Books, books, and more books

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Ecclesiastes 12:12

Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. John 8:6

I can’t remember a time in my life when I couldn’t read. There must have been one, of course, but books have been such a key part of my existence that I find it hard to imagine. I tremble to think how many books I have read in my life… How many were really worthwhile?

A famous footballer claimed some years ago that he had never, ever read a book – for which, of course, I wouldn’t dream of criticising or judging him; scoring goals was his thing, after all, so good luck to him. A  perhaps rather surprising number of people even in countries with developed educational systems have simply never mastered the art of reading. This, by the way, is something we church people, who tend to be very literate, need to be aware of, and sensitive to their needs: let’s never forget that most of the first Christians probably couldn’t read.

But for me… no, it’s simply unimaginable!

I first read Ecclesiastes at school, and that rather haunting, poetic twelfth chapter became part of my mental furniture, including verse 12. It’s just a comment, an observation, really; the writer isn’t making a particular point. But it does sound a warning: it can be dangerous to let your life become dominated by books. (Anyone starting to feel a little uncomfortable?)

It strikes me that one very important thing we need to notice about books is… Jesus never wrote one…

Oh, millions have been written about him, of course. But in contrast to the great majority of people who have had a big effect on human history, he never wrote a single one.

Indeed, it almost seems comical that the only time we read of him writing is in the incident with the woman caught committing adultery, when he wrote “on the ground with his finger” (John 8:6).

How fascinating is that!

Why did he write?…to cover an awkward silence?...to show his contempt for the people who were humiliating the woman in order to catch him out? What did he write?... Some such Bible verse as Exodus 23:1, aimed at “malicious witnesses”? Or was it just a doodle? Why did nobody think to jot down his words so that we could all know?

These are questions we can only guess at; obviously God, in inspiring the Bible, saw fit to leave it a mystery. But the simple fact – Jesus never wrote a book – does in reality make a vital point: no, but he did something infinitely greater – he lived a life, and he died a death. And that has done more to change our world than all the books ever written put together.

I read recently that the kind of fairly heavyweight books I sometimes read are likely to have a print-run of some 500. Many probably end up in college and university libraries, where they are read by other people who are like fish swimming in the same little pool, and some of whom will feel the need to respond to the book by… yes, of course, writing one of their own, which will also have a print-run of about 500 and which will probably end up… (I’ll leave you to finish the sentence.) “Of making many books there is no end”, indeed!

Does this mean we need scripture and nothing more? No: even though scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it can still be difficult to understand (as Peter recognises in 2 Peter 3:16). We need expert help. But it does mean that we need to be careful not to let our faith become primarily a thing of the mind.

Perhaps we can put it like this. The Word of God comes to us in two main forms. On the one hand, there is the written Word, as summed up by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16: the word “breathed out by God”. And then there is the living Word, as summed up in John1, where we read the extraordinary statement that “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1-2 and 14).

Of course, if we didn’t have the written Word, we would know nothing about the living Word; we mustn’t set them over against one another. But the ultimate point of the written Word is to point to, and to make known, the living Word - that, and nothing more. It is he, rather than it, that really matters.

So… whether we are those who “make many books” or those who “study” them (going back to Ecclesiastes 12), let’s ask ourselves a serious question: Is there a danger that the written Word has become more important to me than the living Word? – that I’ve come to know the Bible pretty well, but I’ve lost sight of the Person to whom it witnesses? – that my faith is more theory than practice? – that while my knowledge has grown, my relationship with Christ has withered away?

Oh Father, please save me from ever allowing my faith to become dry, mechanical and theoretical. Lord Jesus, you are the living Word – please always live and breathe in my heart. Amen.