Questions

I had a parent conference yesterday.  We met to discuss grades specifically, but before we started, I told the parents I wanted to give them my general impressions of their son’s progress.  The overview was that he seemed overly confident and unwilling to take instruction.  I told them that when I begin going over a project or expectations, I feel that he hears about ¼ of what I’m saying, assumes he knows the rest, and then tunes me out (I’m sure teenage parents can relate!).  After that, he neglects to conference with me or ask further questions, believing he is on the right track, but his grades are showing that he could have seriously benefited from less confidence and more questions.  He is not alone.  It is unbelievable the amount of kids I have this year who believe they know it all.  They are smart kids, and they have received good instruction in middle school, but they are 14.  There is still much more left to learn. 

 

You have to love people who are willing to ask questions.  This week in my Bible Study, one of our members started asking all kinds of questions.  Her questions started out pretty easy.  Things like, “What is the difference between 1 John and John?”  and “Did the same person write both books?” and “Is Jesus in all of these books?”  They were great, fun questions to answer, but then she hit us with a ringer.  “Well, if all these people were alive when Jesus was alive, and if the gospels were written soon after he died, why didn’t he just spend time on earth writing to us? Why do we have to read about his life from someone else’s perspective?”

 

What a great question!  Jesus could have taken time to write down an autobiography or a book of wisdom.  He is God.  Why leave his message in the hands average human men?  Honestly, until this week, I had never thought about why Jesus didn’t write the Bible.  He just didn’t.  I’ve known he didn’t write it for so long, that I don’t even think to question why.  But, this week, before my friend’s question, I had been reading a commentary that addressed her exact concern.  In his commentary on Luke, William Barclay says that the reason Jesus didn’t write was because his job was to come to earth first as a sacrifice – to die for our sins – but secondly, to show us how to love.  Barclay says that Jesus could have confined himself in solitude and written all kinds of rules for life, but instead he DID life for us.  Showing us what it looks like to love and serve and grieve and pray and resist temptation.  He gave us a picture lesson of what the gospel is, and then allowed others to put it into words.  I gave my friend that answer on Wednesday night, but I have been tossing her question around in my mind all week, and last night even had the chance to discuss it with Andy.

 

After thinking it through, I think there is another reason Jesus didn’t write the Bible.  I think he wanted to continue the precedence of inviting human beings into service with him.  He wanted to give Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the opportunity to experience him more deeply as they researched and wrote the gospels that have blessed millions of people across centuries.  I can understand a similar experience.  One of the most moving spiritual times in my life was when I was a new teacher, and I began dating an old college crush.  Life was not going well for my new boyfriend at that time, and our dating relationship became something of an act of service on my part. However, it also gave me a front row seat to how huge God is and how quickly and powerfully he can move in someone’s life, and he let me play a small part as he transformed my boyfriend’s individual life and relationship with his family.  It was an amazing experience, and it served me much more than I ever served my boyfriend.  Through that short relationship, God showed me what trusting him looks like, how big he is, and how to know him as healer.  God didn’t need me to work in this man’s life, but he invited me to play a part, and because I was willing, he blessed me right along with my boyfriend.

 

I think this is how God works.  He can do everything himself.  He doesn’t need us for anything.  If he wants to bless the homeless man on the street, he can do it any way he chooses, but what if he wants to use us and our $5 bill?  He can comfort a new friend with internal peace and a song on the radio, but what if he wants to use our loving arms to wrap them in a hug?  I think God stands, inviting us to see what serving people feels like.  To know what it is like to love like he does.  He waits with open arms to give us those opportunities.  He doesn’t need us, but he wants us to walk alongside him and to know the joy of loving like him.

 

My friend at Bible Study could have held back her question about Jesus writing the gospels.  I could see in the way she prefaced it, that she even debated whether or not to ask, but I’m so thankful she did.  She was willing to be used by God to give me a week to think about Him in brand new ways.  And for that, I thank her.