Since the end
of January, I've been writing about how human beings wrote the words of
Scripture as well as how they compiled and canonized those texts. Most people,
I think, are aware of this reality; they recognize that the Bible didn't just
drop from Heaven. Yet for some, there's still something a little unnerving about
the human origins of something considered so sacred. How can we say this is the
"Word of God" when clearly humans were generating and sanctioning
these texts?
To approach
this, I must appeal to the Vatican II document, Dei Verbum. In 1965, the
Church officially put forth this document (a.k.a. The Dogmatic Constitution on
Divine Revelation) which explains the Church's long held – and sometimes
not so well clarified – understanding of Sacred Scripture and Tradition. It asserts that the Scriptures
"have God as their author" but that "in composing the sacred
Books, God chose and employed certain men, who, while engaged in this task,
made full use of their faculties and powers..." (DV, paragraph 11). Now I'll admit, that does sound rather
convenient to simply say, 'well God is still the author, but he used men kind of
like scribes to get his message across.' If that was the case, you'd think the
Scriptures wouldn't have so many embarrassingly violent laws, prophecies, and stories in them. But that isn't what Dei
Verbum is getting at. The Scriptures were inspired, yes, but I don't think
it means the human authors had the Holy Spirit whispering to them the exact
words to write.
One of the
first things I think we need to understand is that God's Word is
more encompassing than mere words on a page. God's Word is powerful. Consider
that in ancient times when a king spoke, his word alone had the power to
effect change. The king spoke, and schtuff got done. Sure, maybe the action was
carried out by other people, but it was only because the king said it – as
Pharaoh iconically says in the movie, The
Ten Commandments: "So let it be
written. So let it be done." Likewise God speaks, and schtuff happens:
"'Let there be light.' And there was light" (Genesis 1:3). God's Word
is effective and creative! As it says in Isaiah: "Yet just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth... So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11).
Interestingly enough, I find that urban and prison slang has a better sense of the term "word" for our purposes today. In such contexts word can mean an "affirmation"
(yep, mm-hmm, I agree), "approval," "truth," or "to
speak the truth."[1] For example:
Me: That moment when Edith finally tells off
Mary on Downton Abbey was priceless!
Fellow D.A. Enthusiast: Word!
I would put a link to
UrbanDictionary.com, so you can get an even better sense of the slang usage of "word," but there's some inappropriate language on that page, and
I wouldn't want to scandalize my mother who I'm sure is reading this right now.
(Hi, Mom!) You can type in the web address and can check it out at your own risk if you want, or just take my
word for it. (No pun intended.)
The point,
however, is that 90s urban slang has its finger on the pulse of what "word"
in the biblical sense is about, because in both cases it means more than just human language.
From the perspective of Urban Dictionary, God's Word is like a resounding
"Yes!" permeating all that is – "God looked at everything he had
made, and found it very good" (Gen 1:31). God's Word is Truth. God's Word
is positive. God's Word is living!
 |
| from www.worldofdtcmarketing.com |
Both the
Greek and Hebrew terms for "word" have multiple meanings. The Greek word,
logos – from where we get our word logic – can mean a lot of things: "reason," "divine utterance," or an "expression of a thought" being some of them.[2]
Likewise, the Hebrew word dabar can
mean a matter, event, or affair and also
has a connection to reason.[3]
God's Word isn't just the words that God speaks or those written down in
Scripture; it's all of the reason, truth, thoughts, and ideas that are behind
and communicated through those words. God's Word is God's self-communication! And
what Dei Verbum is saying is that God used human beings, in a particular time
and place, and of a particular culture with its own limited language, to communicate
God's self in the Sacred Scriptures.
Admittedly
though, the fact that human beings were so closely involved in the process of
divine revelation might drive some people nuts. With so much human
particularity how can the scriptures communicate such an ultimate and universal
message like the Word of God? But then – oh, and I just love this – this is
precisely what happens in the incarnation, for Jesus is the Word made flesh
(i.e. the Incarnate Word)! Jesus Christ is God revealed to us in a particular and
limited time (early first century CE), place (Palestine), culture (Palestinian
Jewish), gender (male), and age (I don't think Jesus lived much beyond his early
thirties).
One of the
greatest and most delectable mysteries of the incarnation is that the
infiniteness and universality of God was willingly emptied and made limited in
time and space in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a
slave, coming in human likeness... (Philippians 2:6-7a). So just as Jesus
is God's self revealed in a human way
(in weakness and with limitations), so too the Scriptures are divine revelation
communicated in limited human language and culture. Or, as Dei Verbum so beautifully
puts it, "For the words of God, expressed in human language, have become
like unto human speech, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on
himself the flesh of human weakness, became like unto human beings" (DV, paragraph 13).
 |
| St. Francis in Prayer Before the Crucifix, El Greco, 1585-1590 |
By the way,
as a Franciscan and a graduate of the University of the Incarnate Word, incarnational spirituality is a particular fancy of mine almost by
default.
 |
| Chapel of the Incarnate Word at UIW. Go Cardinals! |
I guess the
bottom line of what I'm getting at is that God's
word is fleshy business, and the Word of God is revealed to us in two very
human ways: obviously in the human person of Jesus, but also in the very human
language and culture of Sacred Scripture. Either way, though, the word of God
is more than the words on a page. It is living, and God wants to write it on our hearts. As a biblical studies nerd, I am fascinated
by all of the humanness of Sacred Scripture, and I'm eager to learn more about
its historical, anthropological, and literary context. Yet for all of its human
qualities and limitations, I do not criticize it as irrelevant or even dated. I
know that the Word of the Lord continues to speak the Truth; It continues to
reveal God's self. But in order to listen to it, I must look upon and accept
the human face of Scripture, and, likewise, I must look to the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus, who is the human face of God.
I know that
this week is Holy Week and that it would be all the more appropriate to
recommend to you readings from the Passion or Resurrection narratives of the
Gospels.* So, if you have the time, by all means please sit with those passages! Of course, I also recommend attending the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter where you will also hear those readings. However, it makes sense, given today's
topic of word, to read John 1:1-18. Yes, I agree, this reading seems out of place
for Holy Week, but whatever. I've got to run with the inspiration I'm given.
It's a short passage, but as you read it meditate for just a bit on that
profound mystery of the very Word of God becoming flesh. Consider how God spoke through the Law and Prophets, yet finally in
Jesus was fully revealed. Consider also how Jesus fulfills the Scriptures and is the very lens for interpreting them. Contemplate, especially
as we enter deeply into the sacred mysteries of Christ's passion, death, and
resurrection – what we call the Paschal
Mystery – how these events in the life of Christ reveal God's grace, truth,
and glory.
As always, I
welcome questions and comments on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail
(biblecodega.gmail.com), or in the comment box below. I pray that you all enjoy
these high holy days of the Christian calendar and have a blessed Easter. I
leave you today with the words of St. Paul to the Thessalonians for you to
consider the next time you hear the lector at Mass say, "The Word of the
Lord."
"We too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
Word!
* Passion and Resurrection Narratives:
Matthew 26:1-28:20
Mark 14:12-16:20
Luke 22:1-24:53
John 18:1-21:25
[1]
Urban Dictionary, "Word," last modified October 14, 2005, accessed
March 20, 2016. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Word.
[2]
Bible Hub, "3056. Logos," accessed March 20, 2016, http://biblehub.com/greek/3056.htm.
[3] Bible
Hub, "1697. Dabar," accessed March 20, 2016,
http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1697.htm.
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