A wife and mother with no religious background senses God has been putting her in situations to do his work and is drawing her to herself. When her friend wants to talk to her about God and salvation and eternal life, she’s ready to listen.
But God Pursued Her, Part 3 consists of the following chapters:
Chapter 7 – Inspiration
When little Valeria mentioned to Jazmyn that she was sometimes sad because she couldn’t run and jump like other children, Jazmyn recalled previously seeing video of a legless girl who was an accomplished gymnast and who could certainly run and jump just using her hands. She again found these videos with grainy clips of the girl as a child and teen doing gymnastic flips and competing in other sports with able-bodied girls. She showed these to Valeria in order to show her that leglessness wasn’t preventing her from running or jumping or anything else she wanted to do. Valeria was very inspired and energized by seeing these, and because of that, Jazmyn looked into enrolling Valeria in gymnastics classes.
The legless girl in the videos was now an adult woman named Jen Brinker, a professional acrobat and aerialist as well as an author and inspirational speaker. There were numerous videos online of this woman giving speeches and interviews. Jazmyn watched several of these on her own, and her life story was truly inspiring. She was raised by adoptive parents who instilled in her the belief that she could do anything she set her mind to, just like Jazmyn believed and was trying to teach Valeria.
But in some of the videos, she shared her Christian faith and her belief, also instilled in her by her parents, that God had made her without legs not by accident, not to punish her, but because he had a purpose for her life that could only be accomplished if she were that way. She said if she had the chance to go back and re-live her life with legs, she wouldn’t do it, because it was her leglessness that enabled her to be the person she was and to make a difference in others’ lives by inspiring them and sharing her faith. Again, all ideas that Jazmyn believed for herself and was hoping to convey to her daughter, except that Jazmyn wasn’t quite there on her own spiritual journey.
Jazmyn wanted to live her life like Jen, but even more important to her, she wanted Valeria to live her life that way more than anything. But the more she thought about it, Jazmyn realized that you couldn’t separate Jen Bricker’s amazing life and positive outlook from her close relationship with God, because it was clear that God was orchestrating the events in her life and she was very much attuned to that. The two were inseparable.
And so Jazmyn, already mindful that God had been similarly directing events in her own life, concluded that she also needed a close relationship with God, both for her own benefit and also to be a role model for Valeria in that way as well. She also knew instinctively that Victor didn’t have a say in this; it was a deeply personal decision between God and her only.
Jazmyn tried to recall what she’d heard about how to be saved. She had to admit she was a sinner with no hope of getting into heaven on her own merits. That wasn’t hard. Though she was good person – she’d saved two people’s lives, and had even started and ran a charity with Hope and Victor – she now knew the standard to be met was perfection, and she was painfully aware of how far short she fell from that. She still wasn’t completely clear on exactly what was or wasn’t a sin, but she remembered the rule of thumb was if it was unloving toward God or unloving toward another person, it was a sin, and she could think of lots of times when she’d been unloving.
She’d knew she needed to believe that only God could fix this, and had already provided a way, by sending his son Jesus to earth to live a sinless life but to nevertheless willingly suffer die in the most inhumane way imaginable, in order to pay the penalty for not just the sins of all believers, but specifically for her sins. She believed and understood all of that intellectually, but she knew she needed to believe much more deeply, and completely submit her life to Jesus.
Jazmyn knew better than most people what submitting to someone meant. It didn’t just mean waiting for verbal instructions; it meant taking the initiative to find out how they wanted you to live and what they wanted you to do, and then acting on it, even if you didn’t feel like doing so, because you completely trusted them and had chosen to allow them to be in authority over you. That’s what it meant to make Jesus your Lord and Savior.
Jazmyn realized if she were going to truly submit to Jesus in that way, she’d have to step up her game. She’d been reading her Bible and praying, but it had been inconsistent and sometimes half-hearted. She certainly had room for improvement there. If she were to love God with all her heart, soul, and mind, those tasks should be her top priorities, the most important things she had to do.
She also knew she’d need to start getting herself to church every week if possible. Before she did, though, she needed to have a talk with Victor about it. He had not been attending either the non-denominational church or the Catholic church with her. He didn’t discourage her from go to church, but neither did he encourage it.
