I am reading Will This Rock in Rio by Ken Lottis. It’s a fantastic book, and I will review it on this blog later this week. In it, he explains how he and Jim Peterson invited Brazilian men to read the historical document of the gospel of John and ask two questions as they read: “What does this book say about Jesus?” and “If what it says is true, what should our response be?”
As I read, I began looking for opportunities to do the same thing. On Friday, I met a man named Jamie just hanging around outside my office. We talked for a few minutes, and then sensing an opening, said, “Hey, do you want to read a book about Jesus with me and talk about it?”
“I would love to!” he said. We read John 1 that day and talked about it for about an hour. Then we ran out of time.
Today he came back and asked to read and talk some more. For the next two hours we read and discussed John 2-4. Below are some of the comments he made as we read. You won’t hear these in any sermon…
John 2: Jesus turning water into wine
When Jamie read that Jesus turned six containers of water into wine, he said, “Hey, Jesus brought a six-pack to the party!” And when he read that each container held 20-30 gallons, he did the math, and when he realized that Jesus just made about 150 gallons of wine, said, “Man! I wish Jesus could come to one of my parties!”
I wanted to weep. Not because I was offended by Jamie’s comment. Far from it. Jamie saw immediately who Jesus is: Someone who was fun to hang out with.
John 4: The woman at the well in Samaria
When he read that Jesus sat down at a well with a woman and asked her to draw some water for him, he remembered what Jesus had done with the water in John 2, and said, “I know what’s coming! It’s going to be a well of wine!” It didn’t turn out that way, of course. But when Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come here,” he laughed out loud and said, “I see what Jesus is doing! He’s trying to get it on with her!”
It was the best “Bible study” I have ever been part of. His remarks were so fresh, honest, real…and insightful. And no, I never corrected Jamie’s thinking. To be honest, I didn’t have to. All I did was laugh along with him, then say, “Wow, I’ve never looked at it that way before. Let’s read on to see what happens.” And of course, Jesus doesn’t get drunk, and He doesn’t take the woman off to His hut. He just loves people, has fun with them, and invites them to believe in Him for eternal life. How simple and refreshing.
Bad Christian, Bad!
I must tell you, however, that part way through, a Christian that I work with saw what we were doing and asked if he could join. Inwardly, I groaned, but Jamie cheerfully said, “Yeah! The more the merrier.”
I felt bad as the discussion went on, because I had to keep telling this Christian to stop talking (he went on and on and on…and on). He kept wanting to go off and talk about the baptism of the spirit, and fasting and praying, and the importance of getting water baptized, and how infant baptism was not enough, and how we need to go to church, and pray in faith, really meaning it in our heart, and trusting God, and obeying God, and get on our knees before God, and ask God to do his will in our life, and read the Bible, etc., etc., etc.
At one point, he told some story about how even though the thief on the cross didn’t get baptized before he died, he really did get baptized because it rained on him. WHAT? Every time he started to talk, I wanted to pull my hair out, and I could tell that Jamie was getting more and more confused.
Oh, and he was present when Jamie thought that Jesus was hitting on the woman at the well. He didn’t laugh.
Sigh….
On a completely random way of ending this post, I saw a Hasidic Jew playing an electric guitar tonight while dancing and rapping. He was amazing on that guitar! Watching him rock like Jimi Hendrix while his curled side-burns bounced around as he danced is a sight I never thought I’d see. It’s a crazy world.
When someone finds out you are a Christian, how do they respond?
Frankly, I have the hardest time connecting with these people, because once they know I have been a “religious” leader, it seems that all they want to do is talk about devoted and dedicated they are. I find that I am often the one trying to change the subject to sports or the weather, but they keep bringing it back to their own religious efforts (e.g. “Yes, it is hot, and I’m so glad, because I prayed for good weather today.”)
Well … actually … it is true.