"To Be Biblical"

"To Be Biblical"

To be biblical is not simply to quote the Bible. We need to tell that to the fundamentalists. To be biblical is not to quote Moses; it’s to do what Moses did. To be biblical is to do what Abraham did; it’s not it’s not to quote the Abraham story. It’s to do what Jesus did; it’s not to simply quote Jesus. Christians are to be in touch with the same God Jesus was in touch with, the same wisdom tradition Jesus drew insight from. We are to be building that same unity and creating the same life that Jesus was creating and building. That’s what it means to be biblical. I don’t see Moses quoting the Bible. I don’t see Jesus quoting the Bible as much as pointing to reality. That’s exactly why the people said, “He’s not like the scribes and Pharisees” (Mark a:22). He “teaches with authority” (Mark 1:27). But he didn’t do that by justifying everything he said with a Bible quote, which proves only a lack of authority, the inner authority of truth. The Bible is that two thousand-year graph of “listening history” that helps us guide ourselves into the future. It reveals and names the patterns that connect all things, the rhythms and seasons of faith. Jesus read reality, listened to God, gathered the tradition and then spoke truth. Now if we’re truly Catholic, it seems to me that’s what we’ve got to aim for: to be biblical by gathering the wisdom of the ages. I’m not trying to take away the authority of this book but to ground it. Its reference point is outside itself.

from The Price of Peoplehood by Richard Rohr