This summer I’m teaching an Introduction to the Bible course for our youth at St. Jude Parish. Our students often ask questions like, “How do I interpret the Bible?” “How do we understand the Creation story along with Evolution?” “Do we have to believe everything literally from the Bible?” I shared a method with them called “The Senses of Scripture”. We know about the 5 senses of smell, sight, touch, hearing, and taste. They tell us about our environment and what to make of it. In the same way, the Senses of Scripture help us understand the Biblical world and context of scriptures.
The Senses of Scripture are divided into two main parts: Literal and Spiritual. The Literal sense tells us what the text says. After reading a particular passage, we ask “Who is involved? What happened and where? For instance, if we take John 20:24-29, we hear about the apostle Thomas. This is the “Doubting Thomas” story. He was not around when Jesus first appeared and does not believe Jesus is Risen, unless he touches Him. Jesus appears a week later and says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed”. The literal sense is reading the text carefully.
The Spiritual sense goes beyond the literal sense and points to the meaning of the text. The Spiritual sense is divided into the Moral, Allegorical/Symbolic, and the Anagogic/Future. The moral sense is finding out the lessons from the Scripture. We ask, “What does this story teach me? How is God instructing me? Using the Doubting Thomas story, one might say that like the disciples, God teaches us to share the good news with those who have not experienced Jesus. Or to walk by faith and trust Jesus’ words, unlike Thomas who doubted because he did not see. The Allegorical sense examines the symbolism in the bible. In this text, we hear Jesus met the disciples, even though the doors were locked. He told them, “Peace be with you”. Symbolically, our hearts can be the locked rooms. We lock the doors of our hearts whenever we have moments of selfish pride and sin. Despite this, Jesus wants to enter in to give us his peace. Finally, the Anagogic sense looks towards the future. How does this passage me lead me towards God? How does this bring change into my life from now on? Through John’s account, maybe God continues to ask me to believe in him, even though I do not see or realize His providence yet. Although we have not seen Jesus physically yet, our faith is no less than the apostles’ faith. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed”.