1. Mchungaji Aliyeweza Kuchambua Kigiriki1. A Pastor Who Could Parse the Greek

Mchungaji mmoja kijana aliketi darasani katika seminari kwa miaka mitatu. Alijifunza jinsi ya kuchambua muundo wa sentensi ya Kigiriki. Alijifunza kutofautisha kitenzi cha Kiebrania cha wakati usiokamilika na kile cha wakati uliokamilika. Alijifunza tofauti kati ya tamathali na simulizi ya kihistoria. Aliweza kutambua kiasmo (chiasm) kwa mbali sana. Alihitimu kwa heshima ya juu, akachukua kanisa dogo, na ndani ya miaka mitano ndoa yake ilikuwa matatani, watoto wake walikuwa wakimkwepa, na kusanyiko lake lilikuwa likiondoka. Hakuwa ameacha kuiamini Biblia. Alikuwa tu hajawahi kuiruhusu Biblia imsimamishe. Andiko aliloweza kulichambua halikuwa andiko aliloweza kulitii.A young pastor sat in a seminary classroom for three years. He learned how to diagram a Greek sentence. He learned how to distinguish a Hebrew imperfect from a perfect. He learned the difference between figure and historical narrative. He could spot a chiasm at fifty paces. He graduated with honors, took a small church, and within five years his marriage was in trouble, his children were avoiding him, and his congregation was leaving. He had not stopped believing the Bible. He had simply never let the Bible stop him. The text he could parse was not the text he could obey.

Hii ndiyo hatari ambayo kila kozi ya hermeneutiki lazima iishughulikie kabla haijaisha. Ufasiri unaweza kuwa mfumo uliojifungia. Unaweza kuwa burudani ya akili. Unaweza kuwa njia ya kujiona hodari mbele ya wachungaji wengine. Hakuna hata kimoja kati ya haya kilicho lengo. Lengo la hermeneutiki ni sawa na lengo la Maandiko: kubadilishwa. Hatulifasiri andiko ili tulitawale andiko. Tunalifasiri andiko ili andiko litutawale sisi. Yakobo anasema waziwazi:This is the danger every hermeneutics course must address before it ends. Interpretation can become a closed system. It can become a hobby for the mind. It can become a way to feel competent in front of other pastors. None of these is the goal. The goal of hermeneutics is the same as the goal of Scripture: transformation. We do not interpret the text so that we can master the text. We interpret the text so that the text can master us. James puts it bluntly:

Msikiaji ambaye si mtendaji, asema Yakobo, anajidanganya nafsi yake. Neno la Kigiriki linalotafsiriwa “mkijidanganya” ni paralogizomenoi, kutoka paralogizomai — kwa kweli, kufikiri kando ya kweli, kujihesabia njia hadi kufikia hitimisho la uongo. Msikiaji ambaye hatii kamwe hujishawishi mwenyewe kwamba kusikia kulitosha. Hakukuwahi kutosha.The hearer who is not a doer, James says, is deceiving himself. The Greek word translated “deceiving” is paralogizomenoi, from paralogizomai — literally, to reason beside the truth, to reckon your way into a false conclusion. The hearer who never obeys argues himself into thinking that hearing was enough. It never was.

2. Ufasiri Ni kwa Ajili ya Kubadilishwa2. Interpretation Is for Transformation

Sehemu tisa za kozi hii zimekufundisha jinsi ya kulishughulikia andiko. Unajua kuhusu maana halisi na kosa la uhalisia-finyu. Unajua kuhusu aina ya fasihi. Unajua kuhusu muktadha. Unajua jinsi ya kusoma mfano, muujiza, unabii, Zaburi. Unajua tofauti kati ya Maandiko kujifasiri yenyewe na kunukuu mistari nje ya muktadha ili kuthibitisha hoja. Unajua kwamba Roho Mtakatifu lazima auangazie ukurasa kabla jicho halijaweza kuona kilichomo. Mitambo hiyo yote ipo ili kutumikia lengo moja. Lengo si maarifa. Lengo ni maisha na kusanyiko lililofanywa upya na Mungu aliyekipulizia Kitabu pumzi yake.Nine units in this course have taught you how to handle the text. You know about the literal sense and the literalistic mistake. You know about genre. You know about context. You know how to read a parable, a miracle, a prophecy, a Psalm. You know the difference between Scripture interpreting Scripture and proof-texting. You know that the Holy Spirit must illumine the page before the eye can see what is on it. All of that machinery exists to serve one end. The end is not knowledge. The end is a life and a congregation that has been re-made by the God who breathed out the Book.

