learning from elephants

Apparently there’s an Indian parable about four blind men who encounter an elephant. One finds the trunk and describes a very different animal to the person who finds the tail. Another finds a leg and describes a very different beast to the one who feels the elephant’s ear. The parable is supposed to tell us that different faiths are merely different ways of describing God.

Now I am NOT saying that there is no truth or good in other faiths. But the message of Jesus is, in my opinion, pretty exclusive. He is the only one whose death makes a difference to our relationship with God. He is the only one whose resurrection affirms our hope of resurrection and offers eternal life.

However that parable seems to me to be apt if applied to the gospels. What we have are four eyewitnesses who are describing the same thing but from different perspectives. Matthew, writing for a predominantly Jewish audience tells us how the Jesus narrative fulfils the Old Testament prophecies. Jesus IS the Promised One. Luke, writing for a predominantly non-Jewish reader, wants to emphasise how anyone can be a follower of Jesus. He sets out to write ‘an orderly account’. Mark is in a hurry (look how many times he writes ‘immediately’ or ‘the next day’). He writes about Jesus probably to a community under duress, to reassure them of who Jesus is and encourage them in their faith. God wins. John looks at things very differently (I think he got the trunk!). Instead of a chronological narrative John takes events from Jesus’ life and comments on them for us. Indeed my own theory is that what we have with John is a collection of his sermons. He affirms who Jesus is through his words and actions, which are ‘signs’ to lead his listeners / readers to faith.

It is assumed that Matthew and Luke had sight of Mark’s gospel when they wrote because the order of events and the events recorded are very similar to Mark, but they have added details for their readers. That may be so. I don’t have a problem with them doing that. But even if they used Mark’s structure they told the narrative in ways that were relevant and appropriate to their audience.

That’s a lesson for us all today. How can we tell the Jesus narrative in ways that are relevant to the people we encounter? On Sunday evening we will have a go at this by watching the film ‘Despicable Me’ and seeing what it reveals to us of the gospel of Jesus and how it relates to people today. If you are in Colchester on Sunday evening (6pm) you would be very welcome to join us and join in.

Be blessed, be a blessing.

Another elephant-related lesson:

At the College / Minister Factory where I trained we were asked the question, “How do you eat an elephant?”

The answer: “One mouthful at a time.”

Don’t get hung up on the ethics of eating elephants or endangered species issues, the elephant is imaginary. It was intended as another parable about how you tackle big problems.