Why Trent Can’t Preach

 

As a Youth and Family Pastor, I have the privilege and responsibility to preach once a week to a group of about 50-60 students. I am not under any impression that I do this well or that I am somehow exemplary in this skill. Rather, I am a mere apprentice, seeking with all my might to learn to do this God-ordained task in a way that glorifies Him. T. David Gordon’s book, Why Johnny Can’t Preach (P&R Publishing Co., 2009) is like a cold shower for a young preacher like myself.

Here are three quotations and a few thoughts to help the young and old alike to wake up to our ineptness in preaching and to our desperate need for the recovery of this skill.

On Christ-Centered Preaching

“…I have come to concur with those who believe that the content of Christian preaching should be the person, character, and work of Christ…that is, even when the faithful exposition of particular texts requires some explanation of aspects of our behavior, it is always to be done in a manner that the hearer perceives such commended behavior to be itself a matter of being rescued from the power of sin through the grace of Christ” (70-71).

A distinctively Christian sermon is one that points to the person of Christ, even in its moral framing of the Christian life. Students boot up as moralists and hedonists. The goal of Christian preaching is point both types of people to Christ’s all-sufficient, completed work on the cross.

On Short Attention Spans

“When we experience a thing that is well done, we get caught up in it, become lost in the moment, and lose any sense of the passage of time…in most cases, the inattentiveness in the congregation is due to poor preaching—preaching that does not reward an energetic, conscientious listening” (29-31).

I tend to preach anywhere between 25-35 minutes. In this short time, I have seen students fall asleep, develop rigid frowns, and stare off in the distance. I have also heard students say, “This has been the best lesson so far!” What’s the difference? No doubt, it is both the Spirit of God working in students, and the development of well-crafted thoughts in preaching. I am among the guilty, who often blame students for being unengaged due to their excessive phone usage and “technology addiction.” This is a powerful reminder that good preaching will call the attention more than the latest video game.

On the Recovery of Good Preaching

“An individual without time to read broadly and intensely, without time to reflect on life, without time to compose (even if merely in a personal journal), is not likely to be an individual who can preach” (107).

“…write handwritten letters whenever there is justification in doing so…” (103).

“…sensibilities to preach well were best shaped by reading verse [poetry]” (100).

All of these habits need cultivation in the life of the preacher. The sooner the better.

Again, while I do not believe that I am yet a skilled craftsman in this area, I am deeply grateful for a church who has provided time, resources for me, and believes that preaching is significant enough to aim at making me competent in this skill. I am also grateful for longsuffering students, who graciously sit and listen, even when it is suffering and difficult. May God make me someone who can preach!

Jesus, Laid in the Tomb

 

Ever since the great Mufasa laid his head down in death after Scar’s betrayal to the stampede, I have been afraid of death. There is something about the stillness of the scene, the utter terror and beauty of greatness rendered motionless.  There is an intimacy and an absence. It is breath-taking for those who go on breathing. But, why spend time contemplating this horrendous reality? Well, the hope is to push through fear to be comforted by God.

Jesus, Laid in the Tomb

A few years ago Erik Thoennes preached a sermon on the concluding chapters of Mark’s Gospel. I do not remember anything about the sermon itself,* but the reading of the Scripture beforehand made a deep impression on me. I was struck by one thing: Jesus, laid in the tomb. Mark 10:45-47 says,

“…he[Pilate] granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in the a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled the stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.”

This is far beyond Mufasa motionless. This is the body of God the Son, dead. Mark means for us to look at his likeness closely, and see that we are comforted by his sheer willingness to identify with us in death. Two major observations can be made about this scene.

Jesus Experiences Death for Us

First, Jesus experiences the fullness of death for us. His body was lifeless; it had become a mere corpse to be granted by the authority of Pilate. Being naked, the body needed to be clothed with linen and laid in a tomb. The weight of his death rested on those who carried him from the cross to the grave. In all of this, Jesus dignifies the process of death and dying for us. He dignifies the voyage from the deathbed to the graveside service to the closing of the grave. He shows the utter holiness and charity of those who care for the dead. This means that I can go to the grave knowing that Jesus has already gone there for me. He knows what it is like to lose his own body to death.

