Finally, something worth writing about occurred in class today. Yes, a notable discussion in my parables lecture/class. As I’ve said before, above everything else, the primary message on the Gospel letters is the Kingdom of God.
This doesn’t change as you examine the parables; the backdrop of the parables is the Kingdom. They inform us about the nature of God’s kingdom.
Living in the kingdom.
I wasn’t satisfied how the discussion was going. Even after the professor noted this element of the kingdom in the parables, for me, it still seemingly kept missing the big picture.
I guess I’m a big picture thinker.
Take a look at this quote from an interview with Tom Wright.1
“At the same time, Harper realized that in America there is a well-known problem that involves the perception of new converts that, having “prayed the prayer” or “accepted Jesus” or whatever, and being assured of salvation after their death, there seems to be a vacant slot in the in-between bit.”
This highlights part of the issue. The framework (me and my personal salvation) cannot be escaped! It’s actually frustrating. I started to probe and lead the talk into a new, different and hopefully, refreshing direction.
If parables say something about being a disciple, as the professor stated, how does that fit into the larger framework of God’s story as told throughout the scriptures?
It doesn’t start and end there. Again, if it does, we’ve completely missed it. Sad.
…once one has grasped that the ultimate goal of the Christian life is not going to heaven or something like that, but rather being God’s Royal Priesthood in the new heavens/new earth…”
Meaning: there seems to be a way of living, a way of discovering what it means to be more genuinely human.
Take a look at this quote from the same interview with Wright.
…the point about Christian virtue is that it claims, all the way back to the Adam-and-Abraham nexus in Genesis 12 and elsewhere and on to 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 21-22, that to become part of God’s people is to become a genuinely human being. So many Christians suppose that “normal humanness” is one thing and that “Christian living” is a rather odd and perhaps distorted form of being human, whereas part of the point of being Christian is to be genuinely human.”
The landscape of the Christian narrative is before us, of course in a nutshell. The invitation of the kingdom, of Jesus example- through love, peace and justice- is to reflect back into the world by action (doing), this love, lessons learned from his example, plus other aspects of kingdom living we glean from the New Testament.
Call it…. I don’t know, being Holy if you want- something mentioned in class. Personally, most don’t know what this actually means within Judaism. It’s confusing for most. I prefer different language.
Perhaps, language that falls more within the portrait painted by the Biblical text. The following quotes are right on!
…Of course, it’s important to realize that there are many distorted ideas of what being “genuinely human” might consist of. But at this point, the Christian church ought to be able to look the wider world in the eye and say, Look: isn’t this what being human was supposed to be all about? The fact that that seems a long way off indicates how far the churches have sunk down from the New Testament’s ideal…
In particular, the biblical vision of being human is that of being God’s Image-bearers: which means being like an angled mirror, reflecting God’s wise, stewardly love into his creation. The Christian vision is of Jesus as the true image and of Jesus’ followers, shaped by his Spirit, being transformed “into the same image” (2 Cor. 3.18). Thus being truly Christian and being truly human ought to come to the same thing.”
I suggest reading the entire interview. Get your mind around that. Consider the implications.
Being truly human and being truly Christian ought to come to the same thing. I guess we better understand what it means to be a Christian? Yes, talk that could go for the ages.
This is all leading me into a direction and conclusion that would starkly set me apart- like this isn’t the case already- from many mainstream views (among others, even scholarly) on religion and Christianity.
Well, maybe not as much as I think.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I thought that everything you pointed out was spot on. I enjoyed the first quote because the issue of salvation seems to be the end all for some. That is not true for all Christians but many do tend to think in those terms. Perhaps it is the culture of Christians we are surrounded by.. (TV, pop culture, etc.). yeyes
I guess I’m left thinking (in that dumb way I usually think), what does it mean to be Christian and what does it mean to be human? Seems like you’re saying those two things are the same, but not saying what those two things are. Are you saying we should follow our instincts? Seems like, in a way, doing what feels natural, following our nature, would be the most “human” thing we could do. Then again, I’m not so sure all our natural instincts are considered “moral” or “ethical.” So to me, an important question is this: Is man born with a moral compass or is it instilled in him?