This last Sunday in Kerygma Class we were focusing on the Exodus accounts of Moses. Our class members run the gamut of biblical literacy. Pastor Tracey regularly reminds us that we especially need to remember the historical context of these pre-history stories. The Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great, freed the Israelites and sent them back to Judea. They had to rebuild everything. Even more than the city, they had rebuild their sense of who they were and their identity as God's chosen people. Our understanding of the Biblical texts comes to naught without the historical context. As with Biblical texts, so with our everyday news. Context matters!
I'm reminded of annecdotal story about a German translator for the UN General Assembly. A number of Ambassadors were listening to the translation as the Prime Minister of Germany addresed the assembly. Midway through the speech the translation stopped. The Prime Minister continued speaking. Finally after a long silence a pleading voice came over the head sets. "The verb! Give me the verb!" My high school German teacher drummed into us that one of the many ways that German was different from English was that in German the verb comes at the end of the sentence.
When confronted by snippets, headlines, and opinions I want to scream "The context! Give me the context!"
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