So she put everything on hold until she could do that. That evening, she brought him up to speed. “Victor, I need to talk to you about something,” she said. Victor, having no idea what was on her mind, just said okay and waited for her to continue. “I’m very close to accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior and committing to living my life for him. I’ve been visiting both Hope’s church and the Catholic church, but I want to choose one to be baptized in and join and attend consistently. I also want to start taking Valeria with me to church. To be honest, I get a lot more out of being in Hope’s church, but I also need to take you into consideration with this.
“I’d really like you to starting coming to church with me as well, but of course, that’s your decision. If you’re more likely to go to the Catholic church, or if you’d be happier there, or you want Valeria to be raised Catholic, then I’ll choose that one. But otherwise, with your permission, I want to go to Hope’s church.”
“Hold on a minute,” said Victor. “Before we talk about churches, what did you mean by ‘living your life for him’? If you were Catholic and single, I’d think you were saying you want to become a nun.”
Jazmyn laughed at the absurd thought of her being a nun. “Nothing as drastic as that, I assure you,” she said in response. “It means committing to learning what God would have me do through Bible study and prayer and church attendance, and then doing it. I’m doing those things already; I’d just be making a commitment to continue and be more consistent about it.”
That didn’t sound so bad, Victor thought to himself. “Okay, that makes sense, I guess,” he replied. “Regarding which church,” he continued, “I appreciate your willingness to become Catholic, but honestly, I don’t really want to be Catholic. I don’t get much out of it myself.”
“Why don’t you visit Hope’s church with me sometime?” asked Jazmyn in an inviting way, not in an accusing way. “You might just like it.”
“Maybe I will,” Victor replied. “Maybe I should.”
Jazmyn got the impression Victor was okay with her joining Hope’s church, but he didn’t actually come out and say so. She decided to hold off doing anything to see if Victor would visit Hope’s church anytime soon. She much preferred to have him tell her explicitly one way or the other after he had experienced it himself.
Chapter 8 – Church
That Saturday evening, Jazmyn asked Victor whether he’d like to go to church with her in the morning. To her pleasant surprise, he said he would. This would also be Valeria’s first time as well, and by now they also had infant twin boys, so they’d have to get there early in order to get them settled. Jazmyn texted Hope and told her that Victor and the kids would be accompanying her to church. Hope replied with lots of heart and hug and praying hands emojis and then said she’d be praying for all of them.
When Jazmyn tucked Valeria into bed that night, she filled her in and coached her a bit. She told her that the whole family would be going to church in the morning, rather than just mommy. She explained that they’d drop her off at Sunday School and then mommy and daddy would be at grownup church in another part of the building. She told her that Sunday School would be a lot like daycare, except not nearly as long, and they’d be teaching her about God and Jesus and other people who God talked to or who knew Jesus.
She asked Valeria if she knew who God was, and Valeria answered appropriately, that God was invisible but that he made everything and everyone and watches us from heaven. She asked if she knew who Jesus was, and Valeria didn’t know. Jazmyn explained that Jesus was a very good man who lived a long time ago, that he was God’s son, and that he now lived in heaven with God. That would suffice for now.
Then she asked if Valeria knew what praying was or what to do when someone was praying. Again, she didn’t. Jazmyn told her that praying was talking to God, and that when someone was praying, everyone in the room should bow their heads, close their eyes, fold their hands, and listen quietly until the person praying said ‘amen’. They practiced together, as Jazmyn threw up a brief prayer as an example.
Jazmyn told Valeria that people would probably ask her why she had no legs, and asked her what she would tell them. Valeria looked at her mother like she were stupid, and replied, “Because God made me this way!”
Jazmyn then asked her, “Why did God make you that way?”
Her daughter replied, “I don’t know why, but he had a good reason.” Jazmyn was pleased that Valeria had retained and apparently internalized what she had been teaching her.
Sunday morning, everything went smoothly. They arrived in plenty of time; Valeria, used to being in daycare and actually missing it, made herself right at home in Sunday School; and Victor was in a good mood and seemed happy to be there. Jazmyn had always sat with Hope and her family, but she was going to let Victor take the lead as to where they sat. However, he spotted the Rogers family and chose to greet them and sit near them.
The worship service was contemporary, with a live band and praise music. The words were displayed on a screen, but Victor didn’t know the songs and so couldn’t sing along. Still, though, he seemed to enjoy the modern music and overall informal feel of the service. The pastor was dressed in a casual, open collared shirt and jeans. It was quite different than anything he’d previously experienced.
The sermon was one in a series about prayer. This week’s topic was about praying in Jesus’ name. The main Scripture passages were John 14:12-13 and John 16:23-24, where in both instances Jesus told his followers that he and the Father would give them anything they asked for when they prayed in his (Jesus’) name.
