21: So How Did Jesus Read the Bible?
Three words to explore this question:
- Interpretation. In Jesus day there were no books. What scrolls there were resided in the synagogue and were read communally on the Sabbath. After the reading they were discussed in community. The community interpreted the text.
- Incarnation. Jesus says he came to fulfill the Torah. There is movement in Bible from word to flesh. That is what incarnation means. Jesus proceeds to reinterpret the Torah in radical ways (violence, ethnic divisions, unclean people, judgment by God, etc.)
- Invitation. Jesus in his teachings invites us to figure it out just like the Jews did.