The Message

I bought a copy of The Message after I stumbled across a Youtube video of a meeting between Bono, the lead singer of U2, and the late Eugene Peterson. The latter was a preacher who developed The Message, a modern rendition of the Bible. Parts of The Message was published in earlier years, but the full version became available in 2002. I have come across abstracts of it every now and then, but have never taken interest to it because it didn't seem to have the authoritative ring and punchiness of the New International Version (NIV). The Message paraphrases the Bible by using modern words and context.

In the youtube video, there was a segment where Bono reads from Psalm 40:

"I waited and waited and waited for God.
    At last he looked; finally he listened.
He lifted me out of the ditch,
    pulled me from deep mud.
He stood me up on a solid rock
    to make sure I wouldn’t slip.
He taught me how to sing the latest God-song..."
Psalm 40: 1-3 (The Message)

That piqued my interest in The Message. "I waited and waited and waited..." resonated with me because I often feel like I am waiting and waiting and waiting for something or other!  I was conscious that I already have a few copies of the Bible at home and wondered if this was a impulse purchase. Will it make me love reading the Bible more? Can it help me understand the Bible better? Is it going to make Jesus sound like a hippie? Well why not buy a copy to find out - so I gave in to my impulse.

This is its rendition of Isaiah 1:13-17

Quit your worship charades. I can’t stand your trivial religious games: Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings— meetings, meetings, meetings—I can’t stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You’ve worn me out! I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning. When you put on your next prayer-performance, I’ll be looking the other way. No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I’ll not be listening. And do you know why? Because you’ve been tearing people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up. Clean up your act. Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless.

This is like God walking into a busy church today. "Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out!" You have no excuse for thinking that those words were just for the Jews of the Old Testaments. The paraphrase takes the essence of the message and serves it to you piping hot. The picture in my head wasn't religious leaders in white garbs putting up a pious performance, but of men and women like ourselves treating church like weekly "religious games". 

I read its rendition of John 3 where Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader meets with Jesus to speak to him alone. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needed to be "born again". And quite honestly, there a some portions of some verses in that chapter which aren't so easy to understand. But the elaboration in the The Message helped me to understand it better:

"Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit." ~ John 3:5-6 (The Message)


So, I am enjoying myself reading The Message. And it is helping me to better understand some verses. I gave my copy to my son today and I pray that he will hear God speaking into his life. I am going to get myself a replacement copy tomorrow, perhaps a NIV - The Message parallel Bible.