Improve Your Vocabulary

 

O

n Friday of this past week, I was working on the syllabus for a French course I will be teaching at Southwestern Seminary beginning in August.  The goal of the course is to teach students how to speak and read French.  I am very excited at this prospect of teaching students how to communicate in another language! It's going to be a blast!

 

As with any foreign language, vocabulary plays an all-important role.  Without vocabulary, it is impossible to speak.  We must know the proper names for things, places, occupations, ideas, etc. in order to communicate our ideas correctly and in a way that our listeners can understand.  Without proper vocabulary knowledge, communication simply breaks down and no forward progress can be made. 

 

When I was in high school, I remember my parents constantly encouraging me to read in order to increase and improve my vocabulary.  This was an uphill struggle for them because, although I liked to learn, I didn't like to read, not as I do now.  My mother worked for a lawyer before I was born and she would tell me stories of the wonderful vocabulary he possessed and how her own had been vastly improved by working with him.  "The mark of intelligence," she used to tell me, "is indicated by your vocabulary.  People know how you think and how smart you are by listening to the vocabulary you use."  She was right, and every time I learn a new word or learn how to use an old word in a new way, I think of this lesson she taught me. 

 

As a teacher, especially of French, it is always exciting when a student discovers a new way in which a word may be used. New ideas are then possible and thoughts, previously unknown, suddenly come into existence.  In professional jargon we say, "The lights come on!!"  There is no better time in teaching as when a student makes this jump and begins to discover new ideas and insights on his/her own.  That's what makes all the effort worthwhile. 

 

Jesus knew several moments like this. His teaching is strewn with people who had new insights, new ideas, new understandings, and new insights about God.  Our scripture reference today speaks to this point.  If you look at verses 22, 28, 32, 34, and 44 of Matthew 5, you will notice they have two phrases in common.  The passages come from Jesus' Sermon On The Mount where he clarified several misconceptions about the law.  Up to this point, the Jewish people understood the law on only one plane.  They had never been challenged to internalize the law, only externalize it.  But Jesus stretched their understanding, taking them to a higher level of understanding and application of the law. 

 

Each of these verses contains the phrases, "You have heard that it was said," and "But I say to you."  Here, Jesus was introducing the true intent of the law.  God meant for the law to proceed from the heart, not from the head.  Jesus taught this in the Sermon On he Mount, raising the bar, stretching the limits of ethics, and superseding the law's own impossible standards. His point that was that everyone, all of humankind, was guilty of murder, adultery, and using God's name in a disrespectful manner.    

 

In essence, Jesus gave his followers a new use for old vocabulary terms.  Hatred took on the meaning of murder, swearing by heaven was synonymous with taking God's name in vain, etc.  Never before had the ethical bar been raised so high, never before had people been challenged like this.  With this new use of terms, came new insights into the impossibility of living a holy and pure life.  With this new understanding, it became increasingly evident how much man needed God and his grace.   

 

Today, we still find ourselves in the same position as those people on the Mount of Olives.  Our understanding of the common religious vocabulary we use needs to be expanded.  We need a deeper understanding of God's love for us and the sheer impossibility of living life without him.  Jesus came, not only to deepen our understanding of God, but also to make it possible for us to come to God.  When the need arises for a better understanding of a word, we consult a dictionary.  Jesus bids us come to him and learn all there is to know about God.  His own words in John 14:9 tell us, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."  So, the next time you need a better and deeper understanding of God's commands and his words to us, read the life and words of Jesus.  There is no better dictionary of God's words than the one who wrote them himself.