Friday 06 November 2009
- Bible Book:
- Romans
"Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else's foundation, but as it is written, 'Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.'" (v.20-21)
Background
In the letter to the Romans, the author Paul is talking aboutproclaiming the gospel (good news). The world in which he lived andworked to do this was different to ours. Wherever he travelled hemet those who had literally never heard of Jesus.
Today things are different. Who in this country hasn't heard ofJesus? Everyone has some sort of opinion about Jesus, the Church,Christianity, or religion in general.
But ideas, even positive ideas, are not reality. They are a block,an illusion that stands between us and an encounter with what isreal.
Our task is to really see and really understand both for ourselves,and so that we can help others to see and understand.
In a way many people with ideas of who Jesus is have never trulybeen told of him. They have been fed with images, or propagandafrom one place or another. Often the God that people reject is notGod at all, but an 'idea of God' that Christians wouldn't believein either.
To really tell of Jesus is not to describe concepts, but to act outof the reality of selfless love.
So that, (if we rephrase Paul's words for today):
Those who have already been told of him shall reallysee.
Those who have already heard of him shall reallyunderstand.
To Ponder
How can we tell of Jesus in a way that gets pastpeoples' preconceived ideas?
What barriers do you have that stop you reallyunderstanding who Jesus is?