Bryan Richardson

Query

Re:Verse reading–John 4:4-30, 39-42 (day three)

“Could this be the Christ?”

Sometimes—probably most times—a question carries more power than a statement. A question invites another person into the process of discovery. A question adopts a humble posture, not claiming to have all the answers. Perhaps most important, a question presents an alternative to what one has always accepted as immovable, settled, conventional wisdom. If the woman on her water errand had returned to the village declaring unequivocally that she had found the Christ, the likely responses would have been either disbelief or a tendency to regard her as the gatekeeper of her discovery. Instead, her question prompted the townsfolk to investigate for themselves. In this world, many people claim many things. In the midst of that noise, a well-placed question will invite all true searchers to open a door they might otherwise never notice.

You

Re:Verse reading–John 3:1-21 (day three)

“Whosoever believeth”

The most amazing thing about God is not his exclusivity. That’s simply a function of how God designed the universe to operate logically: Two competing truth claims cannot both be correct. But the most amazing thing about God is his radical inclusivity. “Whosoever will may come.” Who gives invitations like that? Everybody excludes somebody. You’ve never planned a party for which you’ve said absolutely anybody can attend. Life eventually breaks it to you that there’s an “A” list out there somewhere that you’re not on. In the grand old English of the King James translation, we read, “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And the grand old lyrics of a long-forgotten hymn remind us: “Whosoever Meaneth Me”. Yes, when Jesus says “whosoever”, that means you. And if it means you, then it means everybody.

Ask

Re:Verse reading–John 2:1-22 (day three)

“Why do you involve me?”

Sometimes Jesus’s questions sound like he’s annoyed: “Who made me an arbiter between you and your brother?” or “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” or “Why do you involve me?” Well, is he irritated? Maybe. I mean, come on. He’s not going to pretend to cherish every request that rolls off your brain. Any displeasure with us isn’t born of pettiness, though. What gives him concern is that we often ask for things as a shortcut for growing: I don’t want to do the hard work of finding peace with my brother, or I want somebody to tame the universe for me instead of learning to live confidently in it, or I’ve taken on responsibility for others’ happiness. Make requests, absolutely. But know that every response will call you to learn Jesus’s kind of life.

See

Re:Verse reading–John 1:1-18 (day three)

“No one has ever seen God.”

On the one hand, we feel the necessity to author our own version of the Almighty, because, hey, who really knows? On the other hand, we feel scared to death that we’re missing something important because, again, who really knows? John tapped into that dichotomy with precision. It’s all exhilarating—until you really need some wisdom, until you can’t seem to stop who you’re becoming, until you’ve realized you’re in this all by yourself. Some will self-medicate, others will turn to innumerable diversions, still others will settle for cynicism. John acknowledges that we’re all in the dark. And then he makes a claim: God has come to us; he’s the Son. Is it worth considering that this claim might be true? Jesus’s way of life pretty clearly invites all drunkards, seekers, and scoffers to investigate.

Hubris

Re:Verse reading 2 Corinthian 12:1-10 (day three)

To keep me from becoming conceited…

Can you be trusted with power? Whether it’s a car engine or a piece of exclusive news, the opportunities to exercise power over others exert a strong force on your life. What is it about seeing motorists recede in your rearview mirror, or watching others hang on your every word as you reveal something they’re dying to know? Horsepower and headlines will tend to convince you that you’re important—and then, more important than others. Those are relatively low stakes, but what happens when pride arises in matters of greater importance? Pride will render a heart incapable of love. And so, further questions: What would you do if you did not love? Why would you not view others as obstacles to your will? Paul isn’t talking about being “stuck up”. He’s talking about being deadly.

Words

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 10 (day three)

“…so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you.”

Jesus told us to exercise great care in the way we use language. He well knew that we’re capable of using explanations to obfuscate, questions to manipulate, and answers to complicate. “Yes” comes with strings attached. “No” serves as a way to marginalize others. Paul urgently seeks to clarify that he has not weaponized his strong language to the Corinthians. He eagerly desires that he and the church speak to each other plainly and without pretense so that all their energy can instead go toward showing Christ to the human race. We have to figure this out. If the church can’t speak rightly to one another, there’s no way it can say anything to the world.

Curtain

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 7:5-16 (day three)

“This body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within.”

There is a triumphalist tendency in popular Christianity which airbrushes and streamlines the rough and tumble of faith in Christ. The result is the prettiest pictures of Christians you could ever imagine: nice, sincere, unflappable, harboring no doubts, no anxieties, no sadness. Rubbish. If you would love your neighbor—a person whose life you can actually affect—it is necessary that you lay bare your weakness. Not your theoretical weakness—as in “I was blind but now I see” or “They are weak but he is strong”—but your actual weakness. Pull back the curtain. The world’s aching need is a vision of somebody confident enough in Christ to struggle before others as a weak person in real time.

Disciple

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 4 (day three)

“What is seen is temporary.”

Paul said it earlier: “The world in its present form is passing away.” The pattern of this age, the stopgaps, the diversions, the workarounds—all of what we think of as “just the way things are”—really have only the most tenuous hold on the universe. It’s only a matter of time before these bankrupt systems of living completely collapse. You might not want to get too celebratory about that just yet. How are we supposed to live if we can’t depend on what we thought were the cold hard facts of life? Don’t repeal if you can’t replace. This is what Paul was getting at when he spoke of his longing that “Christ be formed” in people. Christ teaching you your work habits, Christ teaching you how to think—determine to learn from him.

Pause

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 1:12-24, 2:1-11 (day three)

“It was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.”

Paul was right about the Corinthian church. He was right, and history would bear him out. It would have been a glorious moment of battle for the sake of purity in the church, with his detractors vanquished and the church cleansed of all the troublemakers. But Paul had learned long ago that the upper hand has no place in the fellowship of love. With one fiery visit he would have saved the idea of church, only to kill its community. The church is not an idea. It is a people. And people learn painstakingly, and minds change incrementally. So love—the most powerful force in the universe—is slow. Waiting means more than winning. Weakness means more than waylaying. And then people learn to live like Jesus.

Meaning

Re:Verse reading–2 Corinthians 1:1-11 (day three)

“If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation.”

The real wreckage that has resulted from the fall of man is not that suffering occurs. It is that we have no idea what suffering means. A well-known author and lecturer with an atheistic perspective sums up his understanding of humanity’s quest as avoidance of suffering. What an impoverished legacy such a viewpoint would leave to us. If there is nothing more at the base level of reality than the maintenance of ease for a little while, then we are nothing more than collections of decaying molecules. But Paul—following the trail blazed by Jesus Christ—wakes us up to the knowledge that suffering itself testifies to a glory that was lost, and can be found again.