;)
Favorite Stories
Posted by From the Middle East in Bible & Theology
The majority of the Holy Scriptures are narrative. Not only was the culture they were written into an oral culture, but they also present to us the Greatest Story Ever Told – God’s plan to redeem people. And, while my sound byte-loving American mind often has a hard time thinking deeply about stories and being patient while the Spirit teaches me through them, story form is the primary type of revelation we find in the Holy Scriptures.
Sharing life with Muslims has given me an even greater appreciation for the power of even the simplest stories in the Holy Scriptures. Both abroad and here in our own land, people love stories. It never fails to amaze me how people falling asleep in a sermon or conversation often refocus when they hear the words, “That reminds me of a time when…” This is even more pronounced in oral cultures where many are not literate, or, at the least, have not been literate for more than a generation. In these environments, one can often tell a story two or three times and hear it repeated with perfect accuracy the next day! This type of environment, where news travels primarily by word of mouth in story form, is perfect for using the stories we find in the Holy Scriptures as springboards to the Story of Jesus. So much so that I usually have short-term team members memorize at least one story from the Old or New Testament that has deeply impacted his or her life and consider what questions they might ask about that story to lead to the Story of Jesus as God is faithful to provide opportunities for us to be storytellers! So, today, I would like to ask you to share one of your favorite stories from the Holy Scriptures and how it points to Jesus.
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;){kind=icon}
;)
;)
;)
;)
One of my favorites is the book of Ruth pointing to Jesus as the Kinsmen Redeemer. I wish that I could experience this narrative as native. There is something about the sounds of the inflected language that I can only experience through the written word and not the ear. I had the fortunate privilege of helping to analyze sentence structures for a Hebrew discourse analysis program. I was certainly on the dumb end of the program but what I learned was that unusual verb usage dictated certain points of climax. I imagine the ears of listeners perking up at certain points of the story when a point needed to be driven home. Narrative is my favorite when I want to come as close as I can to actually experiencing the event.
Brother Scott,
What a great story to tell, thank you for sharing! And what an opportunity to be involved in a Hebrew discourse analysis program.
With regard to your confession:
Apparently narrative is also God’s favorite!
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
FTME,
Most of my “preaching” over the past few years has turned into storying. I find that in a post-modern context, and in a post-Christian context, most of the people have never heard the stories before (even members of our churches) or simply don’t listen to point-by-point propositional truth. I have been amazed how powerful the stories of the scripture are when told simply and vividly, and applied to the modern situation.
For instance, I love the story in John 5:1-9 of the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda. From his years of heartache and disappointment he had come to believe that God’s grace was always for somebody else. Then he finally met Jesus and found out that God is not stingy with His grace.
I know an awful lot of people who believe that God’s love is poured out on the “lucky few.” Much of what they have experienced in their lives has only added to that feeling of hurt and disappointment because they were not the “lucky one.” What a privilege it is to introduce them to the One who not only can, but wants to, change their life and set them free!
I love to imagine the human side of biblical stories. Like, for instance, the look on Moses’ face when God told him to go to Egypt, or on Gideon’s face when God said, “Your army is too big!”
I grew up in the church hearing the stories and seeing the theological context of them. Now, I like to try to imagine the human emotions these normal folks must have gone through when God spoke to them and called them to his service.
This is a thought-provoking post, FTME.
Brother Kevin,
Good point. As Christians, we often speak to people as if they are familiar with the stories and terminology we are familiar with. In many cases they are not. But if we are faithful to be God’s storytellers, He will use those stories!
BTW, great example from John 5. Very “relevant” today ;^)
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
Brother Dave M,
Amen and amen!
My younger brother is a pastor and a preacher. He is quite gifted at expositing narrative portions of the Holy Scriptures and one of the reasons I always enjoy and am challenged when he preaches from narrative is that he does an outstanding job at helping me to see what different characters were going through… the human side of the story. What was Ananias thinking when God sent him to Saul of Tarsus (his persecutor) or Peter when Jesus healed the ear of the man he was “defending” Him from? Great stuff!
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
You mentioned the Peter story.
I wonder what he thought when he realized that when he picked up the sword, he was trying to STOP THE CRUCIFIXION. Had he succeeded, all he would have done is prevent his own salvation.
When that one dawned on him, I bet he felt kind of foolish.
I enjoy occasionally picking out ‘corner details’ of familiar stories. Recently, someone asked me to look at the healing of the man born lame in Acts 3. One of the things I realized is that this man had probably been something of a ‘fixture’ (so to speak) at the Beautiful Gate for a long time (you get the impression that thousands of people recognized him when they saw him jumping around the temple courts). And he was likely so during the time of Jesus ministry. You have to wonder if Jesus saw this man at the Gate at some point and thought something like “Friend, I’m not going to heal you today, but I’ve got plans for you. Your healing is going to be the occasion for thousands to come to salvation, and to get My Church started off with a bang!”
Oh, by the way, I’ve switched from posting here as Oloryn. I’ve used that online nick for years, and I’ll continue to use it other places, but I decided that most people here are using real names, and so will I. Besides, most of you don’t seem to be able to spell Oloryn
I post here from about 3 different computers, so it’s possible I’ll slip up if one of the others still has Oloryn remembered in the browser as my Name, but you should most likely be seeing me here as ‘Ben Coleman’ in the future.
Brother Dave M,
Or what Peter thought/how he felt when Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan!”
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
Brother Ben,
Good stuff!
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East
Middle East:
I invite you to take a look at the links in a post at Baptistlife.com about the discussion here in the states between UNC proff Ehrman and the review of his book in the Christian Century by former Duke Chaplain, now Bama UMC Bishop Will Willimon, a fan of NT Wright.
It goes to the heart of academic discussions about narrative and the authority of Scripture.
I think your ruminations are strong, but I wonder what the effect of your passion for narrative plays in an SBC given the reservations of Wade Burleson and David Rogers about politics in the IMB; all in the wake of the testimony of many SBC missionaries not long ago in the pamphlet Stand with Christ as reviewed recently by Johnny Pierce in a national Baptist publication.
I know I speak broadly here, but I think you understand the code.
Love to have a reply here on this board.
Thanks,
Stephen Fox
Brother Stephen,
Thank you for the recommended readings. I’m a little behind in my readings at this time, but will add them to the list!
You also said:
I do not work for an SBC entity and do not keep up with SBC politics to the extent that you might think. Apologies, but I am not familiar the pamphlet or politics mentioned above.
Peace to you brother,
From the Middle East