Buried with Him

Second, Jesus invites us to be buried with him in the Gospel of Mark. Notice how Jesus entrusts himself to the care of others in his death. In fact, we, the readers, are trusted with this scene in the narrative. We are meant to feel the weight of the body as we carry it to the tomb. We are meant to feel the texture of the linen as we wrap it around Jesus’ feet, his legs, his shoulders, and face. We are to imagine gently lowering his head down to touch the sheer coldness of the rock beneath him. We are to see him through the eyes of both Marys, and watch as the stone closes the tomb with finality (or so we think).

Jesus’ Death and Burial as Comfort

There really are no words to describe why this is comforting exactly. In fact, it is the silence around this scene that makes it so real and helpful to us who struggle with the fear of death. When faced with our own death, or the death of others, we cry out for help like Simba beside his fallen father for somebody, anybody.

The artistry of the Gospel of Mark is that it allows us to get so close to the death and burial of our dear friend, the man who has become our greatest love through fifteen chapters of intimate connection. The text invites us the lay down with Jesus in death, even to be buried with him. The implication of this, the comfort in this passage, is the corollary of this invitation: we are invited to be buried with Jesus in death so that we might also be raised with him (Rom. 6). For those who are afraid of death, Jesus is inviting you into this quiet place so that he might meet your own need for comfort. Jesus desires us to walk with him in such intimate friendship that he wants to share his tomb with us. What an intimate, shocking, and glorious invitation! The death of Christ dignifies our own death. If the Son of God will die to identify with me, surely my death means something to my dear friend.

*This is not at all a critique of Dr. Thoennes’ preaching, which is consistently excellent, and I miss it dearly! In fact, I think he would read this as a complement because it was his informed reading of the Scriptures that made this part of the text stick.

“Have You Not Read?”

Christianity places an emphasis on the act of reading for the purpose of spiritual growth. In fact, reading is indispensable for spiritual growth. The reason for this, I think, has a lot to do with how our brains work, and how we establish connections with other people through shared experiences. In fact, our brains are made with the capacity to often be unable to distinguish what we personally experience and what we vicariously experience through reading or knowing others. This is, I think, why spiritual growth can happen as we are motionless, seated or kneeling before God reading his word.

Jesus Confronts the Poor Readers

When the Sadducees come to question Jesus about marriage in the resurrection (which they didn’t believe in), part of Jesus’ response was: “…have you not read in the book of Moses…?” (Mark 12:26). Jesus’ question is meant to surface the irony of their own inquiry. The Sadducees prized the book of Moses as authoritative Scripture, even putting it in that category all by itself. However, they had not read the book of Moses in the fashion that Jesus expects. They had forced an interpretive lens on the Scriptures that the Scripture itself refuted and even repudiated. And, they were completely unaware of this. Hence, their self-exposure through the question. Jesus demonstrates this fact by asking them if they have “read.” So, what does Jesus mean by “read”?

Reading as Listening Intently

Jesus is not asking the Sadducees if they have been exposed to Moses’ works. He’s asking if they have understood them on their own terms. Have they comprehended what the text means, or are they simply reading to confirm their preconceived understanding of what is meant? Reading, from Jesus’ perspective, requires an abandonment of self-sufficiency and a recognition that the text might know something that we do not know! I wonder if much our spiritual growth is stunted in the same way. It’s possible that we are simply reading too rigidly. We do not allow the text to have authority. We’re listening, but we’re not listening in the way the text wants to be heard. We must listen with the right intentions: not to be heard ourselves but to hear God speak.

Reading as Personal Knowing

So, a key interpretive question that we need to ask ourselves before we read God’s word is, are we looking for God’s word to confirm what we already believe, or are we willing to allow God’s word to upend our previous assumptions and understanding of who he is? And, are we willing to allow this to happen every day? Human beings crave the feeling and experience of mastery, but reading the Scriptures requires an abandonment of mastery and for us to tune our ears to what God is saying, not what we want to hear.

Have You Not Read?

So, what did you read today? Have you read today? It’s very possible that the supposed spiritual conundrum that you are in (like the Sadducees question about the resurrection—that they didn’t believe in!) could be addressed through your reading. I mean, really reading. Force yourself to make the connections.  See the text on its own terms. Otherwise, you risk living a life of hearing but not listening, like a room with bookshelves that are empty.