Jacob and Laban in Gilead – Held on Sunday, October 06, 2013

What impact, if any, has scripture study had on our image of God?

Some background to the question that occupied our group for nearly the first hour of our conversation on Sunday, October 06, 2013.  We have been studying Genesis for more than two years now and I wondered what impact, if any, the time spent had had on our image of God.  As adults we come to the Bible with already formed images and understandings.  Our study could either affirm or challenge that formation.  The question is something like has the forest changed because we have been studying the trees.  Or maybe, have we missed the forest because of studying the trees.  I was anxious to know.  Below then is a summary of the conversation that took place.

The conversation began with my sharing a few observations about understanding the scripture in general.  Scripture is an extraordinarily rich library of the human and divine drama manifesting itself in the history of the people of the Bible.  But there is not one understanding but many of that history.  Jesus, for Christians perhaps, best exemplifies this diversity of understanding.  The messiah that his disciples thought he was prior to the resurrection and the messiah that Jesus lived out were not only different images and understandings; they were at times opposed.

Jesus wasn’t the messiah that many contemporaries of him expected.  Even though the early church was to find many elements in the Jewish Scripture that they [the early church] identified as portraying the Jesus they came to believe in; one of the most significant of these passages was the Servant Songs of Isaiah.  Having different images, understanding emerge from the Bible is common; oppose images and understandings commonly emerged too.  It is learning how to be faithful to one’s own understanding and open to the other that summons the adult of today.  Neither an easy journey nor one that always feels good.  Risk is inherent in the journey.

It didn’t surprise me that Ken started it off.  He was aware that it wasn’t only studying scripture but life itself that has brought about some changes in him.  Primarily he feels that his perceptive on God, religion, life is broader, more encompassing.

When I asked him could he be more specific, it was Tina who responded.  She remarked that prior to coming to the study group she understood the bible to be a history book; but a history book she had a hard time understanding and accepting.  All those numbers … Now she thinks of the bible as an account of people, somewhat like her both doing good and failing.  God loved them, God loves me, not because of the good I do but despite the failures that I have committed.

Tim realized that his horizon has grown.  Once clear example occurs  when he listens to the scripture during the liturgy.  Many more questions occur to him.  What is the author trying to say?  Who is his audience?  What in going on in his world?  What is the meaning of the passage?  He recognized as well that studying has perked his interest.  He is studying on his own.  He has come to realize that change is a constant in the life of the church.

I remarked that the word “change” is ambiguous.  As Tim said, change is inevitable.  At the same time we evaluate the change.  Some change is good but other change is bad.  And the real difficulty is that what one person evaluates as a good change, development, growth; another person evaluates as a bad change, decline, mistaken.  One change is to be embraced fostered and another is to be resisted, reversed.  Thus conflict.

Such conflict has occurred from the very beginning of Christianity.  Maybe one of the most significant conflicts occurred when gentiles became followers of Christ.  Were these gentiles to follow the Jewish customs?  Some Jewish Christians, Peter, initially thought yes; other Jewish Christians, Paul, thought no.  Christians came to believe that Jesus was both God and Man.  Within a few hundred years, some Christians had one understanding on what it meant for Jesus to be both God and Man and other Christians had a different and opposed understanding.  This conflict was resolved at the Council of Nicea in around 325 CE.  It was this Council that used a Greek word, homoousios; that was translated in Latin and transliterated into English, consubstantial, which was recently inserted “back” into the Nicene Creed which we recite at Mass.

Mark wanted to make the point that many basic understandings haven’t changed at all.  He still fears God, loves God, trusts God, knows that God is a forgiving God, and that he is a sinner. But when it came to understanding the Bible, well then change has occurred.  In fact, this is the basic that I keep coming back.  It seems like there is always more to learn and I am drawn to that learning more.  He brought forward the challenge he experienced in understanding the meaning of heaven not as an astronomical but a theological one; what can it mean that God is outside of time, without a past or future but an eternal now.

For Rosemarie, her understanding is focused on what the Bible means to her now.  She recalled that Jesus spoke in parables and they are hard to understand; of course it doesn’t help that our minds are limited.  Jesus challenged his disciples.  He asked them who do you say that I am?  It is clear to her that we need to continue studying.

The different understanding that I had mentioned when we began our conversation found a resonance with our church today.  As in the past, so today there are different and even opposed understandings.  This is the world that God has given to us to live out.  This is the world we are being invited to respond to in the light of the Father, the Son, and their Spirit.

Without realizing an hour had gone by. We had intended to cover the story of Jacob and Laban in Gilead but time would not permit that.  Fortunately the story contains two distinct episodes and we were able to focus our attention on the first episode, Gn. 31: 25 – 37.

We are reminded as we listen to the reading to wonder

  • Who are the characters in the story
  • What role do these characters play
  • What is the plot of the story, the author’s intent

Reading: Gen. 31:25 – 37: Jacob and Laban in Gilead.  http://usccb.org/bible/genesis/31

You are invited to respond to these or other questions that might arise within you as you read this passage.

Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.  See “comment” link below

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