Jesus wept. (John
11:35)
This
verse is reportedly the shortest verse in the Bible. Some versions of the Bible
add a few words, but basically these two words are the gist of it. But how much
power do these two words have. Why would Jesus weep? Was He in physical pain?
Was He in emotional pain? Why would Jesus, the Son of God, be in any sort of
pain? And he wasn’t just crying; he was weeping. Do you think there is a
different between crying and weeping? What is that difference? What does it
take to make you cry or weep? See what thoughts two simple little words can
conjure up?
Many,
many years ago several co-workers and their pastor started a Bible study group
at my clinic. I became one of the inaugural members. We have studied several
books of the Bible over the years. We kid each other about how long it takes us
to get through some of the chapters. Some Tuesday mornings we might spend our
entire one hour session on a single verse. Or even on a single word.
To
me, that doesn’t mean we are a group of nit-pickers, obsessing over tiny little details. It means that the Bible has that much power that each word in it was
chosen for a specific reason. Nothing in the Bible is random. (People who teach
writing will tell you that each word you write needs to have significance;
maybe more writers should study the Bible.)
When
I started writing “The Christmas Story in 40 Days” a lot of those same thoughts
came into my head. Not so much about my writing, but more about my reading.
How
many times do we skim through chapters of the Bible thinking they are just
background information or even filler? Do we ever think that instead of reading
the whole Bible, we should just read the “important” parts? Thanks to my
Tuesday morning Bible study, I decided that each and every word in the Bible is
equally important. That is why I went through each and every verse in the first
chapter of Luke to flesh out the entire story of the first Christmas. Not just
Joseph and Mary, not just the angels and the manger, and certainly not the inn
and the innkeeper (neither of which are in the book).
To
me, most of the Bible stories are intricate stories woven in the rich fabric of
the lives of the people of the time. Nothing in the Bible happened by coincidence;
it was all part of God’s wonderful plan for us.
And
so, “The Christmas Story in 40 Days” evolved. If you missed the previous post,
go back and read it to see how the book really got its start.
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