Scenes from January, 2: Middle School Retreat

This past weekend was the Ukarumpa Middle School Retreat, held at the Ukarumpa Training Centre. It was exciting and challenging--exciting because it was James's first youth group retreat, and challenging because the youth leader had asked me to be the main speaker for the weekend. Spending a weekend speaking to middle schoolers is certainly my idea of an out-of-my-comfort-zone experience, but I said yes and I'd spent many hours over the past couple of months preparing for the weekend.

I chose to share four sessions on Jesus's parables, with a general theme of "What's wrong with this story? (And what's the right way to live?)". This is based on the idea that in any story, the storyteller uses some elements that are predictable and expected, but also throws in some things that are surprising. It's often in the surprises that the listener learns the most from the story. When Jesus told stories, he put in a lot of details that would have shocked his audience. Our trouble today is that we're so far removed from that original cultural and historical context we don't even recognize which details would have been surprising, and so we may miss some of Jesus's most challenging lessons.

During the weekend's sessions, we looked at several stories Jesus told, trying to understand the surprises, and the lessons they can teach us. On Friday night, we began with the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, from Luke 15:1-10. Jesus challenged his listeners, first by comparing them to a shepherd and then by comparing them to a woman. He also showed that being rescued by God is not due to any plan or scheme we can come up with; if the shepherd weren't looking for us, we would be without hope. But the Good Shepherd is looking for us, always, and once found we're even invited to work alongside the Shepherd in rescuing the other sheep still in the wilderness.

Saturday we tackled two of Jesus's toughest stories. First we looked at the Unjust Steward, in Luke 16:1-8. We saw the master in that story as an unexpectedly merciful, kind, compassionate man, and the steward as a scoundrel who knows enough not to try to make excuses for his bad behavior, instead betting everything on his master's good character and reputation. The challenge of that story is how we respond to God once he finds us. Do we fight, make excuses, or try to lessen the charge against us, or do we simply throw ourselves on his merciful character?

That evening we read the Parable of the Minas, from Luke 19:11-27. Our understanding of that story hinges on whether we think the nobleman who distributes the money to his servants is a good guy or a bad guy. If he's good, then the first two servants were right to be courageous in doing business in the nobleman's name while he was away. If he's bad, then the third servant is a hero who courageously refuses to participate in the world's corrupt games. Either way, the conclusion is to live courageously and faithfully, believing in God's sovereignty and righteousness, even if the world around us tempts us to deny the truth.

On Sunday morning, I concluded with a lesson from The Prodigal Son--or, as we called it, The Father and His Two Sons, in Luke 15:11-32. That story, the "gospel within the gospel," shows us what Jesus means when he refers to God as "Father." It's not the earthly fathers we know; rather, it's this astounding, amazing father in the story. He brings the younger son back to life before even hearing what the son has to say for himself, and he again humbles himself to go out to the older son to try to restore him as well. Jesus piled surprise upon surprise in this perfect story that so clearly shows God's character, as well as pointing ahead to the humiliation Jesus himself was soon to suffer in order to save us.

I learned a lot in preparing these lessons, and found myself in awe of the storytelling and teaching skills Jesus demonstrated. My thinking about the original cultural context of these stories has been heavily influenced by the writings of Kenneth Bailey. Bailey, a Bible scholar and teacher, lived in the Middle East for 60 years. In his books, he shares intriguing ideas about the way Jesus's original listeners might have heard and understood his teachings. If you haven't read Bailey yet, I highly recommend it. Why not start with Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, or The Cross and the Prodigal? I hope reading them will be as refreshing and inspiring for you as it's been for me in preparing for the Retreat.