Understanding A Sunday Lesson

Understanding A Sunday Lesson

By Les Voth

I went to church on Sunday and listened to a Christian missionary from a land far, far away. I’m gonna call him Bill - just because.

During the hour before the service/sermon, Bill’s wife told of some of challenges, victories, struggles and highlights of their life on the other side of the globe. Thirty years have passed since Bill and his wife committed to their life of service. They know more stuff than they did a while ago.

I used to ask my boys, when we had disagreements during lessons - "How old are you?"

All puffed up with the pride of survival thus far, the answer came - "Four, Dad. I’m four years old!"

Then I’d ask the four year-old - with the intent of waiting for their answer, without interruption - "So you’re four years old. Do you think you’ll know more when you’re fourteen, than now, when you’re four?"

Waiting and watching without interruption/interference it was fun and instructive to watch eyes dart and body squirm as a four year-old mentally "put on" the much larger suit and intellect of their imaginary fourteen year-old future self.

With eyes wide with wonder they would always, passionately declare that, yes, they would know waaay more in ten more years.

In keeping with the mood - and the state the boy was now in - I would gently remind him that I was 44, and might know a couple things, too.

Done respectfully and with patience the exercise usually had the desired effect.

"Ok, Dad . . ."

So, Sunday . . .

Bill and his bride had been in "The Mission Field" on the other side of the globe for 30 years. With that kind of time and experience - I gave them the credibility they’d earned.

I listened . . .

"Bill", and "Jack", a fellow from the local Christian community, had been trying to reach/communicate with "Tom" for years. Tom wouldn’t even speak to either man. Tom was secure where he was. He was openly hostile to anything new - even if he’d never heard a word from it.

Tom wasn’t interested in hearing, associating, or being seen with Bill and/or Jack.

Until now.

Tom conceded to having a meal with Bill and Jack.

Now, Bill was the expert. There was a way to "break the ice" with hostile people in the culture they lived in. Bill had a plan . . . But he’d brought Jack . . .

Jack was of the local culture, born and raised. Jack had such a passion for Jesus that he thought of little else. Jack disrupted Bill’s carefully considered plan - and shot out of the gate!

Jack whipped open his Bible and started reading aloud to Tom at Mathew 5:1. Jack read to Tom straight through to Mathew 7:29!

What happened?

Bill sat still with his mouth shut - on the outside. Inside, Bill squirmed like a kid on his first day of school. He knew this wasn’t a good idea. They were gonna lose this guy for sure. Jack should have let him lead the conversation.

Bill’s Way Was Better And Bill Knew It!

What the world was Bill gonna do with Jack after it all came apart . . . ? If they even lived through the aftermath . . .

Jack got to the last verse. Tom hadn’t said anything, interrupted, or fidgeted.

Now Tom spoke. "Jack! You can’t read it that fast! Every single sentence is so powerful! You need to read it slower! Much slower! You - must - absorb - each - sentence!"

Not exactly the response Bill had anticipated.

Imagine keeping your mouth shut for that long when you think/know the other guy is wrong . . .

Bill doesn’t have a problem with the passage that Jack read to Tom. Heck, it’s known as "The Sermon On The Mount". It was a teaching that Jesus gave to his disciples. A Christian missionary couldn’t have a problem with that.

The problem was an internal issue about "technique" - form over function, per-say.

To Bill’s credit, neither Jack nor Tom knew of Bill’s disagreement on technique during Jack’s passionate performance. Also, to Bill’s credit, Bill was humble enough to admit he wasn’t always right, or in control of beginning or outcome.

Making sense of it for those who have tarried on the page thus far:

Imagine all of the above occurring in a culture where it’s perfectly okay for Tom to have lopped off Bill’s and Jack’s head for being insulted . . . Bill’s got some guts - and the wisdom to not only have survived for 30 years there. But he also raised a family there.

Bill knew some stuff before the meal. He learned more during the meal. He admitted it.

To make even more sense of it:

Read the passage yourself. Count the words in the passage. Then divide the word count by 175. That’s (175) approximately how many words we speak in a minute. That’s how many minutes - approximately - Bill sat still and listened.

It’s also how many minutes Tom sat and listened to something that he’d never heard before in his life - with his mouth shut - while deciding how powerful those words are, 2000 years after they were spoken by their author.

So, you’re sitting there with someone you don’t want anything to do with. They start talking . . . Do you listen until the punch line? Or do you cut them off, blow them off - knowing they don’t even deserve to live . . . ?

Or . . . Do you hear the most powerful message you’ve ever heard in your life?