My oldest daughter first saw Toy Story 3 while studying abroad. She thoroughly enjoyed the flick, but had to admit that when viewed in Spanish some of the humor was lost in translation.
Sometimes I wonder if the same thing doesn’t happen with the Bible. The Bible was composed originally in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, and it has in it almost every genre of literature we know, including poetry, history, biography, legal commentary, drama, philosophical treatises, personal correspondence, and just flat-out good story telling.
But what about humor? Does it get lost in the translation? Or were the Biblical authors a gang of disgruntled prophets, detached journalists, and pious poets who couldn’t be bothered with a bit of well-timed jesting?
Surely an accomplished storyteller like Jesus knew how to use a wisecrack or two to home in on a point or to grab the audience’s attention with a good set-up line. Maybe he said something like: “A Pharisee and a tax collector walk into a bar ... .” Or, as the original has it, they walk into the Temple.
So I wonder if, when Jesus seizes upon a teachable moment with “Whereunto shall I liken this generation?” his disciples craned their necks and turned their ears toward his words as much for the entertainment value as for the instruction. “What are they like?” he continues. And maybe at this point he takes a pregnant pause. Picture here some nearby children at the marketplace chanting one of their playful sing-song games, and Jesus points to them as we hear these words:
'A wedding song we played for you,
the dance you simply scorned.
A woeful dirge we chanted, too,
but then you did not mourn.'
(Luke 7:32 International Standard Version)
Maybe this relatively obscure version called the International Standard Version captures what is otherwise lost in translation. I wonder if Jesus went on a little riff here, pointing out that the religious leaders of the day were like kids who had trouble sharing their little sandbox with others. And then after a Jay Leno-like grin, did he draw the lesson about the curious differences between their whispering campaign against John the Baptist versus that against Jesus Christ?
If a Jay Leno or a P.J. O’Rourke can paint hilarious caricatures through verbal and expressive means, then surely Jesus could do the same.
And then Jesus says, “Ah, but wisdom is vindicated by all her children!” People have puzzled over what this little proverb means, but maybe he was simply reminding us that the puffery of adult hypocrisy is easily deflated with a rhyming lance of a children’s ditty.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
It’s More Than Just Politics
Rather than becoming engaged in such sedentary recreational amusements as the National Football League in general and the Kansas City Chiefs in particular, I have been getting my amusement quota filled for several years by watching the daily political shenanigans on various new channels. This is a more dangerous hobby than, say, watching the Kansas City Chiefs find ways to lose games or the KC Royals as they trade away star players for two relief pitchers to be named later. Both politics and Kansas City sport franchises can lead to hypertension, but clearly only one of these passions affects issues of pocketbook and liberty after the arena closes.
Unless, of course, one considers taxpayer dollars being “invested” in professional sport franchises. And that perhaps is one of the problems with politics these days: it has infested its tentacles into almost every fiber of daily living.
The easy critique is to blame our duly elected officials for the sad state in which we find ourselves, but I tend to agree with the French political philosopher Joseph de Maistre who posited that “every nation has the government that it deserves.”
I found an intriguing little story tucked away in one of the biblical history books, appended to II Samuel almost as an afterthought. The passage begins like this:
“Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and he moved David against them ... .”
Herein is a strange statement: God is angry with the people, so he arouses the king to do something stupid.
If you think that a gathering of political figures looks like a Barnum and Bailey clown convention, maybe you are simply seeing a reflection of the kind of government the people demand. Don’t blame the Congress and don’t blame the White House. Eventually in our system the people will get what they want, almost as it was in the last days of the judges of Israel. In those days of no strong central control, they demanded a king because everybody else had one, and in spite of the prophet’s warning that such a government would rob them of their wealth and liberty, they got what they wanted, much to their later regret.
While I understand the sentiment that government is the problem, maybe it is better to say that government is a symptom of the problem. Government reflects us. And maybe if we change ourselves, we can change how we’re governed.
Unless, of course, one considers taxpayer dollars being “invested” in professional sport franchises. And that perhaps is one of the problems with politics these days: it has infested its tentacles into almost every fiber of daily living.
The easy critique is to blame our duly elected officials for the sad state in which we find ourselves, but I tend to agree with the French political philosopher Joseph de Maistre who posited that “every nation has the government that it deserves.”
I found an intriguing little story tucked away in one of the biblical history books, appended to II Samuel almost as an afterthought. The passage begins like this:
“Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and he moved David against them ... .”
Herein is a strange statement: God is angry with the people, so he arouses the king to do something stupid.