Paulo analieleza hili waziwazi anapomwandikia Timotheo. Maandiko yafaa kwa mafundisho, na kwa kuwaonya watu makosa yao, na kwa kuwaongoza, na kwa kuwaadibisha katika haki; ili mtu wa Mungu awe kamili, amekamilishwa apate kutenda kila tendo jema. Angalia mpangilio. Mafundisho ni ya kwanza; kukamilishwa ni cha mwisho. Mnyororo unatoka katika mafundisho hadi kuonya, hadi kuongoza, hadi kuadibisha, hadi mtumishi wa Mungu aliyekamilika. Ruka kiungo chochote na mnyororo unakatika. Simama kwenye mafundisho na utakuwa na msomi asiye na matunda. Ruka mafundisho na utakuwa na mtu wa hisia tu asiye na mizizi. Mnyororo unakusudiwa kutembewa kutoka mwanzo hadi mwisho, na kiungo cha mwisho siku zote ni kubadilishwa.Paul makes this explicit when he writes to Timothy. The Scriptures are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Notice the order. Doctrine is first; equipping is last. The chain runs from teaching to reproof to correction to training to a finished servant of God. Skip any link and the chain breaks. Stop at doctrine and you have a scholar with no fruit. Skip doctrine and you have a sentimentalist with no roots. The chain is meant to be walked from end to end, and the last link is always transformation.

3. Misha na Hori3. Misha and the Manger

Mwaka 1994, Wamarekani wawili walifundisha maadili katika kituo cha watoto yatima nchini Urusi. Ilikuwa Desemba. Waliwasimulia watoto, kwa mara ya kwanza, hadithi ya Krismasi — nyumba ya wageni, zizi, hori, mtoto mchanga. Baada ya hadithi, wafanyakazi walimpa kila mtoto kadibodi, vitambaa vya karatasi vya njano kuwa majani makavu, kipande cha kitambaa cha flaneli, na mwanasesere mdogo wa mtoto mchanga aliyekatwa kutoka kitambaa cha rangi ya hudhurungi.In 1994, two Americans taught morals and ethics in a Russian orphanage. It was December. They told the children, for the first time, the story of Christmas — the inn, the stable, the manger, the baby. After the story, the workers gave each child cardboard, yellow napkins for straw, a scrap of flannel, and a small doll-baby cut from tan felt.

Mfanyakazi mmoja alisimama mezani pa mvulana aitwaye Misha. Hori lake lilikuwa na watoto wachanga wawili. Kupitia mkalimani aliuliza kwa nini. Mvulana yule mdogo alikunja mikono na kusimulia tena hadithi ya Krismasi kikamilifu — mpaka Mariamu alipomlaza Yesu horini. Kisha akaongeza maneno yake mwenyewe. Yesu alikuwa amemtazama na kumwuliza kama alikuwa na mahali pa kukaa. Misha alikuwa amejibu kwamba hana mama wala baba, kwa hiyo hana mahali. Yesu alikuwa amemwambia kwamba angeweza kukaa pamoja naye. Misha alikuwa amesema hana zawadi ya kuleta. Kisha akafikiria kile alichokuwa nacho: Nikikupa joto, je, hiyo itatosha kuwa zawadi? Yesu akajibu, Ukinipa joto, hiyo itakuwa zawadi bora kuliko zote ambazo mtu yeyote amewahi kunipa. Kwa hiyo Misha alikuwa ameingia horini ili kukaa pamoja na Yesu — milele. Mvulana yule mdogo aliuzika uso wake mikononi mwake akalia kwa kwikwi.One worker stopped at the table of a boy named Misha. His manger contained two babies. Through the translator she asked why. The little boy crossed his arms and retold the Christmas story perfectly — until Mary laid Jesus in the manger. Then he ad-libbed. Jesus had looked at him and asked if he had a place to stay. Misha had answered that he had no mama and no papa, so he had no place. Jesus had told him he could stay with Him. Misha had protested that he had no gift to bring. Then he thought of what he did have: If I keep You warm, will that be a good enough gift? Jesus answered, If you keep Me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave Me. So Misha had climbed into the manger to stay with Jesus — for always. The little boy buried his head in his arms and sobbed.

