My husband, Scott, is a minister. That calling marked his life even before he finished high school. It was evident early in his life, not only to Scott but to people around him as well. My husband is also a Florida Gator fan. No one can explain that. I won’t even try. When Tim Tebow was quarterback for the Florida Gators, Scott found a connection between his football and his faith that made him especially excitable on game days.
Following his spiritual intuition, Tebow changed the message
on his eye black from his usual Phil. 4:13 to John 3:16 for the 2009 BCS
national championship game against the Oklahoma Sooners. The Gators won that
championship. Over the next 24-hours, John 3:16 hit the top of the most-Googled
item list with more than 92 million searches.
That’s 92 million searches for a single Bible verse. If
anyone is going to read only one verse of the Bible, John 3:16 is probably the
verse to read. “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life.” It sums up the gospel. That verse alone can inspire us to
consider God’s love, Jesus’ sacrifice, and our own eternity. It’s a good place
to start.
There are definite benefits to focusing on a
single Bible verse. However, I think we often have a tendency to create our own
less than accurate context for a single verse if we fail to read the verses
that come before and after it. John 3:16 is a good example. If it’s the first
time you’ve heard those words, you might not know that it is Jesus himself speaking
them. If you have heard them before but are not as comfortable or familiar with
more of the Bible, you’re likely to think that they were delivered to a crowd
of people. That’s probably because these days it’s a popular verse to share in
public gatherings, like Tim Tebow at a college football game. If you read all
36 verses of the third chapter of John, you will see that Jesus is having a
one-on-one conversation with Nicodemus, a religious leader who was having difficulty
understanding the “born again” concept. Nicodemus waited until after dark, a time less
likely to be seen, to go and talk to Jesus about it. It wasn’t a Jumbotron kind
of conversation.
A couple of weeks ago, Brantley Strickland
wrote a column seeking submissions from clergymen to help enhance the Faith
& Values page. He asked for “a few good men.” As a woman, it sparked something
in me that felt a little bit like it was time to change the message on my eye
black and get in this game. When it comes to spiritual matters, sometimes a
woman needs to hear from another woman, not a few good men.
Gender is a sensitive issue in religious
conversations. Perhaps that’s why we often choose to isolate single Bible
verses and manufacture a context to fit our social and cultural situations.
Ephesians 5:22 is another one of those verses, albeit not nearly as popular as
John 3:16. It talks about being a submissive wife. If you don’t read the
preceding and following verses, you will miss the fact that the whole book of
Ephesians is about unity. It’s about working together and how it takes all of
us, men and women, to get the job done.
If you haven’t read it, Ephesians has only
six chapters which could be easily read in one sitting. The last chapter in the
book of Ephesians talks about putting on armor, and the way I read it, both men
and women need to suit up. Those words are there because in this world there is
a fierce opponent to unity. Game day is here, men and women. Get your helmet.
And maybe a little eye black.
This article was originally posted August 24, 2014 on The Press and Standard's website:
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