One of my favorite Bible teachers is in town this week, teaching at our local Christian conference and retreat center. I first “met” Michael Card through his music in the early 1990’s and, although stylistically it’s not my favorite music, the richness of theology, story, and faith that is packed into each song he’s written is phenomenal. A few years ago I went to hear him teach and was blown away by his depth of knowledge and passion for knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. He learned the Biblical languages and has spent decades studying the cultures in which Jesus lived and how that impacted his humanity and ministry. Obviously, there are many things we cannot know because we weren’t there when Jesus walked the earth, but when we use our “Biblical Imagination,” we may “get” what Jesus is saying. We can know Jesus in a way that we know no one else – not spouse, friend, child, etc. – because we know him through the Word in the Bible, our ongoing experiences with him, through stories shared in history, but – most importantly – through the Holy Spirit living within us.
The last time Card was local, he was teaching on the book he was writing on the hesed of Jesus. Hesed is a Hebrew word that has many, many layers of meaning, being incompletely encapsulated in, “When I deserve nothing, but I get everything.” I would highly recommend Michael Card’s book Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness. This week he’s teaching on a new book he’s writing that incorporates many lists. One of the comments he made was that “facts mean something.” For instance, if Jesus walked the 100 miles from Galilee to Jerusalem three times a year to participate in the Jewish festivals, that means he spent about three months a year walking to and from Jerusalem. Whenever the Bible concisely mentions that “Jesus was going to Jerusalem,” (i.e., Matthew 20:17), we have to step back and realize those five words represent 10 miles per day of walking. Using our Biblical Imagination we might ask, where did he sleep? did he travel with people? what did he eat? what were the weather and climate conditions like? why was it important for him to be in Jerusalem for these feasts?
After decades of research, Michael Card shared with us a few lists that are definitely interesting and even thought provoking. Here’s one:
Why Don’t I Know Jesus Better?
- distance and space – there are over 6000 miles between where we live and where he lived when he was on earth
- distance and time – there are over 2000 years between the time he lived on earth and now
- cultural distance – the Hellenistic, Roman, and Jewish cultures all blended together were the cultures in which Jesus lived and are very different than ours today
- we have approximately .09% of the life of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. If you figure out how much time it would have taken him to do certain things, and realize that the Bible only records about three years of his life, then you realize we have a very small snapshot of the totality of what life with Jesus would have been like.
- we’ve allowed other people to know him for us. The books we read, teachers we listen to, and other sources are very valuable – but they should not be substitutes for seeking to know Jesus for ourselves.
- when we read the read the Gospels it is with a great deal of familiarity, which means we anticipate what will be said next, without necessarily digging into the depths of what is there.
- we don’t necessarily like a lot of his friends. Tax collectors? Prostitutes? Smelly fishermen?
- we are frightened by the absolute Lordship and demands he places on our lives
I’ll share more lists in another post, but I believe the call to know Jesus better is important. God calls us to “be still and know he is God” and tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Jesus told us that when we get to know him, we get to know our Heavenly Father – and, by extension, Holy Spirit. And when we know God we can trust that he will never abandon us. Does knowing someone take some intentionality and work? Yes. But as Michael Card demonstrates, it’s worth it.
Lord God,
Thank you for the men and women of the faith who have gone before us and who teach us about what it means to know you and be in relationship with you. Thank you that you reveal yourself to us when we seek you, and you give us great wisdom and knowledge. Help us to know you and love you fully with our whole hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Holy Spirit, give us greater hunger and thirst to know God and to allow you to be Lord of our lives. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
“The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:29-30 NIV)
“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”” (Psalm 46:10 NIV)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7 NIV)
“Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10 NIV)
“Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit!” (Hebrews 12:1 MSG)
“Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” … On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:28-29, 37-39 NIV)
“Knowing You”
by Graham Kendrick
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this
Now my heart’s desire is to know You more
To be found in You and known as Yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness
Oh, to know the power of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death, my Lord
So with You to live and never die
Knowing You, Jesus
Knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness
And I love You, Lord
(c) 1993 Make Way Music