Hilo ndilo lengo la hermeneutiki katika kituo cha watoto yatima nchini Urusi. Andiko lilikuwa limetolewa kwa uangalifu; maana ilikuwa imetua katika nafsi ya Misha. Maisha yake sasa yalikuwa na Mtu ndani yake ambaye hakuwepo saa moja kabla. Misha hakuchambua Kigiriki cha Luka 2. Hakuhitaji kufanya hivyo. Andiko lilifikia lengo lake ndani yake. Hicho ndicho mahubiri yako yanapaswa kufanya kila Jumapili — si kuzaa wanafunzi zaidi wa Kigiriki, bali kuzaa akina Misha zaidi.There is the goal of hermeneutics in a Russian orphanage. The text had been delivered with care; the meaning had landed in Misha’s soul. His life now had a Person in it who had not been there an hour before. Misha did not parse the Greek of Luke 2. He did not need to. The text reached its goal in him. That is what your sermons are supposed to do every Sunday — not produce more Greek students, but produce more Mishas.

4. Kioo Chini ya Kuba4. The Mirror in the Dome

Kuna jumba la kifalme huko Roma ambalo kuba lake lilipakwa rangi na Reni. Mchoro huo wa ukutani uko zaidi ya futi mia moja juu ya sakafu. Ukisimama moja kwa moja chini yake na kunyoosha shingo yako juu, mchoro unafifia kuwa ukungu wa rangi, ulio mbali na usioonekana vizuri. Unaona kitu fulani, lakini huwezi kuona ni nini. Hata hivyo, chumba hicho kina kioo kikubwa kilichowekwa sakafuni katikati ya chumba. Unapoacha kukaza shingo yako na kutazama chini kwenye kioo, mchoro unaonekana kwa uwazi kamili. Rangi zinakuwa angavu. Nyuso zinajitokeza. Mchoro wote uliokuwa umefichika katika kuba unaonekana katika kioo kilicho miguuni pako.There is a palace in Rome whose dome was painted by Reni. The fresco is over a hundred feet above the floor. If you stand directly under it and crane your neck upward, the painting blurs into a haze of color, far away and out of focus. You see something, but you cannot see what. The room contains, however, a large mirror set into the floor at the center of the room. When you stop straining your neck and look down into the mirror, the fresco appears with perfect clarity. The colors sharpen. The faces emerge. The whole composition that was hidden in the dome becomes visible in the mirror at your feet.

Hivyo ndivyo Kristo anavyotufanyia katika kumjua Baba. Tabia ya Mungu iko juu katika kuba la mbinguni, mbali juu yetu, zaidi ya kile ambacho macho yasiyosaidiwa yanaweza kuona. Tunajitahidi kusoma njia zake katika maumbile, katika dhamiri, katika majaliwa, na picha inabaki na ukungu. Kisha Baba akaweka sakafuni mwa chumba chetu kioo — mtu aliyezaliwa horini huko Bethlehemu — na katika kioo hicho mchoro unakuwa wazi. Aliyeniona mimi amemwona Baba. Yesu ni kioo cha Mungu. Hermeneutiki, ikifanywa ipasavyo, hukifanya kioo kiwe angavu. Mchungaji ambaye ufasiri wake haumwonyeshi Baba katika uso wa Yesu amekuwa akikaza shingo yake kutazama kuba. Acha kutazama juu. Mtazame Kristo. Mchoro wa tabia ya Mungu uko katika uso wake.That is what Christ does for our knowledge of the Father. The character of God is up in the dome of heaven, far above us, beyond what unaided eyes can see. We strain to read His ways in nature, in conscience, in providence, and the image remains hazy. Then the Father set into the floor of our room a mirror — a man born in a manger at Bethlehem — and in that mirror the fresco becomes clear. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. Jesus is the mirror of God. Hermeneutics, rightly done, makes the mirror bright. The pastor whose interpretation does not show the Father in the face of Jesus has been straining his neck at the dome. Stop looking up. Look at Christ. The fresco of God’s character is in His face.

