East End Ecclesia

As I said in my previous post, we all interpret reality in light of the stories we tell. This reality is especially true when we try to understand literature.

Have you ever walked in part way through a movie? Or worse yet have you ever watched a movie and have someone come in mid way through the movie? It can be quite frustrating. As you watch the movie the newcomer keeps interrupting with questions (so who is that guy, is he a good guy or bad guy, why are they running from that guy, etc). The problem is that the newcomer doesn’t have the proper “story” to interpret the particular scene. To the individual coming in midway, the specific scene makes no sense because he has no “greater story” to make sense of the particular scene. Also when it comes to movies, I’ve always enjoyed movies that have unexpected twists. I love when the good guy ends up being the bad guy, when the protagonists end up finding out they are working for the wrong side, etc. When you watch these types of movies, even when you start from the beginning, you end up “miss interpreting” parts of the movie because you still have yet to get the whole story.

I love watching a good movie, from beginning to end, then watching it again. When you have seen the whole story, then go back, you begin to notice little details you didn’t notice before, and many of the conversations and events in the movie make greater sense in light of the whole story.

I believe that the way we understand the scenes of a movie are in some ways very similar to how we understand particular stories within the bible.  Within the Christian scriptures we have the whole story from beginning to end. This is quite amazing because we are not finished with the story yet. We have a bible that is made up of multiple books, compiled over thousands of years, covering multiple literary genres, that come together to make one coherent story. In other words we can watch the entire movie, even though in real time the movie isn’t finished yet.

I think one problem that we have fallen into within modern western biblical studies, is that we focus on picking out particular verses (or scenes) without first understanding the entire story. Another problem is the fact that the majority of us in the west are not Jewish and are not well versed in the Hebrew OT. In some ways we are like people who have come in midway through the movie. We pick up the NT and read the Gospels and Epistles while not understanding these books in light of the story up to that point. We come to conclusions about a particular scene without first watching the beginning of the movie.

I have spent many years reading the OT stories merely to find a moral teaching point, trying to find an analogy from the story that can apply to my life or the lives of those I’m teaching. Now I’m not saying this practice is completely wrong, but we must remember that the OT stories are “historical narrative” first and foremost. They are telling the story of How God has worked in His creation through His chosen People. They are not teaching parables, that are made up stories to teach a truth, they are historical accounts revealing God’s action and will. The vast majority of the OT is narrative, even the prophetic section of the OT is written within a narrative framework. Actually after reading a few books of the OT you will see that the early Jewish people greatly valued stories. This is because God greatly valued stories. The Jews were commanded to tell and retell the stories of God’s great works through the people of Israel. One example of this is that every year the Jews were commanded to participate in a symbolic dinner to retell the story of God’s liberating the people of Israel from Egypt. For some reason it was critical to God that His people did not forget this important Historical story.

Often I have wondered what is the point of so many of these stories in the bible. I mean, if I’m really honest some of the stories are kind of bizarre and it is a real stretch to take some of these stories and make practical teaching points from them. Some of the OT does not make sense or at least seems inefficient if God’s intention was to purely to give a systematic list of theological truths and practical moral teachings. But if it is true that we all interpret within the framework of a shared narrative, what God is doing with these stories is quite brilliant (which should be expected because it is God after all!) Maybe God was inspiring these ancient authors to record these narratives to build a “meta narrative” framework for humanity to properly understand the pinnacle of His Story, Jesus.

I’ve seen serious bible expositors come to radically different interpretations of the NT claims due to different accepted “narratives”. I’ve watched the TV as preachers use the death and resurrection of Jesus as a confirmation that God wants us prosper in our pursuit of the “American dream”. What I see happening here is that these preachers are interpreting a particular passage in light of an individualistic, comfort and prosperity American narrative.  You see if you come to the bible with an assumed narrative that the point of the scriptures is to show us how to be happy, successful, morally good people, etc. you will interpret each passage radically different depending on your assumed narrative. And here is the problem, as much as one may want to deny it, we all come to the scriptures with our own “meta narrative”, and this will determine how you will understand any given passage.

But I think one must ask, where does my narrative come from and how is this influencing me in my understanding of this passage? I will argue that as we study the scripture we must continue to seek to have the overarching story of scripture reshape our stories. Instead of looking to the OT narratives assuming that they are there just to give a moral analogy, or an example on how we can gain prosperity through faith, or as parables showing us how to become better people. Try reading the OT stories as Historical narratives, asking what is this telling us about God, creation, and His will. Ask how does this particular event shape our understanding of God’s greater story. No one would recommend watching a particular scene in a movie and then interpret it in light of another different movie. In the same way we must not try to interpret the scriptures in light of our adopted modern western narratives. You interpret a particular scene in light of the movie in which that scene is found. In the same way we must interpret any given passage in light of the whole narrative of scripture.

Paul says in Romans 12 to “renew our minds” so that we can understand “the will of God”. I don’t think this just means that we should learn new biblical facts to add into our assumed narrative. I think this means that we must let God’s story confront our stories, so that our minds (the way we perceive things) is transformed as our “meta narrative” is conformed to God’s overarching story. This will mean that we not only grow in what we know about God and His word, but also we will grow in how we understand what we know.

A challenge I would give you all is to read then entire Bible beginning to end as one grand story. Not focusing on the particulars, but focusing on the flow of the narrative. Not that the particulars are not important, they are. But so that as we grow in our  knowledge of particular passages we are also growing in our understanding of God’s overarching story that will give us the proper framework to understand the particulars as we study them.