Seek deeper truth from His Words

It has long been the practice of sages and elders throughout the history of human societies for these wise leaders to encode deeper wisdom into their seeming ordinary sayings. Modern day riddles do the same to a greater or lesser degree. For example, someone might ask you this question: "What is it in nature that increases with use. The more you take from it, the more it increases"? Think about this for a while.

In the passage under discussion, we see Jesus speak to Simon Peter in a type of riddle. Such way of couching hidden truth in simple words was a trademark of the Lord Jesus. He always spoke in parables. In fact, in Matthew 13:34-35 the Bible records that Jesus never spoke to the crowds without using a parable. Now why would He do this? Didn't He want the masses of the people to understand what He was saying to them? I want to briefly advance 3 reasons why Jesus used this method, and by implication, these reasons inform us to always look for more truth behind the seeming ordinary words of Jesus. I will use the story of Peter that we read as a case study here.

1. Jesus uses parables because he is targeting a specific audience.
In our story, Jesus was addressing Simon Peter alone. This parable was meant for him and him alone. In a similar way, when Jesus uses parables, He really is addressing those who want to hear and understand him. He is addressing the seekers of Truth. The mockers and cynics or those with an altogether casual approach to life would never understand Him. His words would wash over their heads like water off a duck's back, because they really don't want to know. Many times Jesus would say, "If anyone has ears, let him hear." He is still saying the same today.

2. Jesus uses parables because they are effective memory tools
I once attended a course where we were taught to remember names and other facts by associating them with stories or with words that rhyme. Millions the world over can tell many of Jesus' parables accurately from memory because they are so easy to remember. Parables of the Sower, of the Prodigal Son, of the King who gave a banquet and others ring true to human expereience that we always remember them. Jesus used a story that Peter would remember, to tell him something deeper about his (Peter's) life and future.

3. Jesus uses parables to confuse detractors
Jesus' detractors (and they were many) were always looking for a way to trap Him, or get Him to say felonious things that would make Him liable for punishment under the existing Roman law of the day. Jesus would therefore use everyday stories (parables) to say pretty much what He wanted to say, without being misquoted. Parables became an acceptable means of speaking unpalatable truth. Jesus pretty much told Peter: "At some later stage in your service to God, evil men will capture you and kill you." Peter could have in his immaturity misunderstood this or even actively worked to make sure it never happened this way. A parable was a way of allowing Peter to work through this word until he was mature enough and ready to take it all in.

May you walk with God in ever deepening levels of maturity and understanding. Amen.

By the way, the answer to my riddle: "What is it in nature that increases with use. The more you take from it, the more it increases"? is, a hole.

Walking with Jesus

Walking with God requires us to understand Him, otherwise, there will be no point to our relationship with Him. In today's blog, I want to start a two-part series that highlights two things that we must appreciate if we want to walk with Jesus. First, we must learn to take His words at face value. He says what He means and He means what He says. But paradoxically, the second point is that we must learn not to take His words at face value, and seek to find deeper meanings to what He says because more often than not, Jesus' words contain nuggets of truth that must be mined.

Today, we briefly will see from a passage of the Bible, how we must take Him, and by extension, other loved ones with whom we are in relationship at face value. Take a moment please to read the Scriptural account in the gospel of
John, chapter 21, verses 13-24

Take His Words at face value
In this story, the disciples, as devout, righteous and well-intentioned as they were, fell into the error that a lot of us fall into. We make assumptions from what others say. We do not take their words simply for what they say, but we say to ourselves "this is what this person must mean." Jesus said, concerning John "If I wish him to remain alive till I return back to the earth, what is that to you?". And the disciples thought and concluded that Jesus said, "This disciple will remain alive till I return back to the earth." They misconstrued Jesus' words. The result was a lot of rumour spreading and time wasting on the figment of someone's imagination, not on truth.

Why do we read wrong meanings into people's words? Let me suggest 3 quick reasons.

1. We are attracted by the superlative and scandalous, rather than the simple truth
There's something in the human nature that loves the extraordinary, the outrageous and the scandalous, hence the record-breaking sale of some of today's tabloids. If indeed Jesus had said that John would not die till He came back to the earth, perhaps hundreds of years into the future, that indeed would be newsworthy because John would live and live and simply go on living for hundreds of years to come. Unfortunately for the rumour mongers (and fortunately for John!) this was not what Jesus had said.

2. We colour people with the paint of our own prejudices
We see people as we would want them to be rather than as they really are. This is why we have racism, sectarianism, sexism and other more or less severe forms of prejudices today. In the story under reference, Peter saw John, not as a comrade and colleague, but as 'this other person' or 'that man'. How often are our words full of "those people" statements. If we are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, white, black or Asian, we instinctively see those different from us as "those people" and we paint them, not as they are, but as we think they are, which is highly erroneous.

3. We loathe individual responsibility
Jesus had put Peter on the spot by asking him these piercing personal questions and then telling him things that would happen to him in the future. Most people I know hate being put in the spotlight in very personal and intimate ways. When this happens, we instinctively head for the crowd and seek to hide in the phrase "what about him" or "what about her" or "well, I'm not the only one..." Rather than humbly looking inward and excercising true security in who we are, we look for security outside of ourselves in various acts of passing the buck.

To come back to our original theme, we cannot walk with Jesus meaningfully until we take His words at face value, embrace truth rather than glamour and take personal responsiblity for what God's word says to us, rather than point the finger at someone else. This is the path of true personal discovery. It is the path of integrity. It is the way of those who learn to walk with the Lord. Be blessed today as you walk this road. Amen.