Unchained Melodye

”For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

So the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about Him.

Luke 2:30-33

I will never be able to initially read scripture with Eastern eyes because I was neither born nor raised in that culture. I’ve only visited the Middle East briefly, always with a guide. Someone could say that we are simply to do the best we can with our Western perspective. After all, it is the Lord who sovereignly placed us here. And I would agree.

I realize my faith is bred within the mystery of it all.

But I also want to learn from those who were born into a culture much like the setting of scripture. I love to read the perspectives of those who can relate to the scenes we find in the Bible’s pages. Intentionally placing myself into a culture by learning about it helps me more deeply grasp its significance when I read:

that Jesus was born to a common young Jewish woman and placed in a stony feeding trough

that Jesus went to the temple at an early age and taught His teachers

that Jesus was mostly known among His peers as a Rabbi

that Jesus invited women into His inner circle

that Jesus was a sacrificial Lamb

that Jesus was a King

that Jesus was a good Shepherd

that Jesus was a High Priest

that Jesus was a Servant

that Jesus came to save the Jew & Gentile

You see, I’ve never sacrificed an animal for my sin. I’ve never had a king. I have never been served by a high priest. I have never had a servant wash my feet. I don’t know the feeling of being shamed or outcast from having an illness or disease. I’ve never even met a shepherd or talked with a Jewish Rabbi.

No, we do not have to take classes in a synagogue to understand the depth of Jesus’ coming and dying. But sometimes I feel as if the gospel has been hijacked by our western thought. When Jesus came as a Jew, it wasn’t because God is a Jewish person. And even though we may not fully comprehend His reason, God chose Israel and entrusted the nation with His self-revelation. Jewish culture is the language God chose in which to express Himself … from the very beginning. (Genesis 12, 17)

Most humans, but especially Westerners, tend to be unsatisfied with the things beyond our understanding. Because of that, we continually attempt to lessen the traces of mystery and unknowing from the Gospel. With our western eyes, we focus on intellectual understanding. We study more so we can “know what it says.” But sometimes in doing so, the essence of our faith is minimized. When I separate Jesus from the historical backdrop of Middle Eastern context, I run the risk of misunderstanding the gospel. The eastern culture into which God descended is the only context in which we can properly understand the gospel. Why is that so important? Because as someone once said “The Gospel is not a court case, it is a love story!”

Whew!!

The purpose of God is demonstrated from the earliest chapters of Genesis. God had already laid out His plan of redemption for the predicament of mankind. The salvation story of deep and everlasting love was written in blood from the start. It would happen in God’s timing hundreds of years later …

on a criminal’s cross which was erected just outside Jerusalem, the Lamb was slain for us.

The Bible is “an integrated message system” produced from the breath of God. The Spirit of God supernaturally engineered the writing and the storytelling for us to have exactly what we need to have to experience Him. Every specific number, every detailed place and name, every odd encounter and event is there for us to get a glimpse of God.

I don’t want to live in a constant state of fear that I might misread scripture with my Western eyes. But I also don’t want to misread scripture with my Western eyes! The main reason is because I really want to know the God of the Bible. And I want to know the God of the Bible because I really want to tell people about the God I know. And I want to tell people about the God I know so they can know Him too!!

The more I read the scriptures and ask myself “who is this God?” the more I’m overwhelmed by His majesty and humility.

”For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in the Son and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross – through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.“

Colossians 1:19-20