On the Scriptures

Angelus Article for Sunday. July 16, 2006
The Angelus is Saint Mary's weekly newsletter - archives are available on the Parish Website.
My grandfather spent his life working as a lobsterman; one of his sons was a lobsterman, the other a fisherman. I know that sound advice, a number of nets, traps, and locations of fertile fishing grounds were passed from father to sons. They were given the tried and true methods of fishing.

Like my uncles, I am fortunate to have had a number of things passed down to me. Last week I visited my godfather, a retired priest, in Maryland and went through his bookshelves with him. “This is a must have.” “This is useless.” “You might find this handy.” “I used this every week as part of my sermon preparation.” With such tools and advice from my godfather and other priests (in particular my dad and my colleagues at Saint Mary’s), I am learning the tried and true methods of being a “fisher of men”.

I love telling others about Jesus Christ. I love preaching at Low Mass when there is little more than a moment to instruct the congregation about who Jesus is or what Jesus said and what that means for us. I love preaching at Solemn Mass when there is a little more time to dig deeper into the day’s readings and, hopefully, reveal that much more about Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. I love teaching classes, especially Bible studies. I can’t imagine being able to do any of this without having received what was passed on to me by others.

It’s certainly true that God is revealed to us in the people around us, after all if we truly believe that we are members of the Body of Christ then we see and hear Christ in each other. Jesus has been revealed to me through the words and actions of bishops, priests, deacons, and laity with whom I interacted throughout my life. I learned about Jesus by listening to and talking with professors and students and by reading treatises, commentaries, and histories at Chicago and Yale. From all of these (whether positive or negative examples), I learned that the tried and true methods of Christian ministry rely on being pointed again and again to the gospel of Christ revealed in the scriptures.

It makes perfect sense if you think about it. These Christian leaders, whether they are people living today or people who lived hundreds of years ago are all links in a chain of clergy, theologians, preachers, and other church leaders stretching back to the very apostles that Jesus himself sent into the world to teach and baptize all nations. The apostles and disciples who had followed Jesus during his ministry, who had seen him, spoken with him, and eaten with him after he rose from the dead passed on to others all they knew about who Jesus was and what he had taught them. They used the same Hebrew and Greek scriptures to talk about him that he used to talk about himself. They wrote letters and gospels, and inspired others to write gospels and letters so that there would be an accurate record of Jesus’ ministry, death and resurrection, as well as an accurate record of how Jesus was understood by those who were personally sent out by him to the rest of the world.

The Old and New Testaments have been passed down to us by the church. Christian worship is taken from them. Christian theology interprets them. Christian preaching exposits them. Why? So that Jesus Christ is revealed to us today the same way that he was revealed to the first apostles: as the way, the truth and the life; as our King and our God. The scriptures are not the only way God is revealed to us, but they are the tried and true method of knowing Jesus that has been passed down to us. Like fishing or anything else, we can always go it on our own through trial and error. Maybe I’ll catch a lobster with a fishing pole – I actually did it once by chance – but I can tell you for certain that going out with my grandfather, baiting and dropping traps in fertile lobster waters, and hauling in a catch of more lobsters than you can imagine is the tried and true method of catching lobsters.

This summer, I invite you to encounter Jesus in the exact same way Christians have encountered him for the past two thousand years, read what Jesus himself said, and find out what those who knew him said about him. If you don’t know where to start, read a Gospel or an Epistle or even take up the Daily Office and become familiar with the entire Bible.