Don’t Take It Out Of Context

Biscuits! 

What do you think of when you hear that word? Does your mind quickly flit to a vast array of sweet, crunchy treats that go well with a cup of tea?  Or maybe your head, instead, has spun into delicious daydreams of soft, steaming biscuits with homemade gravy?

Context changes everything.

No word is an island. Anchored into context by surrounded sentences and utterances, and then nudged in meaning according to where it is being said, who is saying it and when it all happened. 

True of the word ‘biscuits’ and true of the words we find in the Bible. We need to pay attention to the surrounding words, chapters and events as we read our portion. 

It’s when we catch sight of the jug of gravy next to the plate that we realise there’s no custard cream coming our way. And it’s when we take a step back from our passage and notice which book of the Bible we are in, where it comes in God’s big story and what has just happened in the preceding verses that we are helped in making sense of what is being said. 

As we move with Jesus towards Galilee and Judea in chapter 7 of John’s gospel, we notice that the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles is flagged up in the account. At this time of year, the Jewish community would celebrate God’s provision at harvest time, and God’s presence with them in the wilderness of the time of the Exodus. (Information gleaned from the mighty google!) 

Understanding this context just a little begins to change the way we hear Jesus’ words. He has just described himself as the ‘bread of life’ and so we realise that God’s provision goes beyond the seasonal harvest to give greater, permanent, spiritual provision through Jesus himself. 

There’s more…but you’ll have to listen in as we chat through chapter 7, and delight in not just the bread but the living water that shows us glorious things! Even better than tea and biscuits!