Home exercise: Interpreting Holy Scripture
Reading the Bible can leave people feeling like they’re reading a story they’ve heard a thousand times, or reading a story from the past that doesn’t make sense. It can seem irrelevant. However, learning about God (and getting to know God better) is not a passive thing. Listening to others talk about God is not the same as talking about God yourself.
Read this bit of the Bible… a familiar story from the Wedding at Cana:
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:1-11, New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved
Here are some ways to use the Bible passage to get to know God better, why not try one and comment below with your answer – or email me you artwork to include on the website.
- Re-tell this story in art: paint or draw it.
- Memorise this story and re-tell it to your family.
- Re-write it as a poem
- Re-write the story in only one sentence while keeping the essence of it.
Or how about:
- Re-imagine this story from the point of view of:
- the Wedding guests
- The Servants
- Mary
- … or how about from God’s view?
For example…
I was at this wedding the other day. We were all having a good time when – would you believe it – the wine ran out! So one of the guests I presume, told the servants to fill up some jars with water. The bridegroom had a drink and it was wine, not just ordinary wine but very good wine. What magic was that!!
Carolyn (Shred)
We must watch this guy – he will go far!
Isn’t Carolyn’s story interesting… look how Jesus’ first miracle looks like magic to those who don’t know him. Is this maybe why people today don’t believe in the miracles of Jesus? Is it because they don’t know him either?
On the third day, Jesus prompted by his mother Mary, turned Jewish Purification water into the best wine – representative of his cleansing blood of the New Covenant.
Ali Baxter
I love the way Ali Baxter has taken the whole gospel story and brought it together in one sentence… it takes a lot of time to summarise the paragraph, and demonstrates the time and effort to put it into her own words… here is Ali’s working out:
I’m really interested in your Biblical interpretation, email me your work and we’ll include it below (art or story).