GodReflection:
Like tradition, the old train bed is there. Even though I hadn’t noticed it before, it was always in sight. Tradition good or bad is similar to that hidden train bed.
For reasons that I don’t fully understand, I have always been a late reader. Through the years names surface of those who examine Scripture and learn from the life of Jesus. I hear others refer to their work. Yet only later do these writers cross my path with perfect timing when it seems at that exact moment, I need their wisdom.
One such author is the late Dallas Willard. For years I heard others testify of his insights as they read his written thoughts and listened to him speak. Only in recent times have I started to read his books. In his 2007 book, The Divine Conspiracy: Jesus’ Master’s Class For Life, Willard explores Jesus’ teaching through his sermons on the mountain and the plains as he taught the multitude stretching to hear every word. The sound was good news to parched hearts.
In addition, Willard points to Jesus’ insightful use of parables. Jesus, the perfect teacher, takes objects from the everyday walk of the people and uses them to show the great love God has for each one who hears him teach.
That is sort of a long introduction to a modern-day parable insight I encountered some years ago in West Texas. It was there all along. I just didn’t see it. In accordance with my inquisitive wiring, “Aha” moments make a huge impression.
Because I have crisscrossed West Texas frequently since early adulthood, I know the layout of the roads. I don’t need a GPS—not because I am male—but due to familiarity.
Texas State Highway 83 shoots to the top of my familiar list. The description “countless” underestimates the number of times—and the variety of cars—I’ve steered up and down Highway 83.
Finally, on one trip something insightful met my eye. It caught me off guard. It was a hidden Jesus’ parable. I’m sure had he walked the arid 2lst Century West Texas, rather than 1st Century Palestine, he would use objects from its landscape as parables to teach us what God is like. There it was—a raised bed of vegetation parallel to my familiar road. At times the plants, weeds, and small trees disappeared to show an elevated gravel bed.
With my male blindness gene, the old, abandoned railroad bed was there all along—I was the one who failed to see it. Yes, the hidden railroad has the makings of a Jesus parable. Surely, Jesus wouldn’t have resisted. It perfectly illustrates the work of tradition.
It would not surprise me to learn that the railroad preceded the highway. In Texas history often that was the case. Tradition is like that. Good ideas attract. A company lays a railway bed, workers nail down the rails, trains begin, and someone has the brilliant idea to add a highway to parallel the tracks “so we can drive our own car.”
One piece upon another—I build my life upon tradition. Like tradition, the old train bed is there. Even though I hadn’t noticed it before, it was always in sight, if only I had recognized it. Since birth, I have lived within a stream of tradition. Many traditions are rich and wonderful. Many traditions honor God. Without tradition, I would be a poor soul indeed.
There are also harmful customs. My definition of a harmful tradition is any action that enters my DNA to hide Jesus from me or block him from the sightline of others. Here is what concerns me. An often-obscure line of hidden traditions parallels my life.
Like the overgrown Texas Highway 83 railroad bed, I follow unseen traditions. It is only when I begin to recognize the fact of their presence that I can evaluate good traditions from harmful ones. Are there traditions in my life that create a super magnetic field keeping my soul needle from pointing true north? Do we have traditions in our churches that hide Jesus from others?
Does my daily walk rely more on the railroad bed of traditions than upon Jesus as eternal truth? Do the traditions of our local groups of believers keep us from honoring Jesus’ heart in His desire that His church be one?
Just maybe—if I were to examine more closely my own hidden tradition bed—I might conclude that my set of “thus says the Lord” beliefs flow more from tradition than from God’s Holy Son.
Wouldn’t that exercise make me a greater participant as a unity creator in the body of Christ? Might a routine examination of my practices help me to be more like Jesus and less influenced by my environment?
What could Jesus select from your life’s walk to serve as a parable-aid to assist you as you grow into his likeness? I would love to hear from you.
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on A 21st Century Parable.
God Reflection 