Its time to get practical....

John 5:39


³⁹ “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.

 I think it was a Russian Bolshevik revolutionary who once wrote ‘all through life mind limps after reality’. It’s a phrase that has stuck with me all my adult life. A bit pessimistic perhaps but I think in essence he was right. Let’s face it polling organisations have recently taught us this entire lesson in the UK!  However, we need to have an understanding of why things are the way they are or alternatively we cynically turn our backs on the possibility of positive meaning and transformation in life. At the time Jesus spoke the words recorded in the scriptural passage above the people of Israel had a long and complex story to tell. It was story of origins, disaster, call, family politics, homelessness , wandering with only temporary homes, slavery,  liberation, establishing law and justice, journeying, establishing a home, war and conflict, unfaithfulness and betrayal,  exile, homecoming, occupation and much much more. It is a story of a journey towards a final place called home and the making of a home for all peoples no matter their background story.  By the time of Jesus, this story was being told in ways that actively wrote inclusiveness, redistribution of wealth, liberation for all and good news for poor people out the story. The story of progressive and inclusive life was replaced by a narrow and mean religious story of legalism and institutionalised oppression of the very people the story of scripture was meant to liberate. This sounds very similar to our own day and time. We have a distinct advantage in our generation in that we have the whole narrative of scripture while in the 1^st century the story of the ‘liberation society’ Jesus came to inaugurate was partially incomplete. Indeed Jesus came to fulfil the story that is to say, ‘fill out’ and bring to life the Hebrew Scriptures.  We can take the words and practices of Jesus and look to the story of scripture and see Him as the fulfilment of the promises to humanity for liberation and freedom under the Kingdom rules of love, compassion and mercy.  This approach of seeking the true story of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures is endorsed by Jesus Himself. In Luke 24 Jesus shares a journey and a meal with two disciples during which time He told them His own story contained in the scriptures:  Luke 24:27 states: ‘ ²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.’ All through the life of these disciples their minds were limping after reality but this day they got the opportunity run right into the story of Jesus and experience reality for the first time in their lives. This day they were shown how the story of Jesus is the story that answers the questions of: how did we get here, how did it all go wrong, are there ways of living together in peace and progress, who reveals this new way of being in the world, are there any examples of it working, what does the future hold and how can we all be a part of this liberation story? These two people recognised this was their story too! They were included in the narrative, given the right to have a voice and their needs addressed.  Jesus told the story of Moses and all the prophets in a particular way, as the prophecy about Jesus Himself.  The Gospels which follow then become His incarnate history, the Acts of the Apostles the history of His first followers and their life transforming communities, the letters go on to reveal the community advice to His inaugurated community and its leaders and the Revelation the promise of a future consummated Kingdom with a total end to violence, discrimination, exploitation and death.  The reason our minds as disciples of Jesus limp towards reality and never really get there is because we have no practical commitment to Jesus and putting into practice His teaching as revealed in whole of scripture as the love of God and our neighbours as ourselves.  The danger for all of us is simply believing in a personal Jesus of our own making like the two people in the Luke 24 story.  This will trap us in the apparent hopelessness and futility of life as opposed to responding personally, socially and that includes politically to the liberation story contained in Luke 4: 16-30 and fulfilled in the life of Jesus of the Nazareth Sermon.   

We need expalnations that are faithful to the truth...

2 Timothy 2:15 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA

 

¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth. 

Have you ever noticed when people get together they begin to exchange stories? Or when we have some time to sit and reflect we tell and retell stories to ourselves? It seems that it is how we are made.  Often we begin with a question or statement; ‘good to see you’, ‘how are you?’ or ‘alone at last!’  It’s the invitation to share a story, an invitation to bring ourselves or indeed each other into a mutual exchange of stories.  Even those people or events we don’t want in our story are invited to depart the narrative at some offered exit point. But at the same time, they remain for eternity part of our story.  We cannot escape the fact that they have in some way been part of our shaping; part of our history; part of the shaping of our identity, great or small. We tell stories about stories, we reflect, attribute roles and characters, offer evidence, attribute praise and blame and draw conclusions to form the meaning of our lives.  Some of the meanings of our life story actively hang around in our consciousness and bring us happiness or unhappiness when brought to mind.

 

Sometimes we are aware we are part of a story, that it has meaning for us, but we just can’t put a finger on why. These memories can pester us until we ‘place that face’ or ‘recall when we last felt a particular way’. Stories flood our senses with sounds, smells, tastes, touches, sights and feelings.  These become symbolised and are used by us to shape our values, attitudes and beliefs which in turn directs, defines and shapes our behaviour.  

 

It can all seem a bit overwhelming when we try and make sense of all this. That’s exactly why we turn to stories to explain stories.  Take for an example a sore head. ‘Why have I got a sore head and what can be done about it?’ The story maybe a story of lack of sleep, too much food, too much noise, too much alcohol or indeed all of the above and it’s the story of the office party! In this circumstance we would not expect to be referred by the GP for a brain scan; wrong story! We would perhaps learn the story of moderation? Perhaps not!  To make sense of the story of the ‘whole of life’ as well as its individual bits we use bigger stories called ‘Grand Narratives’  which are built up of a series of smaller stories related and interrelated with other stories circulating around us.  These larger more holistic stories that we use to explain our own story are based on values, attitudes, beliefs and practices that are called paradigms. Basically these are the fundamental principles used to build consistent meaning over time, providing the knowledge of ourselves and the worlds that we inhabit. When stories meet at common crossroads diverse and novel solutions to life questions arise. This facilitates for us the opportunity to creatively change our values, attitudes, beliefs and practices and allows us to build more congruent stories that make sense of our lived experiences and aspirations. 

The power of the story is the power to change life and our lived experience. For the disciples of Jesus of the Nazareth Sermon this story is basis of the re-examination and meaning making process of our lives.  Paul writing to a close friend Timothy urged him to work at using the story of scripture called the ‘Word of Truth’ to make sense of life and the world around him. This was the story and method that will rid his life of what the Greek word ‘anepaischuntos’ collectively puts under heading ‘shame and disgrace’. It’s a word that is only used once here in scripture. Reading the word more positively suggests that positive, progressive and transformative outcomes are achieved by accurately discerning, teaching and applying all the story of scripture. This is our task as disciples of Jesus of the Nazareth Sermon.