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March 10, 2010Israel: Day 3
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First, seeing the place where Jesus’ life and ministry took place has reminded me just how different the cultural context of Jesus’ ministry was from the cultural context in which I worship him. Walking around the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, and the Dead Sea, the hymns of Martin Luther seem dramatically out of place. So do the worship songs we sing in my contemporary church. This land inspires a different kind of expression, and the people here worship differently as a result.
Does that mean my kind of worship is inadequate or impure? Does the fact that Jesus lived and ministered in the Middle East mean he thinks and behaves like a Middle Easterner and doesn’t understand my mindset? Do I need to change my culture to become more like Jesus? Of course not. Understanding the context of Jesus’ ministry certainly helps us understand his teachings (and I don’t mean to diminish this critical aspect to Bible study), but Jesus is above culture. He lives way outside this and all other cultures. He created cultures and the people in them. The creator is never limited by his creation.
Second, visiting churches and other places sacred to Christians has reminded me how varied are the faces of those who follow Christ. I have seen pilgrims here from all over the world, speaking many languages, sometimes in unison. At one church, I saw believers from South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, and North America worshiping God at one time, each in their own language and their own way.
While these Christians probably differ widely on some points of theology, all believers saved by Jesus’ sacrificial grace are brothers and sisters. That means we’re part of one huge, confusing, dysfunctional, multi-colored and multi-language family! Does this diminish Christ and his relevance? Does it make him confusing? Not at all. Jesus transcends these cultures as well. These many faces of Christianity merely reinforce Jesus’ relevance to all people at all times.
I love that about him.
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