These days, historical documentaries on television are regularly presented by people endowed with both beauty and brains. But it seems that those in Bible times with the greatest story to tell, the good news of Jesus Christ, were not much to look at.
The apostle Paul, perhaps the greatest missionary who has ever lived, is described this way in an early account: "A man small in size, bald-headed, bandy-legged, well-built, with eyebrows meeting, rather long-nosed". Yet the same writer saw that in spite of this his personality made an impact: "… full of grace. For sometimes he seemed like a man, and sometimes he had the countenance of an angel.”
Paul seems to have recognised that he did not have the appearance of a superstar. He writes in his second letter to the Christians at Corinth: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:4-7 NIV).
Ours is not the only day and age when people have been blinded by the cult of personality. An intriguing Jewish wisdom story tells a tale about the daughter of a Roman emperor, a woman who would have been steeped in the classical notion that beautiful people were the most wise.
"The daughter of the emperor spoke to Rabbi Joshua, the son of Hananiah: "Oh, your skill in the law is so great, and yet you are so deformed! What a huge helping of wisdom is held in such a plain-looking container!"
The rabbi answered, "Do tell me, what are the vessels you keep your wines in made of?"
She answered, "They are vessels of clay."
He replied, "How is it, seeing you are so rich, that you do not store your wine in silver vessels, to set yourself apart from the common people who store theirs in clay jars?"
She went back to her father and persuaded him to have all the wine put into silver vessels; but the wine turned sour. When the emperor heard about it he asked his daughter who had given her that advice. She told him that it was Rabbi Joshua.
The rabbi told the whole story to the emperor, and added this sentence: "The wisdom and study of the law cannot dwell in a handsome man."
Caesar objected: "There are handsome persons who have made great progress in the study of the law."
The rabbi answered, "Had they not been so handsome they would have made greater progress; for a man with a handsome physique does not have a humble mind, and therefore he soon forgets the whole law."
The truest followers of Christ today will not have been won over by slick packaging of the gospel, though there is plenty of that around. The one who wins them, under God, will more likely be an unassuming man or woman that may well have suffered hardship through being a Christian. That pressure may well show in lines of worry and care in their forehead. But there will be a beauty within that nobody can deny.
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Monday 8 April 2013
A Cloudless Sky
Some recent mornings were clear, crisp and very, very cold. On one occasion I found myself walking to church, under an apparently cloudless sky. In fact I eventually spotted a mere handful of small clouds near the horizon to the south. Yet the general impression I had walking along was that there was nothing above me but atmosphere.
What a contrast to the lowering, threatening clouds that had hung over me for most of the winter on my route to church! This new experience gave me a sense of space and freedom that was a delight to the soul.
It also brought back memories. When training for the ministry back in the 1970's, I was in a college environment in the university city of Cambridge. Life among a bunch of theological students can feel very oppressive. You sense that you are living on top of everyone else and everyone else is living on top of you. It was a state of affairs calculated to change me from a model student into a rebel one. Yet, since I am very conformist at heart, I fit most awkwardly into the role of rebel. It all made for a miserable and confined feeling.
Then one day I went for a walk in Grantchester Meadows. Again it was a clear day, this time in early summer. In the spreading fields under an open sky, I felt like a different person from the one trapped wretchedly in the rooms and corridors and lecture theatres and dining halls of the academic institution. For one precious afternoon, I was free.
It gave me a great sense of spiritual kinship with King David in Psalm 18. This was penned on an occasion where God had "delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul". I love that psalm because it portrays the lengths to which God goes to help just one individual crying out to Him in trouble:
"In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet" (Psalm 18:6-9 NIV).
The happy result is seen in verses 16 and 19:
"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters."
"He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."
There is an extremely old verse version of this Psalm which I cherish. It renders this sense of freedom like this:
He brought me forth in open space,
that so I might be free;
and kept me safe, because He had
a favour unto me.
Thomas Sternhold, c. 1500-1549
In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul had to reason with early Christian church members who were being influenced by misguided leaders. These men were trying to impose Jewish laws on them that they no longer needed to observe. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul wrote (Galatians 5:1 NIV). In other words, the grace of Christ hasn't set us free from heavy burdens of law simply so we should go back to them again!
For all too many people today, though, the church has become oppressive. This may be because of various forms of abuse. It may be down to "heavy shepherding" where leaders intrude into the private lives of their members and dictate how they are to conduct their relationships or their finances. This domineering spirit is a denial of freedom in Christ.
Liberated from sin, death, hell and the fading Jewish law by the risen Christ, may we find the open spaces. By gentle, enlightened leadership, may we bring others into them too.
What a contrast to the lowering, threatening clouds that had hung over me for most of the winter on my route to church! This new experience gave me a sense of space and freedom that was a delight to the soul.
It also brought back memories. When training for the ministry back in the 1970's, I was in a college environment in the university city of Cambridge. Life among a bunch of theological students can feel very oppressive. You sense that you are living on top of everyone else and everyone else is living on top of you. It was a state of affairs calculated to change me from a model student into a rebel one. Yet, since I am very conformist at heart, I fit most awkwardly into the role of rebel. It all made for a miserable and confined feeling.
Then one day I went for a walk in Grantchester Meadows. Again it was a clear day, this time in early summer. In the spreading fields under an open sky, I felt like a different person from the one trapped wretchedly in the rooms and corridors and lecture theatres and dining halls of the academic institution. For one precious afternoon, I was free.
It gave me a great sense of spiritual kinship with King David in Psalm 18. This was penned on an occasion where God had "delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul". I love that psalm because it portrays the lengths to which God goes to help just one individual crying out to Him in trouble:
"In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet" (Psalm 18:6-9 NIV).
The happy result is seen in verses 16 and 19:
"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters."
"He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."
There is an extremely old verse version of this Psalm which I cherish. It renders this sense of freedom like this:
He brought me forth in open space,
that so I might be free;
and kept me safe, because He had
a favour unto me.
Thomas Sternhold, c. 1500-1549
In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul had to reason with early Christian church members who were being influenced by misguided leaders. These men were trying to impose Jewish laws on them that they no longer needed to observe. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul wrote (Galatians 5:1 NIV). In other words, the grace of Christ hasn't set us free from heavy burdens of law simply so we should go back to them again!
For all too many people today, though, the church has become oppressive. This may be because of various forms of abuse. It may be down to "heavy shepherding" where leaders intrude into the private lives of their members and dictate how they are to conduct their relationships or their finances. This domineering spirit is a denial of freedom in Christ.
Liberated from sin, death, hell and the fading Jewish law by the risen Christ, may we find the open spaces. By gentle, enlightened leadership, may we bring others into them too.
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