5. Mtoto Mchanga Katika Roaring Camp5. The Baby in Roaring Camp

Bret Harte aliandika hadithi fupi iitwayo The Luck of Roaring Camp (Bahati ya Roaring Camp). Roaring Camp ilikuwa kambi ya wachimba madini iliyokuwa ovu na ngumu kuliko zote katika Magharibi ya Marekani — ikikaliwa na wanaume peke yao. Mwanamke pekee aliyewahudumia wote, Cherokee Sal, alikufa akijifungua mtoto wa kike. Wanaume wakabaki na mtoto. Walimweka ndani ya sanduku lenye matambara. Sanduku hilo halikuonekana vizuri, kwa hiyo walimtuma mtu mmoja maili themanini kununua kitanda cha mtoto cha mbao ya rosewood. Matambara hayakuonekana vizuri ndani ya kitanda hicho, kwa hiyo walinunua mablanketi ya hariri na lesi.Bret Harte wrote a short story called The Luck of Roaring Camp. Roaring Camp was the meanest, toughest mining town in the American West — inhabited entirely by men. The one woman who served them all, Cherokee Sal, died while giving birth to a baby girl. The men were left with a child. They put her in a box with rags. The box did not look right, so they sent a man eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. The rags did not look right inside the cradle, so they bought silk and lace blankets.

Kisha wakaona kwamba sakafu ilikuwa chafu sana, na wanaume hawa sugu wakapiga magoti na kuisugua. Sakafu safi ikazifichua kuta chafu, kwa hiyo kuta zikaoshwa. Ugomvi ulimwamsha mtoto, kwa hiyo ugomvi ukakoma. Walimtoa nje hadi mlangoni mwa mgodi akiwa kitandani mwake. Wakaona jinsi ardhi ile ilivyokuwa chafu, kwa hiyo wakapanda maua. Wakaona jinsi mikono yao wenyewe ilivyoonekana michafu karibu na mikono yake, na duka kuu likaishiwa sabuni na vifaa vya kunyolea. Mtoto yule alibadilisha kila kitu.Then they noticed the floor was filthy, and these hardened men got down on their hands and knees and scrubbed it. The clean floor exposed the dirty walls, so the walls were washed. The brawling woke the baby, so the brawling stopped. They brought her out to the entrance of the mine in her cradle. They noticed how dirty that ground was, so they planted flowers. They noticed how dirty their own hands looked next to hers, and the general store sold out of soap and shaving gear. The baby changed everything.

Ndivyo ilivyo kwa wale ambao injili inawafikia. Mtoto Mchanga anaingia kambini. Maisha moja tulivu yanakaribishwa ndani, na ndani ya mwaka mmoja kambi nzima haitambuliki — si kwa sababu mtu yeyote alilazimisha nidhamu ya kimaadili, bali kwa sababu walimkaribisha ndani. Mlete hadi mlangoni mwa mgodi wako Jumapili asubuhi, na watu wako wataanza kusugua sakafu zao wenyewe na kupanda maua yao wenyewe kufikia Jumanne mchana.That is the way it is for those whom the gospel reaches. The Baby enters the camp. One quiet life let in, and within a year the whole camp is unrecognizable — not because anyone imposed a moral discipline, but because they welcomed Him in. Bring Him to the entrance of your mine on Sunday morning, and your people will start scrubbing their own floors and planting their own flowers by Tuesday afternoon.

6. Makosa Mawili Yanayozuia Kubadilishwa6. Two Errors That Stop the Transformation

Kosa la kwanza ni habari bila kubadilishwa. Huyu ni mchungaji aliyefunzwa seminari ambaye anaweza kuchambua kila kitenzi lakini maisha yake hayabadiliki kwa sababu uchambuzi wenyewe umekuwa ndilo lengo. Mafarisayo walikuwa wataalamu. Waliyajua Maandiko. Waliweza kumnukuu Musa sura kwa sura na mstari kwa mstari. Hawakuweza kumwona Kristo aliyesimama mbele yao. Mwayachunguza maandiko, kwa maana mnadhani kwamba ndani yake mnao uzima wa milele; nayo ndiyo yanayonishuhudia. Wala hamtaki kuja kwangu. Ufasiri wao wote haukuzaa kubadilishwa kwa sababu ufasiri wao haukuwafikisha kamwe kwa Mtu ambaye Maandiko yalimhusu.The first error is information without transformation. This is the seminary-trained pastor who can dissect every verb but whose life does not change because the dissection has become the goal. The Pharisees were experts. They knew the Scriptures. They could quote Moses chapter and verse. They could not see the Christ standing in front of them. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me. All of their interpretation produced no transformation because their interpretation never delivered them to the Person the Scriptures were about.

