READ, MARK, LEARN, AND INWARDLY DIGEST by Gerry Peterson

I wonder how many times we have heard our pastors and vicars use the phrase “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.” They usually use that phrase when they want us to think carefully about a particular passage from Holy Scripture. They are urging us not to take that passage lightly. Rather, they want us to take the passage seriously and, over time, to give the matter close, careful thought. Since we usually hear that phrase toward the end of a sermon or Bible class, maybe we hear it and think that it simply a signal that it is time to move on.

Or perhaps we have heard the phrase so often that we think that it must have a Lutheran origin. Isn’t that something that Dr. Luther might have written? It turns out that it is certainly from the time of Dr. Luther. But, rather, we owe that phrase to Thomas Cranmer of the Church of England.

Let’s look at the origins of that phrase more carefully. After a thorough academic career at Oxford University as a student, teacher, and scholar, Thomas Cranmer served as a roving ambassador, negotiator, and observer of the European continent for King Henry VIII of England. Perhaps Cranmer’s most important task in Europe was to study the emerging Reformation and the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to that Reformation. Cranmer seemed to be at ease in talking with and writing to both key Lutheran reformers and papal authorities. King Henry finally called Cranmer home, after many years of service abroad, to assume the influential and powerful office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Cranmer served his king well, especially in complicated matters relating to the king’s many marriages. Perhaps Cranmer’s most lasting contribution relates to his development of what is often called the English Reformation. Following his time on the Continent with its broad range of religious factions, he developed a middle path for the English. That path adhered to a good number of longstanding Roman Catholic practices and beliefs, but it also included necessary reforms of those practices and beliefs. And Cranmer was not shy about adding a strong dose of humanist doctrines from Erasmus.

In 1549, Cranmer offered a book of reformed English church practice entitled Book of Common Prayer. It was similar in intent to Dr. Luther’s catechisms. It was meant to discard questionable practice, introduce clearer understanding, and make the Divine Service available in the common language of his country, English.

And that, finally, brings us to the title of this little essay: “Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.” The words are simple, but I think that that phrase deserves close attention by Christian believers. Here is the context in which the phrase appears:

Eternal God, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

That is powerful stuff to this very day. We are admonished to hear and read Holy Scripture: that is, we should go to church to hear the preached Word and then go home and read that Word. But that is not the end of the process. We are to “mark” the Word. That means that we are to give the Word special attention. We should mark and then re-mark it again and again. Marking and re-marking leads us to learning the Word, perhaps to the point of deep learning or memorization. And why should we do all of this? We do this so that the Word of God becomes a part of our very bodies. We might remember that God gave Ezekiel a scroll to eat (Ezekiel 3). Ezekiel found that it was sweet. It gave him the strength he needed to preach the Word. And we certainly all know that we take the Body and Blood of Christ, the fulfillment of God’s Word, to be inwardly digested into our bodies at the Lord’s Supper.

There is much more that could be said about this short phrase. Its historical, religious, cultural, and political backgrounds have been the subject of fascinating books. Thomas Cranmer, still in office as Archbishop of Canterbury and a firm adherent to the English Reformation, died a terrible death. Queen Mary, sometimes known as “Bloody Mary,” came to the throne. She, a deeply devoted Roman Catholic, condemned Cranmer to be burned at the stake. He died, a martyr to the English Reformed cause, on March 21,1556. But his Book of Common Prayer, with its eloquent and faithful statements, survived him for over four hundred years. We still hear some of his words in the preaching and teaching in our own church to this day. I believe that this phrase can help us all to learn and retain the precious Word of God.