The pastor asked, “How many of you say ‘in Jesus’ name’ at the end of your prayers?” Almost every hand shot up. “Now, how many of you receive everything you ask for in prayer?” Not a single hand was raised. “So we obviously have a disconnect. Either Jesus is a liar, or we didn’t understand him correctly. Personally, if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the latter.” The congregation laughed, first at the absurd thought that Jesus was a liar, and then at the thought of their pastor being a gambler.
“Do you think Jesus was giving us magic words to put into our prayers so God would give us whatever we asked for, as if he were a genie granting wishes? Of course not. But we act like that’s what we’re thinking when we pray selfishly and then tack that phrase onto the end for good luck.
“Our problem is that we don’t know what ‘in Jesus’ name’ actually means, and we don’t bother to find out before we use it. I would suggest that using that phrase flippantly or even ignorantly in our prayers is taking the Lord’s name in vain.
“In the original Greek, the word for ‘name’ can mean a person's name, reputation, or authority. In the Bible, Jesus uses the phrase ‘in my name’ to refer to his authority and reputation.
“Let’s look at some other places where Jesus uses the phrase ‘in my name’ or others use the phrase ‘in his name’:
“Matthew 18:20: ‘For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.’
“Matthew 24:5: ‘For many will [say that they] come in my name, claiming “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many.’
“Luke 9:41: ‘Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.’
“Colossians 3:17: ‘And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’
“James 5:14: ‘Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.’
“Do you see how the phrase is used? ‘In Jesus’ name’ means on behalf of Jesus or representing Jesus. Of course, the only way you can truly do something on behalf of Jesus is be being in his will – doing what he would have you do. If you’re doing what you want to do, you’re not representing Jesus, even if you use the magic words.
“Let’s go back and look at those passages in John again. John 14:14 says, ‘You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.’ John 16:23 says, ‘my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.’ In other words, when you ask for something while truly representing Jesus, consistent with his will, it will be given. If you want your prayers to be answered affirmatively, you’ll ask for what Jesus himself wants. If you do that, you can’t possibly lose.
“This is consistent with what I’ve previously taught you about working for the Lord. If you want your ministry to be successful, don’t just start doing something on behalf of God and then ask for his blessing. Even though it might seem like a worthwhile endeavor to you, it might not be God’s will for that place and time. Instead, look around and see where God is already at work and join in. We should be following his lead; not expecting him to follow our lead.
“How can you determine what God’s will is, so that you can pray accordingly or join in the work? Well, that’s much easier said than done, and it’s worthy of its own sermon. But I’ll say that knowing God’s will is directly proportional to how well you know him. You know how to do that already: spend time devoted to Bible study and prayer and worship.”
Chapter 9 – Revelation
On the way home from church, Valeria was very animated. She was excited to be in a group setting with other children again, like she was used to at daycare. “Did you have fun at Sunday School, Valeria?” Victor asked.
She nodded enthusiastically, and said, “Noah was there!”
Victor replied, “You mean a man with a long white beard and funny clothes?” He assumed some adult came dressed as the Bible character who built the Ark.
Valeria giggled. “No, silly! Noah is a boy… from daycare!” she replied.
“What did you learn about?” her father asked.
“We learned about a donkey that talked,” the girl replied.
Victor frowned. That didn’t sound like any Bible story he could recall. He wondered if the kids had been entertained with cartoons. “What did this donkey do?” Victor asked.
“Only the donkey could see the angel, so the man started hitting him. Then the donkey said, ‘Why are you hitting me?’” Valeria giggled again, recalling the story. Victor didn’t really get what she was trying to explain, but he relaxed a bit, since the story had an angel in it. He intended to find out more about this, though.
“What did you think of church, Victor?” Jazmyn asked.
“Way different than I’m used to,” he replied. “Everything was so informal and, I don’t know, modern, I guess. The homily really held my interest.”
“Homily?” Jazmyn asked. She didn’t know that term.
“When the priest… I mean, pastor was teaching about prayer,” he explained.
“Oh,” she said. “They call that a sermon.”
“Sermon, then,” he said agreeably. “I was surprised there was no Eucharist,” he added.
“I don’t know that word, either,” Jazmyn admitted.
“Holy Communion? Bread and wine?” he offered as alternative terms.
