“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” -Dr. Suess
The other day a colleague of mine asked if we as the church had maybe gotten too obsessed with context. The context in the Bible, the context of our congregations, and our own personal context. She wondered if in working with all of these context we maybe lost the central truths of the Gospel of Jesus. It’s a brilliant question; one I don’t have an answer to and won’t be attempting to find one here. It does make me ask a similar question though. In working with all of this context do we lose the intrinsic humanness of everyone who isn’t God/Jesus in the Bible. In constantly focusing on the “context” of the realities of the peoples lives from two, three and four thousand years ago they feel less like real people and more like 2-D fictional characters. We focus on how farming was different, politics were different, family roles were different that they end up being so different they might as well not be the same species as us.
But the reality is they are human just like us. We only get glimpses, but they struggle with the same issues of identity and brokenness that we do. In every one of our readings for Sunday from Isaiah, Corinthians and Luke someone is struggling with their “sinfulness” or put another way their brokenness. Isaiah worries about how he speaks like a child; Paul struggles with how he is “untimely born” and persecuted the church in the past, and Simon Peter after his second miraculous encounter with Jesus believes he shouldn’t be in his presence.
Feelings of brokenness and unworthiness are something that humans have struggled with for centuries. In fiction, theater, poetry and so much more we find examples of people wondering about their own sin and brokenness. From Dante and his Inferno, Jean Val Jean and 24601, and so much else. What else can we do but relate to Paul, Isaiah, and Simon Peters responses to God and Jesus. We find ourselves in a time of great upheaval and strife. A time where our desire to see justice, grace, mercy and love in the world can be outweighed by a world designed to make us feel infinitesimal. It is why in these moments it is not important we find ourselves relating to the humanity of people in the bible. Because if we can identify with Isaiah, Paul and Simon we can find solace in God’s response. God loves us and calls us in spite of and because of our brokenness and sin. God will put words in our mouth and energy in bones to respond with faith for moments such as these. God loves our humanness so much God came down and became human and will be with us on the mountains and in the valley.
Peace,
Corey
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