Become What You Believe

I have been able to continue my daily reading of the book of John, a practice that I started at the end of my onground intensive for my certificate in spiritual direction.  I continue to be intrigued by what leaps out at me--I'm going through John, a chapter a day, for the 3rd time.  I've also been reading another Gospel chapter by chapter.  Last month it was Mark.  This month it's Matthew.

I've been using the Bible Gateway site which lets me choose the version of the Bible I read.  I almost always read The Message, but sometimes others as well.  I'm intrigued by the language that Eugene Peterson uses.  There's language that I think will feel dated in a few decades.  But more delightful is the language that makes me see the passage in a new way.

This morning, I read the ninth chapter of Matthew, and this language jumped out at me, from chapter 29:  "He touched their eyes and said, 'Become what you believe.'”

Here's the same verse from the New Revised Standard Version:  "Then he touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith let it be done to you.'”

It's an interesting shift in verbs--the Message gives the believer more agency.  The NRSV is more passive.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled coverage of the end times:  corona virus, stock market slide, choose your horse, choose your rider.

Modern Beatitudes

I have been reading the Gospel of John side by side with the Gospel of Mark.  Every day I read the next chapter.  Earlier in the year, I read a variety of translations.  Once I made my way through the Gospel of John, I decided that I like The Message best.

I've been thinking about what we gain and what we lose when we read the Bible in a more modern translation/inspiration/illumination.  The Message is probably what's most familiar to the widest variety of Bible readers, but I've found myself thinking about Nadia Bolz-Weber's translation of the Beatitudes into a text with more modern examples.

Here's what leapt out at me a few weeks ago when I came across this reading:  "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are those who make terrible business decisions for the sake of people."

Throughout my administrator life, I've been criticized for thinking about the plight of adjuncts instead of profits.  I've been criticized for going with 2 small sections instead of combining them into one large section:  from the point of view of profits, I'd make a different choice.  In terms of better learning, I'll always be convinced that small classes are better than larger ones.

And yes, you would think that I work in education, so I shouldn't have to spend so much time arguing that student learning is our highest priority.  You would be wrong.

And the sad thing is that we don't save much money when we combine sections; we're not talking tens of thousands of dollars.  Sigh.

I've returned to this translation of the Beatitudes every several days, and I find it both a comfort and a rallying cry.  In these times of strange messages from the larger culture, it's marvelous to be reminded of a different vision of right behavior:  God's vision.

The Message vs. Other Translations

It's been a week now since I began each morning reading a chapter of John.  The first morning, I read chapter 1 in the first translation that the Bible Gateway site gave me, something like the NIV.  Just out of curiosity, and because it's so easy, I then read the version found in The Message.  And then, I read a few others:  the NRSV and the Jubilee version (never heard of that one).

Each morning, I've read a chapter in a non-Message version and then turned to The Message.  I've been struck each morning by how much better I like the passage when I read it in Peterson's translation/paraphrase.  What an amazing resource!

I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like The Message, but I know they're out there.  I've even heard of churches--mainline Protestant churches, that have banned that version.  I don't understand why.  Peterson isn't some wild-eyed kook, after all--he's a trained theologian with many years of pastoring experience.

I'm glad to have his translation because my experiment in reading the book of John over and over again will be richer for it.  John has never been my favorite Gospel--all the mystical language makes me want to turn to a different Gospel.  But the language that Peterson uses makes it so much better.

Here's an example, John 8:  23-24,  first in the NRSV:

23 He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”[f]
And now, The Message:

23-24 Jesus said, “You’re tied down to the mundane; I’m in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I’m living on other terms. I told you that you were missing God in all this. You’re at a dead end. If you won’t believe I am who I say I am, you’re at the dead end of sins. You’re missing God in your lives.”

The NRSV makes my head hurt--and worse, I can see the language that's been used to oppress, or worse, to kill those that have a different belief system.  In The Message, I don't have the same struggle.  And I love the idea that the people are missing God--not just Jesus standing before them, but the work of God going on all around them.

And instead of Hell and sin language, we get the idea of a dead end.  It's easy to dismiss Hell and sin language as having nothing to do with us in our modern times.  But dead ends?  Who can't relate to that?

What a gift Peterson has given us with The Message.  I am in awe of his gifts.