“Oh, the Lord’s Supper,” she said, now understanding. “They only do that occasionally, once a month, I think. And they let you chose between grape juice and wine.”
Victor mulled that over. “Hmmm… The Catholic Church does that every week without fail.”
“So are the differences good or bad?” Jazmyn asked.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know, really,” Victor replied. “I almost felt like I was in another country with a different culture. It was a bit unsettling just because it was so unfamiliar. But I’m no fan of the Catholic Church, so maybe the differences are good ones.”
Jazmyn laughed. “Kind of like me celebrating Christmas in New York with a houseful of Puerto Ricans!” she exclaimed. “But you do get used to it,” she added.
“So, would you go back?” Jazmyn asked her husband.
“Yeah, I’ll go back. There was nothing that really turned me off; it was just… different. It kept my interest and attention. I don’t know if that’s just because I didn’t know what was coming next, or because the pastor was a better speaker, or the subject matter was relatable, or what.”
“I enjoy listening to Pastor Jack’s sermons,” replied Jazmyn. “His topics are interesting, I always learn something, and I can usually apply it to real life. I’ve always heard people say ‘In Jesus’ name we pray’ at the end of their prayers, but I never knew what it meant, and I certainly didn’t know that their prayers might not have really been in Jesus’ name.”
Jazmyn turned in her seat to face Valeria. “Do you want to go back to Sunday School again, Valeria?” she asked.
“Yeah!” replied Valeria enthusiastically. “It was fun!”
By then, they were almost home. They went inside, had lunch, and put Valeria and the twins down for their naps. Victor wasn’t finished talking about spiritual matters, though. “I’m still trying to get my head around the idea of praying directly to God and saying whatever you want,” he said. “The pastor didn’t really talk about that today, but I could sense that it would never occur to him to pray any other way.
“Catholics either recite church-approved prayers verbatim, or pray to the Virgin Mary or one of the saints to have them pray to God on our behalf, or both. At least that’s been my experience. The church-approved prayers almost never say ‘in Jesus’ name’, and it doesn’t seem right to pray to a saint in Jesus’ name to ask them to pray to God.”
“I’ve been praying in recent months,” said Jazmyn. “I’ve always prayed to God and said what was on my mind. It’s rather comforting, really, knowing I have a hotline to the Big Guy himself.”
“You don’t find that the least bit intimidating, daring to talk to the creator of the universe?” Victor asked.
“Not at all,” Jazmyn replied. “At first I did, but not anymore. Hope explained to me that God transcends time, so he literally has all the time in the world to listen to us. She said that he loves each one of us individually and knows us each by name. She said that he wants us to talk to him.”
“Do you feel like your prayers are getting through to him?” Victor asked.
“It seems like it, yeah,” Jazmyn replied. “But I’ve had this sense that God’s been watching over me, personally, ever since, I don’t know, maybe since the tornado. I’m sure he was doing that a lot earlier, but it first began to dawn on me right after the tornado, while I was still in my hospital bed. Most people would assume that I’d have this sense that either he was punishing me, or that he’d spared me from something worse. But it wasn’t either of those.
“What I sensed was that he had things that he needed a legless person to do, and he chose me and took my legs because he knew I’d be able to handle it – being a double amputee, I mean. Or more accurately, he enabled me to be able to handle it. When we learned that Valeria wouldn’t have legs, it dawned on me that he wanted her to have a legless mommy as a role model. Then when he had me save the lives of your nephew and your grandfather’s cousin, I felt like he specifically chose me, the least likely person you’d think who could save someone’s life.
“By the way, I realize now that I blew it by taking the credit for saving those lives. He wanted the least likely person so that people would realize he had to have been involved and would give him the credit. I was too naïve about God’s ways to know any better. I need to fix that, especially with your family.
“But anyway, I’ve sensed for years now that God’s been paying attention specifically to me. So it only seemed natural to start talking to him, and it never occurred to me that he wouldn’t want to hear from me.” Jazmyn paused. “That was a long answer to a short question, I know.
“Interesting...” was all that Victor could think to say.
“As far as praying in Jesus’ name goes, from what we learned this morning, it sounds like it’s appropriate to use that phrase if you’re reasonably sure you’re praying for something that Jesus would want, but if you’re praying for something you want, you’re better to not use it,” Jazmyn added.
She paused to see if Victor had anything more to say before proceeding. “Anyway, as I said, I’m very close to becoming a Christian – a real one – and I would like to join Hope’s church, preferably with your blessing. So please think about whether you have any objection to me doing that and let me know, okay? It’s okay if you’re not ready to do it yourself, but if you really think this church won’t ever be right for you, maybe I should look somewhere else.”
