Let’s Look that Up.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but the Bible might have more metaphors in it than you want. For example, our Gospel today (John 24:36B-48) says, “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…” Oh if only it were possible to have all of the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms fully comprehensible in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. I suppose it is for God, but that is not how it is going to happen. Some Biblical scholars believe that the process took a few years of study on behalf of the disciples to achieve what that half verse suggests happened in an instant.

A disciple is one who studies. To study is to apply the mind to the acquiring of knowledge, by reading, observation and research. Typically, a disciple does not just sit around waiting and hoping that the sum of all knowledge (in a particular field) to be revealed in an instant.

I was reading a book and the author placed an asterisk beside the word “basenji” so I checked the footnote because I didn’t know what the word meant. The footnote said, “Look it up – I did.” I did look it up and now you might have to. One of my favorite TV shows was Reading Rainbow, hosted by LeVar Burton on PBS. His catch phrase was, “don’t just take my word for it…” In other words, read the book for yourself.

The point is, followers of Jesus Christ are also disciples and as students, we have a responsibility to read, observe and research our faith. Then when someone asks us what a basenji is, we can tell them; or if someone challenges anything about our journey in faith, we can show our faith with the answer. Moreover, from time to time the answer might be, let’s look that up together.