Taking in the Whole

I remember seeing a picture of one of Rembrandt’s painting in a magazine. I can’t remember which one it was. But the thing that struck me was the shear size of it. In the picture they had a person standing there in front of the painting so you could see the scale. It was enormous—bigger than life-sized.

As I thought about that, I thought the only real way to truly appreciate a masterpiece of that size is by standing back far enough to take in the whole painting. While there is value, no doubt, in getting up close and studying the brush stokes and how the paints are layered on, if you want to catch the full impact of what the artist was trying to capture, you need to take in the whole.

I’ve begun thinking of Scripture in that way. Reading and studying isolated texts has value. It is important and should not be neglected. We need to dig into the syntax and linguistics of the text. But at the same time we cannot neglect the discipline of standing back far enough to take in the whole—tracing the broad brush strokes of important Biblical themes from OT to NT… from Genesis to Revelation.

It seems to me that we’ve spent too much time with the pieces that we’ve neglected the whole. That’s something the Biblical writers never did. That’s something the early Christians never would have done. See the whole was what enabled them to understand the pieces. Our post-enlightenment mind set has turned that around: we seek to understand the whole by dissecting and studying the pieces.

The problem is, we’ve been standing so close to the painting for so long that we’ve forgotten what the painting is about. Maybe we need to remind ourselves to step back every once and a while and take in the whole.

The Good News of the Kingdom

I just read through Matthew and came across a phrase that kind of struck out for me. Matthew 3.23 says, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (or gospel) of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” The phrase that struck me was “good news of the kingdom” or “gospel of the kingdom.”

Here’s what I thought. What is the gospel? For must of us evangelicals it is the “salvation plan.” It’s “Jesus dies on the cross for my sin.” But here Jesus says the good news of the kingdom. Here Jesus is proclaiming the gospel before the cross, before the atonement, before the resurrection. And I don’t think it’s his way of looking forward to it (although, there is something of that sense there).

What if our view of the good news is only part of the good news? What if we’re missing a piece—a big piece—of what Jesus came for… to bring? What if there’s more?

We’ve got the “saved from” part right. We are saved from sin. We are saved from being slaves to sin. We are saved from self-idolatry. We are saved from a myriad of evils and iniquities that pollute our humanness. But we miss the “saved for” part. We are saved for the kingdom. I think that’s what Jesus meant when he “proclaimed the good news of the kingdom.”

The Christ event is about the kingdom of God being brought into our world. It’s about heaven and earth being knitted together. It’s about God’s future coming into our present. It’s about God turning the tables of evil. It’s about God turning an upside-down world right-side up. That’s why the proclamation of the good news of the kingdom is followed by curing every disease and every sickness. Sickness and disease is what comes from an upside-down world.

We are saved from sin. But even more important and more to the point, we are saved for the kingdom. Our task is to implement the future Jesus inaugurated by his life, death and resurrection. The good news of the kingdom is that it is here, waiting for the followers of Jesus to implement.

Too Small

I’ve always had a problem with preaching that seemed to focus on, “seven ways to… have a healthy marriage… raise the perfect child… financial freedom… (you fill in the blank).” Lately, I’ve started to see why. Even that old cliché that the Bible is our “owner’s manual for life,” is misleading. It misses something—it misses the gospel. It seems we’ve got a problem.

A quick survey of some of the books highlighted on the most resent Family Bookstore flier points out part of the problem. Just listen to some of the titles: Perfect Weight; Self Talk, Soul Talk; 8 Steps to Create the Life You Want; Destined to Reign: the Secret to Effortless Success, Wholeness and Victorious Living; Becoming a Better You; The Elephant in the Room: Sharing the Secrets for Pursuing Real Financial Success. Oh, and the list could go on. Even books on the Bible or on Spirituality seem to be focused on one of two things: how I can survive this world, or how I can turn this world to my advantage. Both are unbiblical.

I’m still working things out in my own mind and heart and life, but here’s what I think I think I’m starting to see… what I’m beginning to understand. First of all the Bible is not an owner’s manual. It’s more of a love letter. But even that, though closer, misses the mark. The point, though, is it’s not a book for us to use to pull out “secrets” in overcoming this world, or in trumping this world and getting a “one up” on everyone who doesn’t have these secrets—that, it seems to me, smacks of Gnosticism.

The other related thing is that no where in the Bible are we told that our ultimate goal is to escape this world. No where in Scripture are we told that we need to somehow hang on and survive this horrid and troubled world, and wait for the day that God will zap it all. The Bible is not a book of escapism; it’s a book of transformation.

We are not to hide from this world (in our churches and our ecclesiastical sub-cultures). We are not to compartmentalize our lives (Church over here, and the world over there—and we play by different rules depending on where we are). Again, we’re not simply to survive this world (hanging on till that day when our “souls are set free”).

We are supposed to engage this world in a way that brings the Kingdom of God. We are supposed to engage our world in a way that knits heaven and earth together—even if only in a small way. We are supposed to engage our world in a way that transforms, renews, and redeems creation.

We are called to be change agents, living by the laws, principles, and values of God’s coming kingdom. We are called in implement the new age of the Messiah that Jesus has inaugurated by his life, death, and resurrection. The problem is, it seems to me, we’ve settled for something far less… something far smaller than God’s grand and glorious plan of bringing his kingdom to this world, of his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. Our vision is too small.

Tipping God

We were out for lunch yesterday at the Olive Garden (soup and salad special). And as usual when we were all finished the waitress brought us that little black folder with our bill. As I pulled out the money to pay for the bill, my mind almost automatically started figuring out the tip. This time, though, I paused for a moment.

You see, I’m old enough to remember when a phone call was a time and a postage stamp cost 7 cents and a tip was 10%. That’s not the case anymore, is it?

As I was pulling out my money, I told Deanna, “It’s funny isn’t it? No one tips just 10 % any more. It’s 20%... or at the very least 15 (if you’re really cheep). The only one who gets a 10% tip any more is God—and then only grudgingly (if at all).”