Victor replied that he’d think about it some more and get back to her. That afternoon, he did some research about some of the differences between the church he’d attended that morning and the Catholic Church. The first thing he wanted to know was whether the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper as Jazmyn called it, was supposed to be observed weekly like he always thought.
He quickly discovered that the Bible doesn’t specify how often it should be done, and various denominations developed their own practices. Catholics observe it at every Mass, but many Protestant churches did so less frequently, such as monthly or quarterly. Their reasoning was that by doing it less often, it would not become so routine as to lose its significance. Victor could see the logic behind that.
But in his search results, he also saw references to the different beliefs about the bread and wine, or juice, itself. Catholics believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation, which means that the bread and wine are miraculously transformed into the literal body and blood of Christ, despite there being no physical change to them. Most Protestants believe either that the bread and wine contain the presence of Christ, or that the bread and wine are symbolic of Christ’s body and blood, but in either case do not actually become anything else.
Victor remembered Hope’s father mentioning this. Victor had always wondered about this Catholic doctrine. It just seemed unbelievable to him. He looked into what they used as a basis for this belief. He found the passage in John 6 where Jesus talks about being the bread of life. In several places in this chapter, Jesus speaks of this bread being his flesh and it being necessary to eat his flesh and drink his blood to receive eternal life. The people who actually heard him say this took it literally and found it very hard to accept.
The big question was whether Jesus was really being literal or was using figurative language. Obviously, then, Catholics had a literal interpretation, and Protestants had a figurative interpretation. Neither was clearly right or wrong.
Victor kept reading in John 6. In verse 63, it seemed like Jesus might be implying that he was being figurative, but even that wasn’t clear. Victor began to see the pattern. Many of the differences between Catholics and Protestants weren’t that one was Biblical and the other wasn’t; they were due to different interpretations of unclear passages of Scripture. How was an ordinary person like him supposed to know which interpretation was correct, when Bible scholars and church officials had been arguing over this for many centuries?
Victor then found the other places in the Bible where Holy Communion was discussed, in the other three Gospels and in 1 Corinthians. These didn’t shed any light on the confusion in John 6; the other Gospels simply provided accounts of Jesus instituting the practice with his disciples, and in 1 Corinthians, St. Paul described how it should be observed by believers. It was to be done in memory of Jesus. In all four places, Jesus called the bread his body but didn’t elaborate. He referred to ‘the cup’ (nowhere did it actually describe the contents of the cup) not as his blood, but rather as ‘the new covenant’ in his blood. In Matthew, Jesus said that the purpose for either his blood or the new covenant was for the forgiveness of sins.
Then Victor remembered that Hope’s father had quoted a verse that said not to argue over minor, disputable matters of doctrine. This was a disputable matter if there ever was one, but was it minor if eternal life was at stake? He re-read John 6 from the beginning, paying careful attention to everything Jesus said about bread. As he read, Victor got the distinct impression that Jesus was being figurative when he spoke of the bread being his body and the wine being his blood. But not only that; this bread of life sent from heaven Jesus kept talking about seemed to actually be a metaphor for belief in him.
Suddenly, Victor understood. It was belief in Jesus that was necessary for eternal life, not any physical bread or wine! When Jesus said the bread was his flesh and that it was necessary to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he wasn’t talking about literal bread or literal flesh or blood. The bread and wine weren’t literally his flesh and blood, but neither were they just symbols for his flesh and blood.
Victor realized what Jesus was trying to say in a very roundabout way was that belief in him and the new covenant must be ‘ingested’ by the believer – internalized, integrated, made part of – in order to have eternal life. The belief part was pretty clear, but Victor wasn’t sure what was meant by the new covenant. He tried to find other places in the Bible where it was explained, and found what he was looking for in a lengthy passage in Hebrews chapters 7 through 10. The new covenant seemed to be the forgiveness of sins through Christ’s shed blood.
So, the references to the ‘bread and cup’ and ‘flesh and blood’ were both actually metaphors for belief in Christ and forgiveness of sins. Those were what believers were truly being called to partake in. The centuries-long debate over whether the bread and wine were or weren’t literally Christ’s body and blood were just a huge distraction from their real, apparently hidden meaning!
