Lens & Mirror
As we have all heard and felt, the community of Greenfield, IA is experiencing the immense weight of loss right now. The EFCA has its crisis response team on the ground in Greenfield. They are providing physical help with the clean up and staff to provide trauma counseling. If you would like to give to help that care and rebuilding effort, you can do so here: https://give.efca.org/projects/greenfield-tornado-response
Let us grieve with and pray for those who have experienced significant loss, knowing that God is near even in the tough seasons of our lives.
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The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are all narrative accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. That is, they tell the story of Jesus and recount the details of his life, ministry, and the miracles he performed. And as John tells us, they are only a snapshot of all that happened in his three years of public ministry. Here’s how John says it, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (Jn. 21:25) What a concluding statement to his Gospel account!
Sometimes when we interact with the Gospels as modern readers, we can struggle to understand all of the imagery that Jesus uses in his parables, the cultural nuance that would have simply been understood, or even the larger genre of Greek literature (hero stories) that the Gospels fall into. For those reading or listening to the Gospels in the first century or early second century, all of those things were commonly understood. We have to work at understanding them. And this can leave us questioning the validity of the Gospels or reading too much into them and looking for meaning where there isn’t. So how do the Gospels function in our lives today? Simply, they fit in the larger theme and melodic line of Scripture. They tell us about how God, who from the first moment of the fall, purposed to redeem humanity from its sin and rebellion so that, we might be restored into God’s family. When we understand this, it helps us to see Jesus clearly and to understand and apply his teachings in the Gospels. Here’s another way of thinking about it. The Bible (as a whole) and the Gospels specifically function as a lens and mirror for us. They are a lens through which we can see God clearly and a mirror through which we can examine ourselves with honesty. Let’s explore that idea.
A lens to see God clearly: Going back to John’s Gospel, he tells us that when we look on Jesus, we are looking at the very image of God. Here’s how he says it, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (Jn. 1:18) John is speaking about Jesus here. So again, when we look at Jesus, we see God in the flesh (incarnate). That means we are able to know and understand the heart, motives, intentions, and character of God all from looking at Jesus. One theologian put it this way, “God has revealed himself not through any religion, but through his Son, Jesus.”[1] So, when you see Jesus in the Gospel accounts, what stands out to you about God’s character, nature, and mission? What resonates with you as lovely, pure, beautiful, and noble? What challenges you to growth and even leaves you uncomfortable? God wants us to know him, and so he gave us the Bible. But he also sent his Son, that we might see himself with clarity.
A mirror to examine ourselves with honesty: If we see God clearly through the Bible and precisely in Jesus, what we see is the picture of the ideal. The good news is that by God’s power, he is helping us grow in conformity with Jesus each and every day (2 Cor. 3:18)! See, when we look on Jesus, we not only see God with clarity, but we, by God’s grace and the Spirit’s power, are able to examine our own lives, hearts, and motivations. And, if we are truly willing to look with honesty, we will see both our need for growth and how far God has brought us. That is a wonderful picture of grace that God allows us to see through the mirror of Scripture. When you read the Bible, do you dismiss the characters that are presented as if you would never act the way that they act, or do you allow yourself to enter their shoes and motivations? Do you see both your growth and the growth you need? Do you encounter God’s grace and his correction, or one or the other? Do you find yourself being puffed up by your own righteousness or increasing in humility as a child of grace? God desires that we know and enjoy him, and as we grow in conformity with Christ, we find a deeper delight in God than we knew possible.
Yes, it can be tough to read and understand the Bible. There certainly are a few places that are particularly difficult! But, when we are in the Gospels, we have the opportunity to see God clearly by seeing Jesus. And in that, allowing God to transform us in ways that only he can.
The Bible… a lens and mirror.
[1] Paraphrase of a famous statement made by Karl Barth in a dialogue with a student at Princeton Seminary.