For all of us…it’s OK we’re asking questions while deconstructing. But can we ALSOs normalize BEING ASKED questions by others, of being REDIRECTED by those who have gone before us?
Are we open to shifting our “AWAY FROM” to a NEW WAY?
I’m saying this in the context of already acknowledging that sometimes we need to WALK AWAY.
You’ve gathered the courage to ask questions. To investigate the “orthodoxy” given to you. To interrogate suspect convictions.
And that is hard work.
And it is needed.
You’ve begun asking questions about things you didn’t even know were things you could ask questions about.
But can we still be open to being questioned even as we question?
It is certainly OK to walk away, just don’t be alone.
It is OK to not understand, just don’t stop asking the questions.
And it’s OK that you don’t see Jesus, even if he is near.
Which leads us to the fourth lesson on the Road to Emmaus.
FOR MORE ON DECONSTRUCTING FAITH, see these 5 fundamental shifts while deconstructing faith.
LESSON #4: It’s OK to be questioned by others—by Jesus.
A tension—a deconstructive process—occurs to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
On the one hand: Jesus walks with them AWAY FROM what they knew. Jesus is giving implied support and compassion for them walking away.
On the other hand: Jesus directs them on a NEW WAY of understanding, challenging their misconceptions as their own misconceptions, not necessarily as reality.
In our process of deconstruction Jesus is gentle with us. He comes at first hidden—but near.
He comes next to us, walks with us, in the direction we are going.
But he will start turning our AWAY FROM into a NEW WAY.
“HE EXPLAINED TO THEM…”
After listening to the disciples’ complaint, their disappointment, and disillusionment, Jesus begins to redirect them—starting with their ideas.
“And then He said to them, ‘…Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:25-27).
Jesus began re-framing their experience by re-reading their expectations of the “Christ”.
They saw a prophet mighty in power, who was going to reestablish the national fortunes of Israel, but who instead was killed and therefore was a failed “Messiah”, a failed Christ.
Jesus began re-narrating their expectations, their predictions, about the “Christ” by showing them that he must actually suffering before entering his glory.
Emotions are Real, but they Aren’t Reality
Our emotions, our pain, our disappointments are real. And Jesus walks with us in the midst of them.
But these are a product of our expectations, or our predictions, or our view of the world. Out emotions are constructed from past experience and future expectations.
On the road of deconstruction, we must be honest about our pain, our emotions, and our disappointments.
But we also have to be open to challenge and growth, that what is “real for us” isn’t all of reality, or even the best interpretation of reality.
Starting with Moses and the Prophets…
Jesus began with the fundamental stories, beliefs, and convictions of these two disciples.
And he didn’t get rid of them!
But Jesus showed these disciples that they had wrongly understood the fundamentals of faith.
Before we revise the faith to make it digestible in this modern age, perhaps we need to look at everything differently, putting off conservative fundamentalism and putting on how Jesus understood things.
FOR MORE ON DECONSTRUCTING FAITH, see these 5 fundamental shifts while deconstructing faith.
I’m going to spend the next two weeks drawing out short lessons from the Road to Emmaus about deconstructing faith. Pound the link to follow along, and to learn about “Deconstructing Faith Without Destroying it.”