Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ

 

Deacon Dave · Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ

Homily for Word of God Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. Isaiah 8:23—9:3; Gospel of Matthew 4:12-23. Theme: Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ 

Today the Catholic Church is celebrating “Word of God Sunday”. Pope Francis placed this observance under the patronage and inspiration of St. Jerome who lived in the 4th century AD. Jerome was very important to Christianity because he was an extraordinary Scripture scholar who translated the Bible into the language of the people. But he wasn’t always such a devoted fan of the Bible. He was at first only a half-hearted Christian. 

When he was an academically-gifted but hedonistically-promiscuous college student in Rome, Jerome contracted a life-threatening disease. Up to this point in his life his practice of Catholicism was done mostly out of a sense of guilt after nights of partying. But during his sickness he had a dream in which he found himself before the judgment seat of Christ. Trying to put his best foot forward, Jerome confidently declared to Jesus that he was baptized and so should be let into Heaven. Our Lord replied to Jerome that he ought to think twice about that statement. He informed him that simply going through outward religious rituals without them affecting one’s life is of little to no value when it comes to where he would spend eternity! 

Jesus’ words shook Jerome out of his spiritual apathy and he experienced what the New Testament calls a “baptism of the Holy Spirit”. What this means is that he had a spiritual revival, a religious awakening in his life. It’s what some might call a “conversion experience”. He saw that he was not an authentic Christian because he really didn’t know Christ personally. And he didn’t know Christ personally because he didn’t know the Scriptures where we encounter Him! From that point on, Jerome embraced his newfound faith wholeheartedly and devoted the rest of his life to the study of the Word of God. The most famous quote we have from him sums up his religious experience and goes like this: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ”. 

Pope Francis has instituted Word of God Sunday precisely to help us to avoid – or get out of - that kind of ignorance. He wants us to realize the place that the Bible must have in the life of every Catholic Christian. He is hoping that, like St. Jerome, we will come to really encounter Christ up close and personal through the Gospels. But for this to happen, we have to approach the Sacred Scriptures very differently than we do any other writings. We need to accept them as they truly are: the Word of God and not simply the words of human beings. Sure, we can find other writings that are more beautifully composed or more artistically inspirational to us than some books of the Bible. But their advice and lessons rest upon fallible human experience and limited human knowledge. 

The power of the Scriptures, on the other hand, is not in their literary composition or beautiful imagery. The uniqueness of the Bible is that it originates in the mind of God. He inspired the various authors of the Scriptures to write down only those things that he wanted to share with us concerning himself, concerning our lives as human beings, and how we should live in this world in order to be with him forever in the next. Unlike ordinary human writings, God’s Word has the power to touch the heart, to heal the soul, to enlighten the mind and to strengthen the will to do good and avoid evil.  But it seems to me that if a person is going to accept all this as true about the Bible, then there remains one vital question that must be asked and answered: How can we know that the Scriptures are truly the inspired Word of God? 

We can’t simply say as some do that the Bible says so! That’s just a circular argument. There is quite honestly only one sure answer and it is the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus. In other words, the physical historical Resurrection of Christ from the dead proves his divinity because no one who is just a human being can die and then rise up from the grave. So, the reality of the Resurrection confirms for us the reality of the Sacred Scriptures as the Word of God. As St. Paul teaches in his letters: if the Resurrection is not true then everything we have been taught and believe is not true, including Sacred Scripture as the inspired Word of God. In other words, the degree to which we accept the Bible as inspired by God is equal to the degree to which we accept and trust that Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead as Lord, Son of God and Savior. 

One of the best ways for us to observe Word of God Sunday and allow its grace to have an impact in our lives is to commit to a personal program of Bible reading. To do this most effectively, we need to find a quiet place where we will not be disturbed. Then begin by taking up the New Testament and turning to one of the four Gospels. Read thoughtfully. Think about what you read carefully. Ponder it for a bit. Pray sincerely from the heart. Ask the Holy Spirit who dwells within you to enlighten your mind and guide your thoughts. I am totally confident that the person who perseveres in doing this will come to see that the Word of God is a shining light that disperses spiritual darkness and gloom from our lives, as Isaiah prophesied in today’s first reading. And I believe that the person who sincerely commits to this prayer-time will come to experience Jesus up close and personal and will be strengthened to respond to Jesus’ call in today’s gospel to repent and take up a new way of thinking, a new way of acting, a new way of living that is fueled by the Word of God and leads us to the Kingdom of Heaven.