How the Divine Narrative Disciples Us
Will you take your place within God's story?
“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” ― Philip Pullman
The People of God are a storied people meant to make meaning of life based on the Divine narrative.
Jesus was precisely oriented to that story.
It was a narrative that gave Jesus’ life, words, and works meaning, shape, and concrete grounding. His first words in public demonstrate this: The time is fulfilled (Mark 1:15). Jesus was deeply aware that in and through him the long story of God and Israel—from Divine intention to Divine fulfillment—was coming to fruition. It was Jesus’ orientation to story that led him to help downcast, mistaken, “foolish” disciples (Luke 24:25) by using story, by beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, to explain to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself (Luke 24:27).
Later, he ministered to troubled and doubting friends by reminding them of God’s story: This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44).
Rival Stories
There are a lot of competing stories today. Typically, they are not harmonious with Jesus’ worldview. Politically based accounts of what is important are most obvious in this election cycle. This was familiar territory for Jesus. He did his work surrounded by lots of religious and political antagonism, most of which he knew to be based on errant thinking. Jesus was successful and fruitful because he lived patiently committed to the long story of his Father, a completely alternative story to the stories on offer in his day. Jesus knew his Father’s story had its own vision, values, priorities, practices, and outcomes. This meant Jesus ruffled the feathers of both Roman rulers and various religious resistance movements.
Anglican Baptism liturgy asks those publicly confirming their faith to commit their lives to Christ and his story, in part through a series of renunciations:
Do you renounce the devil and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
Do you renounce the empty promises and deadly deceits of this world that corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?
Do you renounce the sinful desires of the flesh that draw you from the love of God?
For our work here, we may want to add: God, I renounce any story that is a rival to your kingdom, to your Divine narrative from creation to the New Heaven and New Earth.
Entering God’s Story
A core aspect of the Divine narrative is that it invites our participation. It summons us to take our unique place in what is now like a long relay race, from:
Noah to Abraham to Isaac/Jacob/Joseph to Moses/Aaron to Joshua to Saul/David (Kings) to Esther to Samson and Deborah (Judges) Elijah and Elisha (Prophets) to Mother Mary to John the Baptist, Jesus, the Apostles to the early Mothers and Fathers…
By making a decisive choice to enter God’s story and to participate in this historic relay race, we find meaning for the unfolding eras of life, from youth to old age, through plenty and want, in sickness and in health.
Making meaning of our discipleship to Jesus through God’s story leads us to discover our calling and to experience Divine commissioning. The call and commission in turn give us the ability to be a faithful presence to whatever is real in the world, our city, our family, ourselves.
Golden threads are woven throughout the story of scripture, and the story is impossible without them. Among these are the threads of humble submission, confident obedience, and joyful surrender to the story of God. God’s story is the location of ultimate security. Confidence in such safety comes from these famously storied reactions in the Bible:
· John the Baptist, grasping his role in the story, said: Jesus must become greater; I must become less (John 3:30).
· Paul, experiencing all manner of suffering within the story of God (see for instance, 2 Corinthians 11:16-33), said: offer every part of yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness (Romans 6:13).
· Jesus taught that living in the Kingdom-of-God story would entail losing our old life to find a new one (Matthew 16:25).
· From confidence in his Father’s story, Jesus prayed and taught us to pray: your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10) and not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:39).
· Discovering God’s story on the loose in a new way, Mary spoke maybe the most impressive words of joyful surrender ever: I am the Lord’s servant, may it be unto me according to your word. (Luke 1:38).
As the invitation to participate in God’s story stands before us, I want my life, and yours, too, to take their place within the story to which Mary was committed. Let us join our hearts and wills with hers, singing in unison with her: I am the Lord’s servant, may God’s story be unto me according to his word.