{"id":285,"date":"2010-09-07T18:44:54","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T01:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/?p=285"},"modified":"2010-09-07T18:44:54","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T01:44:54","slug":"eye-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/07\/eye-contact\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye Contact"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s something shocking in Song of Songs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I know, that’s kind of a commonplace these days. “Song of Songs<\/em> says things you’d never believe were in the Bible.” For example, one of my favorite parts of scripture is Song 7:7-8, which I can’t link because then this blog would be NSFW.<\/p>\n

I understand: if you’ve heard enough spicy sermons out of Song of Songs<\/em>, it might not be as shocking to you as it would have been otherwise. But wait.<\/p>\n

Because, traditionally, Song of Songs<\/em> has been described as a picture of Christ’s love for his Church. Let’s suppose that’s true. It might also be a how-to manual for godly sex, as it certainly seems to be in places, but let’s just suppose that fifteen or seventeen centuries of interpretation isn’t hopelessly 100% wrong.<\/p>\n

Are you with me? “Are we tracking?” Okay. Then consider what we read in Song of Songs 6:5<\/a>. The man says to the woman:<\/p>\n

\nTurn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me \/
\nYour hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m not sure what the bit about goats and Gilead says about hair — something extremely flattering, I’m sure — but the rest is pretty clear. Anyone who’s been in love — or even infatuated — knows that feeling. It’s the “I want to ask you to the dance but I have to look at my feet when I do it” feeling. The “I really like you, or think I do, but I’m so overcome by the butterflies in my stomach I can’t actually look you in the eye to say so” feeling.<\/p>\n

But consider: this verse is the man<\/em> speaking to the woman<\/em>. That would make it Christ speaking to his Church. Can you imagine Jesus the same kind of feeling looking at us — at you and me and the rest of the church — that we’ve experienced in our relationships? The sweaty palms, the stomach doing flip-flops, the stealing-looks-then-looking-away-before-eyes-meet? Jesus? Nervous?<\/p>\n

How many of us<\/em> look at Christ’s church the way he does? Wow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s something shocking in Song of Songs. I know, that’s kind of a commonplace these days. “Song of Songs says things you’d never believe were in the Bible.” For example, one of my favorite parts of scripture is Song 7:7-8, which I can’t link because then this blog would be NSFW. I understand: if you’ve … Continue reading »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[8,15,113,168,176,193,218,274],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-bible","tag-church","tag-crush","tag-infatuation","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-nervous","tag-song"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}