Therefore Having Gone

Therefore Having Gone

Saturday, October 29, 2022

TONE

With 99% of the dialogue recorded in Scripture, the tone of voice of the speaker is not explicitly described. The reader is left to infer whether a sentence is said in anger or sadness. 

Quietly or loudly. 

With boldness or timidity.

Take for example this famous exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well: 

John 4:15  The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

16  Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

17  “I have no husband,” the woman replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are correct to say that you have no husband. 18  In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. You have spoken truthfully.”

What is the tone of the Son of God when He reveals that He knows she has been through multiple marriages and is now living with a sixth man?

I just can't picture Jesus aggressively wagging His finger in her face and raising His voice in judgment. I can't imagine He was trying to shame her. Can you?

Don't you think He said those words with great sadness? 

In our own day, when we see various sins being exercised against God's ways in the world around us, shouldn't our hearts be in alignment with Jesus' heart? 

Even if we never say the words out loud, shouldn't our tone be the same?

Is it?

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