Sticks and Stones .......... Parables 635

(date uncertain) 

“You are an odd person, Ronny,” said the teacher. On reflection, Ron says her remark now seems neither negative or positive, but it did stay with him forty years. He often asks himself, “What should an odd person do in this situation?”

Benign or otherwise, name-calling brings our children come home from school crying. Without thinking, we tell them that “sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you” but it is not true. Words can hurt.

Someone makes a thoughtless joke. A peer says something in anger. A teacher makes an offhand comment. Those words devastate us. We cannot forget them. No doubt about it, words do have power, not only to inflict pain but also to change the way we think and act.

The book of Proverbs has much to say about words. For instance, they are “deep waters” and “a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”

Words can be negative: “When words are many, sin is not absent” or “Mere talk leads to poverty” or “Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than him. . .”

Words can also be positive. “The words of the pure are pleasant” and “A gentle answer turns away wrath” and “An anxious heart weighs a man down but a kind word cheers him up.”

The Bible clearly says that words have power and that “life and death are in the power of the tongue.” Could that be why God inspired New Testament writers to give a special name to His Son, Jesus Christ? John says, “In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was made flesh and lived among us.”

In our mind, a word is a symbol. In contrast, during the time the New Testament was written, their Greek-dominated world thought that “word” (or “logos”) meant much more. For them “word” was the rational order of the world, the god that was behind everything. “Word” was also the means by which their god communicated to them.

The Bible writers picked up this term “logos” or “word” and applied it to Jesus. But they were not thinking of a vague god like Hermes nor dreaming up some way to link human beings to the various Greek deities. Instead, logos (or word) described the link between the Creator and the world He made. The logos was God, stepping into human flesh and revealing Himself to us.

This Word is ultimate power — demonstrated as Jesus spoke peace into troubled water and troubled hearts. By a word, He healed the sick, raised the dead, rid tortured souls of demonic influence, changed water to wine, and multiplied a lunch into a banquet. Whatever He said, it happened.

Further, by this Word God communicates His very nature and heart. In the compassion of Jesus, He shows us that He loves us. In Jesus’ rebukes and stern warnings to the Pharisees, God shows us that He hates sin and religious hypocrisy. As we observe Jesus going willingly to the cross and dying for our sin, God communicates His plan of redemption and that He did not abandon us to our failure. When Jesus rose from the dead, God shows His power over that great and final enemy.

This Word from God is strong yet vulnerable, righteous and holy yet willing to redeem. All that God is became wrapped up in this God-man so God could reveal Himself to us.

Our words are not like the Living or written Word of God, yet there is a lesson for us in that power. When we speak, we also communicate our hearts to other people. An unkind word indicates our lack of compassion. A thoughtless word shows that we do not care enough about our listeners to think before we open our mouths. A gracious word shows that grace has touched our lives.

Sticks and stones do break bones, but just as God’s Word brought eternal life, our words can have a great impact on someone’s daily life. We need to choose them carefully.