Читать книгу THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN - Manfred Diefenbach - Страница 6

Bishops, priests, deacons, professors, catechists, parents (1) and all the faithful should learn, through frequent reading of the Sacred Scripture(s), to bring the message of the Bible (2) to the ears and hearts of people (3) of our own time. First, we are receivers (3), and then we can act as God’s servants and Christ’s disciples, and co-workers (1) in the preaching and/or teaching of the message of the Good News (2). A faithful and true minister of the Word of God receives and hands on what has been received. The truth that saves his life inflames the heart of the receiver with neighbourly love, and motivates him to pass on to others what he has freely received. The principal functions in the pastoral ministry can be distinguished: catechesis, preaching, and the biblical apostolate; the Word of God has to be made understandable in our time and culture – in preaching and/or teaching as well in the biblical apostolate.

How can we guide the people who want to hear and understand the Good News? We have to avoid two extremes⁵ when interpreting the Bible:

- on the one hand, we have to protect the interpretation of the Bible from attacks by science which analyses words of the Bible – the so-called “historical-critical methods” – as if they were ordinary writings without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit;

- on the other hand, there is the so-called “mystical exegesis”. This way of understanding the Bible is all symbolic and spiritual as if it had nothing to do with historical facts and the world we live in, and believes that there is no need for science to help in interpreting the Bible. So the Bible is read as if the Spirit dictated it word for word.

“For the words of God, expressed in human language, have been made like human discourse, just as the word of the eternal Father, when He took to Himself the flesh of human weakness, was in every way made like men” (Dei Verbum 13)”. That is the task of all preachers in the Church and teachers and catechists in schools.

May we be guided in our preaching and teaching by Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God who opened the minds of the disciples of Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:27) and the other disciples (cf. v. 45) to the understanding of scripture(s), making their hearts burn within them (cf. v. 32):

“Christ has no hands, only our hands to do His work.

He has no feet, only our feet to lead people on His way.

Christ has no lips, only our lips to tell people about Him.

He has no help, only our help to bring people to His side”.

So runs the prayer of Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582 A.D.).

In this way, we Christians have to present and represent – with body and soul – Jesus Christ, the “Son of God”, the “Christ”, the incarnate “Word of God” so that we already bring a little bit of Heaven to earth.