Getting Ready. Why Another Revisiting? Don t Be in a Hurry

Transcription

1 1 Getting Ready The Bible is an Eastern bk. We see it thrugh the clred glasses f Western culture. Much is lst. We miss the subtleties f humr and many f the underlying assumptins. We d nt understand the ingrained attitudes that illuminate a stry r illustratin. Christ spke t a Middle Eastern peasant peple. Even mst f the educated wuld have had their rts in that peasantry. What lies between the lines, what is felt and nt spken, is f deepest significance. Kenneth Bailey 1 Why Anther Revisiting? A A revisiting f this challenging parable f Jesus has been the subject f sme remarkable wrk in recent years. Examples include Tim Keller s bk The Prdigal Gd: Rediscvering the Heart f the Christian Faith 2 (2009) as well as Jhn MacArthur s bk A Tale f Tw Sns 3 (2008). Fifteen years befre that, there was Henri Nuwen s rediscvery f this parable in his bk The Return f the Prdigal Sn. 4 S with these excellent wrks available, yu may wnder why shuld we invest time trying t discver mre Kingdm jewels where thers have already effectively mined. At least tw reasns cme t mind. First, can we ever get ur arms entirely arund Jesus teachings? Can we ever say we have plumbed the depths f a passage and therefre there is nthing mre t be learned frm it? As has been frequently bserved, Gd s Wrd is s simple a child can understand it and s prfund a thelgian can t fully grasp it. Peridically I revisit the three verses in Luke 5 where Jesus tuches a leper. 5 A few weeks ag, I returned again and fund yet anther new insight in that passage that I had nt previusly seen. And I strngly suspect that is nt the last time such discvery will happen! If new insights can be cntinually gleaned frm just three verses, imagine what there is still left t discver in the twenty-tw verses that cmprise Jesus lngest parable. Dn t Be in a Hurry Because there are depths f understanding in Jesus teaching, we shuld never be in a hurry t leave a passage. The wrst kind f reader t be is a 1

2 2 Thse Prdigal Sns hit-and-run driver when it cmes t engaging the Scriptures. Nt nly des it take time t discver all f the spiritual realities resident in (deep) passages, but time is als needed fr that Truth t seep int the interir f ur lives where it can marinate ur sul. In ur micrwave manner f living fast-paced, ften frenetic lives, we can easily end up spending (just) tw minutes n pwer ten scratching the surface f ne f Jesus teaching masterpieces when a slw bake is required. But there is an even mre cmpelling reasn t dig deeper int this TPS parable. A Balanced and Integrated Perspective If yu ask thse prficient in digging deeply int the depths f Scripture: Hw d yu best discern what a passage is all abut, yu get a variety f answers. Listening t thse respnses suggest that a gd paradigm fr appraching Gd s Wrd is a recipe with at least the fllwing (perspective) ingredients: Prmpting and inspiratin f the Hly Spirit. Prbing the depths f Gd s Wrd begins and ends by inviting the Hly Spirit int the prcess. Gd s Spirit inspired each and every wrd in the Scriptures. He perfectly knws the riginal, intended meaning f every passage. And He is nt trying t bscure that meaning frm us, but lngs t cmmunicate it rbustly t Gd s peple. An integrated cntextual perspective. What des the passage say in its riginal setting beynd the riginal Greek r Hebrew wrd meanings? We need smene t guide us ut f ur typical Western, 21st-century, urban, industrialized, pstmdern way f thinking and int the 1st-century, Middle Eastern, village, agrarian wrld f the Bible. Jesus parables are pearls f heavenly wisdm encased in a culture that is alien t us. That requires diggers with the gift f knwl- edge wh are nt nly cnversant in, but als able t weave back tgether in an integrated manner the histrical, cultural, gegraphical and literary cntext f a passage as if they were the Middle Eastern peasants wh first heard thse wrds. Each f these fur majr aspects f cntext (histrical, cultural, gegraphic and literary) have multiple sub-categries. Fr example, t be cnversant in the cultural cntext f a passage requires a familiarity with the nature f firstcentury Middle Eastern village custms, such as issues f hnr and shame, cmmunity first, bligatins f the first brn, mandatry hspitality, scial reciprcity, significance f the land. 6 Granted, n ne persn can be ttally knwledgeable in all the areas f cntext. That s why we need t be able t access prven (re)surces wh are familiar with the Land and wh specialize in each f these cntextual areas. Lng ag I learned that whatever cntextual questin I might have cncerning a passage, smene else had that same questin lng befre I did (nthing new under the sun said the writer f Ecclesiastes). I just have t find ut wh they are, and discver what they have already learned. A thelgical perspective. Anther ingredient is smene wh can help us take what the passage says in its riginal cntextual setting and aid us in what it means. Thus, it is necessary t enlist smene t help us accurately discern the biblical truth resident in the narrative t prevent us frm prjecting nt the text what we wuld like that truth t mean r what the Western perspective n that text has traditinally been. A pastral perspective. This requires smene with the (cmplimentary) gift f wisdm wh can lend a hand t help us see the implicatins and applicatins f that biblical truth in the shades-f-gray reality f ur lives tday.

