“How do you read?”
I marvel at the question Jesus asks the lawyer in Luke 10 and have for about 5-6 years.
It still touches something at my core, that God in human flesh invites this man (and us) into a communal reading of Scripture with him.
The lawyer starts by “testing” Jesus, seeking to justify himself, and Jesus asks:
“How do YOU read?”
It’s an invitation to read the Scriptures with God.
And later a final question for the lawyer after Jesus’ world-interpreting story: “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (It’s a conversation!)
When Deacon Andrew, standing in the center of the congregation this morning, read the lawyer’s response—“The one who showed mercy on him”—I wept.
The expert learns a different reading of the Law and speaks now as the Word speaks.
Having been invited into the conversation, he is transformed.
Perhaps I have changed, or perhaps I was always this way (emotional) and did not know myself that well, or I suppressed or hid it better, but I weep a lot more in worship these days, especially when the Gospel is read.
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