To hear and to understand

Everyday I am reminded how the context and cultural thought process is so important to how the scriptures are read and interpreted. The Jewish culture emphasizes committing the Torah to heart and making it a part of who they are. Over and over Jesus uses our own language to speak to us; certain wordings or examples He uses in the scriptures that may not make sense to me would have been heard and understood so clearly to the Jewish people. Throughout His teachings He uses ramez (a reference) as he speaks to the people of the Bible. He used short phrases to reference longer passages of Old Testament scriptures that the Jews would have committed to memory. Jesus on the cross is riddled with the use of ramez.

For example, when He says “It is finished” it is a reference of Psalm 22, where King David ends his psalm with “He has done it” or “It is finished”. The entirety of Psalm 22 was written one thousand years before Jesus’ death on the cross, and yet speaks directly to the events that transpired that day. It amazes me that even in His death, Jesus was using every opportunity to teach and instruct the people around Him. Given that most of the people around the cross were women, Psalm 22 would have been an appropriate ramez since women memorized the psalms as they grew up.

Taylor