How often these days we hear someone say that what they said was taken out of context. At times that can seem like a lame excuse because it is hard to imagine how any context could change the meaning of what was said.
Yet we know that context does make a huge difference not only to what we say and hear but also to how the events that happen to us are experienced and interpreted. I was reminded of this again recently when I was listening to a song where these lines were repeated in the chorus “Nobody loves me”. The impression this creates is a long way from what the song intends but that is only clear when the last line of the chorus is included “Nobody loves me – like you do”.
The importance of context is at the heart of Michael Frost’s book “Jesus the Fool”. He illustrates the impact of context by telling this tale about a Chinese farmer in a poor village.
He was considered well to do because he owned a horse which he used for ploughing and transportation. One day his horse ran away. All his neighbours complained how terrible this was but the farmer simply said “maybe”.
A few days later the horse returned and brought two wild horses with it. The neighbour’s all rejoiced at his good fortune but the farmer just said “maybe”.
The next day the farmer’s son tried to ride one of the wild horses: the horse threw him and he broke his leg. The neighbours all offer their sympathy for his misfortune but the farmer said again “maybe”.
The next week conscription officers came to the village to take young men for the army. They rejected the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. When the neighbours replied how lucky he was the farmer replied “maybe’.
Frost goes on to explore how Jesus transformed people’s lives by giving them a different frame of reference through which to interpret the things that happened to them and around them. The classic example is probably the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who were utterly crushed by what had happened in Jerusalem because they saw it as a total disaster and the end of all their hopes. Jesus reframed the experience for them using the image of the suffering servant. Though this image was part of their scripture, it seems to have had little impact as most peoples expected and wanted a messiah who would be powerful and would give them victory over the Romans. But when Jesus reinterpreted all that happened in the light of this image it changed the feel and the meaning of these events for the two disciples. What seemed like the end suddenly looked like a beginning and the energy lost as a result of their initial reading flooded back in and their hearts burned.
As we move into Holy Week it is possible to focus on the passion and death of Jesus in ways that emphasise sin and guilt and certainly these are an important part of the experience. But in the context of celebrating reconciliation at St Peter and Paul’s parish in Lower Hutt in preparation for Easter this week I was acutely aware that the Cross is essentially about love and forgiveness. As St John says “God so loved the Universe that he gave his only son so that all who believe in him might have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
So when I hear the passion story and see the image of the cross this Holy Week my first thought will be “Nobody loves me – like you do”.
Fr Patrick O’Shea SSC lives in Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.
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