Kosa la pili ni maneno ya kubadilishwa bila andiko. Huyu ni mchungaji au mwalimu anayezungumza mengi kuhusu maisha yaliyobadilika, uponyaji, mafanikio ya ghafla, baraka — lakini mahubiri yake hayasimami juu ya ufasiri makini wa kifungu chochote. Ameruka mafundisho katika mnyororo wa 2 Timotheo naye anakimbilia kukamilishwa kulicho mwishoni bila hatua zilizo katikati. Matokeo yake ni hisia tupu. Maisha hayabadilishwi na uchangamfu usio na kweli. Yanabadilishwa na kweli inayochangamsha.The second error is transformation talk without text. This is the pastor or teacher who speaks much of changed lives, healing, breakthrough, blessing — but his sermons do not rest on the careful interpretation of any passage. He has skipped the doctrine of the chain in 2 Timothy and is reaching for the equipping at the end without the steps in between. The result is sentimentalism. Lives are not changed by warmth without truth. They are changed by the truth that warms.

Mchungaji lazima atembee katikati ya makosa haya mawili. Lazima afanye kazi halisi ya ufasiri juu ya andiko — kwa maana halisi, kwa kuzingatia muktadha, kwa kuiheshimu aina ya fasihi, kwa kumfuatilia Kristo — na lazima aiache kazi hiyo ifanye kazi yake ndani yake kabla hajayapeleka matokeo mimbarini. Akina Misha walio katika safu ya tatu watajua tofauti kati ya hotuba ya Kigiriki na hori katika kituo cha watoto yatima nchini Urusi. Ndivyo zitakavyojua Roaring Camp za mitaani mwa miji.The pastor must walk between these two errors. He must do real interpretive work on the text — literal, contextual, genre-honoring, Christ-tracking — and he must let the work do its work on him before he carries the result to the pulpit. The Mishas in the third row will know the difference between a Greek lecture and a manger in a Russian orphanage. So will the Roaring Camps in the suburbs.

7. Maisha ya Mchungaji Mwenyewe Ndiyo Hermeneutiki ya Kwanza7. The Pastor’s Own Life Is the First Hermeneutic

Kabla mahubiri yako hayajawafikia watu wako, lazima yakufikie wewe. Kabla andiko halijalibadilisha kusanyiko lako, lazima libadilishe wiki yako. Hii si nyongeza ya kidini tu. Ni uhalisia wa kihermeneutiki. Mchungaji ambaye hajaguswa na kile anachokihubiri hawezi kumgusa mtu yeyote kwa hicho. Atayatamka maneno kwa usahihi. Atafikisha hoja za mafundisho. Lakini upepo wa Roho utapita chumbani bila kuipinda miti, kwa sababu hakuna kilichopindwa ndani yake. Biblia ina njia ya kulinda uadilifu wake yenyewe. Inakataa kubebwa na mikono ambayo haijaishika kwanza. Liache andiko likushike Jumatatu. Liache lichunguze ndoa yako, fedha zako, hasira yako, maisha yako ya maombi, jinsi unavyomtendea mke wako na watoto wako. Lolote ambalo kifungu kinadai kwa watu wako Jumapili, liache likudai vivyo hivyo wewe katika siku zilizo katikati.Before your sermon reaches your people, it must reach you. Before the text changes your congregation, it must change your week. This is not a pious add-on. It is hermeneutical realism. A pastor who has not been moved by what he is preaching cannot move anyone with it. He will pronounce the words correctly. He will land the doctrinal points. But the wind of the Spirit will pass through the room without bending the trees, because nothing was bent in him. The Bible has a way of preserving its own integrity. It refuses to be carried by hands it has not first laid hold of. Let the text lay hold of you on Monday. Let it interrogate your marriage, your money, your temper, your prayer life, your treatment of your wife and your children. Whatever the passage demands of your people on Sunday, let it demand the same of you on the days between.

Henrietta Mears alikuwa akisema kwamba mwalimu ambaye hajifunzi hafundishi kwa kweli. Ndivyo ilivyo kwa mchungaji na andiko lake. Mtu aliyebadilishwa na kifungu cha Jumanne anaweza kuaminiwa mimbarini Jumapili. Mtu ambaye hajabadilishwa atahubiri andiko lililochambuliwa kwa chumba kilicho kimya. Hermeneutiki ya kwanza siku zote ni maisha ya mchungaji mwenyewe.Henrietta Mears used to say that a teacher who is not learning is not really teaching. The same is true of the pastor and his text. The man who has been changed by Tuesday’s passage can be trusted in the pulpit on Sunday. The man who has not been changed will preach a parsed text into a silent room. The first hermeneutic is always the pastor’s own life.

