What Is Your Lens?

The three chapters of Matthew 21-23 are an extended conversation/sermon where Jesus is challenging the religious leaders of the day. One of his big challenges to them is about how they their bible. Here are a couple of those points:

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures?” - Matthew 21:42

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” - Matthew 22:29

Of course these would have been very offensive, because these religious leaders were supposed to be bible experts. But Jesus, in this same section of scripture, displays his own perspective. After talking about losing God and loving neighbors he said, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:40). For Jesus, love is what holds the Bible together.

Rachel Held Evans comments on this dynamic in one of her books. Take some time to let these words challenge you and ask yourself, “What lens do I bring to scripture?”

For those who count the Bible as sacred, interpretation is not a matter of whether to pick and choose, but how to pick and choose. We’re all selective. We all wrestle with how to interpret and apply the Bible to our lives. We all go to the text looking for something, and we all have a tendency to find it. So the question we have to ask ourselves is this: are we reading with the prejudice of love, with Christ as our model, or are we reading with the prejudices of judgment and power, self-interest and greed? Are we seeking to enslave or liberate, burden or set free? - Rachel Held Evans, Inspired