Let me explain. I meet too many cherry pickers. What’s a cherry picker? A cherry picker is someone that reaches into the Bible, grabs some random (often self-serving verse) thrusts it in your face and says, “See the Bible says it, its true…you better do this!” I wish you could hear the snarkiness in my voice as I write this. Still confused…how about an example?
Ephesians 5:23 says, “Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands, as you do to the Lord.” Does the Bible really say that? Yes? It is “true” that verse and directive is in the Bible. I’ve been amazed at how many men who’ve not read their Bible in like….FOREVER, seem to know this verse. I once told my congregation if one more macho bravado man came walking in my office toting this verse as a mandate for why his wife ought to shut up and do what he wants, I was going to lose my mind. But why pastor? He’s just speaking “Biblical Truth.” Cherry picking a verse out of context and asserting it as true just because it is in the Bible doesn’t carry within it the kind of truth that the whole story of God does. That means, you can’t tote that passage as truth unless you know how it fits to the overarching truth of the whole story.
Truth is mediated in the Scripture within the context of the whole story and in alignment with the character of God.
Let’s go back to our passage. These same men, if they were to back up just a little bit and read a few more verses would read, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Then they might read, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself (sacrificial love) for her.” Then the question comes, where is this statement found? It is found in a letter to a church in Ephesus written by a guy named Paul (who writes a lot of letters). If you read this verse in that context, you begin to discover that Ephesians has a lot to say about how we conduct ourselves in Holy alignment with the character of God, recognizing the value of lavish grace, immeasurable love, infinite mercy, and passionate compassion. If you read Paul’s other letters you will discover he says things like, Phil. 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself…” Ouch!
Then if you back up even further and realize, that Ephesians is found in the New Testament and remember that the entire New Testament points in one direction…toward Jesus, you are left asking the question, “How does this passage align with being a Jesus follower.” As an arrogant husband, it feels good to be able to say to a wife, “submit, the Bible says so.” It is less comfortable to recognize that as a Jesus follower we are called to heed the example of Jesus, an example that values humility and selfless service, one that refuses to use position as a means to dominate others, one who empties himself out for the sake of those He loves.
Then if you back up even further, you begin to discover that the idea of marriage was present all the way back in the Garden of chapter 2 of Genesis. In that Garden the optimal relationship is established, one shaped by vulnerability (they were naked), mutuality (they were to cleave to one another), intimacy (they are woven together in their very being), and a sharing of life with one another (the woman is to be a helpmate to the man – not as one that stands behind but as one that walks alongside). It is sin in chapter 3 that creates the desire to assert authority and dominance. So therefore, the truth of Ephesians 5:23 is to be read and in light of the truth of the whole overarching story. Truth is truth because it fits in a Big Story, not because it is some random disconnected, isolated verse that plucked from the pages carries the same weight as the whole of the story.
It is impossible to overemphasize this point! Truth is mediated in Scripture through the whole story in alignment with the consistent character of God.
Many of the arguments that we as Christians get into is the result of how we handle cherry picked verses. Some of the most insidious and unfaithful (extremely damaging) uses of Scripture often happen when someone makes a verse or a couple of verses their hobby horse and rides it all the way to argument, conflict, over-use of authority or even spiritual abuse. When this happens, the whole story has been betrayed, the character of God has been betrayed and even though those verses are in the Bible their interpretation and application ceases to be true because they are not being used in a way that embodies the truth of the story as a whole or in alignment with the consistent character of God.
CONTEXT MATTERS! Where verses fit within the broader story matters. How that story aligns with the threads and themes that hold together the story of God matters. The challenge is, many of us aren’t familiar with the whole story or those threads and themes. Therefore, we are going to spend some time over the next week giving a broad view of the Biblical story and exploring some of the key themes and threads found in the Big Story of Scripture.
Let’s get back to Luke…
Ok…so there is no way you can read all of Luke 9 in one quick sitting and really take it in. So, let’s break it down over the next 2 days. Today let’s read Luke 9:1-20. To this point you are starting to gain some traction in this story. You’ve got a little bit of steam going and a bit of context now. So let’s test this a bit.
In this passage, Jesus dispatches his twelve disciples on mission. I want you to compare these verses with what you read in Luke chapter 5 when Jesus first picked Peter, Andrew, John, and James. (Luke 5:1-9). How does the mission compare with Jesus’ mission in Luke 4:18-19? Notice anything that seems to tie it all together?
For the overachiever…
Read Jesus feeding the Five Thousand…What on earth? How does this fit?
- Now read…John 2:1-12
- Now read…1 Kings 17:7-16
- Now read…Genesis 1:28-31
- Now read…Exodus 17:1-7
- Now read…Philippians 4:10-19
Ok…now that you’ve read these different passages, how does the miracle of Jesus fit within the consistent story of God and the character and nature of God? Have some fun with this!
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