The Gospel reading for today concerned Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking the body of Jesus and giving it a burial in the garden tomb. As I read, I wondered what these two men were thinking at that time and what happened to them after that. They are both mentioned briefly earlier in the Gospel story, but they pass through the scenes of Jesus' life fleetingly and then are not heard from again. They both had a lot to lose in terms of prestige in the Judea of that day, but we just don't know.
Then I think of characters in the book I am reading. I have read Les Miserables before, way back in high school, but am making my way through it again. The author, Victor Hugo, paints his characters in such detail, that there is no doubt the way they think and act and the whys of their ways. Sometimes, in excruciating detail, their thoughts are examined so as to leave no doubt about them. The reader can see their faces, read their minds, read their expressions, and know their hearts. They are an open book, literally.
Then I think of people in my story, people that I think I know well because I have been around them for years, watched them grow up and become the way they are today. But do I really? They can talk to me about their lives, and I can watch what they do, but it is only through what they choose to reveal that I can see into their minds or hearts.
I wonder to myself, why do I even want to know about these characters? Is it just idle curiosity or something more?
It may be just that curiosity that causes me to want to know more about those Gospel characters and the complete story of their lives. Maybe, in their case, I would like to have some direction from the way they lived as an example for me in situations that I might find myself in.
I do not have to wonder much about Hugo's characters. They are spelled out in great detail. They can give me insights into my own life, as I see myself in them, but they are just in a fictional story and the author can make them come out any way he chooses.
Then there are those that I know well. Why do I want to know about them? Curiosity or more? Could I give some earned wisdom in those situations in their lives that I have lived through, whether in failure or victory? That would be the noble reason, I think.
I can learn from those stories that I read about, whether in the Bible or in a work of fiction, but I can only interact with those that God has placed in my life, in my story. My prayer is that I would take the time and have the concern about those that I know, to be a presence in their lives for good. I pray for wisdom in dealing with those that He places here, where I live, so that God's story is carried out in all of our lives.
As Hugo breathes life into his story people, so much more does God do the same for us. Hugo's characters have no choice in the matter, but God does give me choices, and I want to make the ones that add to the story of His love and grace, not take away from it.
Let me live a life of Reality not fiction.
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