“Rabbouni” by Melanie Rigney
Peter said (to the Jewish people), “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. (Psalm 33:5)
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. (John 20:16)
Piety
Jesus, open my ears that I might hear when You call my name.
Study
You’ve probably heard about the six-word short story, the six-word memoir, and so on. Legend has it that it all started with a conversation between the word economist Ernest Hemingway and some other writers on terseness and brevity in writing. Historians widely credit Hemingway with this gem of a story: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.” It’s got a beginning, an ending, and a whole lot of pathos in between.
A few years ago, a friend and I started talking about how you could tell the story of the Bible in six words, rather than seventy-three books and more than 800,000 words. Quite pleased with myself, I offered, “You can tell it in two, actually: ‘He lives.’”
My friend smiled and sat back in his seat. “You need six to tell the whole story: ‘He lives, and so do we.’”
He lives, and so do we.
Think of Mary Magdalene and all the others who encountered Jesus after the Resurrection and before the Ascension. Think of the disbelief and joy and relief and bewilderment that must have ensued in their minds: But I saw them scourge Him! I saw Him bloodied and beaten. I saw Him laid in the tomb (or reliable companions told me about it). And now, here He is.
And after a few minutes, they had to have thought: If He was right about this, what if He’s right about what He said, that there may be life after death for me too?
He lives, and so do we.
How will you write the story of the remainder of your life to share that good news?
Action
Write your six-word spiritual memoir or your six-word promise to the Father of what you’ll do going forward. You might find it helpful to review some of these contributions to Six-Word Memoirs before you write your own.
Image credit: Russian Museum [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
No comments:
Post a Comment