3 Getting Ready 3 A stry teller s perspective. Smene with the gift f teaching wh is als skilled in retelling the biblical stry (mre n that later) with all f the exegesis, thelgical implicatins, and insights and implicatins intact t help us t 1) persnally identify with the characters and their issues, 2) becme engrssed by the stry (it ught t be a transgressin t take a biblical narrative brimming with drama, suspense, intrigue, surprise and human emtin, and retell it is such a way that it becmes a ne-dimensinal, h-hum stry!), and 3) easily remember the stry s we can pass it alng t thers. If this is a prven apprach fr digging deeper int Gd s Wrd, then there remains mre new grund t break with regard t this parable f Tw Lst Sns and Their Father s Heart. There are still mre cntextual bservatins t be made, still mre thelgical insights t be gleaned, and still mre pastral insights t be shared. With this backdrp, we each need t see urselves as an Indiana Jnes f the Scriptures. We need t be enthusiastic explrers filled with a sense f excitement and expectatin f finding mre pearls and diamnds f Gd s Truth lying just belw the surface f ur Western understanding. That will certainly be true with this remarkable (shrt) stry Jesus gives in Luke 15. Thank Yu Kenneth Bailey Dr. Kenneth Bailey has made an enrmus cntributin in helping us further expand ur cntextual understanding f Jesus parables. While a seminary prfessr in Beirut, Lebann, Bailey devted many f his vacatins and sabbaticals t spending time with Middle Eastern Beduin nmads and Cptic Egyptian villagers whm he felt had been untuched by centuries f mdernity. Taking his Arabic Bible with him, Bailey wuld read Luke s parables t these remte peples and then listen t their ftenstunning reactins. Frm thse experiences, Bailey was able t piece tgether much f the riginal Middle Eastern village cultural understandings that were mst likely part f the implicit backdrp f Jesus parables. In s ding, Bailey pened up a new windw fr seeing and understanding the parables f Jesus mre expansively (and ften times, mre accurately). I began t discver hw much village culture matters in interpreting Gspel passages during my first visit t Israel in As part f that trip, I learned abut Bailey s seminal wrk n TPS in The Crss and the Prdigal. 7 When that bk was first published in 1973, it transfrmed ur traditinal black and white hme mvie view f TPS int a full-clr IMAX perspective. In s ding, Bailey shwed us the (ften) nedimensinal nature f ur Western way f appraching Jesus parables. Thanks t Bailey, it sn became evident that we were nly seeing the tip f the iceberg f this prfund parable since much f its wisdm and challenge were t be fund belw the waterline f ur Western way f thinking. Much f the cultural cntextual setting we will be using t dig int Luke 15 will cme frm Bailey s landmark wrk. Cautin and Critics Like any ne wh des grundbreaking wrk t further pen up the Scriptures, Bailey has/had his critics. When a paradigm gets changed, traditin always dies hard fr sme, s skeptics remain. That just seems t cme with the territry. Thus t be fair t the reader, it shuld be pinted ut that there are thse wh argue that just because Bailey sees a certain cultural reality tday frm a

