But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight (Translation: The Message)
John Eliot was born in 1604. After having a tussle with his home country church in England, like many others, he headed off to New England to start over. As a pastor of a community near Boston, he became concerned with the welfare of the native Algonquin people. He learned the language, established native settlements, and eventually translated the Bible into Algonquin. Much of his work – both translations and settlements were destroyed during the Indian Wars of 1670.
During the church year, many people like John Eliot are commemorated, and there are alternative readings set up, related to that person. Today’s alternative reading from the Gospel is this passage from Mark, where Jesus is telling his disciples the story of the scattered seed. Some fell on rocky ground, some in weeds, and finally some in fertile ground. The disciples questioned what it meant and why he talked in parables. He doesn’t do it often, but in this reading he explains the parable to them.
More interesting to me this morning, is the explanation of why he talks in parables. He says that to those who’ve been given insight, they understand the stories – apparently not always, given their incessant questions – but to those who haven’t been given the insight, things come in stories, “creating readiness, and nudging them toward receptive insight”
This morning I’m thinking about how our brains cobble together a complete picture when given glimpses. Generally, I appreciate when things are fully spelled out, leaving little chance of my misunderstanding or misinterpreting. But in reading the Gospel today, I find that I’m more intrigued by Jesus’ parable before he painstakingly explains it.
There is something about parables or metaphors or poetry or even Ikea picture instructions that engages my head more than a fully complete manual. To be clear, the clearer and complete the written word, the easier it is for me to understand. But there is some engagement that occurs when I almost understand. When I’m forced to infer or wonder at the less-than-precise or less-than-spelled-out story.
We want to have a complete picture. We want to make sense out of fragments. And conscious or not, we cobble together a full narrative or explanation or instruction, even when only given pieces. My challenge is always that when I’m not given the fully precise and complete picture, I’m never sure if my narrative is the right one. I’m not sure if the story I’m telling myself is true or reflective of what’s really happening, if I’ve interpreted the parable or facts as intended or true.
Today, I want to recognize where my head is cobbling together a ‘complete’ story out of incomplete facts, where I’m interpreting my life’s parables. And if there are bits missing or allusions I don’t understand, I want to my interpretation to be grace-infused, rather than self-infused.
No comments:
Post a Comment