Open My Eyes

Open my eyes, that I may see

glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

place in my hands the wonderful key,

that shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

ready, my God, Thy will to see;

open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

-Clara H. Scott, United Methodist Hymnal #454

Beginning to study Scripture can be intimidating.

Where do I start? How do I know what is important? What am I supposed to be looking for? What if I spend twenty minutes reading something and don't seem to get anything out of it?

For someone beginning to read the Bible, I almost always recommend starting with the Gospels. That is especially true for youth, young adults, and people who are relatively new to the Christian faith. Learning the stories Jesus told, the things he taught, the people he encountered, and the life he lived seems like the natural place to begin.

But don't stop there.

The sixty-six books of our Bible can look like a collection of separate works. And...they kind of are. They were written by different people, in different places, in different circumstances, across many centuries.

And yet, the great story of Scripture develops throughout the canon. One passage echoes another. Later writers draw upon earlier ones. Images disappear for hundreds of pages and suddenly reappear. A story in one part of Scripture can give us new eyes for reading another.

Jesus demonstrates this constantly.

Think about the Sermon on the Mount. Again and again Jesus says some version of, “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you.” Jesus takes teachings his hearers know and pushes them deeper. “Do not murder” becomes a warning about the anger we harbor toward another person. “Love your neighbor” becomes an astonishing command to love even our enemies.

But how can we fully understand what Jesus is doing if we never study the Scriptures he is engaging?

Jesus' teachings are filled with quotations, images, and ideas from the Hebrew Scriptures. The prophets, the Psalms, the Torah...all the stories of Israel form the world in which Jesus teaches. If we know that world, we begin to notice things that we otherwise would have walked right past.

That is one of the gifts of study.

Study gives us context. It helps us recognize patterns. It allows one passage of Scripture to illuminate another. Over time, we begin to see not simply dozens of individual books and hundreds of individual stories, but the great biblical story of creation, covenant, rebellion, grace, redemption, and new creation.

And that is why I believe the best Bible studies like Disciple or Lectio Divina do more than tell people what a passage means.

They teach us how to read.

They give us tools. They encourage us to ask questions. They invite us to listen to the insights of other Christians. They teach us to notice connections we might never have noticed on our own. And then they send us back into Scripture to wrestle with it for ourselves.

Lyricist Clara Scott prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may see.”

That is a good prayer to carry with us whenever we open a Bible because there is always more to see.

Open our eyes, illumine us, Spirit divine. Amen.

Rev. Ryan Young