{"id":42217,"date":"2021-11-07T12:54:05","date_gmt":"2021-11-07T17:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=42217"},"modified":"2021-11-07T12:54:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-07T17:54:05","slug":"search-ponder-and-pray-by-julie-smith-your-essential-guide-to-revisiting-the-gospels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2021\/11\/search-ponder-and-pray-by-julie-smith-your-essential-guide-to-revisiting-the-gospels\/","title":{"rendered":"*Search, Ponder, and Pray* by Julie Smith: your essential guide to revisiting the gospels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cTell me the stories of Jesus,\u201d begins the primary song. You\u2019ve read the stories of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You\u2019ve heard them in church lessons and talks. You know the stories; you probably love the stories. But what if you want more? I recently used Julie M. Smith\u2019s <\/span>Search, Ponder, and Pray: A Guide to the Gospels<\/span><\/i><\/a> to revitalize my study of the first books of the New Testament, and I loved it.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Smith does more than anything else in this volume is ask questions. In <\/span>Matthew 6<\/span><\/a>, when Jesus recommends giving to the poor in secret, Smith asks: \u201cWhy is recognition of good works bad? Is the prohibition for the benefit of the giver or the receiver?\u201d Or in <\/span>Matthew 22<\/span><\/a>, when Jesus invites Peter to \u201crender \u2026 unto God the things that are God\u2019s,\u201d Smith asks: \u201cAre humans the things that belong to God?\u201d and then nudges the readers to take a look at <\/span>Genesis 1:26<\/span><\/a> as they consider that question. One question that provoked a strong reaction for me came from <\/span>Luke 6<\/span><\/a>, when \u201cthe scribes and Pharisees watched [Jesus], whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.\u201d Smith asks, \u201cDo you ever find yourself acting the way the scribes and pharisees do\u2026? What motivates them? How do you guard against developing their attitude?\u201d As I pondered, I saw myself, in my weaker moments, looking at the behavior of those I love most, waiting to criticize. I repented (and will surely have to repent of that again)! Again and again, Smith\u2019s questions invite the readers both to consider verses in new ways and to apply them in living a new life in line with the life and teachings of the Savior.<\/span><\/p>\n

While questions form the heart of the book, Smith offers much more. A <\/span>trained scholar<\/span><\/a> in biblical studies, she intersperses her queries with insights from biblical scholarship. She\u2019ll pose multiple explanations from multiple scholars and ask which the reader finds most likely. Or she\u2019ll provide an insight from a scholar and ask \u201cDo you agree?\u201d Smith invites us not to consume scholarship but rather to engage it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The scholarship often prompts more questions. With the story of Jesus saving the life of the woman caught in adultery in John, Smith writes that \u201cin a rare case of unanimity, scholars conclude that 7:53-8:11 was not a part of the earliest manuscripts of John.\u201d She then recaps five pieces of evidence, including that \u201cthe passage is missing from manuscripts that date before the fifth century (although it seems that early Christians knew of the story)\u201d and that \u201cin later manuscripts, it appears in several different places\u2026suggesting that it was a \u2018floating\u2019 story that was added to different places by different copyists.\u201d She then asks, \u201cCan you find a different explanation for this evidence besides the theory that this story was not originally part of John? Do you interpret this story differently if you conclude that John didn\u2019t write it?\u201d I had heard before that this story was not in the earliest manuscripts, but Smith\u2019s commentary and questions pushed me to move beyond dismissing the story and thinking about what it might mean even outside of John\u2019s narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not all! Smith has a fabulous introduction filled with quotes from scripture and from Church leaders on the power of careful scripture study, or\u2014as President <\/span>Gordon B. Hinckley put it<\/span><\/a>\u2014\u201ca love affair with the word of the Lord.\u201d She provides an introduction to each book of the gospels. She includes three essays at the end, including one on <\/span>the unnamed woman in Mark who anointed Jesus\u2019 head<\/span><\/a> and another on why a subset of women were included in <\/span>Matthew\u2019s genealogy of Jesus<\/span><\/a>. The latter essay in particular stuck with me, highlighting how these women were \u201cnot the matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah).\u201d Rather, \u201cthese women are, as Jesus is, intercessors: Tamar enables Judah\u2019s line to continue; Rahab her family into the house of Israel\u2026 Matthew thought women\u2013and not just any women, but women with unusual, out of the ordinary lives\u2013were worth including and their stories worth thinking about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me share a word of advice on how to read this volume. The first time I tried to read it, I was overwhelmed. There is so much to think about with each chapter that I lost momentum and eventually put the book down for a time. More recently, I opted to read a chapter from the gospels each day and then just read some of the commentary and questions. Soon, I hope to pick up the volume and do it again. Smith playfully writes, \u201cLife is full of unanswered questions. Here are over 4,500 more of them.\u201d You don\u2019t have to tackle them all at once. But at the same time, don\u2019t miss out. This is a fabulous, thoughtful companion to help you receive the fullness of the Savior, \u201c<\/span>grace for grace<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTell me the stories of Jesus,\u201d begins the primary song. You\u2019ve read the stories of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You\u2019ve heard them in church lessons and talks. You know the stories; you probably love the stories. But what if you want more? I recently used Julie M. Smith\u2019s Search, Ponder, and Pray: A Guide to the Gospels to revitalize my study of the first books of the New Testament, and I loved it. What Smith does more than anything else in this volume is ask questions. In Matthew 6, when Jesus recommends giving to the poor in secret, Smith asks: \u201cWhy is recognition of good works bad? Is the prohibition for the benefit of the giver or the receiver?\u201d Or in Matthew 22, when Jesus invites Peter to \u201crender \u2026 unto God the things that are God\u2019s,\u201d Smith asks: \u201cAre humans the things that belong to God?\u201d and then nudges the readers to take a look at Genesis 1:26 as they consider that question. One question that provoked a strong reaction for me came from Luke 6, when \u201cthe scribes and Pharisees watched [Jesus], whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10383,"featured_media":42218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Smith_Gospels_1024x1024.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42219,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42217\/revisions\/42219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}