Writing Redemption Stories From the gospels By Paul Duncan

Jesus meeting people In the three years of His public life Jesus walked from village to village and to towns and cities in or near Israel. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God by words and by miracles. He met individuals personally. Many of these relationships resulted in transformation of lives and communities. Let us represent each of these meetings by a hexagon we call an event Event

Context of Events These events were almost always in public. Each individual He met was part of a community. Each community was located in a place, had a history, a religion, politics, laws, sanctions, power plays, beliefs, roles, norms and practices. We will call these the context. locality history politics power plays Culture Roles norms practices beliefs religion laws sanctions Event

Communication Observers of the event were impacted in ways influenced by their shared context. They told and re-told about each event to each other. 01 Over time, by repeated re-telling of the events, they became included in their oral tradition. 02 After 30 to 50 years the gospel writers reduced them to text. These preserved knowledge of the events for future generations. 03 In time texts were collected together to form part of the canon of scripture. 04

Translations Modern times have seen many translations from the original languages into the tongues of todays readers. oral Text canon of scripture translations text AD 30 70 1500+ 2000

Understanding the text When we read a text from our modern bibles about an event in the gospels we only have the brief text of the original writers without knowledge of their context shared with those who observed the original event. The full impact of the events are lost to us without this shared context. Knowledge about the original context can be learned from other parts of scripture, from historical and archaeological records.

Redemption Stories Redemption stories from the gospels are an attempt to weave knowledge of the original context into the translated text and to re- create some of the dynamism of the original events as experienced by the original observers. This process also requires dependence on the Holy Spirit and the promise from scripture for understanding as we reflect on what the writer of scripture is saying. 2 Timothy 2:7 locality history politics power plays culture Roles norms practices beliefs religion laws sanctions Weave together reflect

Holy Spirit and a Shared Humanity Two other factors contribute to this process. The Holy Spirit has orchestrated the whole process. He filled Jesus as He ministered to people. John 1:32,33 He controlled the writers of scripture. 2Peter1:20,21 He controlled the process of selecting the canon. He brings revelation to the hearts of hearers. We are all one human family. We share a common genetics. Our souls have the same attributes: minds, emotions and will. Spiritually we are together part of fallen humanity redeemable by the same Saviour – Jesus Christ.

Hearing Redemption Stories Faith comes from hearing Romans 10:17 It is my hope and prayer that those who hear Redemption Stories in their own mother tongue may receive revelation in their hearts by the same Holy Spirit. May the experiences of the characters in the stories resonate with your own experience as a human being. May you discover Jesus as your own personal Messiah in the same ways as the characters in the original events. May the outcome for all of us in every part of our lives be Redemption.