Spoke to the Heart
What DID Jesus DO?
It was the late ‘90s, and three times a week I had to suffer through chapel services at the Christian College I attended. One of the ways the staff attempted to garner interest and keep students from sleeping and doing homework during chapel was to bring in guest speakers. Several of them left strong impressions on me–some good and others not so good.
One individual who left a lasting impact on me showed up in our rural Midwestern chapel blasting popular rock music of the day–secular rock music, unedited secular rock music. Looking around during this service, you could see various audience members–students and staff alike–clutching their metaphorical pearls.
Throughout the service, the speaker displayed lyrics from popular secular music of the day, played snippets from a variety of them, and proceeded to interpret what all of these songs meant, ultimately beating us over the heads with all of the reasons we shouldn’t be listening to this kind of music.
There was some shouting, excessive reprimands, guilt-inducing manipulation, and a strong emphasis on our behavior.
What followed was uproar on campus–not because students were hosting album-burning parties or repenting from their evil ways. No, folks couldn’t believe this man played this devil music in the sanctuary of the Lord, even though it tended to be blaring in many of their dorm rooms on campus.
The entire point of his message was lost due to his delivery and his focus on changing behavior instead of changing hearts.
Conversely, I remember when Brennan Manning came to campus to speak. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with Manning and his work. I didn’t know his history or his writing, so you can imagine my shock as I heard him humbly and honestly speak of his decades-long struggle with alcoholism, his time in the ministry as a Franciscan Priest, and his decision to leave the Priesthood and get married.
Even more than this, though, I was drawn to Manning’s humble authenticity in his storytelling. His speaking made me want to pull up a chair, grab a coffee, and listen intently to every word coming out of his mouth. His focus on how Jesus loves all the ragamuffins–the ordinary, the broken, and the struggling sinners–made God and his grace accessible and welcoming to everyone.
Instead of telling us how to behave and what we needed to change, Manning told authentic and honest stories and spoke straight to our hearts–just like Jesus did.
Jesus Spoke to the Heart in Metaphors and Stories
In Luke 8:4, we learn how:
“Massive crowds gathered from many towns to hear Jesus, and he taught them using metaphors and parables…” (TPT)
Luke goes on to give Jesus’s parable of the sower. You can find it in verses 5-8. After He tells this story, “Then Jesus added, shouting out to all who would hear, “Listen with your heart and you will understand!” (Luke 8:8 TPT).
I love what happens next in this story:
Later his disciples came to him privately to ask him what deeper meaning they could find in this parable. He said, “You have been given a teachable heart to perceive the secret, hidden mysteries of God’s kingdom realm. But to those without a listening heart, my words are merely stories. Even though they have eyes, they are blind to the true meaning of what I say, and even though they listen, they won’t receive full revelation. Luke 8:9-10 TPT
If you’ve been around here for any time, then you know how much I like to dig into Scripture and think about the details we don’t typically talk about. Since I began my faith deconstruction/reconstruction journey, I have tried to look at Scripture and stories without any of the lenses I was raised with.
I grew up learning the parables and the interpretations my church wanted me to see. While I was always taught how Jesus taught in parables, I never thought about why Jesus chose this teaching method beyond the Sunday School answer of “Jesus wanted to relate to His audience and make it easier for them to understand.”
Historically speaking, Jesus did use metaphors and stories His audiences would have related to, yes, but teaching in metaphor and story also encouraged audiences to think and draw conclusions for themselves.
Jesus even spoke to this when He told his disciples they had teachable, listening hearts. Conversely, those without listening hearts only heard Jesus’s parables as nothing more than stories, unable to grasp the deeper meanings–those meanings they had to think about.
Heart vs. Behavior
When I think about my experiences with those guest speakers in college, I can’t help but think about how much Brennan Manning’s message, persona, and delivery mirrored Christ’s. He humbly told stories to draw us into his presence and to speak to our hearts. He made us want to sit in the presence of a loving Savior.
Conversely, when I think about the other speaker, I don’t remember his words speaking to my heart and encouraging me to draw closer to Christ and his kingdom. Instead, I remember feeling like one of those moles in that whack-a-mole arcade game, just waiting to be hit over the head again and again.
I didn’t even listen to the kind of music he was talking about, but if I did, his message wouldn’t have moved my heart closer to Jesus because his focus was on behavior as opposed to a relationship birthed in the heart.
If we aren’t careful, we can easily find ourselves doing the same thing as this guest speaker:
With our kids
To our spouses
In our workplaces
During our Sunday School classes
With our friends
It’s so much easier to focus on behavior, but behavior is a result of the heart. If we focus more on the heart, the behavior will ultimately change.
I can’t help but think Jesus understood this.
He could have easily come with another list of rules and regulations for us to follow:
Don’t listen to devil music.
Feed the poor once a month.
Give a tenth of your net income to the church.
Make cookies for new neighbors within a week of when they move in.
Volunteer at church one Sunday a month.
Take your mother to lunch once a quarter.
Just like the Israelites, we would find workarounds, add our addendums/exceptions, and fail over and over and over again.
Jesus didn’t come with a set of rules, though. He came with stories and metaphors to speak to our hearts, stories and metaphors we have to think about, stories and metaphors which ultimately move us a little closer to Him and His kingdom.
Heart Change is Lasting Change
I’ve had some experiences lately with street preachers/evangelists. This probably won’t come as a surprise to any of you, but these folks make me a bit “prickly.” I’ll never understand how standing in the middle of Bourbon Street in New Orleans or outside of a sporting event/concert at a stadium screaming through a microphone for the passersby to “Turn from your evil ways” is at all like Jesus and His ministry or would ever make someone think, “Yes, I want what they’re offering.” I don’t get it. It makes me righteously angry. I have to practice extreme self-control not to flip some tables.
Here’s the thing:
Jesus didn’t stand on the street or outside of arenas and scream at people.
Instead, He:
Healed them.
Touched them.
Fed them.
Ate with them in their homes.
Eased their heartbreak.
Saw them.
Listened to them.
Spoke to their hearts with stories and metaphors.
These are the things we need to be doing if we want to be like Jesus. These are the things we need to be doing if we want to see hearts change because heart changes are lasting changes; whereas, behavior changes are temporary changes. Heart changes get to the root of the problem; whereas, behavior changes address only the consequences of the heart problem.
Friends, sometimes it’s easier to give a list of rules and regulations, make life about checklists, focus on behavior, and treat the symptoms instead of the root of the problem. Jesus did it differently, though, and we should too. Let’s focus our efforts on speaking authentically and honestly with metaphors and stories to peoples’ hearts, just like Jesus did.
Reflections:
How well do you respond when a speaker metaphorically beats you up? When a speaker authentically and humbly speaks to your heart?
How can you be more like Jesus in the way you interact with those close to you?
What is your faith community like? Do they mirror Jesus in this manner or do they tend to focus on behavior?
Brennan Manning's books have truly shaped my heart. Thanks for this conversation, Kristen. If we all lived this out, the world would be different . . .