Weaving meaning on-the-fly

I’ve been giving thought lately to what special relevance the idea of Jesus has for emerging generations. It seems to me that his life speaks uniquely to each generation; his words somehow resonate for each at a different frequency. If you think about it, it’s remarkable that a poor man in roman-occupied Palestine could so indelibly impact two thousand years of human history. That his words and ideas and his very life could continue to engage imaginations and inspire the actions of so many people has to be significant.

Maybe the idea is the idea. Each generation contextualises reality within its own framework of meaning. This is partly inherited and partly invented afresh. The church then becomes a custodian of meaning; giving Jesus’ revolutionary message continuity. A culture encompassing a set of values imbues its members with a ready reference for translating blind data into subjective fact a.k.a. meaning. And ideas like glorious pearls of wisdom enrich our lives by putting a high value on things like self-sacrifice and honour and love. These and other things though lacking any real substance non-the-less enact real affect in the world. Ideas have power when they take hold in the human imagination.

Jesus message is worthy of serious consideration whether its lasting-power is in the quality of his ideas or because his ideas are accompanied by some deeper spiritual effect. I am not convinced, as are some, that Jesus is somehow becoming irrelevant after all this time. If you mapped his popularity through the last two millennia you would probably see ebb and flow with each tide larger than the tide before. It’s like each generation needs the temporary absence of Jesus-centred thinking to discover its true worth. Things really do fall apart as the centre looses hold. Or perhaps each generation is sufficiently vane such that it has to discover the thing for itself framing it differently; emphasising different features of the same message. Jesus says things so counter-intuitive that the dissonance created jars us into considering a completely different way of thinking. Love your enemy and do good to those who persecute you does not sit easily for many of us but we can’t help wonder of the impact such an idea practised would have in the world.  Should someone forcefully take your cloak then give them your tunic too flies in the face of nine tenths of common law but could well be a cure for the scourge of materialism. Jesus gives us a utopian vision for this world and, if you can believe it, the next. It’s a vision that has something to offer all peoples across all generations. It is worthy of serious consideration.

Conflict regularly strikes at the ankles of peaceful societies forcing them to rapidly write over the doctrines of passivity with the offensive language of kill-or-be-killed. From a conflict-affected generation comes a boom of babies who when full-grown hanker for peace and prosperity. But their progeny failing to understand the root of their inheritance harvest a fruit of materialism with disastrous consequences. The fruit is so plentiful that it’s tempting to take it for granted becoming obese and undisciplined with excessive consumption. Now think of the children of this over-fed generation. How much more do they expect to be hand-fed while they chase after that which brings the most ready self-indulgence? I give you the Y-generation!

So we have a generation emerging into adulthood without binding integrated values and with an overwhelming expectation that the world owe them a living.  Of course it doesn’t owe them anything which is rude shock. And when it finally dawns that life if what you make of it; there are unanswered questions about the relativity or otherwise of truth. A child raised in a moral mish-mash, with ambiguous roll-modelling and where diversions are amply available to avoid having to wrestle with the spikier questions of life is not ready for adulthood. So go to university. Stay at home. Loose yourself in music; or dugs if this doesn’t work. Delay facing the uncomfortable truth that the construction of meaning is personal and does not come download-ready.

Now in this context consider the words and deeds of Jesus standing concrete but somehow staying dynamically relevant. He says we are eternal and have a destiny. He says that we are lost without his real-time help. He says that he knows us, understands us and loves us. On the subject of relationships he says be faithful. On the subject of conflict he says turn the other cheek. On the subject of money he says lay up your treasure in heaven instead or give to Caesar that which is Creaser’s. On the subject of truth he says he is the truth and the life. Jesus personally models and represents a life worthy of emulation with self-sacrifice at its heart. Jesus provides a framework of meaning through which we can crunch our problems and find a way forward. Two thousand years of testing his ideas and every generation has found relevance. There has to be something in this from which we can benefit.

He asks that we accept his promises on face-value and that we put our trust in him. Then we have this amazing promise of life now and life eternal. He says we won’t have to go it alone, that he will always be with us. I don’t know how this actually works but I testify that it does work. I know his presence often and I see his intervention making straight my paths; I am a recipient of his provision. You’d be crazy not to give it a serious go because of some bad experience or half-formed prejudice. Forget about religion, this is something much more personal and it’s offered for free.

So Jesus weaves a tapestry of meaning through countless and diverse generations of those who choose to trust him. His message today is as relevant as when first enunciated two thousand years ago and it comes with a real-time sting.