Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Over the last sixteen weeks I've been leadign this study though John's account of the Gospel. A big part of the narrative are Christ's seven "I am" statements (I am the Bread of Life, I am the Light of the World, I am the Door, I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Life and the Resurrection, I am the True Vine and I am the Way, the Truth and the Life). The other day I was thinking about these ways that Christ identifies Himself to His disciples as a way to help them understand who He was. It occurred to me that while some of these statements are pretty culturally invariant (I am the Light of the World), there are several that are pretty culturally specific. An example would be "I am the Good Shepherd." This statement makes a lot of sense in a culture where there are lots of herd animals but it's not so accessible to those of us who grew up in a urban setting where the only herd animals we might see are the 9-5er's getting into there cars to stream into the city's business core.

So I began to wonder what sorts of I am statements Jesus might have made today. Not really cliche stuff or trivial stuff but things that truly allow us to see some deep part of His being in ways that are relevant to our culture today. I thought that one might have to do with the creative arts; maybe something like, "I am the Patient Sculptor." In the time of Christ in Palestine two thousand years ago I don't think that society was affluent enough to support much in the way of the arts. In the period of the monarchy 800 years earlier though it was and we see God identified with creative expression frequently in the lives of David and Solomon. I wonder if that would be true again today. I wonder what other metaphors He might use?

If you can think of something, let me know by leaving a comment. I'd really like to hear what others have to think.

Thanks for reading.

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