Out Of Context!
Some days I shudder to think of the way adults rebuke children to explain things children understand better.
In highschool I read a story in the Bible about paying taxes to Ceasar. In the story, Jesus told a man to pay Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar, and to pay God what belongs to God.
I remembered a word my pastor had used in one of his sermons ... context.
I didn't remember how my pastor had used the word or in what way. I just had the word, and I wanted to make sense of it.
When I considered the story some more, I said to myself, "Of course! Jesus was not just giving a command to this man in this context! He intended for us to give to God what belongs to Him today! Context is the barrier that separates us from what Jesus was saying!"
And, of course, I figured my pastor was a master of explaining, not only the Bible, but life itself.
"If something is going to mean anything to me, I have to pull it out of its place and bring it into my own values, my own choices, my own commitments ..." I said to myself.
So the next day I went to my British Literature class.
My english teacher asked us about some of the heavy language that Hamlet used in Shakespeare's play.
"Now class," She asked, "Was Hamlet really contemplating suicide?".
"No!" I burst out.
To this day, I can still remember the smile she had on her face. This was the very answer she wanted someone to say.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Because we have to take Hamlet's words out of context!"
I clearly remember the look on her face. "We have to take Hamlet's words out of context?"
"Yes! Because as long as we're reading these words about the vanity of life, it's absurdity and unpredictableness, we don't really have any understanding of what Hamlet's saying.
"Shakespeare wants us to takes these very words out of Denmark and plant them in the present. Right here and now. Only then will we understand what he was trying to say."
Well ... this was perhaps an avenue the teacher was not planning on taking that day.
We talked about context after that, for a very long time. We talked about how, not only were we not required to take words out of context, but that this was a serious error that we ought to avoid.
And I thought to myself, 'I thought I was so close to understanding the truth ... but I guess I'm still a young guy full of misunderstandings about life ...'
In highschool I read a story in the Bible about paying taxes to Ceasar. In the story, Jesus told a man to pay Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar, and to pay God what belongs to God.
I remembered a word my pastor had used in one of his sermons ... context.
I didn't remember how my pastor had used the word or in what way. I just had the word, and I wanted to make sense of it.
When I considered the story some more, I said to myself, "Of course! Jesus was not just giving a command to this man in this context! He intended for us to give to God what belongs to Him today! Context is the barrier that separates us from what Jesus was saying!"
And, of course, I figured my pastor was a master of explaining, not only the Bible, but life itself.
"If something is going to mean anything to me, I have to pull it out of its place and bring it into my own values, my own choices, my own commitments ..." I said to myself.
So the next day I went to my British Literature class.
My english teacher asked us about some of the heavy language that Hamlet used in Shakespeare's play.
"Now class," She asked, "Was Hamlet really contemplating suicide?".
"No!" I burst out.
To this day, I can still remember the smile she had on her face. This was the very answer she wanted someone to say.
"How do you know?" She asked.
"Because we have to take Hamlet's words out of context!"
I clearly remember the look on her face. "We have to take Hamlet's words out of context?"
"Yes! Because as long as we're reading these words about the vanity of life, it's absurdity and unpredictableness, we don't really have any understanding of what Hamlet's saying.
"Shakespeare wants us to takes these very words out of Denmark and plant them in the present. Right here and now. Only then will we understand what he was trying to say."
Well ... this was perhaps an avenue the teacher was not planning on taking that day.
We talked about context after that, for a very long time. We talked about how, not only were we not required to take words out of context, but that this was a serious error that we ought to avoid.
And I thought to myself, 'I thought I was so close to understanding the truth ... but I guess I'm still a young guy full of misunderstandings about life ...'
I have more insight than all my teachers,
For Your testimonies are my meditation.
Psalm 119:99
2 Comments:
I remember how preachers would talk about the context of a verse, and my peers would consider it either superfluous historical information or sermon padding.
It didn't occur to any of us back then that context can change the entire meaning of the verses, and that when we think we're leading the verse "literally" we're bringing to it an entire set of philosophical and theological assumptions.
Although I disagree with your conclusion, I like your story because it helps demonstrate the stumbling block of Christianity.
To call your peers -who seemed to sneer at the preacher- correct, to confront the teachers and require them to become like children, to value context only as a disguise to see the story is really about us, is the offense of the gospel and a skandalon to those who would reject it.
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