Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (6)

 

 

Now let’s consider what it means to read the Bible as a pilgrim.

 

"A pilgrim learns about themselves, and you learn about yourself by leaving your home and looking at it from a distance, you try to get closer to God through your travels.” Rick Steeves.

 

I have asked over the years, “Does a fish know that it lives in an aquarium?” This question has been asked in many forms over the centuries, asking it can be quite the journey, a pilgrimage. Can we answer the question without leaving the aquarium?

 

It is a challenge to “leave your home and look at it from a distance.” Generally, this is discouraged by the folks at home (in the aquarium).  Whether it is a family, a business concern, a religious tradition that exalts its practices and doctrinal distinctives, an academic institution, a political or social movement…whatever the system may be, traveling a distance and looking back to gain understanding is typically considered a threat to the system, and threats are either subjugated and brought back to be good little boys and girls, ostracized, or just plain destroyed.

 

Jesus was constantly asking His hears to travel and look back, travel farther and look back, travel even farther and look back again. “An hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father…God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21, 24).

 

When Paul looked back at his impeccable Jewish pedigree, he wrote, “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ…I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:7 – 8).

 

When we read the Bible as a pilgrim, we learn to read the Bible not through the lens of our religious tradition but rather learn to see our religious tradition through our reading of the Bible. In America, we have the additional challenge of learning to see our syncretistic Christianity through the Bible, seeing ourselves as Biblical pilgrims – passing through the United States just as we are passing through the world.

 

When we read as a pilgrims we read as an aliens, as people whose eyes are heavenward (Col. 3:1 – 4; Heb. 11:8 – 16; 1 Peter 2:4 – 12).

 

We ask the Holy Spirit to teach us about Jesus and about ourselves, with the Word of God piercing into the depths of our beings (Heb. 4:12 – 13). As we come to realize how intimately God knows us, we cry, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and led me in the Everlasting Way” (Psalm 139:23 – 24).

 

The greater the distance between us and home, the more we realize that home is not home, the more we realize that our Home is that City where the Father and the Lamb are the Light (Rev. 21:22 – 23; 22:5). Now this can be a problem, for few people want to hear this, speak this, know this, or practice this. We think the light is in our tradition, our doctrinal distinctives, the history of our movement. In America we think the light is in our syncretistic version of Christianity with its creation myth along with its justification for conquest, war, and extermination – and selling the souls of men (Rev. 18:13).

 

The farther we travel as pilgrims, the deeper God speaks to us about ourselves and where we’ve come from, and as we look back from a distance there may be things we are thankful for, things we regret, things we see in a new perspective, and things we dare no longer touch.

 

Pilgrimage is not encouraged; questions are seldom welcomed. Mystery is not acknowledged, and loose ends are quickly tied up or cut off. What do we fear? If Jesus Christ is truly the Head of the Body and we are under His authority, if He is indeed our Good Shepherd, then we can trust Him to care for us all on pilgrimage – we do not need all the answers, but we sure do need Jesus.

 

I seldom meet Christians on pilgrimage. I meet lots of Christians who care more about fitting in with their religious system but don’t think about fitting in with Jesus, about being conformed to His image. I have seldom heard a question asked in Sunday school or in a small group that was searching and penetrating and which had the potential to be life changing. True questions are not encouraged, on the contrary, it is more important to articulate the “correct answers” and to read the Bible in the image of our traditions, than to actually attempt to touch the hem of His garment and behold the Face of the Lamb.

 

We should not be surprised at this, it is our human condition, our center of gravity – it is a challenge to gain perspective, and it is most certainly a challenge to go against the grain of society and our associations. Perhaps this is particularly true when we are in religious and political environments, environments in which conformity is prized and insisted upon.

 

When we do sew a new piece of cloth on an old garment, or pour new wine into old wineskins, we soon have problems and find our actions quite unappreciated.

 

Ultimately, a pilgrim becomes a pilgrim – at least that is a possibility. What I mean is that the pilgrim may cross a point of no return in which his (or her) identity ceases to be that home county which he has left, and becomes rooted in that heavenly country which draws him with ever increasing desire.

