Matthew 22:29

Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God."

...in your light, we see light (Ps. 36:9).

In the 7th century, a Syrian bishop wrote The Book of Perfection, considered today to be a masterpiece of Syrian monastic literature.  There he wrote this:  without the light of the Scriptures, we are unable to see God, who is light, or his justice, which is filled with light.

At first reading of Matthew 22:29, where Jesus is speaking to the Sadducees, who seem to be exploring what Moses wrote about marriage, it strikes the reader as strange that Jesus told them they did not know the Scriptures.  This group was opposed to the Pharisees because they (Sadducees) would accept only the written Mosaic law and would not accept oral tradition.  They spent their time searching the Scriptures to verify their beliefs.  If they do not "know the Scriptures," who the heck does?

Jesus goes on to answer the question they were posing to him by saying, "Have you not read what God said to you.....?"  (Emphasis mine).

"Have you not read what God said to you....?" 

If we think that Scripture is man-made reflection, coming from the "light" of man's knowledge, understanding, wisdom, or power, we will never accept it as what God has said to us.  The Sadducees were followers of Moses, and they believed only what Moses wrote.  But Moses wrote of God, and according to the words of Jesus, of Him also.  Jesus told them:  You search the Scriptures because you think that by them you have eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life (Jn. 5:39).

It is necessary that we, like both of the Judaic sects (the Pharisees and the Sadducees) study the Scriptures.  If we do not, the only "wisdom" we have to rely on is that manufactured by our own minds or the minds of others.  Jer. 8:9 says this:  Since they have rejected the Word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?  And St. Jerome said: Knowledge of the Scriptures is knowlege of God.

Without the Scriptures, we are indeed unable to see God; the reason churches exist is to preserve the Scriptures, much as Judaism existed to carry the Tabernacle enshrining the Law--the Instruction--through the wilderness and to erect a permanent dwelling place to hold it. When the Temple was destroyed, the Jews then became "People of the Book," learning to enshrine the Torah in the Tabernacle of their hearts and their community.

 In all synagogues today, the central feature is the Tabernacle, holding within it the Sacred Scrolls, the Torah.  Catholic churches today also have a Tabernacle, holding within it the Word of the Lord, the Light of the World, the "Presence of the Lord," referred to in the Old Testament as the Shekinah- the Glory.  Protestant churches no longer have tabernacles, but they enshrine the Word of God in a central place in the sanctuary.

But according to Matt. 22:29 and John 5:39, more is needed than simply study of the Scriptures.  Obviously, a man (or a group) can study the Scriptures but still not know God.  When Jesus said to the Sadducees, "Have you not read....?," He was directing them to a different part of the Scripture from the one they were focusing on at the moment.  He was shining a light on something they had not considered as the answer to their inquiry...."and the people were astonished at his teaching" (Matt. 22:33).

My favorite Greek icon depicts the Christ holding either a closed or an open book (depending on the icon) in one hand, with the other hand raised as a teacher.  With icons, we need to learn to "read" what we are seeing, much as we do when we read literature that is symbolic.  This particular icon "says" that only the Christ is able to open the book to us and to teach us what it says.  Without the Christ, the book remains closed, no matter who "studies" the Scriptures or how much they "search" it.  The Light of God must illumine the pages of Scripture for us.  Our reading must be under His tutelage and guidance; our reading must be directed by the Holy Spirit.  It must be prayer.

That's what makes the Scripture come alive for us---the power of God Who Himself is "writing His word on our hearts" and "placing His word within us," and becoming our God, just as He promised to do in Jer. 31:33.  Before that dynamic process, we can "prove" or "disprove" almost anything from Scripture.  After the Scripture becomes a living Word to us, we have no need of man's wisdom or his proof, for the Holy Spirit Himself teaches us all things, and we "have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:14).