It’s always amazed me how two people can look at the same thing or experience the same event and both describe it differently.
It’s the story of people blindfolded telling someone about an elephant by describing the part they can touch.
“An elephant is like a fan,” says the one touch the ear.
“An elephant is like a big snake,” retorts the one touching the trunck.
“An elephant is like a paint brush,” counters the one touching the tail.
They are all wrong. The elephant is much more than their limited knowledge.
I suspect how I describe Jesus is like this. My witness, what I see and know about Jesus, is limited to my perspective. I might describe Jesus as Teacher and Friend. Another might recognize Jesus as Advocate. Another as Guide.
Our witness is our experience. And we leave a lot out.
Of course, everything the people aid about eth elephant, or what I might say about Jesus is also true.
An elephant is like a fan and a snake and a paint brush if you look at it a certain way. The same could be said about Jesus. He is Teacher and Friend and Advocate and Guide.
Our witness will be true but incomplete.
Unless…
We all compare notes. What if the blindfolded folks all got together, shared what they had discovered and built a more complete picture? As more experience gets added a clearer picture emerges.
Could the same be true about JEsus?
What if my sharing, my witness, was added to yours? And we gathered with others and added their understanding as well. It’s not that anything goes (we wouldn’t say an elephant is like a flat screen television…at least i don’t think we would). We’d test the additions and if they panned out they’d become part of a collective witness, a shared experience of Jesus.
I suspect we’d never run out of ways to describe Jesus (maybe not an elephant either) and that’s part of what is so wonderful about this idea to me. There’s always more to discover and more witness to be included. Everybody’s story could find a place. Everybody could contribute to our greater understanding. Everybody could contribute.
So tell me, what is your story? How has Jesus impacted your life? What is God doing in and through you?
We can swap stories and in so doing celebrate a deeper, richer relationship with Jesus and with each other.
Can I get a witness?
Life is better together,
Shawn
Big Rubber Band Ball 