By Olivia Obijiaku
Very Rev. Fr. Prof Peter Tanko has charged Catholic faithful to embrace the study of the scripture, so that they be immersed in the inexhaustible knowledge of Jesus. The priest who gave the charge during the Mass he celebrated at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on Saturday, June 7, 2025, leaned on the Gospel reading (Jn. 21:20-25), on ‘if all that Jesus did were written down one by one, the whole world could not hold the book that would be written,’ in asserting that the teachings of Jesus cannot expire.
He noted that the Holy Koran describes Christians as ‘People of the Book (The Holy Bible),’ even as he tasked Christians to live up to the expectations, by knowing and living the Bible which they have been ascribed to.
His words, “We have a lot to learn from the Bible every day. There are millions of commentaries and books that have been written about Jesus and people are still writing about Him because of the inexhaustibility of His sayings. Nobody can exhaust divine wisdom. This is the richness of the Bible.”
“He says one thing here and it reverberates in another place. He says one thing and it means different things to different people. You read the same verse today and it gives a different meaning tomorrow. That is how rich and mysterious the Bible is. You cannot exhaust the wisdom of the Bible, because it has come from Jesus, the Summary of all wisdom.”
“That is why the Church continues to encourage us all to find the time to read the Bible. If we are people of the Book, it is an invitation to us, to know the Bible to which we have been subjected or ascribed to. So, it is not enough to know. When you know, do your best to put what you know into action, because, Jesus said, “not all who say to me, ‘Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do what I commanded them to do.”
Fr. Tanko reminded them that the said Commandments of Jesus is summarized in ‘Love of God, and love of one another.’ He prayed for the grace to study and meditate on the scriptures and to keep the commandments.
