For many Christians around the globe, it probably will be John 3:16: “For God so love the world….” For a certain kind of believer who’s intensely involved in personal communion with God, it will be Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my shepherd…” For a number of the faithful, especially those of a Lutheran persuasion, it will be Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith….” For many Roman Catholics, it will be Matthew 16:18, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I build my Church.” For more than a few ecologically compelled ecumenical Christians today, it might well be Psalm 24:1 – which I happened to use to entitle one of my own books, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” For Christians of an evangelical persuasion, in all likelihood, it will be the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” For still other Christians, especially those of a Methodist heritage, it will be the vision of Divine Love that’s expressed preeminently by Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).
Each of these texts – and many others, for sure – could easily be my own favorite on any given day. But for me, at least insofar as I consciously understand my own faith, my own most treasured Bible verse, a hymnodic passion that I share with the great Christian visionary of the last century, Joseph Sittler, is Colossians 1:15ff., regarding Jesus Christ as our cosmic Savior:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created… through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
For me, this single short text reveals the drama of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, from Alpha to Omega, from the Big Bang to the Big Collapse, and then, wondrously, to the ultimate renewal of all things. For me, this single text can be viewed as the key that best opens the door to the mystery and the witness of the whole Bible to the immense meanings of our world. Other religious worldviews will project still other universal visions, which most of us will surely want to take seriously. But this is my question here. What’s your favorite Bible verse? And why?
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