Victor felt like he needed to share this revelation with someone, but by now, Valeria was up from her nap and he wasn’t going to be able to get Jazmyn’s undivided attention. He decided to call Bruce Rogers, Hope’s father. Victor explained that he’d had this big insight while studying the Bible that he needed to discuss with someone, and wanted to know if they could meet in person. Bruce was agreeable to doing it right away. They agreed that they’d have fewer distractions at Bruce’s house, so Victor said he’d be right over. He told Jazmyn he was going over to the Rogers’ to talk to Bruce, and that he’d explain later.
Jazmyn didn’t know what was going on, but she realized that she needed to pray for Victor. He was obviously going to talk to Bruce about his experience at church that morning or some spiritual matter. She said a quick prayer that he would be drawn to seek a relationship with God just like she had been. It occurred to her that this was the kind of thing where it was appropriate to pray in Jesus’ name, and so she did.
Chapter 10 – Metaphors
Victor explained to Bruce that he was surprised about a lot of things at his church, but in particular that they didn’t celebrate Holy Communion or whatever it was they called it, because Catholics did it at every Mass without fail. He decided to see what the Bible said about it, and discovered that it didn’t specify a frequency, but then he went down the rabbit hole of investigating other Catholic vs. Protestant differences regarding communion and read the various Biblical passages on the subject.
Victor then explained what he’d concluded about the bread and cup not being either literally, or symbolic for, Jesus flesh and blood, but rather the bread and cup and the flesh and blood were both actually metaphors for belief in Christ and forgiveness of sins. Bruce looked highly skeptical, but rather than shooting Victor down, he asked him to show him where he’d gotten that from. Victor had taken notes as he did his research, and so retraced his steps through John chapter 6, the other Gospels, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews, and explained what he’d discerned out of each passage.
Bruce was both humbled and fascinated. He said to Victor, “I think you might be onto something here, Victor. I’ve never read it that way, never heard it preached that way, never thought of it that way, but I completely see what you’re saying. I guess it’s true what they say about a fresh set of eyes looking at a problem. This is an excellent example of having to see what the whole Bible says about a subject, and not taking a verse or two out of context, to really understand. You’ve done well, Victor. Amazingly well.
“I would like to talk to Pastor Jack about what you’ve uncovered. The question is, would you like to be there as well?” Bruce asked Victor. “Sure,” he replied, figuring that nothing would get lost in translation if he were present, and that he’d be able to see the pastor’s initial reaction. Bruce called Pastor Jack and made an appointment for both of them to meet with him on Monday evening.
Sunday evening, after the kids were asleep, Victor brought Jazmyn up to speed with what he’d learned about communion, his conversation with Bruce, and his appointment the next evening with Pastor Jack.
“Do you know about the word ‘believe’ in the Bible, that it’s not what it seems?” Jazmyn asked him.
“No,” Victor admitted. Jazmyn then explained to him what she knew about it, that the word translated as ‘believe’ had a much stronger meaning in the original Greek than it does in English.
“So it doesn’t mean head knowledge about facts, it means a very deep level of submission and complete trust. I can completely relate to that – I compare it to my submissive relationship to you, but I think it might even need to be more than that. I’m thinking to fully submit to God is more like how I fully submit to you, completely, unconditionally, with every fiber of my being, when I’m going to subspace. It’s necessary for me to do that in order to get to subspace.
(Subspace is a fairly common phenomenon among BDSM practitioners in the midst of an intensely submissive experience. The submissive partner appears to go into a trance-like state, but they typically become hyper-focused on the dominant partner’s voice and touch to the exclusion of all else, lose the ability to feel pain, have the sensation of floating or flying, and experience a very relaxed state of complete bliss and extreme pleasure. By all accounts, subspace is the ultimate experience for a submissive.)
“I wonder, though, whether you can relate to that degree of ‘belief’, or submission and trust. You’ve never done that in real life. In order to fully submit to God, you may have to compare it to how I submit to you, rather than to any firsthand experience you’ve had. Just something to think about.”
“Thanks for explaining that to me. I’ll certainly keep it in mind,” Victor replied.
The following evening, Victor and Bruce met with Pastor Jack in his office at the church. Bruce introduced Victor to Pastor Jack, and described him as his ‘friend’, without elaboration. Bruce let Victor do most of the talking, repeating what he’d told Bruce the day before to Pastor Jack. Bruce made it clear that he completely agreed with Victor’s conclusions. Pastor Jack said nothing until they were both finished.
