Kethuvim

I've heard so many sermons (probably some of mine as well) in my life where the preacher has said something to the effect of: The Bible is the answer.  Of course, the question that the person may have is irrelevant, but the Bible is, apparently, the answer.  Over the last few years, I've tried to analyze that idea to figure out whether it is true or not.  The idea that the Bible is "God's answer book" bugs me greatly and here's why: we aren't called to follow the Bible, we're called to follow Christ.  There's a major difference between those two things.  The idea also bugs me because the Bible was never intended to be an answer book (more on this later).

I know people who know the Bible front to back, inside and out, and yet they, in no way, model the life Jesus laid out (this obviously isn't true of everyone who knows the Bible well).  They put the authority of Scripture up so high that they miss out on following Christ, which, it seems to me, is the point of being a Christian.  We need to remember that the earliest Christians didn't have the Bible as we know it.  The Bible as we know it didn't exist until almost 400 c.e., and even then you could only read it if your were a higher up in the Church.  It wasn't until Martin Luther (and the printing press) came along in the 1500s that people were allowed to read the Bible at all.  That means the church got by for 1500 years without really being able to study Scripture at all.  However, millions of people found a way during that time to worship God and follow Christ.  The only guide they had was their community of believers and the Church.    

So what's my point?  The point is this: the Bible is important, but it isn't as important as Jesus.  The Bible isn't an answer book, although it has some answers to life in it.  The Bible is a collection of stories of how God relates to people and how we relate to God.  It's a beautiful text because, upon reading it, we find ourselves as part of the story.  We find a bit of ourselves in Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Mary (did you know that Puff the Magic Dragon lives by the sea?), etc.  We have the benefit of the Bible today that 1500 years of worth of Christians really didn't have.  It's an important document, but it isn't as important as Jesus.  That may not be popular with some of you, but it's true.  

The Pharisees knew the Scriptures, but, according to Jesus, they didn't really know God or truly follow him or his intent with the Scriptures.  Jesus was constantly saying, You do what the Scripture says, but not what it intends.  They knew the word, but they didn't know the Word, and that makes all the difference in the world.