Crowded out

The streets are giving me a cold shoulder.

This was a snowfall to remember. The remarkable thing wasn’t the depth of the snow that we received, but the solid crust that formed on top, 3-4 inches thick. It was like being given a yard full of building bricks. And people used them.

There were igloos aplenty around the neighborhood, and one person built a huge Jenga tower.

But for a dedicated walker like me, it created problems. Because the ice was so hard to move, once it was piled up along the streets it forced pedestrians out nearly into traffic.

 

Parking became a huge problem. The deck many of us use to park for church was completely closed off. (This begs the question: before they sealed it off, did they move the police cars normally parked there?)

These blocked entrances are a good visual for something Jesus said. In John 8, Jesus gets into a difficult exchange with listeners in the temple who John says had “believed him.” Despite that “belief,” they start to stiff-arm him with their standing as descendants of Abraham, taking umbrage at his statement that belief in him would set them free.

In response, Jesus gives a very pointed diagnosis of their problem:

“My word can find no room in you.”  John 8:37

Commentators point out that the subject here is my word, hence the reordering of the usual translation. We can picture Jesus’s teaching actively seeking an entrance into the hearts of his listeners but finding no space to squeeze in.

It’s like it meets a huge pile of immovable ice.

What crowded out his teaching? As I mentioned in a previous post, these beginning chapters of John line up a string of encounters with people who struggle to understand what Jesus is trying to tell them. Repeatedly, what gets in the way are their presuppositions. They have in place a paradigm for how religion should work.

It’s often about how to relate to God. Or what the Messiah should be like. Or here, that what matters most is one’s heritage.

Jesus tackles these snow-blocks with a range of approaches. At times, he’s direct. At others, he uses metaphors. He even occasionally enters their paradigm to show the inconsistency of what they hold dear.

This man I passed didn’t mess around. He used a chain saw to carve through the thick crust. This dialogue in John 8 builds to Jesus declaring that “before Abraham was, I AM!” (v.58), which feels like a chain-saw cut through their presumptions.

But I’m reminded that Jesus doesn’t cut through, doesn’t dismantle our wrong ideas just to prove he’s right. He’s trying to make space.

It’s like this channel I hacked out to the mailbox. He cuts away so that we can get more of his message to us.

What false thinking must get carved out in us to make room for his life-giving word?

Gracious Lord, show us what in each of us crowds out your word. We want to make room! Help us in this.

Reader: What usually works best to help you identify thinking you need to change – a gentle nudge, an engaging metaphor or a chain-saw directness?