It’s not unusual to see inspirational thoughts, Bible verses or quotes posted
on the walls of the church facility. Last Sunday I saw a dozen or so little
silver picture frames scattered about the building each displaying the same
verse. I was somewhat taken back to read, “He
is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:6a NIV) In a flash I had my very own
Mary-at-the-tomb-moment and thought, ‘I’m
at church, what do you mean He’s not here?’ I really do have to laugh when
I think about how many of us began our search for the Lord by going to the
church and expecting to find Him there.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----I question the intellectual honesty of using a quote to connote what its author did not mean unless the situation of its usage clearly implies some sense of irony, sarcasm, or parallel import. It makes me cringe when I see it done, because communication happens far more on the levels of intuition, nuance, and emotion than it does on purely intellectual levels. Any statement does carry a purely intellectual message which can find acceptance within another mind when the stating of it also affects those more emotive natures. Taking advantage of ambiguity to paste a widely cherished quote upon a personally narrowed specific is the stuff making ulterior motive and deceit at worst and charming manipulation at least. “It is not about you, “ is a more poignant example of how a barge-full of specifically intended nuance unintentionally stirs controversy and confusion out of its intellectually ambiguous statement.
-----Ambiguity arises from the variety of senses an expression can have combined with the various aspects of the situation in which it is used. When a quote is involved, even more ambiguity is added by the fact that its statement was of a specific meaning knowable only by the original context of its original delivery. The quote must carry the same precision to accurately communicate. The angel at Jesus’ tomb spoke these words to the two Mary’s arriving that first, new Sunday Morning. The angel’s specific meaning is attested by his following statement that Jesus was on His way to Galilee where they would see Him. The intended meaning was obviously that Jesus was not at the tomb because He was elsewhere. We can then know that the angel was not at all meaning Jesus was no longer present on earth because He was risen. So, what could be meant by the hanging of those plaques around your church? It can only be based in metaphor, because the quoted statement does not apply to the time and location where they hang.
-----If the meaning is that Jesus has no presence there, they are totally wrong. He promised to be with us always, and He is. The people at your church don‘t mean that; I know them. Another possibility is that Jesus is not physically present at the plaques’ time and location, which is true and trivial, but not because He is risen. Jesus was both risen and physically present on His way to Galilee at that time. And for another forty days He was physically present at a lot of other places, too. So His being risen has nothing to do with where is not located. His location has everything to do with His being risen. And I believe that must be what these plaques somehow, metaphorically mean.
-----Giving the benefit of the doubt while retaining all proper precaution due doubt, and remembering that nuance is the greater part of communication, the plaques communicate not intellectually, but intuitively. Even with intellectual honesty aside, a fellowship of sincere and mature believers grows spiritually from ambiguous, intuitive communications, because the Holy Spirit works amongst them to keep communication’s intellectual effects at least parallel to Biblical truths, if not exactly on them.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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