LET’S NOT CONFINE HIM TO A BOOK OR HISTORY

I like the tender story of the artist who had a deep love for his wife. When death claimed her he assuaged his grief by painting a likeness of her in his favorite setting. In the painting he had her seated in the front porch swing, framed by beautiful flowers. With his work of art almost finished he rested himself in a nearby chair, and he fell asleep as he lingered over the likeness of the one who meant so much to him. As he slept he dreamed. The woman in the swing stepped down out of the picture and came near to the atrist. Once awake he marvelled over the experience, that the woman he had created on canvas had come alive.

Our relationship with Jesus Christ can be like that. With pen rather than brush those who knew Jesus personally as a friend painted their portraits of him in words. And so we have him in a Book, a glorious gift indeed. We also have him in history, the most impressive figure of all human history. He really lived at one time in a lowly town called Nazareth. He walked the shores of Galilee and the dusty roads of Judea, dreaming of a reign of God upon earth. He died for those dreams. In overcoming death and giving mankind hope he was not only in history but he changed the course of history.

But we must not confine our Lord to a Book, however praiseworthy be that Book, or to history, for he is more than all books and all history.

Just as we cannot confine him to creeds or to ecclesiastical structures. He cannot be restricted to our doctrinal systems or our interpretations. Words about him, even his own words, however important, can mean only so much. They are like a painting upon a canvas. They are not in themselves life, for only he is life.

When the artist created the likeness of his wife it may have satisfied his memory but not his longing, for he still had only a piece of cloth and not his wife. His deepest need was satisfied only when she came alive, stepped out of the picture and drew near to him. A letter from one we love, however treasured, is still only words upon a page. When those words stir our hearts and quicken our minds so that the loved one comes alive once more and lives in our memory and imagination, then there is power in what is written.

We must allow Jesus to step out of the pictures and the structures that men have created of him and draw near to us. This involves far more than quoting a string of Bible verses. There is more to it than knowing the Bible narratives about Jesus. We can confine Jesus to scriptures and structures in the same way the artist’s wife was confined to paint and cloth. In our dreams (imagination) he must come alive, step outside the Bible and make his home in our hearts.

I hope the reference to imagination is not too much for you, for it is the basis of all faith. Faith is imagination full grown. A man dreams of what his business might be, and after awhile we have IBM, DuPont, and General Motors — or McDonald’s, which began with one runty store and a dream. We “imagine” what we might become, or we dream dreams for our children, and there are the Einsteins, the Shakespeares, and the Lincolns. Imagination lies behind all the great inventions.

By our imagination, which is a gift of God, Jesus is not confined to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well or to the disciples in Gethsemane. He can be with us in the home and at the office as much as he was with Peter, James, and John on the shores of Galilee. If the Samaritan woman talked to him we can too, and if he quietened the storms that raged in the lives of his disciples he will be with us amidst life’s tumults. The old Scot who in his loneliness went so far as to place a chair at the table for his friend Jesus was drawing upon imagination which builds faith. The more we imagine his presence (practicing the presence of God!) the sooner we will truly believe that he is indeed with us.

The only way I know to practice the presence of God is to practice the presence of Christ. God is with us when Christ is with us. If we imagine Christ as with us when we make those dreadful trips to the cemetery and when we undergo surgery and when we play with children in the park, imagination will eventually become simple trusting faith. “I am with you always” is a promise that inspires a faith that reaches beyond the first century and beyond the printed page.

To redeem the world the God of heaven did not give us a book or an institution but a Person. That Person is alive now as ever before. He is as much with us, if we welcome his presence, as he has been with our sisters and brothers in ages past. He transcends time. Time is nothing, for he remains the same, yesterday, today, and forever. The picture we have of him in Scripture is a precious possession, but it remains no more than paper and ink until we allow him to step out of the picture and make his home in our hearts and rule as sovereign over our lives. — the Editor