Red Letters; Red Faces

In the title, I am referring to the practice of putting Jesus’ words in red letters in some Bible translations. Some people believe we should take the words in red more seriously than the others. Certainly, Jesus words are very important because He was speaking as the perfect Son of God, and every word His followers recorded is Scripture. I am not discounting the importance of Jesus’ words.

However, there are two things to consider when interpreting Jesus words. First, the things Jesus said during His earthly ministry were spoken almost exclusively to ethnic Jews who were under the Old Testament system of Judaism. His message echoed John the Baptist’s in that He repeatedly called His listeners to repent because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. He called for change of mind because a major change in how they would approach God was in the offing.

One example of how Jesus’ words need reinterpretation will illustrate what I mean. At one point He counselled His listeners to “leave your gift there before the altar” if they had any issues with a brother. Since we no longer sacrifice animals on the altar in the Jerusalem temple, this counsel must be reinterpreted if it is going to apply to New Testament believers. The same condition exists with Jesus’ instructions about the temple tax, ceremonial cleansing of lepers, interaction with tax collectors and the military, and countless others. Principles can be extracted from the words, but they don’t apply to us directly.

The second thing to consider about Jesus’ words is that one of the last things He said was that His disciples would get a fuller understanding of His words after the Holy Spirit came to help them. This means that the words of the New Testament writers who came after the gospels have as much weight as Jesus’ own words and may have better clarity. There is no conflict between the “red letters” and the rest of the letters in your Bible. These too must be reinterpreted in some instances because of cultural changes that occurred in the intervening centuries, but the principles drawn from either set of words will align one with the other.

The reason I mention the red-letter controversy is slightly obtuse, but I will try to explain how I got here. A corollary to the well-known question, what would Jesus do? (WWJD), is what would Jesus say? (WWJS) Now comes the leap: how would Jesus say what He said? We know from the biblical record that different groups of people had different reactions to the same words of Jesus. The religious leaders thought Him a heretic; there were some who thought Him a lunatic; a few recognized Him as the Son of God. Same words, different perceptions.

The ill-conceived idea that perception is reality doesn’t fit here at all. Jesus spoke only truth – ultimate reality. Yet He was misperceived by many of His hearers. Here is the crux of my problem: WWJS needs clarification as to the tone of the Master’s delivery. In my youth, I was known by many for my use of the Bible as a club. I beat people into agreement – rather, I tried to. Often as not, I drove them away instead of drawing them closer to the truth.

I want to say I have grown away from my earlier misadventures in teaching, but of late I have been accused of something akin to my Bible-thumping ways. After decades of Bible study, I fear my method of delivery may not have grown at the pace of my knowledge. I am still accused of insensitivity at times, occasionally causing people to get red-faced with anger. When I look at some of Jesus’ words, I want to say I am following His example. Here are some troublesome red-letter words: “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” I try to imagine Jesus saying that in a tactful, loving tone. I struggle. At one point, Jesus looked at one of His closest disciples and said, “Get behind me, Satan!” Put yourself in Peter’s place and try to hear that in a loving tone.

There are many other red-letter examples of questionable tone such as Jesus calling the hypocrites of His day vipers, whitewashed tombs and sons of the devil. One wonders how would Jesus handle crazies on Facebook? How would He engage with misguided politicians in our representative democracy? How would He react to believers who embrace the homosexual lifestyle? I know: He would love them all. But love can sometimes get tough to borrow James Dobson’s coin. WWJD?

The books of the New Testament are full of admonition, correction and rebuke. No one is more corrective than Paul, yet he suggests his readers, “become imitators of me as I imitate Christ.” I am currently reading Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus. He makes a strong point to both his proteges not to engage in petty squabbles or meaningless disputes. I suspect I have ventured into that territory occasionally, although I pray it has not been expressing heresy as were the subjects of Paul’s correction. The best I can do is to continue to pursue and present truth with this admonition foremost in my thinking: “But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow into him with reference to all things, who is the head, Christ.” Then, hopefully, red letters or black, at least I won’t be red-faced.