One of the things I like most about the Bible
is the motley and flawed collection of characters that populate its pages. There
can be no doubt that we share a common humanity with them. Here is Noah, lying
drunk in his tent and having a conniption fit when his son walks in and sees him
naked. There is Abraham fooling around with handmaidens and sacrificing his
wife’s honor to protect his own skin. Jacob is one of my favorites, wheeling and
dealing, conning people out of everything from birthrights to baby goats.
It’s all there, humanity on display in the
pages of scripture: Sampson’s vanity, David’s lust, Solomon’s greed, Jonah’s
racism, Herod’s bloodlust, Thomas’ doubts, and Paul’s sermons—so boring that
once a young man fell asleep while Paul was preaching and fell out of a top
story window...
Click here
to read the rest of this essay at
The
High Calling.
rlp
