The WORD: MAKE THE WORD YOUR HOME: John 8:31-32 In John 8 of the New Revised Standard Version, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and truth will make you free. Another standard version in the Jerusalem Bible translates it a little differently. To the Jews who believed in Him Jesus said: If you make My word your home you will indeed be My disciples, and you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free. The first major difference is that the Jerusalem Bible takes the words of Jesus as poetry. How do you tell poetry from prose? Thats very simple. If there is a lot of blank space, it is poetry. That is what the people at the seminary call form criticism. It sounds fancy, but in form criticism we learn to identify the literary form of the biblical passages. Is it a song, a proverb, a parable, a blessing, or a poem? A poem has its distinct form to it, and thats how we know it is poetry. One could read the Johannine verses in the Jerusalem Bible as poetry, placing poetic accents in their appropriate place. To the Jews who believed in Him Jesus said: If you make My word your home you will indeed be My disciples, and you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free. Like other wonderful poems, the words of Jesus capture our hope and dream with just a few words. The other major distinctive feature in the Jerusalem Bibles translation is that it has Jesus say, If you make my word your home. Jesus said, Make my word your home. This translation adds a dynamic touch to the words of Jesus Christ, as it portrays the disciples of Jesus Christ as homemakers. They make a home with the word of Jesus. Here we have a wonderful word picture of the ministry of the good news of Jesus Christ. As the disciples of Jesus Christ we make the word of Jesus our home and help the people God has entrusted with us to find home in the word of Jesus. What does it take to make a home? The Greek word used here, meno, literally means to stay, to remain, to abide. It is a word for living on a permanent basis. To make home, and to make home work, there is one essential homework. That is to stay -- to be present. The Jewish tradition has a wonderful story about two Israelites who were part of the Exodus group. They were among the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses, only because they did not want to be left behind. When the people of Israel were cornered by the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, they were sitting on the bank of the sea, chatting. They soon noticed that everybody was crossing the water and hurried to join the company. As they were crossing the Sea, they complained of the yucky riverbed and mud their feet were sinking into. When the split sea came back, they said, Look at this. We got all wet. Rabbis tell this story to make this point: As far as two men were concerned, the Exodus never happened. The parting of the Sea never happened because they did not participate in the moment. They were not there. The major homework is to be present - 100 percent. Be there. Show up! In ministry we pursue the people so that they may show up in church. Most of our life is about showing up. After all, who are the people the pastor appreciates most? The pastor appreciates most those who show up. The minister is committed to urging the parishioners to be present by showing up for the sharing of the word and sacraments and by participating in the life of the believing community, so that they may find their home in the word. Once you have a place to call home, you have a wonderful place where you are welcomed for what you are, not for what you can produce. Today many of us have become workaholics in love with their work. People leave their workplace to go home to work. They are dying to go back to their work where there is appreciation. Your body may be tired, but your spirit is inspired. It is a blessing to have a workplace that you can love so much, but no matter how much we love our work, we can outlive our usefulness at our workplace, but at home we will never outlive our value. Outside the traditional home, there is only one place like that on earth. Thats the church. And for many, the church is the only home they have ever had. At home, we are accepted. When you are at home, nobody needs to say to you, Make yourself at home. In the same way, no one has to say to you in church, Make yourself at home, for you are at home. Home always welcomes us. Our failings are forgiven. As a matter of fact, home is a place where we are loved even more when we have shortcomings. A story about an elderly couple may bring home the point I am making. Since I am an Asian, and to make the story telling simple, I will call them Grandma and Grandpa. As they got older, Grandpa began to be concerned with the hearing condition of Grandma, and decided to find out how bad her hearing had gotten. One day he stood at some distance behind her, as she was cleaning the dishes. He called out to her, Honey, can you hear me? He waited for her reply, but she just kept on washing. He went closer to her, and said again and louder, Honey, can you hear me? Still, there was no answer. He could feel his heart sink. He went and stood right behind her, and said, Honey, can you hear me? Still, he could hear no answer. Grandpa was so sad and frightened that he turned her around and began crying, Honey, what are we going to do? You dont hear a thing. You are stone deaf. Grandma stared at Grandpa in the eyes, and for some reason she was very angry. She said to him, Whats the matter with you? I answered you three times. American poet Robert Frost had this to say about home. Home is a place where, when you have to go back, they have to take you in. Whatever failings we may have, we can always go back home. The word of Jesus offers that home for the disciples of Jesus Christ. We are the homemakers of the home of the word of Jesus Christ. We open our home to strangers, aliens, resident or nonresident, whether color is blue or yellow, Jews and Gentiles, slaves and masters, male and female, not only significant others but also significantly others. Lord, your Word is our home. We offer this home to the world. INTIMATE ONE DAILY DEVOTIONAL 8TH AUGUST,2014 [printer friendly version] You can use this article from By Jin Hee Han as a teaching tool in your small home group or as Sunday bible class.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 08:30:25 +0000