Jesus Today . . .

“IF YOU HAD KNOWN WHAT THIS MEANS”

We may suppose that Jesus studied the Scriptures at home and at the synagogue school like most other Jewish boys of his time. Lk. 2:52 says that he “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” This does not indicate that he bore an omniscience that gave him command of all knowledge without having to study, not in his maturing years at least. We can see him pouring over the Scriptures in search for the will of God in his life. If an understanding of his mission came to him gradually, which is likely, it would be in relation to his growing knowledge of the Scriptures. He could have been called “the man of the Book,” not only because he was as the Christ the subject of the Book, but also because he was an avid student of the Book.

There is ample evidence that he came to see himself in the Scriptures. He said to the Pharisees: “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness of me” (Jn. 5:39). Now and again he would turn to Scripture to authenticate his ministry, such as Lk. 24:27: “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” He frequently referred to what he was doing as “that the scripture may be fulfilled” (Jn. 13:18). When he withstood Satan by referring to Scripture (“It is written”), he was probably drawing upon his own arduous study of the word rather than supernatural knowledge. Yet we may conclude, since he was who he was, that he knew whatever he needed to know. But we must give proper place to the humanity of Jesus.

It is evident that our Lord was sensitive to a proper handling of Scripture. He saw that some “knew” the Scriptures without really understanding them: “Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God” (Mk. 12:25). This points up where our Lord considered being “wrong” as serious. It is very serious to twist the Scriptures, perhaps intentionally, and to neglect the power of God. There were other wrongs that Jesus did not come down so hard on, such as the woman taken in adultery. It is a painful study in contrasts to see what the modern church considers to be seriously wrong over against what Jesus saw as seriously wrong. Neglect is seriously wrong, Jesus taught, especially willful neglect, when it comes to the Bible and the power of God.

Do we neglect the Scriptures, and do we take pains to understand their meaning? And are we committed to plugging into the power of God?

Jesus is not saying that the church leaders of his time did not know what the Scriptures said, but that they did not understand them. Perhaps he was saying that they did not want to understand. He said to those leaders in Jerusalem: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not” (Mt. 23:37). I would but you would not. Has this not always been the story with God’s merciful overtures toward sinful man? Man is not only a fallen creature, but he is also rebellious toward any move to redeem him. Even the religious are not immune to man’s proclivity to presume that he does not need God.

As a student of the Scriptures Jesus probably had his favorite passages, just as we all have. Or to put it another way, there were certain truths in Holy Writ that came to be very meaningful to him, truths that the clergy of his day could not or would not see. His love for Hosea 6:6 is a case in point. When the Pharisees were critical of his fraternizing with tax collectors and sinners, he said to them: “Go and learn what this means,” and quoted Hosea: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Mt. 9:13). Jesus was not saying that they were not acquainted with this passage but that they did not know what it meant.

In urging them to go and learn the meaning of this truth, he was not telling them to look up Hosea 6:6 in a commentary or to inquire of some teacher of the law. They would learn its meaning by practicing the mercy that Hosea was referring to!

That Scripture in Hosea must have greatly impressed Jesus, for he uses it again when the Pharisees were scolding him for violating the Sabbath. “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” Mt. 12:7 reads, and this time Jesus said to them: “If you had known what this means, you would not have condemned the guiltless.”

If you had known what this means. It is a gentle sort of rebuke, one with a touch of pathos. How sad it is that those who supposedly know the most about the Scriptures often know the least! The scribes and the Pharisees knew all about Hosea, of course, but still they missed the point. What God really wants is the heart, not so much the outward forms like sacrifice. He wants mercy, pity, and loving-kindness. This is the heart of religion, not ceremonials. If the Pharisees had known this they would not have been critical of what Jesus did. A perception of mercy can do wonders for one saddled with legalism.

We can all ask ourselves if the Lord’s judgment does not apply to us in the way we handle Scripture. Do we understand what the Bible is really saying to us? How often do we mouth verses that we treat only superficially? We might quote a verse to “prove a point” and yet miss the point that the Spirit intended. We can arrange verses so as to find “the pattern” we are looking for and yet miss the real model of Scripture. We can search out every verse, every line, and even every word, and still miss the wonderful Person of the Bible.

We repeat Do this in memory of me nearly every Sunday, and we carve it on our communion tables. We establish it as one of the five acts of worship and we emphasize that it is to be weekly. But do we really know what it means?

We preach Except one be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God, and we stress the external more than the internal. What do we really know about spiritual rebirth—being born from above?

The Churches of Christ salute you! This is not one of the weightier verses, but it does have some meaning. Do we use it the right way?

Whatsoever is not of faith is sin is a weighty truth, but does it really have anything to do with whether a church has a piano?

How can two walk together except they be agreed is the way the KJV renders Amos 3:3, and all these years we’ve made this mean that we have to see things eye-to-eye if there is to be fellowship.

Then there is an array of “put down” passages that are used to discredit various practices, such as “When that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away.” That takes care of the charismatics! Just as “We were buried with him by baptism into death” takes care of all those who were sprinkled. And of course “On the first day of the week” in 1 Cor. 16:2 proves that one is not to give anything on Thursday!

The Lord’s gentle verdict, If you had known what this means, points to a crucial need that we have neglected: a responsible interpretation of Scripture. It is easy for us to view the Bible as the end rather than a means. The early church, under the guidance of the Spirit, produced Scripture because of what they had, fellowship with Christ. It was not the Scriptures that gave them what they had. So it must be with us. The imitation of Christ is the end. Scripture is a means to that end. We are not to control Scripture; it is to control us, conforming us more and more to the likeness of the Christ.

They tell the story on Paul Tillich, a very liberal theologian in his time, that a distraught man confronted him after one of his lectures, shaking his tightly-gripped Bible in Tillich’s face and asking, “Is this the word of God?” Tillich responded with, “If it controls you like you control it, then to you it is indeed the word of God.”

But we control the Bible when we make it mean what we want it to mean. We let it control us when we are willing to open our hearts and be taught by the Holy Spirit. Jesus wanted the Pharisees to see that their own Scriptures pointed to mercy, not to exactitudes about diet and Sabbaths.

Go and find out what this means, he told them. It would be unthinkable to some of us that Jesus might say the same thing to the church today. He was asking them to think and to act for themselves, not for a party. We are all badly in need of a fresh approach to Scripture: understanding what it means by really practicing it!

Blessed are the peacemakers, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are precious truths, but we make them ours only when we “Go and find out what this means. “ We understand the Christian faith by doing it!

Once we understand the real meanings we will be less judgmental and less critical of others, and we will be more accepting. The Pharisees were “right” if one looks at it from where they sat—“in Moses’ seat,” as Jesus put it. Their seat was right but their heart was wrong!

We must take heed lest we make the same mistake.—the Editor