If you think that a gathering of political figures looks like a Barnum and Bailey clown convention, maybe you are simply seeing a reflection of the kind of government the people demand. Don’t blame the Congress and don’t blame the White House. Eventually in our system the people will get what they want, almost as it was in the last days of the judges of Israel. In those days of no strong central control, they demanded a king because everybody else had one, and in spite of the prophet’s warning that such a government would rob them of their wealth and liberty, they got what they wanted, much to their later regret.
While I understand the sentiment that government is the problem, maybe it is better to say that government is a symptom of the problem. Government reflects us. And maybe if we change ourselves, we can change how we’re governed.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Not Happy With Your Church?
My friend hadn’t been to church for quite some time, so I invited out for a cup of coffee. “I can get more out of just staying home and studying my Bible than I can from the sermon.” Sadly, I had to agree. The sermons we had back then were models of disorganization and pabulum. What passed for fellowship was an exercise in inanities. Conversation was gossip warmed over, and cliques were formed, dissolved, and reformed almost as if by schedule.
Dysfunctional churches are a part of the national landscape, and more often than not such dysfunction can be traced to leadership or, better said, the lack thereof. Reading Paul’s letters to the churches reveals that this is not just a 21st Century phenomenon. The church at Corinth divided themselves by favorite religious guru and by social status. They tolerated egregious sins among themselves, made themselves gluttons and drunkards at the Lord’s Supper, and seemed to go out of their way to offend one another.
The Thessalonian church was so certain of Jesus soon return that many quit their jobs and mooched from the rest of the church for economic support. Most of the churches got themselves into various doctrinal errors, and they all had that sad human element we commonly call sin.
I could sympathize with my friend, and I could almost agree with him. But in sense he missed the point. Church is not just what you can get out of it. Perhaps it was legitimate to suspend oneself from church because it was a poor product, but that is only part of the equation.
Religion is not a spectator sport. Nor is church a consumer item. It is not just what we get out of it. It is also what we put into it. He could have kept right on attending with the idea of using his gifts and abilities to help solve some of the very problems he was complaining about. It is not about being served. It is also about being of service.
A man once told me that he long ago stopped looking for the perfect church, because if he were join it, it wouldn’t be perfect anymore. It was his way of saying that if you are not a part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.
Having said all this, there does come a time to find another church. In my friend’s case, the church structure was such that there was little he could do to change the church culture. Only the anointed few had any influence, and even that influence was severely limited. In my opinion, if you are serving and if you are growing, then it makes good sense to stay where you are. If you can no longer serve and no longer grow, it is time to find another place to hang your hat.
Eventually, as it turned out, both my friend and I left that church affiliation. I do not want to minimize the doctrinal drift that led to my seeking another fellowship, but after the passage of time I see that the lack of spiritual growth and inability to serve (i.e., using one’s God-given gifts) were at the root of the separation.
Don’t expect perfection from your church, and don’t lightly separate yourself from a fellowship. If you feel it is time to separate, do it for the right reasons.
LC
Dysfunctional churches are a part of the national landscape, and more often than not such dysfunction can be traced to leadership or, better said, the lack thereof. Reading Paul’s letters to the churches reveals that this is not just a 21st Century phenomenon. The church at Corinth divided themselves by favorite religious guru and by social status. They tolerated egregious sins among themselves, made themselves gluttons and drunkards at the Lord’s Supper, and seemed to go out of their way to offend one another.
The Thessalonian church was so certain of Jesus soon return that many quit their jobs and mooched from the rest of the church for economic support. Most of the churches got themselves into various doctrinal errors, and they all had that sad human element we commonly call sin.
I could sympathize with my friend, and I could almost agree with him. But in sense he missed the point. Church is not just what you can get out of it. Perhaps it was legitimate to suspend oneself from church because it was a poor product, but that is only part of the equation.
Religion is not a spectator sport. Nor is church a consumer item. It is not just what we get out of it. It is also what we put into it. He could have kept right on attending with the idea of using his gifts and abilities to help solve some of the very problems he was complaining about. It is not about being served. It is also about being of service.
A man once told me that he long ago stopped looking for the perfect church, because if he were join it, it wouldn’t be perfect anymore. It was his way of saying that if you are not a part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.
Having said all this, there does come a time to find another church. In my friend’s case, the church structure was such that there was little he could do to change the church culture. Only the anointed few had any influence, and even that influence was severely limited. In my opinion, if you are serving and if you are growing, then it makes good sense to stay where you are. If you can no longer serve and no longer grow, it is time to find another place to hang your hat.
Eventually, as it turned out, both my friend and I left that church affiliation. I do not want to minimize the doctrinal drift that led to my seeking another fellowship, but after the passage of time I see that the lack of spiritual growth and inability to serve (i.e., using one’s God-given gifts) were at the root of the separation.
Don’t expect perfection from your church, and don’t lightly separate yourself from a fellowship. If you feel it is time to separate, do it for the right reasons.
LC
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