The story tells it best

I gladly call Jesus from Nazareth “my Lord.” My great task in life is to try to understand what that means and then to act accordingly. My search forces me to his teachings. He did not leave us writings. We are totally dependent upon the memories of those who heard him teach. There were many years between when he taught and when his reported teachings were reduced to writing. The oral traditions (memories) were held by illiterate Galileans, Their everyday language was Aramaic. They were typically women. Our earliest writers were educated men who lived about 70 miles south of Galilee. Greek was their language.

What was the path that took the message of Jesus from oral tradition to written records? Some followers of Jesus claim divine intervention to insure complete accuracy. I have chosen a different understanding. Biblical writings are to be studied, analyzed and interpreted with the very finest academic tools. This approach has led us to sophisticated studies of memory.

As surely as 2 plus 2 is four, reports of memory tell us more about the person who says “I remember” than about what actually happened or was said. Here is what we know. A person sharing a memory is fully convinced that what he saw and heard are being truthfully reported. He will repeat and even expand his version of his memory report. Those who hear a memory report will share and expand the report with good conscience. Is there any way we can access the teachings of Jesus with confidence?

Some verbal things are more easily and accurately remembered than others. The first are stories. The second are aphorisms (sayings). Jesus was a story teller, and he left us many aphorisms. He lived and taught in a verbal society. Estimates are that no more than three (3) percent of the population of Galilee were literate. When Jesus was teaching, there was no school or synagogue in Nazareth or the surrounding Galilean area. Poverty was deplorable. The stories (parables) of Jesus that survived are as close as we can get to the teachings of Jesus from Nazareth. Stories tell it best.

We have been left with a body of Jesus stories. The serious follower of Jesus needs to read and reread those stories. They are to be digested and made a part of the soul. While all are important, two of his parables in particular stand out and are very memorable. The story of the Good Samaritan and the story of the Prodigal Son. Three times in the Matthew gospel, we are told that Jesus looked upon crowds of people and had compassion on them. Both the Good Samaritan story and the Prodigal Son story are accounts of compassion in real life. Both stories have characters who ought to have had compassion and did not. Both stories have a hero who showed compassion at significant personal cost. Both show outcomes of restoration.

The story of Jesus from Nazareth is a story of compassion. “God so loved the world, that he gave us his son.” The bottom line of the Jesus story is that the creator God is a compassionate God. The great argument of the entire Bible is the nature of God. Is God a loving, giving, compassionate God? The heart of the Old Testament is also found in the surviving stories. One of the critical stories of the Old Testament is the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel. The background of the story is the conflict between farmers and herders and the use of land. Cain, a farmer, killed his brother, Abel, who was a herder. In the story God confronts Cain about what has happened. Cain responded “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” That question echoes throughout the Biblical writings. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Will human relationships be adversarial? Or will human relationships be supportive and compassionate?

Jesus comes down on the compassionate side of the argument. There is no evidence that he sought power. However, he spoke truth to power. To Cain’s question, Jesus answers with a resounding “yes!” Greatness is found in compassion, not in political or armed power. And certainly not in wealth. The stories tell it best.

Today Alaska and the United States are led by elected officials, who believe that greatness is achieved through power and wealth. There is little evidence that compassion is on their agendas. I cannot imagine a silent Jesus.

To my dismay many of my Christian sisters and brothers are supportive of the power and wealth proposals of our leaders. Even more are remaining silent as though no debate is taking place.

Jesus spoke the truth of compassion to a society that was drunk with wealth and power. So also ought his followers be voicing to the world that compassion makes more sense than wealth and power. It is the Christ way. The stories tell it best.

The End

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. He is the pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.