“Let me be clear…” – President Barack Obama
“They misunderestimated me.” – President George W. Bush
“Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood.” –Bennie Benjamin
When I stand behind the
pulpit as the preacher for my little congregation, I want (very desperately) to
be understood. I want to be able to
translate what I have read, and discovered, and learned from the scriptures and
from my own experiences with God. My “intentions
are good…” I want to share the power and glory of God’s eternal truth, and I
want the message to be understood. If those who are listening to me cannot
understand what I'm saying I'm wasting my time, and theirs.
But…
Maybe we should preach
to be misunderstood (at least at first).
Look at the gospel of
John. Though Jesus comes from above and
speaks the ‘real’ and ‘true’ things of God - the heavenly realities - he must
do so using human language. But human
language is limited and unable to express the fullness of those heavenly
realities. Human words are incapable
of describe the full power and glory of God’s eternal truth.
To deal with this shortcoming of human language, Jesus (the Word made Flesh) often uses figurative language – metaphors and poetry – to describe himself and his message. And these figurative (and often shocking!) expressions are usually misunderstood by his listeners. It’s almost as if Jesus intended them to be misunderstood.
To deal with this shortcoming of human language, Jesus (the Word made Flesh) often uses figurative language – metaphors and poetry – to describe himself and his message. And these figurative (and often shocking!) expressions are usually misunderstood by his listeners. It’s almost as if Jesus intended them to be misunderstood.
For example:
“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” –
John 2:19
“I tell you the truth; no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is
born again.” – John 3: 3
“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink,
you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” – John
4: 10
“I tell you the truth; unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you.” – John 6:53
“You belong to your father, the devil…” John 8: 44
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep…” John 11: 11
Jesus’ audiences in these
communications were confused and angry because they misunderstood. They took his words at a literal level, or
understood only the material meaning and not the deeper spiritual truth. It’s only in the ensuing dialogue that Jesus
is able to elaborate his meaning and explain his message. (And even then, they didn't always get it...)
Perhaps we are too
conditioned to concise and clear sound bites with a single point to appreciate
the complexities of Jesus’ teaching style (as described by John.) We want short pithy statement with easily digestible
meanings, not layered and complex images with subtlety. It’s risky proposition – to preach complexity
and subtle layers. It’s likely that some
(most, all?) of the audience will come away confused and/or angry because
of their misunderstanding.
But perhaps we should preach to be misunderstood (at least at first).
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