 

The pilgrim realizes that the Jerusalem here on earth is in bondage; whether it is a city in the Middle East, or a flavor of doctrine, doctrinal distinctive, or particular practices – the possibilities are myriad, they all fall aside as the pilgrim beholds the Lamb. The pilgrim learns to live as a faithful citizen of heaven anticipating that blessed hope of eternal transformation (Phil. 3:20 – 21).

 

The city from which we departed appears dimmer and dimmer, indeed, without realizing it we cease to look back, it fades from our minds…as the glorious City of the Father and the Lamb descends from above into our hearts and minds, filling our souls, quickening our spirits, uniting us to the Bridegroom, opening its gates and calling us home – and we are pilgrims no longer.

 

“If they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a City for them” (Hebrews 11:15 - 16).

Full Circle

 

 

“He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there” (John 10:40).

 

Well, old friend, here we are again. How long has it been? Three years? Almost three and a half?

 

How well I recall the look on your face as I approached you! Ha! What a surprise for you…or was it? Had you ever suspected that it might be Me? That I might be the One you were called to bear witness to?

 

The Voice from heaven, the Spirit descending like a dove, and your cry, “This is He!”

 

Did you realize what it all meant? I mean, did you realize that one day I would be back here, back here preparing to go to Jerusalem one more time, one more time for an appointment with yet another baptism, a baptism of death.

 

But it must be, must it not? Just as it was decreed that you would meet the executioner in Herod’s prison, so it has been decreed before the foundation of the world that I, the Lamb, would offer Myself for the world.

 

It seems like yesterday that you and I were here, by this river, in this river. I can still feel your hands on Me as you led me into the waters of baptism, as you raised Me up for the Father and Spirit to bear witness to Me, as you bore witness to Me.

 

Would you have leapt in your mother’s womb had you seen Herod’s prison with its executioner ahead of you?

 

Yes, I think you would have.

 

I won’t be here long, for My friend Lazarus is going to take a nap and I will go wake him up.

 

O John, O John, it is hard to wake people up, is it not?

 

Those who claim to see, do not see. Those who profess to hear, do not hear. Those who make a fuss about being alive, are dead.

 

Well, we have come full circle, have we not?

 

I will go to Bethany, then I will go to Jerusalem. There is a hill outside Jerusalem waiting for Me. There is a tree that has been growing, waiting to be transformed into a cross, waiting for Me. There are nails that have been forged that are waiting for Me.

 

Ah John, you waited for Me and I came. So I will come to, and not disappoint, the hill, the tree, the cross, the nails.

 

O John, but there is a joy beyond all of this that I see. The joy of My brothers and sisters returning to our Father, the joy of a glorious reunion of our Family – and so there is a fuller circle yet to come, a consummation in which God, who has ever been All, is seen as the All in All.

 

Well old friend, I’ve got to go now, it is time to head to Bethany.

 

I will see you soon.

Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (5)

 

Are you a tourist, a traveler, or a pilgrim?

 

I heard that G. K. Chesterton observed that “Travelers see what they see, tourists see what they came to see.” When you read the Bible, are you a tourist or a traveler? Is the Word of God changing your life and transforming you into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), or are you pretty much the same person you were a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, a lifetime ago?

 

Do we shape Paul’s letter to the Romans into our image, including our image as Baptists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and Presbyterians, or does Romans shape us into the image of Jesus Christ? Do we read our confessions and statements of faith and doctrinal distinctives through the lens and filter of the Bible and the Person of Jesus, or do we form the Bible into our particular mold and “see” the Bible through our lens of doctrine, and tradition and practice?

 

In other words, when we read the Bible do we see what we came to see, or do we see what is actually there? What will always be actually there is Jesus Christ, it will not be our doctrinal traditions, it will not be our modes of expression, it will not be neat and tidy.

 

Our doctrinal statements do not generally encourage questions and allow ambiguity, they are meant to create uniformity in thought and practice; the Word of God keeps us off balance and yet at the same time, in Christ, creates a security and confidence in Jesus Christ that leads us into heavenly places and beckons us into a glorious eternity in Him.

