CHARLO, New Brunswick, August 6, 2023 – In one of the gospels, there’s a wonderful tableau of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning from him. She’s not poring over a scroll with furrowed brow or dutifully taking notes on papyrus – she’s simply and humbly sitting on the floor, totally enraptured by what Jesus is teaching her. Martha, as we’re told, is fussing and harumphing in the background trying to catch their attention. When she fails to do so, she curtly interrupts them to ask Jesus if he could please remind Mary that she needs help with the meal preparations. But to Martha’s surprise, Jesus defends Mary’s choice to sit at his feet and learn from him rather than to help Martha with the chores. He says: “Mary has chosen the better part, and it won’t be taken from her.”

The Bible is not meant to be studied. It is not meant to be a work project or a chore that we somehow have to get through. It’s not meant to be “interpreted” by our own or someone else’s woefully inadequate intellect. It’s not meant to be quoted chapter and verse. Like Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet, we’re to approach the Bible by humbly opening ourselves to God’s Word and letting God teach us. We’re to be guided by God’s Holy Spirit when we’re learning scripture; we’re not to be misguided by our own understanding

The terms “Bible scholar” and “Bible study” should not exist.

We’re to read the Bible, not study it; we’re to learn from God what scripture means, not lean on our own understanding or that of someone else, however “learned” they claim to be.

When we read his Word, God opens to us what he wants us to learn, which is what we need to learn at any given time. And because God and God only is teaching us and because there’s only one God, there can be only one meaning – God’s – for every point of scripture. There’s no room for private interpretation or consensus model learning when it comes to God’s Word. Any interpretation that deviate’s from God’s is false.

The last Bible study I attended was early on a Sunday morning in downtown Toronto a few years ago. There were only a few people in attendance that day, all of them (except for me) over the age of retirement. I could tell by the way they interacted that they’d known each other for a long time. I was the outsider, having just wandered in off the street.

It was very much a consensus-model type of Bible study. The attendees’ Bibles were well-worn, with the yellow-, pink-, and blue-highlighted pages fluttery with sticky notes. They looked like recipe indexes rather than Holy Scripture. I hadn’t brought my Bible with me because I didn’t know I was going to be at a Bible study that morning. I’d just gone for a walk and happened upon the sign that read “Bible Study Sunday 9 – 10 am”, and in I went. Truth be told, I was looking for a public washroom, and I figured the church door would be open if there was a Bible study going on. And so it was. Mission accomplished. It was only after my very pressing mission was accomplished that I decided to stay for the Bible study.

Consensus model anything has never been my cup of tea. I don’t like it and I don’t agree with it, but I find it particularly annoying when it comes to learning God’s Word. Consensus model means no-one really knows what they’re talking about with regard to the topic at hand, but if enough people throw their ideas into the ring, something useful may emerge. Consensus model can also mean that the person who has the right idea is talked over and ignored by those who don’t have a clue, and that the ideas of the clueless reign by virtue of numbers rather than merit. The consensus model approach is essentially restrained bullying by the majority.

So I sat and listened while they presented their prepared speeches on what they thought John 12:1-11 meant, making reference throughout their presentations to other verses in the Bible and to the interpretations of various theologians. I felt like I was at a university seminar. They each thought the chapter meant something slightly different, but instead of challenging each other on how they could believe the same scripture could mean something different, they just nodded politely and smiled. It was a tight little smile they smiled, the type you give when you don’t really feel like smiling but social decorum calls for it.

As some of you may realize by now, I’m not big on decorum. I totally disagreed with all of their interpretations and told them so. I could see the shock on their faces and the silent harumphing in their eyes indicating they considered me out of line. Maybe I was out of line, according to the rules of their Bible Study game, but I can’t sit and let people get away with misreading God’s meaning and not speak up about it.

As I mentioned, there can be only one meaning for any given word or line or verse or chapter or book in the Bible because there’s only one God, and God is the one who assigns meaning to his Word. If your interpretation doesn’t align with God’s, then you’re wrong. There’s no other way to put it except that you’re wrong. God is right, and you’re wrong.

I ended up leaving early because I frankly couldn’t handle the fussiness of the attendees. I’d come into the study like Mary, hoping to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn, but instead I’d wandered into a room full of Marthas all eager to outfuss each other with their array of sticky notes and quotes from theologians. There was no love for learning there, just a desire to one-up each other with evidence of how much time and effort they’d invested in their interpretation. I felt sad and frustrated when I left, but I reminded myself it was my own fault and I should have known better. Churches these days are the last place you’ll find a Christian.

I remembered the ill-fated Bible study early this morning when I was reading the Bible. I’m not sure why it came back to me today, other than “how people learn” has been on my mind over the past few days after reading hundreds of comments by alleged Christians supporting and promoting the movie starring a demon. The people claimed they’d learned a lot about demons from the movie and they considered this learning source a good thing. I heartily disagree. There is only one way to learn God’s Word, and that’s to read God’s Word, not study it. Read it, and let God teach it to you, like Jesus taught Mary. You don’t go to other people and ask them to interpret God’s Word for you. You certainly don’t go to a fictional representation of a demon to learn God’s Word. You sit like Mary and let God teach you.

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My prayer for you is this: I hope that if you’re in a Bible study, you’ll stop going to it. I hope that if you’re hosting a Bible study, you’ll stop doing it. I hope that instead of “studying” the Bible, you’ll humbly sit down with God and the Bible and let him teach you his Word. I hope you don’t mar your Bible with highlighting or sticky notes. I hope you realize that God and God only has the final say on what the Bible means and that God and God only is the only one you should be going to if you want to learn his Word.

I hope that you receive this reminder today in the spirit it was intended – to guide rather than to admonish, to encourage rather than to discourage.

And here’s my blessing for you: May all your Bible-reading sessions be like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, oblivious to everything but learning God’s Word.

Amen.