8. Kanuni Tatu za Usomaji Unaobadilisha8. Three Rules for Transformational Reading

Lisome kwa ajili yako mwenyewe kabla hujalisoma kwa ajili ya mimbari. Maandalizi ya mahubiri yanayoanza na nitasema nini Jumapili? yako kinyume kihermeneutiki. Anza na Mungu ananiambia nini kupitia andiko hili sasa hivi? Acha jibu la swali hilo lipeleke kwenye swali la pili. Andiko lililozungumza nawe ndilo pekee utakaloweza kulihubiri kwa usadikisho.Read it for yourself before you read it for the pulpit. The sermon prep that begins with what will I say on Sunday? is hermeneutically backwards. Begin with what is God saying to me through this text right now? Let the answer to that question carry into the second question. The text that has spoken to you will be the only text you can preach with conviction.

Malizia kila funzo kwa tendo moja la utii. Si orodha ya mambo unayopaswa kufanya. Tendo moja. Utii mmoja mahususi ambao andiko hili linakudai wiki hii. Ungama dhambi hii. Piga simu hii. Msamehe mtu huyu. Fungua Biblia hii pamoja na mwanafamilia huyu. Acha tabia hii. Anza nidhamu hii. Fanya matumizi yawe halisi, ya papo hapo, na yenye gharama ya kutosha kuwa na maana. Saa ya kihermeneutiki huzaa tendo moja la utii, la sivyo haijawa saa ya kihermeneutiki. Imekuwa kipindi cha kujisomea tu.End every study with one obedient action. Not a list of things you should do. One action. One specific obedience this text requires of you this week. Confess this sin. Make this phone call. Forgive this person. Open this Bible with this family member. Stop this habit. Begin this discipline. Make the application concrete, immediate, and costly enough to matter. The hermeneutical hour produces a singular act of obedience, or it has not been a hermeneutical hour. It has been a study session.

Hubiri ukielekea kwa Mtu, si kwa ukurasa. Kila andiko ambalo Roho amelipulizia pumzi huelekeza mahali fulani kwa Kristo aliye katikati yake. Mfuatilie Mtu huyo. Kuba limejaa michoro, lakini kioo kilicho sakafuni mwa kila chumba kinamwonyesha Mwana. Badiliko unalolitaka kwa watu wako si badiliko la tabia bora peke yake; ni badiliko la kufananishwa na mfano wa Yule ambaye uso wake uko katika kioo. Lenga huko, kila Jumapili.Preach toward the Person, not toward the page. Every text the Spirit has breathed out points somewhere to the Christ at its center. Track the Person. The dome is full of figures, but the mirror at the floor of every room shows the Son. The transformation you want for your people is not the transformation of better behavior alone; it is the transformation of being conformed to the image of the One whose face is in the mirror. Aim there, every Sunday.

9. Badiliko Ni la Kudumu9. The Transformation Is Permanent

Ayubu anauliza swali linalomsumbua kila msomaji mwaminifu. Mtu akifa, je! Atakuwa hai tena? Ikiwa kila kitu tulichokuwa tukizungumzia — hori la Misha, mtoto mchanga wa Roaring Camp, kioo chini ya kuba — ikiwa yote hayo yanaishia kaburini, kubadilishwa ni wema wa muda tu. Ufufuo wa Kristo ndio unaofanya badiliko liwe la kudumu. Kwa karne nyingi kauli mbiu ya Hispania ilikuwa Ne Plus Ultra: hakuna kitu zaidi ya hapa. Kisha Kolumbus akasafiri kuelekea magharibi na kurudi na habari za bara jipya. Mfalme wa Hispania akabadilisha kauli mbiu kuwa Plus Ultra: kuna zaidi ng'ambo. Ndivyo ilivyo kwa kaburi. Jumapili moja asubuhi Mvumbuzi mmoja kijana aliyekuwa ameshuka shimoni alitoka humo akitembea, na kauli mbiu iliyo juu ya kila kifo cha Mkristo ikabadilika milele. Kuna zaidi ng'ambo.Job asks the question that haunts every honest reader. If a man dies, shall he live again? If everything we have been talking about — Misha’s manger, the Roaring Camp baby, the mirror in the dome — if all of it ends at the grave, transformation is a temporary kindness. The resurrection of Christ is what makes the transformation permanent. For centuries the motto of Spain was Ne Plus Ultra: nothing beyond. Then Columbus sailed west and brought back word of a continent. The king of Spain changed the motto to Plus Ultra: more beyond. So with the grave. One Sunday morning a young Explorer who had descended into the pit walked out of it, and the motto over every Christian death changed forever. There is more beyond.

