Jesus Creed

Jesus Creed

The Bible and Coal

posted by Scot McKnight | 3:47pm Thursday May 7, 2009

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of
eastern West Virginia with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up
early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old worn-out Bible.

His grandson who wanted to be just like him tried to imitate him in anyway he could.  One day the grandson asked, “Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?”


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The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said,
“Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of
water.”

The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked out before
he could get back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You
will have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the
river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he
returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was
“impossible to carry water in a basket,” and he went to get a bucket
instead.

The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of
water. You can do this. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went
out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his
grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak
out before he got very far . The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but
when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty.

Out of breath, he said, “See Papa, it’s useless!”

“So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time he realized that the
basket looked different. Instead of a dirty old coal basket, it was
clean.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible. You might not
understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change
you from the inside out. That is the work of God in our lives. To change
us from the inside out and to slowly transform us into the image of His
son.”



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Comments read comments(15)
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truthaboutgod

posted May 7, 2009 at 4:32 pm


please tell me, what is the use of a clean coal basket? is it not to be used for coal again?
the basket is now clean, so you shall read the bible, have a belief of understanding, but tomorrow it shall be dirty again, like all baskets.
the earth used to be flat…. now it is round
the earth used to be created… now it has evolved.



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darrell a. harris

posted May 7, 2009 at 4:45 pm


ah . . . the power of story~
god is so very much more than story; but the eternal logos being resident in the triune almighty one, story is intrinsic to his nature, his very character.
thanks, scot, for another great story that shimmers, beckons and draws us in.
i’m convinced that the continual “washing with the water of the word” accomplishes splendid things and helps re-shape the order of our thinking so that together we can indeed have the mind of christ.
i think a clean coal basket is a lovely thing, truthaboutgod.
a clean anything is almost always better.
but it is a metaphor and should not be taken mechanistically.
my body will need a shower again tomorrow.
shall i not give it one?
shalom, all~



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Mark Baker-Wright

posted May 7, 2009 at 5:04 pm


Far from being “clean,” I’d have expected the endeavor to make the basket soggy and useless for it’s intended purpose.
Changed from inside out, yes, but not in a good way….



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Richard

posted May 7, 2009 at 6:04 pm


Scott, That story is so good. Thanks to you, after having made private reading of the liturgy and all the scriptures they contain, it has literally changed my life. Thank you for this profound truth.



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Sean LeRoy

posted May 7, 2009 at 6:43 pm


whew! i thought this was going to be about why christians have to reduce their carbon footprint…off to my SUV.



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Heisgood

posted May 7, 2009 at 7:37 pm


I like to read my kids this passage from the good book:
Deuteronomy 21:18-22
A Rebellious Son
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.



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Michelle Van Loon

posted May 7, 2009 at 7:44 pm


Thank goodness the grandfather didn’t come up with an spiffy little three-point sermonette on why we need to read the Bible!



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BeckyR

posted May 7, 2009 at 8:37 pm


That example just makes it seem too magical to me. If you don’t understand or retain it it ain’t gonna do anything.



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Heisgood

posted May 7, 2009 at 9:22 pm


Becky
That you find too magical, but a talking snake, a man living inside a whale, and creating the universe in 6 days you have no problem with??



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Matias

posted May 7, 2009 at 11:09 pm


In Kind:
Father O’Connor was walking through town one Monday. Suddenly, he noticed Mrs. O’Leary hanging out her laundry on the clothes line to dry.
Father tipped his hat to greet her as he passed by. Immediately, Mrs. O’Leary told Father O’Connor what a lovely homily he gave that Sunday at church.
Father O’Connor stopped to ask what it was that touched her heart. Mrs. O’Leary again told Father O’Connor that the message was like listening to the voice of the angels.
Father O’Connor pressed her once again for a specific point that moved her to such appreciation. Once again Mrs. O’Leary lauded praise on Father O’Connor for his beautiful message.
Father O’Connor then stopped and asked Mrs. O’Leary if there was anything specific that she remembered. Mrs. O’Leary responded by asking Father O’Connor to look at the clothes on the line and said, “Father the clothing you see there, you can’t observe the soap that was on the clothes earlier as I washed them but the cleaner they are for having been in the water with the soap and so is my soul”



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John M.

posted May 7, 2009 at 11:15 pm


Wow! A story yields a spectrum of responses. I wonder if Jesus parables brought out as much sarcasim. My thought as I read. Where’s the Spirit in this story?



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Kim

posted May 8, 2009 at 1:02 am


I agree with John M. about this story yielding a spectrum of responses. I’ll add my own…I appreciate this story because I’ve been struggling with reading the Word on a consistent basis due to the fact that I often feel like I’m going through the motions and there’s no transformation taking place. (Maybe sometimes I’m not yielding to the Holy Spirit to transform my heart, but I’m talking about even when I believe I am yielding but don’t recognize the transformation.) I can relate to the little boy in the story about being so caught up in this reading-is-it-doing-anything-in-my-heart concept that I fail to see how much God really has “cleaned up” my heart over the years. It’s a marathon, not a sprint…



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phil_style

posted May 8, 2009 at 5:00 am


I thought the punch line was going to be that the basket was now wet, not that it was clean.



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Marcus Goodyear

posted May 8, 2009 at 10:43 am


Every story and parable has weaknesses. Push any parable too far and it becomes absurd.
But this story struck me. The boy thought he was fetching water in a basket (to be fair that’s what his Grandfrather told him to do). In fact, he was cleaning the basket. Sometimes–especially in religious circles–we do things expecting an impossible result because we don’t understand what we are doing.



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Doug Allen

posted May 8, 2009 at 8:32 pm


Good story, good teaching Scot, even if the story’s not historical!
Doug



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