Mother of Controversy
I got my ears pinned back by both Don and Ray for what I wrote in "Mothers Always Mother." While there was a bit too much glee in their voices as they jumped on me, they had a point.On my first pass through Christianity, years ago, I got pretty well burned out on theological discussion. You can prove just about anything that way and human values get left out. My thesis this time around has been that God made me as a human being, and anything that requires me to discard portions of what God put in me isn't real theology. My approach is more empirical, a sand sculptor following Jesus.
I read John's account of the wedding in Cana many times, and thought about it before I wrote what I did. The story was intended to be breezy and perhaps spark some discussion, in an attempt to bring forth some new thought. I'll acknowledge that I'm not much of a bible scholar. As I wrote the story I knew that it was probably shallow.
How shallow it was I didn't know until Don presented the results of his study. There are depths and details to this story that just don't come out in the translations of the Bible that I have. The NIV has Jesus saying "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Don's study shows that a more correct translation would be something like "Woman, get out of my way and let me do my work." To me, this is akin to "Be still and know that I am God." In other words, this was Mary's first sight of Jesus as God, and she responded appropriately, with faith. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus asked. Await his command.
There are other details that come out with study. Wine was always part of Jewish weddings and represented joy. Jesus chose this as his first miracle to show the joy that he couuld bring to peoplle's lives. He had the servants fill the jars so that they could participate in the work.
I was also wrong in my stance on miracles. Don discussed this, saying that John frequently uses the word "signs" instead of miracles, to show that these events are signs of Jesus' authenticity. It took some time for me to understand the significance of this, but apparently some people were following Jesus just to see what rabbit he['d pull out of his hat next. They didn't care about him. How one could see the miracles without wanting to know more I don't know; to me, miracles are a necessary part of life and can't be separated from God's participation in my life. MIracles come from relationship, not the other way around.
Jesus' ministry, in other words, was carefully planned and executed. Each miracle was to illustrate a particular point. That his first one had jars overflowing with wine was a sign for the future.
And yet, words are one thing, acts another. We live in the age of theology. There are more different translations of the bible floating around than ever, and Christians still hide. You pretty much have to search in order to find them, which leads me to believe that there's something missing from all the theology.
Where is this joy? What is joy? I don't think it's going to be found in anything but experimental life. Mainly because our world knows nothing about it, so we have to discover it ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit can turn words into water that fills up the hollow stone, overflowing, and then he can convert it to wine. There are a lot of ambulatory deserts out there.
I can understand this. Our Living God is frightening. He holds the universe in his hand. He could change me into anything. What he wants is to make me Larry in a relationship with Himself. The only way to that is through the living with him. Watching miracles from the sidelines won't do it.
posted by Larry @ 8:37 AM
5 Comments:
Shoot First, Ask Questions LaterIt is my prayer that our discussions do not become a shooting gallery. We are all called to share in the Gospel (Good News). God fills our hearts with new wine (not whine – which I am guilty of many times over). If we focus on the great things He has done (set our minds on God), then we will be over fill with wine (joy). (ref: Joel 2:19-24; Colossians 3:1-4; Psalm 126; 1 Samuel 12:23-24).
Thank you Larry for your pure honesty and humble insight.
I love the fact that this lesson has generated so much discussion and thank you Don for your post. I don’t think that our discussions are shooting galleries. This is just clearly a case foot/mouth mess up. I miss-read Larry’s comments. When I went back to re-read his entry, I failed to find a reference that I thought I had previously read. What I thought I read was something like “I am use to getting shot at” which upon re-reading is not there. Open mouth, here comes my foot.
If my comments were abrupt, this was not my intent. They were designed to make lite of the comment I thought I read. Thus, I apologize, express regret, back peddle, etc..
Don I agree with you and Larry you inspire me – I thank God that I have men such as you to be encouraged and challenged by.
Moving forward.. I love this forum and encourage all to make as many mistakes as necessary. – Just so you can catch up with me.
The best is yet to come.
The Control Center is an interesting environment. I'm usually quiet, but I've worked long enough in ATSAC to know people.
And I do get shot at a lot. It's in fun, I get blamed for problems but we all work together to solve them. My writing has evolved similarly, and I've put more oomph into this Blog than I would put elsewhere. We've sort of eveolved a forceful give-and-take.
I wrote this story, posted it, and then thought about it some more. Parts of it I didn't like, so an hour or so later I rewrote it. In the rewrite, that phrase Ray was looking for went on the cutting room floor. I am used to being shot at, but the case of the study meeting was different.
I wasn't shot at. I was simply presented with a look at the John verses that was far beyond anything I'd expected. The Bible is very condensed, and it takes some skilled work to bring out the depth of meaning in there.
In me, the Scholar and the Empiricist co-exist in an uneasy alliance. Each knows it needs the other. Shooting from the hip is sometimes the best way, but at other times deep study is necessary. These two can actually inform each other pretty well if they'll work together. It's why I'm a good sand sculptor: theory gets tested with each piece. Epiricism informs theory, and then theory can suggest new things to try.
I look at following Jesus the same way. I'd rather make my own mistakes than repeat someone else's. The key thing is to make misakes and learn from them. I hope I didn't make a big one with this story; please pardon me if I hurt you.
So I wasn’t hallucinating!!! Given my past history this could have been pawned-off as a flash back. Still, I just want you to notice how much feed back this section has generated. I think it awesome that we are so interested in what is this Gospel has to say.
Yah... As I listed to Don pull rabbit after unguessed rabbit out of those verses, I was just plain blown away. Layers of detail that I'd never even have guessed at.
Being of an empirical, troubleshooting frame of mind, I tend to miss these written details. The moral of the story? Every group needs a bible scholar. I'm glad Don took the time to put this presentation together.
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