The author's intent

As I was studying for this Sunday's sermon, I came across an intriguing discussion of the house in which Jesus healed the paralytic man. I am using the Luke passage (5:17-26), and while reading about this passage Ralph Gower pointed out that Luke was a Roman (or at least a Gentile) writing to a Roman. This would color the meaning of "tiles," since a Roman would understand them differently than an Israelite. This makes it possible that Jesus was teaching from a terrace or portico with a tiled roof over it, rather than in the house proper.

While this does not affect the meaning of the passage, it does remind us that when we read the Bible we need to think about both the author and the audience, and how they would understand a passage. One of the biggest arguments against many modern Biblical interpretations is that they simply would never have occurred to the original readers. Modern literary theory makes an attempt to "deconstruct" this original intent for current readers, but to do so empties communication of any understandable content. It is also, I believe, a lazy way out of doing the hard work necessary to bridge the gap from past to present.