Read I Thessalonians 2:7-13
When hearing the
expression “The Word of God,” one often thinks of the Bible, of the written
text we call the Sacred Scriptures. This is quite normal, but it is good to
remember that this “Word” existed before any text was written. The last verse
of today’s reading reminds us of this fact.
Paul praises the
Thessalonians because they have received his teaching not as a “human word” but
as the “Word of God.” Yet Paul had no text to show them at that time. In fact,
this letter to the Thessalonians is the first text of what would eventually
become the New Testament. During the following years, new texts would be added:
Paul’s other letters, and letters from other Apostles, as well as the writings
of the four Evangelists, the story of the Acts of the Apostles, and John’s
vision which we call the Book of Revelation. Yet before any of these texts were
written, Paul was proclaiming the Word of God.
To what then is he
referring? He is referring to the stories the other Apostles have taught him
and to his own conversion experience when he met the risen Christ on the road
to Damascus .
That is the content of his preaching and teaching. The stories about Jesus that
are being shared, the reflection of the young Christian community as it gathers
to pray and celebrate the Lord, this is what makes up the Word of God before
the New Testament was written. The Church, God’s own people, is the cradle in
which was born the New Testament.
If the Church gave
birth to the Scriptures, it is normal that the Church also be the place where
this text is proclaimed, studied and prayed. This is not to say that one
shouldn’t read the Bible alone. But it reminds us that, even when we do read it
alone, the community which gave birth to the text remains the community of
understanding and interpretation which can hand it on in faithfulness.
My grandmother had a
box of photographs. When we opened this box, we wanted her near us, for she
alone knew the stories “behind” the pictures: she could name the people in the
pictures and explain their meaning. Pictures are like footprints left by people
and events that, though they belong to the past, still have an impact on our
lives today.
The Bible is like a
box of pictures giving witness to the great adventure we call Salvation
history; and the Church is like my grandmother who took the pictures, who
understands their meaning, who uses them to help us enter into the living story
of wonderful characters, the first of which is the Lord Jesus himself.
Believing in the “Word
of God” is more than recognizing the truth of a text. It means entering into
the living history which the text is telling, in communion with the Church
which gave it birth.
