on Greek icons and truth

In the age before almost universal literacy, most people had to read images rather than books. Thus, we get stained glass windows and Greek icons to illustrate spiritual truths.  While stained glass windows reveal the mysteries of faith, Greek icons in our culture are a bit harder to read.  One of the classic icons portrays the Christ holding a closed---or in some cases, an open----book.  The message behind both icons is the same:  only Jesus can open the book to us. 

The Bible remains a closed book, even to Christians, until the Holy Spirit opens it to us.  We may try to read it, and may even find sections that we think are inspirational or beautiful, but the book itself does not become a "living" word until it becomes, as Peter says, "God-breathed."  Now "breath," or "breeze," or "wind" are all permissable translations of the Hebrew ruah, the word also translated as "spirit" or "Spirit." 

In the beginning, the ruah of God hovered over the abyss, the unformed chaos that was to become the universe at the Word of God.  In the opening scene of Genesis, we find the Creator of Heaven and Earth and the hovering ruah, or Spirit.  When the Word goes forth, there is Light, and the Light pushes back the darkness.

That same eternal movement continues to this day:  the Spirit/ Breath of God hovers over the darkness of our minds, and the Creator sends forth His Living Word---LIGHT, BE!  And the Light of the World enters into our own darkness. 

Jesus said over and over, "I am the Light of the World."  He promised to us His own Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Revelation.  That is the Spirit that enlightened Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute the early Christians; that is the Spirit of Truth that illumined the scriptures Paul had known from childhood.  Later, he was to write that "until this day, a veil covers their eyes when the scriptures are read because only in Christ Jesus is the veil removed" (2 Cor. 3:14) and "Now, the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it" (I Cor. 2:14).

Buddha taught "enlightenment" as the goal of life, but the enlightenment he sought came only through denial and self-discipline, shutting out all the senses and going deep within oneself.  Unlike the Buddha, Jesus does not ask us to go deep within ourselves, an inaccessible path to most of us, but instead He promised to send us the Holy Spirit, a universal offer to those who trust Him.  He Himself will send the Spirit; He Himself will open to us the scriptures.  He told the Pharisees, "You search the scriptures because you think you have eternal life through them, and they testify to me.  But you do not want to come to Me to have life" (John 5:39).

The Greek icon is clear to those who can "read" it; we must come to Christ to understand Scripture.  Just as the disciples came to Jesus after He told a parable to the crowds, just as they asked Him to explain the parable, so we too must come to Jesus with the scriptures, asking for illumination.  When He begins to enlighten and teach us, the darkness is pushed back, the book is opened, and our minds and spirits are enlightened. 

Jesus promised the Gift of the Breath/ ruah of God to all who would ask---see Luke 11 and Matthew 7.  I wonder sometimes why it takes us so long to ask for this wonderful Gift:  Send forth your spirit, and we shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. 

The next time we pick up the Bible, let us ask the Spirit of the living Christ to "hover" over us, to teach us, to enlighten us.  Then, let us follow His lead as we open the Scriptures.  The adventure will lead us to secrets we can hardly guess at.