Mvulana mmoja mwenye mzio wa nyuki alikuwa akisafiri garini pamoja na baba yake nyuki mkubwa alipoingia kupitia dirisha la gari. Aliingiwa na hofu kuu. Baba alinyoosha mkono, akamkamata nyuki, akamminya mkononi mwake. Alipomwachilia, mvulana alipiga kelele tena, akiwa na hofu. Baba akainua kiganja chake. Ndani ya ngozi yake ulikuwa umekwama mwiba wa nyuki. Huhitaji kuogopa tena. Nimeupokea mwiba kwa ajili yako. Ufufuo ni kiganja kilichofunguliwa cha Baba. Uchungu wa mauti uko mkononi mwake, si mkononi mwako. Badiliko lililoanzishwa maishani mwako na Kristo alipoingia horini ndilo badiliko ambalo ufufuo unahakikisha kwamba litadumu kupita kaburi. Hubiri kwa ujasiri huo.A boy with a bee allergy was driving with his father when a bumblebee flew through the car window. He panicked. The father reached out, caught the bee, and squeezed it in his hand. When he let it go the boy screamed again, terrified. The father held up his palm. Stuck in his skin was the stinger. You do not need to be afraid anymore. I have taken the sting for you. The resurrection is the Father’s open palm. The sting of death is in His hand, not yours. The transformation begun in your life by Christ entering the manger is the transformation the resurrection guarantees will outlast the grave. Preach with that confidence.

10. Ajabu Kabisa10. Totally Awesome

Chuck Swindoll anasimulia habari ya mwalimu wa shule ya Jumapili wa darasa la chekechea aliyekuwa akipima kile wanafunzi wake wapya walichokijua. Mvulana mmoja wa miaka mitano hakujua chochote. Aliokota vijiti viwili vidogo, akatengeneza msalaba sahili, akamwambia kwamba Yesu alipigiliwa misumari msalabani akafa. Macho ya mvulana yakashuka chini. Lo, hiyo ni habari mbaya. Kisha akamwambia sehemu iliyobaki. Kristo alifufuka kutoka kwa wafu. Kristo yu hai. Macho ya mvulana yakawa makubwa kama sahani. Uso wake ukang'aa. Ajabu kabisa!Chuck Swindoll tells of a Sunday school kindergarten teacher checking what her new students knew. One five-year-old boy knew nothing. She picked up two small sticks, made a crude cross, and told him Jesus had been nailed to a cross and died. The boy’s eyes dropped. Oh, that’s too bad. Then she told him the rest. Christ rose from the dead. Christ is alive. The boy’s eyes got as big as saucers. His face lit up. Totally awesome!

Mchungaji, hilo ndilo jibu ambalo hermeneutiki yako inapaswa kulizaa. Si kutikisa kichwa kukubaliana na ufafanuzi wako wa kifungu (eksejesia). Ajabu kabisa. Mtoto Mchanga ameingia kambini. Misha yuko horini akimpa Yesu joto milele. Kioo kilicho sakafuni kinaonyesha uso wa Baba. Na mchungaji aliyebadilishwa na andiko analolifasiri anabeba yote haya hadi chumbani wanamoketi watu wake. Hermeneutiki, ikifanywa ipasavyo, ndio mlango ambao kupitia huo Kristo anayebadilisha anaingia katika maisha yanayobadilishwa. Ufungue wiki hii. Endelea kuufungua. Akina Misha walio katika kusanyiko lako wanamsubiri mtu wa kuwaambia kwamba Yesu ana mahali kwa ajili yao — milele.Pastor, that is the response your hermeneutics is supposed to produce. Not nodding agreement to your exegesis. Totally awesome. The Baby has entered the camp. Misha is in the manger keeping Jesus warm forever. The mirror at the floor shows the Father’s face. And the pastor who has been changed by the text he interprets carries all of this into the room where his people sit. Hermeneutics, rightly done, is the door through which a transformed Christ walks into transformed lives. Open it this week. Keep opening it. The Mishas in your congregation are waiting for someone to tell them that Jesus has a place for them — for always.