15.10 | The Foot that Fits the Footprint
John 5:19-47
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
John 5:39-40
At university, one of my theology lecturers was called Barbara.
Barbara was old school. She sat at the front of the room, reading her notes to us for a straight hour, every single lecture. We sat there scribbling down notes, arguably more of an exercise in hand stamina than learning. Her topic was the New Testament, and thus her content was always pulling out the content and context of the New Testament Scriptures.
But there was something that, to me, was strange about Barbara.
She had no belief in Jesus.
She had given the whole of her academic life to the study and teaching of Christian theology. She had studied the Scriptures. She had read commentary after commentary, and was versatile with multiple opinions, publications, and perspectives on Jesus and the Early Church. She could have shown up at any church Bible study group and appeared knowledgeable and impressive, or given feedback on the content of any preacher that would have sounded informed and sound. And yet, for Barbara, it was all theory. Theology was nothing more than a niche angle on history.
There’s a warning for us here, as readers of the Bible. Because we can fall into the trap, that our primary aim, with the Bible, is simply to read it. To know things about it. To be able to quote it, memorise it, and engage in interesting discussion about it.
And yet, the purpose of the Bible runs so much deeper.
Jesus today is confronting the Jewish religious leaders. In yesterday’s reading, He offended them. He offended them because He asked a lame man to carry his mat on the Sabbath. This looked too much like ‘work’, and thus contravened the sabbath law—at least as they understood it. And He offended them because He claimed to be the Son of God — a claim that any Jewish hearer recognised as a claim to divinity through equality with the Father.
And today Jesus responds. And, during His response, He goes to the heart of how we read the Scriptures.
For the Jewish leaders had been reading the Scriptures. Earnestly. Obsessively. They could answer all the questions, recite all the laws, articulate all the theology. And yet, Jesus says, they have missed the point.
You search the Scriptures, He says, because you think that in them you have eternal life.
Eternal life. The life of eternity. The life of heaven. The life of the Kingdom. The life of God Himself. They searched the Scriptures because they thought that the Scriptures were the source of this kind of life.
And yet, Jesus continues:
…and it is they that bear witness about me…
About me.
The reading of the Scriptures is never unto the end of theory. It is never unto the end of intellectualism. It is never unto the end of a code of conduct by which we may live.
For reading of Scriptures, rather, is simply this:
To lead us to Jesus.
Not a theoretical Jesus. Not a hypothetical Jesus. Not a set of ideas and formulations and academic permutations about Jesus. But Jesus. The risen, breathing, resurrection-blood-pumping-through-His-veins Jesus. Jesus, who is seated in glory. Jesus, who is present to you in this very moment by His ever-active Spirit. Speaking, envisioning, intervening, reigning, calling, convicting, leading and loving.
For it is by Him alone that we have life.
For the Scriptures are merely the map; but Jesus is the landscape. They are the blueprint, but Jesus is the building. Or, as Eugene Peterson beautifully put it, they are merely the footprint, but Jesus is the foot.1
The Scriptures are so essential for us. And yet, as we search and read and learn and listen, we too are always doing so with this simple aim. For we seek that foot that fits the footprint.
Reflect:
Recall afresh the reality of Jesus. Ask the Spirit to invigorate such faith in your heart.
Pray:
Father in heaven,
Too easily do I become an
Academic—
Seeking an impressive base of knowledge,
And yet missing the life of your Son.
Father, I’m sorry,
For in doing so I have lost the pathway to
Life.
Today,
Restore my focus;
Open my eyes in faith;
Let my every thought and choice and feeling stem from
Reality
Where He is enthroned,
With you.
For in Him do I find You;
And so, in Him do I find
Life.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
2 Chronicles 35-36 | Proverbs 25:18-28
Eugene Peterson: Eat This Book, p.115