This weekend, I spent much of my time reading and writing a lengthy discussion on Ephesians. I had several commentaries spread out on the table along with several different translations of the letter of Ephesians. I was investigating every verse and how it related to the book as a whole. I would read one commentary's viewpoint and corroborate it with another. I would look up the cultural context behind the passage and figure out the purpose behind Paul's statements. I had never looked at Ephesians this in depth before and I relished in it. Being able to pick up on the subtleties that had previously gone unnoticed was energizing. Understanding Paul's use of the original Greek and what he meant by his choice in words was all incredibly fascinating. Though as I sit here and just enjoy the simplicity of the evening and notice the peace in this moment, I'm content in a very different way. You see it was great to be able to investigate Ephesians to the extent that I did, but it is equally as great to simply enjoy this moment as the breeze flows through my window. You see sometimes we do need those moments of intense investigation, where we go through the scriptures and just mine it for all that it has to offer. But then there are those other times where we need to simply BE, before scripture. Sometimes we need to slow down and just enjoy the beautiful words it has to offer.
Have you ever gone out to the store, bought a DVD, put it in the DVD player, and watched it for the very first time with the commentaries on? To be honest, I've never watched a movie with the commentaries on with any of my movies (Except Monty Python and the Holy Grail and that's just because the commentary is actually selected scenes from Henry VIII. Even then, I got bored after about 15 minutes). I can't imagine watching a movie, getting involved in the story, and all the while listening to some running commentary about how they made the movie. It would drive me crazy. Sure I'd learn tons about how they made the movie and how many takes it took to get a well choreographed fight scene perfect, but I would miss out on the entire movie. I would have deprived the movie of its ability to move me whether to laughter, or to tears, or to inspiration. By having the commentary, I would have lost focus on the beauty of the movie and the purpose behind it.
When I was studying math in graduate school, I was taking an applied math course. One day my professor told us to come up with a list of things we would need to take into consideration if we wanted to create an equation that modeled the movement of a swing. We came up with all of these ideas and talked about what an equation like that would look like. Then someone suggested that we would need to account for the force exerted by the person who was actually swinging on the swing. Most nodded in agreement, but one of the engineers responded that that was impossible, that the only way a person could swing on a swing was by being pushed by someone else. Now this engineer had a wealth of knowledge concerning mathematics and engineering. He had proven his abilities in the class time and again. Yet here he had missed one critical part. Having never swung on a swing, he could not fathom the idea of the person on the swing having the ability to make it go. I wonder if we do this to scripture sometimes. I wonder if we stare at it so long, analyzing it from every angle, figuring out the meaning behind every phrase, and yet in the end we miss that one thing. The simple beauty that lies within the scripture. Sure there are great things to be said for using a commentary with scripture. There are many times where it clears up confusion or adds additional insight. I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Ephesians better through the use of the commentaries. But I feel that there is also a danger when we get so wrapped up in the commentaries that we forget to enjoy the scripture as it was meant to be enjoyed. We miss out on the love story between God and His people. We miss out on the invitation that He gives us to respond in love. We miss out on the poetic nature of the Holy Spirit as He whispers gently to us concerning His love. Somehow in our confusion we try and describe the swing instead of swinging on it. May we always remember to swing on the swing.
No comments:
Post a Comment