The Aims of Jesus: Part 1- Event or Truth?
Nov 18th, 2009 by John
I am going to generate a few posts from reading Ben F. Meyer’s The Aims of Jesus: With a New Introduction by N.T. Wright.
Meyer writes, “Kerygma and catechesis instinctively took narrative form, for salvation was conceived as ‘event’ rather than as ‘truth’. The question for preacher and catechist was not ‘What is the first principle?’ but ‘Where does the story begin?’ The question early found an answer attested in Acts (1:22; 10:37; 13:24-25): ‘when the Baptist called Israel to repent and to be baptized’ ” (p 70).
Christians primarily encounter events in history surrounding Jesus of Nazareth. We do not encounter tidy spiritual concepts sanitized of dust and blood. We walk into the dreadful passion and the stunning resurrection of Jesus. Events. Time, place, people, events. If you wipe the dust and blood off Christianity, you don’t have what Jesus offers. You have a pathetic clone fitted for middle class America.
Does it matter that we start with narrative and not with principle? You would be inclined to think “no” if you pay attention to a lot of evangelicalism. For many evangelicals, historical event is simply the disposable husk that brings us the eternal kernels of truth. Imagine all that waste on God’s part to jump start the saving process! Why we can boil it down to The Four Spiritual Laws.
We are too sophisticated for things like: “...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter,and then to the Twelve.” Died (event). Buried (event). Raised (event). Appeared (event). “Feed me meat,” so many say, “I know all this kid’s stuff.” People are too big for Story, the narrative. They want the concepts, the principles, the tidy to-do list of convenient applications. They want a piece of Platonized jerky. Meat.
Christianity is all about Christ. We want to change it to “us-ianity” and thus make it all about us. Paul could not have said it more bluntly, “We proclaim Christ and him crucified.” We want to hear, “We proclaim you and you saved.”
There was a hymn I sang as a junior high convert: Tell me the old, old story. The old story was about Jesus and his love. Now we sing “Teach me the new, new principle(s).” Give me a heady buzz with spiritual truths.
I observe that the more conceptual and principle-driven a ‘Christian’ is, the less engaged in the dust and blood of life he or she is. Clean concepts create a sanitized Christian life. The Book of Acts opens with people telling the story of Jesus–died, buried, raised, appearing–and the Book of Acts is filled with dust and blood; aggressive assemblies of The Way (not The Concept) who assaulted the Roman Empire with “Jesus is Lord.” Many Christians know more about “Lord and Taylor” than they do “Jesus is Lord.”
I anticipate some comments along the lines of “Well, what do you do with Romans, Ephesians, and the other conceptual letters of Paul? Huh?” The very question reveals the ignorance. The letters of Paul were created by a blood and guts active missionary-apostle writing to the new active communities, many of whom he planted, to help them carry on the event-making, world shaping faith modeled by their Founder, Jesus. The last thing he was writing was Daily Bread devotionals to help people feel good about their otherwise self-absorbed day.
Something to ponder: the judgment seat of Christ is not going to focus on truths believed; it will aim at events done.
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great post as usual .. thanks .. you just gave me a few more ideas to play with
Tremendous post!
I agree with you 100 percent–so you’re preaching to the Choir. But perhaps the larger question is why is all this tremendous scholarship–Meyer, Wright, Dunn, etc–treated as apostasy but the evangelical church? If you go to evangelical churches it’s as if the past 40 years of Biblical scholarship doesn’t exist–it’s all that liberal stuff! One reason you have Christians flooding the Net is they get saved, go to Bible Study and find their questions are ignored or denounced and they are fed unsatisfactory answers. They start their own search and discover these authors, blogs websites such as yours and a whole new world opens up! Their faith can be questioned, discussed, etc in an open adult way. Please keep writing.
Amen.
Marc,
Thanks for the shout out at *The Eagle and the Child*
John
Mich,
I agree with you. For some reason the evangelical world at the popular level and to a large degree at the pastoral level has stalled; as if theology petrified in the ’50s. Because for many inspiration and authority has been shifted to interpretations and systems and away from the sacred text itself, people think that what they hear and believe is equivalent to very Word of God. It is SO sad.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Hi John,
So true that the old old story is neglected too much in favor of the old old hair-splitting of abstract “principles”. Still, the Gospel begins in Eternity before the foundation of the world.
