Page 17 - THE CHURCH BEFORE THE MOCKING WORLD

CHAPTER FIVE
Parabolic Absence
In 1931, Jazz musician Louis Armstrong was in Memphis Tennessee performing for segregated audiences. On the bus down to Memphis he was seated with his white manager and his manager?s wife. At one point, as they were in the Memphis city limits, the police came on the bus and found Armstrong seated next to his manager?s wife, going over some business files.
He, along with his whole black band were thrown in prison for breaking anti-segregation laws, by being in too close of a proximity to a white woman, in a public place.
Finally, by all kinds of intervention, Armstrong was released and allowed to continue with his tour.
That night at his performance Armstrong said he wanted to dedicate the next song to the Memphis Police Department, some of whom were on duty in the audience. The name of the song was, ?I will be glad when you are dead, you rascal you?. The members of his band groaned as they realised that Armstrong would probably cause a riot.
Armstrong then sang the song in a particular Black style that made it impossible for the White audience to understand the words. The band understood everything.
Afterwards, someone from the Memphis police department came forward, and with gratitude, told Armstrong he was moved deeply by his gesture and that no one knows what a tough job they have policing Memphis.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was the master of a similar practice that can sometimes be called, Parabolic Absence. He was able, in a public setting, to tell the truth in such a way that only He and those He intended, were able to understand the meaning of His parable.
Thankfully, Our Lord Jesus Christ did not engage this method as a means of vitriol as in the case of Louis Armstrong.
It is quite difficult for a Christian who has grown up spiritually in the environment of pragmatic world evangelism to grasp the compelling concept behind the way that Our Lord Jesus Christ utilised the parable.
So much emphasis is placed upon the idea that the peoples of earth must ?hear?the Gospel. The idea of Jesus ?hiding?the Gospel creates a cognitive dissonance.
Let?s explore this.
If the goal of Our Lord Jesus Christ was to let everyone know He was the Messiah, He could have simply gone to the Temple in Person after the Resurrection and shown Himself publicly to the world as being alive, and as having conquered death. That would have been the best and most pragmatic technique for getting the job done.