelated, unconnected, stories: John the Baptist is beheaded, Jesus feeds the 5,000, and Jesus walks on water. But they’re not unrelated at all. Matthew certainly didn’t write it that way.
We miss a lot when we jump from header to header while we study and not read.
There are two, key verses here that you would never read together because they’re separated by a header that some editor made up. “And John the Baptist’s disciples came and took John’s body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.”
See? Doesn’t that read better? Transitions!
It goes on. “Hearing of this, the crowds followed Jesus on foot from the towns.”
They followed Jesus! Of all the nerve! I mean, c’mon. Jesus just lost his cousin. His ally. Because of a whim of Herod. Jesus wants some alone time. But the crowds follow him! So when Jesus gets off his boat to get some serious quiet time, he sees a crowd of people waiting for him. They want him to teach them. Again. They want him to heal Grandma’s gout. Again. C’mon! Can’t they see that Jesus has problems of his own? If there was a time for Jesus to snap, this is it. But does he shout, “Go away! I’m sick of all your little problems!’?
No! It says, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
He even fed them. Everyone.
Then, finally, after they’re fed and the disciples are sent off on the boat, Jesus can have his quiet time. That was, after all, the idea. But it gets better.
It’s windy. The disciples in the boat aren’t going anywhere fast. So even with their head start, Jesus is able to catch up with them.
By walking on water.
A day in the life of Jesus.
What have YOU read in the bible lately?
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