“This is quite interesting. I’ve never heard of or considered what you’re suggesting, but you make a compelling case for it. However, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the idea that the bread and cup symbolize Jesus’ body and blood. In the synoptic Gospels and in 1 Corinthians, Jesus clearly says that the bread and cup are his body and blood. You can debate whether he’s being literal or figurative, but I don’t think you can dismiss it outright.
“I’m going to take what you’ve suggested and propose a modified version of it. I submit, in light of the evidence you’ve submitted, that the bread and cup do symbolize Jesus’ body and blood, but his body and blood in turn symbolize belief in him and the forgiveness of sins, respectively, as you’ve explained. I think John 6 makes a case for this regarding the bread, body, and belief, and you can apply the same principle to the blood of the new covenant that Jesus speaks of. Does that make sense?”
“I can accept that interpretation,” Bruce said to the pastor.
“So can I,” said Victor.
“Good,” replied Pastor Jack. “Then we’re in agreement. I’m finding this revelation compelling enough that I think I’ll use it as the basis for my sermon the next time we have the Lord’s Supper. I think the whole congregation needs to hear this.”
“When will that be?” Victor asked.
“We celebrate the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of every month.”
“I’ll be there, then.” Victor replied.
“Tell me a bit about yourself, Victor, if you don’t mind,” Pastor Jack requested. “You were in worship yesterday, but I don’t recall ever seeing you here before.”
“Yesterday was my first time here. However, my wife Jazmyn has been attending periodically for some months now. I’m sure you know her; she’s the lady in the wheelchair with no legs. The one who’s not Bruce’s daughter, I mean. Jazmyn and Hope are good friends, and the three of us started a charity that provides peer counseling to new amputees and to parents of babies born with missing limbs. Jazmyn and I have a daughter who’s also missing her legs. Oh, and twin baby boys.”
“Interesting. Yes, I know Jazmyn,” Pastor Jack replied. “What is your spiritual background, Victor?” he asked.
“I’m a former Catholic,” Victor replied. That was the first time he’d ever said ‘former’; usually he’d say ‘lapsed’. “I guess you could say I’m a recovering Catholic. But when I left, until recently, I had no interest in organized religion. Hope has been meeting with Jazmyn and teaching her about the Bible and God and whatnot. Jazmyn has no religious background at all, so this is all completely new to her. She sometimes talks to me about what she’s learned or asks questions. It’s begun to get me interested as well.”
“So you’re an unchurched ex-Catholic, and you came up with this revelation regarding communion on your own?” Pastor Jack asked incredulously. “How long have you been studying what the Bible says on the subject?”
Victor replied, “I was surprised when you didn’t celebrate communion yesterday. Catholics do it every week. Jazmyn said she thought you did it monthly. Yesterday afternoon, I sat down to see what the Bible had to say about how often it should be done, and learned that it doesn’t actually say.
“But I remembered Bruce saying that Protestants don’t believe in transubstantiation, so I kept reading to see if it said anything one way or the other about that. I concluded that Jesus wasn’t being literal about the bread and wine being his body and blood, but then I realized what I just explained to you about there being a deeper meaning. So I called Bruce to see what he thought about it.”
“You sat down to study this for the first time yesterday afternoon, and in a matter of a few hours you came up with this?” Pastor Jack asked.
“I don’t even know if it was that long, but yes,” Victor replied.
“That’s remarkable,” was all that Pastor Jack could say.
Then Bruce spoke up. “I should tell you something else about Victor and Jazmyn. By all accounts they’ve had an exemplary biblical marriage from Day 1, even though neither of them knew anything about Paul’s teachings on marriage.”
Pastor Jack asked Victor, “So you love her sacrificially, putting her needs above your own, and in return, she completely willingly submits to your leadership as head of the family?”
“That’s right,” replied Victor.
“And if I asked Jazmyn, she’d say the same thing?”
“Absolutely,” Victor said, beaming with pride about what he knew Jazmyn would say about him.
“Remarkable. How did you know to do this? Did you have role models or something?” Pastor Jack asked.
“Well, sort of, but not really. Before we were married, when Jazmyn and I were living together, my brother and his wife introduced us to this kind of relationship. I’m sure they didn’t know what the Bible said about marriage any more than we did. But I wouldn’t call them role models; they just kind of got us started, and we figured the rest of it out for ourselves. It just worked really well for us, that’s all.” Victor replied. But he looked like he was debating whether to say more, so Pastor Jack just waited to see if he would.
