thanks DNB, the hips are as good as new ones. They were put in fifteen years ago and I can't fault them apart from the odd squeak. Oil changes weren't spoken about and thats a fact and squeaking wasn't either which they have done much to my surprise..... and thats a fact also
....all in all I nearly get around like a twenty year old and I'm 86.....oops, I musta got some facts wrong.....let me correct that....now let me see....68, now that's better.....nothing like getting the numbers back to front
It's like this DNB; Beverly's account is a
story......
a story to make a point, nay, several points.....her point being to give a perspective on The Woman other than the traditional. It is to highlight Jesus's attitude to this traditional view (he dismissed it) whether it be the cultural setting of the day or the current. She highlights the current in her observation about the content of our bible commentaries on this matter.....of the cultural attitudes of the day this is no mystery; the record on the silence of the disciples in context speaks volumes.
Another point is to shown how human, how close and how approachable Jesus is for
all peoples which is particularly sweet for the marginalised and downtrodden.
Now while we are talking about stories, Jesus told plenty of them.....often drawn from life around him. He did this to help people relate to
the point he was making. Whether the story was true (factual) or not was beside the point. For instance when he told the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus he was using a the story of a well known myth to make
his point, he was not giving a dissertation on the state of the dead as some suppose. He even tells his audience what
his point is at the end of the
story and people understood this.
An illustration....."There were three men, an American, a Canadian and a Jew......." Straight away you know I'm about to tell story and you listen intently because you know the story has a punch line (a point) and you're waiting for it. The story is no more factual (true) than if during a heavy downpour I said, 'it's raining cats and dogs'.....you understand what I mean without question.
And so it was when Jesus told stories, some factual some not. The objective was
the point.
I would like to say something about inspiration. The Spirit moved on the apostles to write. They wrote about what they saw and heard and experienced..... in their own words. God did not dictate to them word for word what was to be written.
God's Spirit works with people today through their own experience and through their intellect. He rarely bypasses the natural processes of understanding. If you have been privileged by being raised in an immediate Christian environment your understanding of biblical concepts, of ideas, of metaphors come a lot easier than if you were raised in a culture foreign to Christian values. It is very helpful for many folk to have
points explained in words other than actual scripture. Isn't that what sermons are meant to be about?.....otherwise what's the point of hearing a sermon if you can
get it by reading yourself?
Yes, it is also God given that Men of God explain things to us in words we can relate to.....just as Phillip did with the Ethiopian Eunuch.
To summarise, Beverly Beem tells her story to this end.....to draw us closer to each other and to Jesus.