By Wayne McDill | Professor of Preaching, Southeastern Baptist Seminary, Wake Forest, NC
I happened to go by the local library recently during “Story Time.” Some 20 or 30 preschoolers were there with their mothers and some fathers. These adults were trying to herd them into a bunch and get them seated on the floor near the woman who was to read to them. She sat down and opened an oversized children’s book. The little people were chattering, wiggling, poking and some whimpering. Then she began to read.
Very soon the children became quiet and still. I was impressed. But what struck me was the way she read. Her voice rose and fell with the music of the story. Various characters in the story spoke differently. Surprises sounded surprising; danger sounded dangerous. And the happy ending sounded happy. Very simply, she read the meaning of the story and not just the sound of the words. I couldn’t help but think of how public Bible reading usually sounds. Most reading of Scripture is done in a listless, lifeless, muttering fashion that seems to communicate nothing more than the sound of the words without penetrating to the meaning of the words. Unless a person knew better, he might think the reader is really expressing disrespect for Scripture and apathy about its message.
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The Bible is the most amazing and powerful literature on Earth. Open its pages to almost any passage and the depth and impact is apparent. It is packed with drama, imagery, human interest and divine involvement. It is alive with fascinating ancient history, soul-stirring poetry, stinging moral prophecy, gripping gospel narrative and riveting cosmic warfare. In spite of all this, it is often read aloud like a newspaper obituary.
Even preachers tend to read their texts as though in a hurry to get to the important part of the sermon—their own interpretations. What an irony this is. The preacher’s commentary on a text is emphasized over the reading of the text itself. With the sermon text often being the only passage read in the service, Scripture is reduced to a role somewhere below the making of announcements. We may ask, “How could you read the text aloud without the meaning coming through?” It is done all the time. Just as a sermon can be preached in such a way that the intended meaning of the text is not communicated to the audience, so can the text be read in such a way that its meaning is lost in the apathetic muttering of the words.
Advocates of expository preaching warn against preachers imposing their thinking on the text and preaching that as exposition. This is called eisegesis as contrasted with exegesis. Exegesis, so necessary for expository preaching, means “drawing out” of the text its meaning. Eisegesis means “bringing into” the text the preacher’s understandings as the meaning of the passage. There is a parallel to this practice in the public reading of Scripture. Expository reading is allowing the text to speak through the reader with its intended meaning. But when the reader’s vocal patterns and speech habits are imposed on the text, the intended meaning is smothered by this alien dialect. Just as the text must shape the sermon in expository preaching, so the text must shape the interpretation in expository reading.
