Everyday Encounter...
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POV: you're a disciple who meets the risen Jesus. Here's what he sings to you.
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POV: You've watched your Rabbi die, it's the Sabbath, and you're praying and preparing to enter the new week to carry on His teachings with the passion he instilled in you. Here's your prayer: POV: You're on the cross next to Jesus. You're in anguish and your need release. Peace. And Jesus says to you "This day you will be with me in paradise." This is the feeling that washed over you: POV: You're a disciple at the last supper, and Jesus has dropped the bombshell that this is the last time you'll be together for a while. There's an awkward silence, and this is playing in the background: POV: You're Nicodemus, or another Pharisee or Scribe who is trying to reconcile who you present to the world and how you feel challenged by how Jesus is. Here's your confession: POV: You're one of Jesus' female followers, and you've managed to get your hands on our current androcentric Bible... Frustratingly, and in contradiction to your experience of Jesus, here's how you read your story told by a patriarchal society: POV: Jesus has just cleared the Temple, and you realise it doesn't have to be the way it was before. Here's the rallying cry: POV: You're a donkey with dreams of grandeur at having been picked to carry "the king" down unknown roads and into the fanfare... Here's what you imagine: I don't listen to the radio in the car at the moment. It's normally audio books. Sometimes I get in the car and the radio is on though. I have no idea how my car radio picks stations, but somehow it's been "Capital" recently. Anyway, I jumped in the car and this version of this song was playing: As I listened to it I imagined it was blending the story of Jesus with someone absorbed in a "night out" culture.
When I got home I decided to look up the lyrics and see if there was an acoustic version I might appreciate more musically. Here's what I found: There’s a house that I regularly drive past that has John 3:3 on a big sign on the wall at the end of their drive. There’s a box next to it offering free bibles. The heart is there, but I would need to sit opposite and see what effect it actually has as an evangelistic endeavour. That said, it had an impact on me.
The verse is in the context of the story of Nicodemus, a religious man who is willing to ask questions of Jesus. He does it quietly and discerningly in the night, and Jesus invests the time in hearing what he’s saying, hearing what he perhaps isn’t saying, and helping him re-frame what is being asked. Nicodemus wants to know about the Kingdom of God. And here are a couple of key verses that Jesus comes back at him with, including the verse on the wall… |
Every-Day EncounterIf you'd rather listen and come to your own conclusions about the eclectic mix of songs I worked through in Lent 2023, here's the Spotify Playlist! Archives
September 2023
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