Jacob's words uttered in the city formerly known as Luz sum up what every preacher wants to hear from each member of the congregation: Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.
New Testament Scholar Daniel Patte explored Paul's preaching methodology in his book Preaching Paul, and attempted to glean some insights for the present day practice of the craft. For we are not in a cultural and sociological situation all to dissimilar to the one facing Paul on his missionary journey's throughout Asia and Europe: the language of the gospel is foreign to the masses, and the symbols and stories are nonsensical in our world of power and prestige. What do we do? What do we say to people for whom the gospel seems like the greatest of irrelevancies, or the greatest of mysteries? What did Paul do? What did Paul say? Tom Long (commenting on Patte's findings) writes that Paul
Paul saw the world through eyes that were coloured with the person and story of Jesus. And by looking at the world with these eyes, he could see that the story of the world was now wrapped up with the story of Jesus. "Our story became His story", as my former teacher likes to say.
Our stories of loss, brokenness, hurt, abandonment, find their fullest voice in the story of Jesus. When he cried out from the cross "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani", he cried the cry of ultimate suffering; he told the story of our lives in one tragic sentence. But at Calvary a new chapter was also being written, for God was in that place, reconciling the world to Himself.
In light of the cross and resurrection, the preacher can boldly proclaim that the resurrected crucified Lord Jesus still identifies with the weak, the marginalised, and even the sinful in the present time, and that he is powerful enough to make things new. The preacher can say that the Lord is in this place even now, though we may not know it. He is making our stories His story so that His story can become our story. The finished work of the cross has created fresh possibilities for today. The LORD is doing a new thing: do you not perceive it?
New Testament Scholar Daniel Patte explored Paul's preaching methodology in his book Preaching Paul, and attempted to glean some insights for the present day practice of the craft. For we are not in a cultural and sociological situation all to dissimilar to the one facing Paul on his missionary journey's throughout Asia and Europe: the language of the gospel is foreign to the masses, and the symbols and stories are nonsensical in our world of power and prestige. What do we do? What do we say to people for whom the gospel seems like the greatest of irrelevancies, or the greatest of mysteries? What did Paul do? What did Paul say? Tom Long (commenting on Patte's findings) writes that Paul
looked at the world of his hearers through the cross-resurrection refraction of the gospel, and by doing so, he saw something he could not have seen without the gospel lens: the trajectory of God in their world. He saw God at work in cross-resurrection ways in their present-tense circumstances, and he told them what he saw. God is present; God is at work in your world. Can you see it?
Paul saw the world through eyes that were coloured with the person and story of Jesus. And by looking at the world with these eyes, he could see that the story of the world was now wrapped up with the story of Jesus. "Our story became His story", as my former teacher likes to say.
Our stories of loss, brokenness, hurt, abandonment, find their fullest voice in the story of Jesus. When he cried out from the cross "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani", he cried the cry of ultimate suffering; he told the story of our lives in one tragic sentence. But at Calvary a new chapter was also being written, for God was in that place, reconciling the world to Himself.
In light of the cross and resurrection, the preacher can boldly proclaim that the resurrected crucified Lord Jesus still identifies with the weak, the marginalised, and even the sinful in the present time, and that he is powerful enough to make things new. The preacher can say that the Lord is in this place even now, though we may not know it. He is making our stories His story so that His story can become our story. The finished work of the cross has created fresh possibilities for today. The LORD is doing a new thing: do you not perceive it?
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