In
John 8 of the New Revised Standard Version, "Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and truth will make you free.'" Another standard version in the Jerusalem Bible translates it a little differently.
To the Jews who believed in Him Jesus said:
'If you make My word your home
you will indeed be My disciples,
and you will learn the truth
and the truth will make you free.'"
The first major difference is that the Jerusalem Bible takes the words of Jesus as poetry. How do you tell poetry from prose? That's very simple. If there is a lot of blank space, it is poetry. That is what the people at the seminary call form criticism. It sounds fancy, but in form criticism we learn to identify the literary form of the biblical passages. Is it a song, a proverb, a parable, a blessing, or a poem? A poem has its distinct form to it, and that's how we know it is poetry. One could read the Johannine verses in the Jerusalem Bible as poetry, placing poetic accents in their appropriate place.
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To the Jews who believed in Him Jesus said:
'If you 'make My 'word your 'home
you 'will in'deed be 'My di'sciples,
and 'you will 'learn the 'truth
and the 'truth will 'make you 'free.'
Like other wonderful poems, the words of Jesus capture our hope and dream with just a few words.
The other major distinctive feature in the Jerusalem Bible's translation is that it has Jesus say, "If you make my word your home." Jesus said, "Make my word your home." This translation adds a dynamic touch to the words of Jesus Christ, as it portrays the disciples of Jesus Christ as homemakers. They make a home with the word of Jesus. Here we have a wonderful word picture of the ministry of the good news of Jesus Christ. As the disciples of Jesus Christ we make the word of Jesus our home and help the people God has entrusted with us to find home in the word of Jesus.
What does it take to make a home? The Greek word used here, meno, literally means "to stay, to remain, to abide." It is a word for living on a permanent basis. As in E.T., we get to say, "Stay," for if you don't stay, "Ouch," the heart breaks.
To make home, and to make home work, there is one essential homework. That is to stay -- to be present. The Jewish tradition has a wonderful story about two Israelites who were part of the Exodus group. They were among the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses, only because they did not want to be left behind. When the people of Israel were cornered by the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, they were sitting on the bank of the sea, chatting. They soon noticed that everybody was crossing the water and hurried to join the company. As they were crossing the Sea, they complained of the yucky riverbed and mud their feet were sinking into. When the split sea came back, they said, "Look at this. We got all wet."