At an online writing retreat I attended last fall, Anne Lamott, the author of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, discussed this passage of her book:
“Whatever your characters do or say will be born out of who they are, so you need to set out to get to know each one as well as possible” (p. 43).
Lamott was writing about the creation of fictional characters, but getting to know biblical characters in detail also helps sermon crafting—providing new insights for sermon messages and helping us understand how people might have lived and moved with each other and God.
In the same way that seeing Batman with an ice cream cone in the image above colors our perspective of him, so too can a few well-placed details in your sermon open up the humanity—the common fears, hopes, regrets, and dreams—of the biblical characters so your listeners connect to the Good News more deeply.
Inferences gleaned from details yield possible sermon messages
Let me offer an example by looking at John the Baptist.
I’ll use two details we’re provided about him to make multiple inferences about his character, choices, priorities, and circumstances. These inferences provide possible directions for a sermon message.
Details: John the Baptist wore camel’s hair with a leather belt and ate locusts and wild honey.
Sermon Message Possibility 1
His clothing and diet suggest someone who either chose or was required to make do without a lot of money so used what was readily available. This in turn suggests John was resourceful and resilient.
What might John’s resourcefulness and resilience have to say to your congregation?
Sermon Message Possibility 2
Camel’s hair must have been intensely uncomfortable and itchy to wear.
Did he choose the discomfort, or did he not have a choice? If he chose it, why? What would motivate him to do so? If he didn’t have a choice, how did he make his peace with it?
Whether camel’s hair was voluntary or not, he doesn’t seem seem to have let the discomfort get in the way of his ministry.
How might your congregation be uncomfortable? Or maybe they’re avoiding discomfort. How might discomfort open new paths of ministry? How might we safeguard against our discomfort interrupting the ministry at hand?
Sermon Message Possibility 3
As to John’s diet, eating locusts and wild honey means that John foraged.
To forage successfully means you have to know the land around you and the processes to cultivate its resources.
Is foraging a metaphor for your congregation? Are there resources to be gleaned and put to use for ministry from their surrounding land, whether that land is dirt, garden, or city?
The benefits of examining the details
In looking at two details about John’s character based on his clothing and diet, I found three sermon possibilities worth pursuing.
In addition, I have new insights about who John might have been. He’s become more interesting, more real as an actual human being which has increased my respect and curiosity.
I want to get to know him more.
WHAT IF SCRIPTURE DOESN’T PROVIDE THE DETAILS?
Not all Scripture passages provide details like we get for John the Baptist.
In the absence of details, we can make educated guesses based on the time period and customs, how the character behaves in other biblical passages, and carefully-made assumptions based on common human emotional responses.
Inferences based on cultural norms
For instance, here’s an example to consider based on cultural norms.
We’re told that shepherds left their fields to go see the baby Jesus. We aren’t told anything about these shepherds in particular, but cultural studies tell us that shepherds were considered to be among society’s lowest-of-the-low.
If the lowest-of-the-low are the first to receive the best news ever given to humanity, how might that affect the way they move? The way they talk? Would their families see the difference immediately as soon as they saw them?
Perhaps for the first time ever, these shepherds looked people in the eyes based on a newly discovered confidence and sense of worthiness.
How might imagining the way the shepherds are affected relate to the ways we (and our congregations) speak to and share good news with those considered the lowest of the low?
Inferences based on human nature
How might we imagine a response based on what we know of human nature? Consider this example.
Abram lied to the Egpytians to save his own skin by passing off his wife Sarai as his sister instead of his wife (Gen. 12:10-20).
If we wanted to describe this scene with details that add emotional and sensory texture, we might imagine how someone who lies would act in that situation.
Would he have postured with bravado that hides shame for his lie and cowardice? Or maybe with arrogant confidence because the needs of those “beneath” him (like a woman) were of no consequence and didn’t register with him?
How would either option affect the way we preach about the human condition and God’s grace?
And how did Sarai feel about his lie when she was taken into Pharaoh’s house? Did she feel betrayed? Used? Or might it have felt like the rock instead of the hard place because if the Egyptians had killed Abram for Sarai, then Sarai would have been completely alone and might never have had hope of getting away?
Who in your congregation might need to hear a sermon about betrayal, feeling used, or the hope that still can come even when we are given the rock instead of the hard place? Where is God for us when we experience any of these types of situations?
The text isn’t our only Source of information
When Scripture doesn’t provide the details, we can do our homework to read more about the character elsewhere in Sceripture, learn more about the cultural cues, and let our imaginations feel what the characters might have felt to unearth the human condition that affects us all.
TEN QUESTIONS to HELP US KNOW THE CHARACTER
Here are ten questions you can ask to get to know or imagine the character better. The first five questions are cited from Lamott’s book on writing, Bird by Bird (p. 43):
What do they look like?
What sort of first impression do they make?
What does each one care most about, want more than anything in the world?
What are their secrets?
Everyone is walking around as an advertisement for who or she is—so who is this person?
If they wore a t-shirt with a slogan, what would it be?
If you met them for dinner, would they do more talking or more listening? Would they ask you a lot of questions? Would they answer the ones you posed? Are there questions they would deflect?
What kind of handshake would they give? Firm? Weak? Two-handed? Long or brief?
If they wrote their autobiography, what would they entitle it?
If the book were made into a movie, which actor or actress would they hope would play them?
These ideas are intended to get you started. What questions would you add to the list?
KEEP A FILE
We have the great blessing of being able to get to know biblical characters over years, so create a file on each one as they come up.
Every time the character shows up in a bible study, exegesis, sermon, or popular culture, add to the file.
Eventually you’ll have the equivalent of dossiers on all of the characters: who their families are, the various stories in which they appear, their motivations, their trials and triumphs, and their characters.
Then, the next time the character shows up in the text we can reach into our file and get reminded about the richness of this human being whom God worked through long ago, and through whom God will work through again now, for us.