We struggle among ourselves about how to use words like loving, forgiving and judging others.
Together we’re discovering that all such words have a range of meanings and an unlimited capacity for intent, application—and their place in a story.
Maybe that’s one reason we are called by the Bible not just to words, but to The Word . When Jesus said that the words he spoke were full of spirit and life (John 6:63), he had just offended not only his enemies, but also his friends. Why would a good man talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood (John 6:52-57)?
No listener, friend or enemy, could have solved the problem with a Jewish dictionary. Yet when Jesus asked his 12 disciples if they were going to leave him as well, Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Getting to know The Word, and the life of his joy, means learning to live in riddles: living to die, dying to live, resting to work, working to rest. Forgiving with love. Loving without forgiveness. Judging in love. Loving without judgment. Hating to love. Loving without hate.
Not solved with a dictionary alone… but by the Word who alone gives meaning to everything there is to know or wonder.
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