Have you ever wanted to ruin a relationship or a friendship?
Of course not. No one does that intentionally. And yet, at one time or another, all of us do.
Usually by throwing in something we’re barely even aware of right where it doesn’t belong.
I’m thinking about subtext.
If you’ve been in a toxic, manipulative relationship. If you grew up with manipulative parents. Then you know how hard it is to not see a subtext, a hidden ulterior meaning, in what people say and do.
After all, you spent so much time dealing with the fallout from subtext. Digging yourself out of that emotional, psychological, and spiritual hole.
One of the tools you used to dig out? Being aware of subtext, so that you respond in way that protected you.
The downside? Once you’ve invested that kind of time and effort being vigilant for subtext, it’s kind of hard to turn it off. And you can end up overcompensating, seeing subtext where there isn’t any.
Which can ruin your relationships with people who aren’t manipulating you (don’t ask me why I know all this).
Here’s why I bring this up. I took a course last year on the Gospel of Mark. When we discussed today’s Gospel, one of the people my class was hearing a subtext.
I today’s Gospel Jesus is trying to explain something to the Apostles. They don’t get it. He tries again. They still don’t get it.
Each time they don’t get it, Jesus asks, “do you still not understand?”
The subtext my classmate was hearing? Demeaning. How-dumb-are-you? Disappointment. Not-good-enough.
It’s a subtext that makes Jesus into someone He isn’t. Into a sort of divine manipulative parent. An implacable perfectionist. Where anyone trying to make Him happy is stuck on a treadmill of expectations that you can never meet.
I followed up with the instructor after class. I asked if that subtext was really there.
He said no. That the original Greek reflected the neutral questions of a teacher making sure that a student understood.
The point of all this? God doesn’t have a subtext. If God is upset with you, you’ll know about it.
The unhappy and unhealthy ideas that many people have about God aren’t really about God at all. It’s just baggage that they have (intentionally or unintentionally) dragged into the conversation.
It’s not that they’re bad people. It just means they’ve been hurt, and they’re not done healing.
Be gentle with them. Help them heal if you can.
But don’t let their baggage poison your relationships. Especially your relationship with God.
You can take God at face value. God doesn’t have a subtext.
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
ellievsbear
prguitarman