4 4 Thse Prdigal Snce Middle Eastern village perspective, it des nt necessarily mean that aspect f village life was perative during the First Century. While this is a reasnable thesis t advance, it is als true that the majrity f the manner f Middle Eastern village life tday remains essentially unchanged frm the custms f first-century village life, e.g. keeping the custms is always the first pririty fr a Middle Eastern villager. Thus, hw des ne discern what cultural aspects d r dn t belng in a first-century Gspel setting; and therefre, what s apprpriate (and what s nt) fr inclusin in the prcess f cntextually restring a parable? A gd answer t that questin lies in the very nature f integrated cntext. One f the beauties I ve discvered in trying t cntextually restre Gspel passages is that the very prcess f appraching Gd s Wrd this way tends t serve as a helpful safety net when it cmes t biblical interpretatin. The very prcess f weaving all the cntextual pieces back tgether makes discerning and evaluating each individual piece f cntext (fr its apprpriateness) easier. Said anther way, when all f the cntextual pieces f the histrical, cultural, gegraphical and literary cntext f a passage are reassembled, if they are all apprpriate, they will fit tgether chesively like pieces f a puzzle t recnstruct an integrated picture. Thus, if ne f the elements f cntext desn t fit (belng), it ften becmes apparent because that particular cntextual element disturbs the verall unity f the stry. This is yet anther reasn why appraching a passage frm an integrated cntextual perspective is s helpful. Remember when ur mthers used t cautin us as teenagers, There is safety in numbers? The same hlds true when it cmes t cntextually restring a passage. There is interpretive safety by the very nature f having all the varius pieces f cntext cming tgether in a harmnic way t recreate the whle. It s like an rchestra playing a great symphny. All the varius instruments are different in hw they create their ntes, but they all cntribute t the beauty f the verall sund in cmplimentary ways. It is that harmnic apprach that we will be drawing upn as we prgressively dig deeper int the cultural cntext f this remarkable stry f Tw Lst Sns and Their Father s Heart. Is taking an integrated cntextual apprach t a passage an infallible methdlgy? N. But it certainly is useful as a cmpass helping us stay pinted in the right directin. A Persnal Favrite Since Bailey s bk The Crss and the Prdigal was my first intrductin t TPS in cntext in the 1980 s, and was likewise my first significant expsure t the imprtance f cultural cntext in understanding Jesus parables, this Luke 15 narrative has lng been ne f my favrites. Later in the 1990 s, I started using cntextual material n TPS frm Bailey (and thers) in men s retreat settings. There I discvered hw pwerful this parable can be when the Hly Spirit anints it. Fr me this parable cntinues t be Exhibit A fr the prpsitin that cntext always matters when engaging the Scriptures in a transfrmatinal way. Getting Ready As we get ready t start digging mre deeply int this familiar stry, I invite yu t read and reread Luke 15:11-32 in as many translatins as yu can. Then after pndering thse twenty-tw verses fr a while, ask yurself

5 Getting Ready 5 Are yu typically a water skier skimming the surface f the Scriptures r a scuba diver wh can t wait t get belw the surface? Which d yu prefer? And why? D yu agree r disagree that we shuld never ask what a Bible passage means t us tday until we knw what it meant t thse wh first heard it? What are sme f the implicatins f yur answer? Which f the three characters in this stry have yu mst identified with (ver time), and why? In yur yuth? In yur middle years (fr thse f yu wh have been there) In yur later years (fr thse f yu wh are nw there) As yu currently understand this stry, hw wuld yu describe each sn s view f his father? As yu cntinue t reread and pnder this stry, What jumps ut at yu? What surprises yu? What perplexes yu? What cmfrts yu? What challenges yu? Can yu put yurself in the stry? When and where?

6 6 Thse Prdigal Snce Surces and Ntes 1 Kenneth Bailey, The Crss and the Prdigal (St. Luis, MO: Cncrdia, 1973), pp. 9 & Timthy Keller, The Prdigal Gd: Rediscvering the Heart f the Christian Faith (New Yrk: Duttn, 2008). 3 Jhn MacArthur, A Tale f Tw Sns (Nashville: Thmas Nelsn, 2008). 4 Henri Nuwen, The Return f the Prdigal (New Yrk: Dubleday, 1992). 5 Dug Greenwld, Encunters with Jesus: The Rest f Their Stries, Chapter 5, He Tuched Me (Clumbia, MD: Bible-in-Cntext Ministries, 2008), pp Fr mre n these first-century cultural themes, see Dug Greenwld s 2009 Reflectin Series n Tw Very Different Wrlds: Western Evangelicalism and the Gspels, Part I-V (Gaithersburg, MD: Preserving Bible Times, 2009).