The “story” expresses the “principle”. And without the story the principle is deadening, much like the Letter without the Spirit kills.
Yet the story still has to be interpreted (i.e., understood), and it is subject to being easily MISunderstood.
For example, the Word of Faith guy may teach that it’s all about health and wealth (“Didn’t the Apostles have Judas watching the MONEY bag? What do you fools think they had in that MONEY bag? Huh? Don’t shout me down, now, just ’cause I’m preachin’ good!”)
The Galatianist preacher may teach that Grace isn’t enough. That God’s angry with His children all the time because we’re such screw-ups (“You people better start getting serious with God! I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but if you aren’t here for Sunday night and Wednesday night and Sunday School, and if you’re not giving your 10% to God [read, MY "ministry"], you better know God is disappointed in you, just like I’m disappointed in you, you sad-sack sacks of …”)
The poor Emergent teacher may ponder over the narrative and echo Pontius Pilate’s famous question, thinking the proclamation of “What is truth?” is profound, instead of sad.
My point is that God starts with “principle”, moves into Historical Story [a redundancy, I know], and sheds light on the stories with principles, even while shedding light on the principles with stories.
John, reconsider the assertion “Christianity is all about Christ.” Is that true, whether examined by story or principle? I don’t think so.
Christ Himself has made it about Him AND us.
Yes, He is the Author and Finisher. Yes, He is the Alpha and Omega. All glory and credit should go to Him. What do we have that we did not receive?
Yet He has chosen to call out a people for His name, and love them, and take them with Him on the Cross and in the tomb and risen with Him and seated with Him, as His “friends” and His “bride”.
What Luke wrote in the book bearing his name was what Jesus “BEGAN to do and to teach”, and the Book of Acts continues the narrative of what He IS doing in us and through us. It’s certainly not “all about US”, but it is a tale of Two Musketeers, Christ and us, joyful [hopefully] yokefellows for History and for Eternity.
Why is this even important?
Because if we fall for the self-abasing mantra that it’s “all about Him”, we fail to draw near to Him, to commune with Him, in the warm welcomed way He has designed.
And we are prone to try to earn His love and favor by our performance, thinking we are always falling short — which of course we are
— instead of accepting His awesome acceptance of us by Grace, declared righteous through His gift of His righteousness, indeed made new in our spirits, one with Him in spirit, loving Christ and hating sin in our [new] heart of hearts.
That’s the Old, and New, story.
Blessings,
Terry
Terry,
I do like your gentle push back. I agree with you and think that I was reacting more to the incredibly self-centered, self-absorbed Christianity of our day. You’ve brought balance to my imbalance. Thanks so much. I especially like this: “What Luke wrote in the book bearing his name was what Jesus “BEGAN to do and to teach”, and the Book of Acts continues the narrative of what He IS doing in us and through us. It’s certainly not “all about US”, but it is a tale of Two Musketeers, Christ and us, joyful [hopefully] yokefellows for History and for Eternity.”
John
Wow. A Pastor who actually listens without being defensive and abrasive.
My respect for you, John, (which was already high) just gonged the bell at the top of the Respect Meter. Your flock is blessed.
…”the incredibly self-centered, self-absorbed Christianity of our day.”
Amen.
Narcissism comes with a force-shield that repels correction. Tell a narcissist that he’s a narcissist, and that narcissism is obnoxious, and watch him react, “Huh? Yeah, yeah, that. But about me…”
Let’s keep feeding Jesus to them. There is no other hope.
Thanks, John. Your blog is always a thought-provoking blessing.
Terry
John:
Couldn’t agree more. The search for principles conceivably could become a matter of identifying a list we could put on a few sheets of paper and memorize. We could just shelve the Bible once we isolate them all.
While it is not the last word on Biblical interpretation (or even the first), I would recommend Billy Collins’ wonderful poem “Introduction to Poetry” if you have not read it. Seems to capture the “wonder” and humility with which we ought to approach scripture and with which we ought to return again and again.
Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.