Holy Bible, human Bible (4)

How does the Bible witness to Jesus Christ?

I find it refreshing when I get together with people from different Christian denominations. When we share our faith, and the struggles that go along with integrating faith with life experiences, the very fact that we come from different backgrounds helps us to see, and think beyond the 'box' of our particular denominations. I have a friend from an AOG background who now goes to a class on biblical theology taught by a Catholic theologian. She finds it an eye opener to see the Bible through a different lens altogether. She still worships in the AOG church but is no longer stuck in a mindset that has no room to listen for the fresh rhythms of the Spirit who breathes life where He will!

My own search for an authentic, yet not stifling faith often takes me to books and the title "Holy Bible, human Bible (Questions pastoral practice must ask)" immediately caught my attention recently.

In chapter 4, the author (Gordon Oliver) notes five things about the Gospels. First they consist of short episodes presenting Jesus as meeting one group of people, then another, then another, telling parables, confronting with sharp questions, but almost never presenting doctrinal discourses. Secondly, though, the short episodes are not presented randomly. They focus on the 'life of Jesus' in ways that call for a response of faith. Jesus is the one who says, "Follow me". Thirdly, the Gospels leave a lot unexplained. The people who encountered Jesus often go away again and leave us with the question about what happened to them later. Fourthly, the Gospels are 'located' in the worship and mission of communities of witness. The writers and first hearers were themselves asking questions about practical living in light of their faith. They faced hard questions in their own contexts just as we do in our pastoral practice today. Lastly, the Gospels express and reinforce commitments of Christian discipleship. Their purpose is to establish that the foundation for living hopefully with God in the world is grounded in the story of Jesus, in other words, that their story becomes 'our story'.

Pastoral practice must be founded on the values of the kingdom of God as demonstrated by Christ. However, some caution is needed. The concerns of today are very different from first century issues. Today's pastoral issues may be totally foreign to the world of the NT. Therefore caution is called for about making over simple connections between present day experience and the witness of Scripture. For example, we should be cautious about : the claim that because something appears in the Bible it therefore has the approval of God for all time. Or the claim that because a 'biblical model' has been discerned, its dynamics can be applied uncritically in the present.

Jesus, whom we meet in the Gospels will always remain both familiar and strange to us. He is both confrontational and comforting. There will always be the paradox of knowing, yet not fully knowing him; Jesus, our Lord is the Son of the God of surprises.