 

One of the beauties of the Nicene Creed, unlike most other confessions of faith, is that if we actually believe it, we walk through a door of endless possibilities in our relationship with the Trinity and with one another. Most confessions confine us. They may not have been intended to imprison us, but they are used to imprison us. That is, their authors may not have intended them to inhibit our relationship with Christ, but in practice that is what they do, that is what they are used for by others.

 

As a Body, we are meant to have unity in diversity and diversity in unity. (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12; Ephesians 4). The only way this is possible in when Jesus Christ is our Head, when all things flow from Him to us, and from us to Him (Ephesians 4:15 – 16). This means that Jesus Christ must be in control, that we must work and live “without a safety net.” This is not a pleasant thought for us, there are too many things can go wrong, too much mess to clean up – we like tidy theological houses, tidy congregations, we want to be predicable.

 

All of this contributes to our propensity to live as tourists, when we read the Bible we read what we came to see, we do not read what is actually there.

 

Travel writer and tour guide Rick Steeves talks about tourists, travelers, and pilgrims.

 

“The tourist typically seeks relaxation, entertainment, and escape from the routines of daily life through superficiality and, sometimes, frivolity. They prioritize fun over deeper connection and may depend on curated tours or package vacations to see the best beaches, landmarks, and restaurants that get overexposed not just in guidebooks, but on travel blogs and on social media feeds.” Rick Steeves.

 

The Bible-reading tourist enjoys a Sunday school class or a small group and then moves on with life. He may especially enjoy a video series, or perhaps a series on prophecy and the End-times because they can be entertaining and give a sense of being “in the know.” For the tourist, reading the Bible (or material that is supposed to represent the Bibe, like small group or Sunday school studies) is like visiting one tourist spot after another, you never remain long in one place. Looking back you may recall a nice experience here or there, maybe a good meal, some beautiful scenery, or even some people you meant. Over time all the spots tend to blend together, and while you may collect stickers to put on the back of your car indicating all the places you’ve been, you’ve been to them all as a tourist – you are still the same person you were when you took your first trip.

 

Many of our churches are tourist destinations, focused on entertainment, on experience for the sake of experience (and of course for the sake of getting return tourists). In fact, many pastors speak of “the Sunday morning experience.” When one church falls flat, a tourist will visit another church.

 

“Travelers, by contrast, are in search of more thoughtful experiences. Most travelers I know, they're proud to be known as a traveler as opposed to a tourist: 'I'm more thoughtful — I'm not just here to shop and get a selfie’…it is the traveler's goal to become a "temporary local" and experience real people, real food, and real culture.” Rick Steeves.

 

It seems to me that Bible-reading travelers do their homework prior to meeting with the saints, whether in Sunday school, a small group, or in congregational gatherings. They read the Bible text and other material, if the pastor is preaching a series, they read the text of the coming Sunday and ponder it. They read the Bible text, they pray about it, they read it again; they may read it in various translations, they read other Bible passages that relate to the text. They ask themselves questions, they seek to see Jesus, and they seek to know how to respond obediently to the text.

 

These people tend to appreciate working through a book of the Bible rather than hopping, skipping, and jumping all over the Bible. They instinctively know that you can’t bounce around in the Bible and learn much, they know that their lives cannot be molded with such an approach. These people do not want to be entertained; they are usually not in a hurry. They want to meet the people of the Bible, they want to meet the Bible, they want to drink in the Bible, they want to walk with Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, Deborah, Huldah…and of course, most of all, with Jesus.

 

Many of these folks can tell you about a study they participated in years ago, say in Jeremiah or the Gospel of Matthew, or Romans. They can do this because they didn’t go there to see preconceived images or popular destinations, they went there as travelers, they went to live in Romans, Matthew, and Jeremiah – to live in the text, to live with the people, to walk with Jesus through those books. Furthermore, they return again and again to renew their relationships – they return to meet old friends and to make new ones.

 

"A pilgrim learns about themselves, and you learn about yourself by leaving your home and looking at it from a distance, you try to get closer to God through your travels.” Rick Steeves.

 

What do you think a pilgrim looks like when reading the Bible?

 

We’ll reflect on being a pilgrim with our Bible reading in our next reflection in this series…the Lord willing.