Archeology and Narrative

December 1

Read Luke 1:1-4

Pray: Almighty God, may the stories of my faith color the days of my life. May I see myself as both reader and character in the story you are telling through humanity. Amen.

Hear:

Growing up, I was obsessed with the stories of the bible. I wasn’t obsessed with them like I was also obsessed with the stories I read about Harry Potter. I was obsessed with the stories of the Bible like an archeologist is obsessed with bones. I wanted to look through every single detail and every tiny bit of narrative until I had a clear image of what actually happened.

You see, I needed to know the facts the figures the data of all of these stories. I had no interest in things like setting, audience, or genre. I needed to know that when Job spoke of the Leviathan, that this was not an analogy or a literary device. No, for me, God had to have wrestled with an actual crocodile and this passage had to back up the belief that dinosaurs and humans were both created in the same six-day span.

As I grew in the faith, I realized how unfair this was to the actual message of the Scriptures I thought I was loving so well. I thought I was showing reverence for the work of God’s Word, but instead, I was demanding something from a gift that it was never meant to provide.

All of Scripture was written for a specific purpose and specific audience. For me to ask questions born solely out of my context was like going to the phonebook for poetry: it’s not the White Pages fault I don’t find a stirring verse on its pages. Our passage today shows us that scripture is there to help us understand the more board narrative— that Christ has come into the world so that we might know God so deeply that we begin to once more reflect the image of Christ for the whole world. Luke is writing to someone who loves God (that’s what their name means) and I believe it teaches us that as we seek out Truth with humility and curiosity, we are never disappointed.

Respond:

Where have I asked the wrong questions of the bible?

Meditation:

Poetry from a phone book.