“There’s actually more to it than that,” Victor continued, “but I don’t know how to say it without this conversation getting really weird.”
Bruce had an idea this might somehow be related to the unspecified ‘kinky stuff’ he knew the two of them were into. “It might be best if you don’t get too specific,” he suggested.
“Yeah, I’m not going to,” Victor agreed.
“I’ll just say that after my brother and his wife told us about their lifestyle, we then learned more about it from decidedly secular sources. You might even say unchristian, unbiblical sources. You’d probably be shocked if I told you any more. We applied what we learned and found that it really worked for us, so much so that we committed to not only marry each other, but also to have this kind of relationship for the rest of our lives. Only recently did we learn that it was completely consistent with the Bible.”
“So you’re saying there’s a whole group of unchurched secular people out there who’ve discovered that biblical marriage-style relationships work best, without them even realizing they’re biblical?” Pastor Jack asked incredulously.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Victor replied.
“Remarkable. If only we could get Christians to practice biblical marriage,” said Pastor Jack wistfully. “You’re a remarkable man, Victor. “From what you’ve said, I’m sure Jazmyn is an equally remarkable woman. I have to ask, where do the two of you stand with the Lord? Are you saved? I’m kind of getting mixed signals about that.”
“Neither of us are saved in the way you mean,” Victor replied candidly. “But Jazmyn is close – she wants to be saved. She’s ready to be saved, I’d say. I’m not as far along, but I’m getting there.”
“What’s stopping you?” Pastor Jack asked.
“Jazmyn has had a big head start on me. Hope began talking to her about God probably a year ago. I’ve only been getting bits and pieces from her secondhand. At this point, it’s probably me that’s stopping her. Not intentionally, mind you. Remember that she submits to my leading. She’s been wanting me to tell her which church I approve of. I think she wants to join a church that she can convince me to also join. That’s why I came to your church yesterday, to check it out. You’re her first choice.”
“And what’s your impression of us?” Pastor Jack asked.
“I’ll be honest. Yesterday was the first time I’d even been in a Protestant church other than for weddings and funerals, so the only thing I have to compare it to is the Catholic Church. I’m done being Catholic, but it’s all I know. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how drastically different your church is to what I’m used to. I’m really trying to be open-minded about the differences; that’s why I was seeing what the Bible said about communion yesterday.
“But based on what’s happened in the past two days, I have to say I’m very impressed so far. The differences I’ve looked into so far seem to be based on different interpretations of vague passages of scripture. I can’t say that your church is unbiblical; on the contrary, in at least some cases, like regarding communion, I think Protestants are closer to the correct interpretation than Catholics.
“I’m frankly amazed that I’ve been able to come to talk to both of you about something I discerned from the Bible that differs from what you’ve always believed, and you haven’t pushed back and told me that that’s not what your church teaches, implying that I must be wrong. You’ve both heard me out and revised your positions in light of new evidence. That’s admirable, in my opinion, and unheard of in the church I come from.
“I think Jazmyn could do a lot worse than to be a member of your pari – oops, I mean congregation, and I’m going to tell her that.”
“I appreciate you saying that, Victor,” said Pastor Jack, “but what about you?”
“I need more time. I’m still carrying a lot of baggage I need to unpack,” Victor replied.
Pastor Jack then said, “Bruce, I know a seeker who could benefit from being discipled. He might even be open to the idea. Are you up to taking on another one?”
“I would be honored, Jack,” Bruce replied.
Victor realized the pastor was talking about him but otherwise didn’t understand what he was saying. “Would someone please explain to me what just happened?” he asked.
Bruce and Pastor Jack both laughed. Pastor Jack said, “I asked Bruce if he’d be willing to teach you what you need to know to be a Christian; to be your Christian mentor.”
“Like what Hope’s been doing with Jazmyn,” Bruce said helpfully.
“That is, if you’re willing, of course,” added Pastor Jack.
“What were those words you used?” Victor asked. “Seeker? Discipled?”
Pastor Jack answered, “A seeker is someone who isn’t yet a believer but is interested in learning about God and the church and what it takes to become a believer. That’s you, or at least I think it is. ‘Being discipled’ means being trained to be a disciple – a follower of Christ. That’s what I’d like you to consider.”
“Okay, that makes sense now. Yes, it’s probably time I started doing that,” Victor replied. “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have as a mentor than Bruce.”
“Then it’s all set,” said Bruce. “We’ll just have to work out when and how often we’ll meet.”