In this week’s lesson by Ray Vander Laan, we continued the discussion on context. He spoke about allusion – a figure of speech that references a famous person, place, event, or literary work. They are either implied or direct. In literary works, this helps the reader feel transported to the time of the writers, because there is a proper understanding context in which the text was written.

Ray had the class write one sentence about a picture of a lamb on a rock. Most of the students wrote something similar to, “There is a lamb on a rock,” or “The sheep is standing on the rock.” Then the image zoomed out to show the rock was much taller than the picture originally showed.

He zoomed out again and it showed the rock sandwiched between two other rocks. Again, the image zoomed out and you see the rock is raised off the ground, apparently haven fallen into a crevice in the ground and stuck. By this point, it is obvious to the class that the lamb is in danger. This illustrates the idea that by stepping back, one can see the greater story being told.

In Biblical times, when rabbis spoke, they would sometimes start a Scripture, expecting the audience to understand what they were referencing. We do that too, with common phrases. For instance, a parent may say in frustration to a child not listening, “I brought you into this world,” expecting from repetition, the child could finish the rest of the sentence on their own, know what it means, and adjust their behavior accordingly. In this case, they would cease the unwanted behavior in favor of a more appropriate, desirable behavior. The rabbis would expect their followers to bring those concepts with them to what is now being said.

A helpful tool in paying attention to context is asking, “Why do I need to know that detail?” In the west, we chalk details up to information. “That tree is a tamarisk.” In the east, details are ways of communicating. Why does it matter if it is a tamarisk tree? Why not a palm tree? Easterners use detail to pick up context.

In John 21, after Jesus is crucified, the disciples fish all night and don’t catch anything. Just like in Luke 5, Scripture then records Jesus appearing to his disciples telling them to throw their nets. After they caught so many fish they were unable to haul in the net, they recognized Him. Verse 9 says, “When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals. There were fish on it, and some bread.” Ray Vander Laan asked the class what the significance of the burning coals were. We don’t ask those kinds of questions. We ask ourselves if the information in the text is helpful for us to follow Jesus, and then we go on to the next verse. An easterner would stop immediately.

There is a context called the ‘grand narrative’ where one story links all 66 books of the Bible together with one common thread – Jesus. If John was western and wanted to link back to another story, he would have told the disciples to turn to 2 Samuel. Since he was eastern, he lifted story out of 2 Samuel instead.

2 Samuel 22 is a psalm of praise written by David, expressing his gratitude for God’s deliverance from his enemies. Verse 9 reads, “Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.” In this context, the burning coals are representative of God being with David. The presence of burning coals referenced in John 21 is indicative that God is with the disciples just as He was with David in 2 Samuel. Why didn’t John say when they landed that they noticed God was present? He could have, but easterners don’t think that way.

The next example in Scripture comes out of Romans 12:20 – “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” What happens if you love your enemy? This verse isn’t telling us to burn the scalps of our enemies with burning coals. It paints a picture of God stepping into the situation. God can turn their hearts of stone soft. The only way to understand that verse is to know the context of the burning coals.

And Jesus’s audience knew their Old Testament. Never had the Jews been more committed to God or more aware of what was in their Scriptures.

From here, Ray transitions from the burning coals to the first miracle performed by Jesus in the New Testament – turning water into wine. Why is that the first miracle of the Bible? Why water into wine? Why at a wedding? Why that wedding?

In those days, wedding celebrations ran for seven days, and preparing for them was no small task. Wine was stored in abundance to last the duration of the celebration, and running out of wine would bring shame to the family and would be talked about for generations. Families would have to come up with the money to purchase it in abundance. Water was added to wine to stretch it out if supplies were short. The stone water jars Jesus told them to draw water out of were used for ritual water purification.

Nazareth is in northern Galilee. The land was very fertile farmland, and they raised olives and grapevines. Those people knew about good grapes and good wine. It was their trade and it was what they knew.

Life was lousy for people in the first century under the boot of the Romans. There are passages that say someday, God will send a person to deliver us from all things that make life so hard, and they called tis day the Day of the LORD. And they longed for that day, when God would show up in some powerful person to fix what is broken. What is it going to be like? Thunder and lightning? Or born in a cave?

To understand this a bit more, Ray brought us back to the Old Testament, to the book of Joel. If Joel were western, he would say the person would come and say, “I am the Messiah” and it would have been really clear. Joel was of eastern thought so he put it in a metaphor, or a word picture, instead. He would have pulled that metaphor out of a library of books. He said, “For the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand; … the threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil” (v 1, 24).

Again – the Jews knew their Scriptures. This was a wink from God to us, a sign that the Messiah was among them. Jesus made 180 gallons of water into wine - more than the farm produced in two years.

Another reason metaphor was used to signify the coming Savior to describe the events that would take place upon His arrival instead of someone outright declaring “this is the Messiah” is because Jesus was not the first person to perform miracles. Elijah, Elisha, Moses, and Peter all performed miracles, but they were not the Messiah. They were given power by God to bring new revelation to His people, but they were not His only Son. Those miracles simply meant God was with them.

Jesus took away shame at the wedding and restored honor and gave the people something to talk about where the best wine was used at the end of the celebration which was not common practice. Jesus started small at the wedding and then took away the shame and restored honor to every person who believes in Him. This wedding was a snapshot of what He would do on a macro scale. If we don’t put more effort into reading the Bible and understanding it in its proper context, we won’t catch these details.