Stephen
Terry, Director
Sharing the Story of Jesus
Commentary
for the September 12, 2020 Sabbath School Lesson
"I have been crucified with Christ and I
no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me." Galatians 2:20, NIV
We all love
interesting stories, and everyone has one about the life they have lived. But
often we become so absorbed in living our own story, we take little time to
hear the stories of others. We may feel that we would be invading their personal
space to learn their story, but often, people love to share their stories even
more than listening to others. It is a blessing to them to be able to share,
and it can be a blessing to us to be able to build upon our understanding
through those shared experiences. This does not mean the one-up-manship that we
often call conversation where after someone shares a unique experience, we
immediately share one intended to outdo the experience they just shared. Real
conversation involves attentive listening, not to plan a response but to
appreciate the story being shared. As someone lost to history wisely said, "We
have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we talk."
Polite listening
involves statements like "Tell me more," and "How did that make you feel?" or "So
what did you decide to do?" It does not involve, "You think that was hard. Let
me tell you what happened to me." No one should walk away later thinking their
experience was of less value than someone else's. God has created each of us to
live unique lives because all the different stories are what it takes to make a
complete society. We too often devalue other's stories compared to our own and
in so doing, we build walls of separation between ourselves and others, walls
that do not need to exist. Every story is important, and without someone's
story, the community becomes like a jigsaw puzzle with a missing piece. It can
never be whole, and the community will always fall just short of its intended
purpose. Too often, we value our individual goals and do not appreciate the
purpose of the community we belong to. We do not hear the stories that will
make a difference, not only for us, but for the entire community. Even worse,
when we do not take the time to hear someone's story, we are telling them they
do not matter. This can rapidly change a communication experience into a personal
devaluation. At that point for safety or sanity, it may be necessary to break
off communication. This can make it far more difficult to make it past the pain
to restart communication than it would have been to simply be a good listener in
the first place. We too often do this to others when their story involves a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This can result in a particularly
important missing puzzle piece. Let me share an example.
I knew a man who grew up in a dysfunctional home. An abusive father and a weak
mother, who allowed the abuse, led him to grow up with a lack of respect for authority
figures, and he himself modeled the same abuse toward his siblings that his
father had toward him. He even began to abuse alcohol as a demonstration of
independence, not realizing that even in this he was modeling his father's
alcohol abuse. Despite all of that, he attended church to be with his friends
and get away from the problems at home. Most of the time, he shut all that Jesus
talk out. Making jokes about it with his friends while planning what they would
do after the service. But eventually a youth leader got through to him and led
him into a relationship with Christ. This helped him to see that something else
was important beyond his dysfunctional family and his joking friends. He began
to develop a sense of purpose and direction. Most importantly, he began to
study the Bible and to pray. He did not become a saint. Instead he learned that
improvement is a life-long process. And because of the dysfunctionality and
lack of religious guidance from his parents, he began that process several
steps behind others who did not have those disadvantages. But he did not give
up. Instead he began to recognize when things went wrong, these were opportunities
for growth. Life was full of challenges he had not noticed before. Many of these
he learned to deal with through experience. But what was even more exciting, he
began to recognize miracles in his life that dealt with obstacles that his experience
was no match for. These miracles included things like protection from injury
and even death, guidance in going to college, and even in bringing him together
with the right spouse, not once, but twice. As he looks back over his life now,
he sees all of this and finds the golden thread of Christ's presence running through
all his experiences.
We might think that
such a man would have everything he really needs, but this is not always the
case. His life also illustrates the value of listening and the loss occasioned by
a failure to listen. While he has experienced the fullness of the relationship with
Christ he discovered long ago. The next generation had little interest in his
story or the Bible stories that guided him. They saw no need for a similar
experience. Maybe they were more focused on the flaws they saw he continually
had to work through or the challenges that often came into his life. Maybe they
thought they could make better choices without God involved. Whatever the reasons, it appeared that the
search for a deeper relationship with God would end with his generation. When
grandchildren arrived, hope rekindled that they would show an inclination
toward spiritual things. And that may happen. His own parents were indifferent
to religion, and still, like a lone, lost sheep, God found him.[i] Because of his experience with
the miraculous, he knows God will speak into their lives as well, just as he
did through that youth leader many years ago.
This story is a common
one, repeated many times over. It does not matter if the person is the product
of an irreligious dysfunctional family in the United States; a child growing up
in a Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist community; or a someone raised with Communism or
Paganism. If the child is listening, he can hear the voice of God speaking to
his heart. And once he or she recognizes it as the voice of God, their life can
profoundly change. That may be one of the greatest challenges of all, for there
are many in this world that would distort that voice to serve other agendas. Even
some who call themselves ministers try to change the voice of God for nefarious
purposes.[ii] But understanding of all of
this comes over time as the Holy Spirit guides the willing listener to be able
to parse truth from lies. The Bible serves as the template for a new, more
profound understanding of the world that exposes, not only the loving character
of God, but also the shoddy merchandise of the merchants of deception.
But all of this comes at a price. We need to stop trying to grab the golden
ring as the carousel we are riding circles round and round. Even if we succeed
in obtaining it, we will find that it is made of plastic and only painted gold.
More, we may feel that we have accomplished something in doing so, only to
discover that there is another one just like it waiting for our next revolution
on the carousel. At that point, some decide that the point of life is to gather
the largest number of those rings they can before they die, but others begin to
see that the merry-go-round is headed nowhere and become willing to listen to
other perspectives as they seek to dismount from the craziness. But this awareness
comes only through recognizing the error of climbing onto the carousel in the first
place. Without looking for and hearing God's voice,[iii] that can be very scary,
especially if the carousel is all we have known.
Many years ago, while
I was in the Army, I was providing medical support for a field exercise in
rappelling. It looked like fun, and I was invited to join the company in
rappelling down a cliff face. I was excited to do it. But when standing on the
edge of the cliff, I was told to lean back. Everything in my experience told me
this was NOT what I wanted to do. But a gruff sergeant told me to do as he said
as he was not pulling me back up. (Yes, sometimes the voice of God can sound
like a gruff sergeant.) So, struggling with my fears, I eventually managed to
trust the sergeant and lean back until I was perpendicular to the cliff face.
From there it was a simple matter of walking and jumping to the base of the
cliff. Once I admitted my mind was wrong about everything it was telling me
about how to behave at the top of a cliff, I had the fun experience of
rappelling down one. Getting off the carousel and trusting the voice of God may
seem just as scary, but just like rappelling, I am glad I did.
