So, do you want to know the truth? Really?

Did you know, in our modern times, that the truth comes in layers? We might think that we know something, and we understand it well, and then we learn that there is more to know.

Here is a recent example. I remember being in the country of Switzerland once in my life. I had a nice visit, but a short one. Now there is a news story about a religious argument in Switzerland, and I am no expert, but it is possible to see the truth in layers, in this story.

Layer 1, the story:

A young woman named Sanija Ameti lives in Switzerland with her family. Her name seems a bit unusual for a Swiss woman, I think, and the truth is that she and her family are refugees from Bosnia.

We probably all know that there was a terrible war in Bosnia, about thirty years ago. Sanija and her family came to Switzerland as refugees from that war.

Also, it is important to know that Sanija and her family are Muslims. Bosnia has one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe.

Sanija apparently had a promising career as a politician in her Swiss community. From the pictures on the Internet, she looks like someone people might vote for. Well, they might have voted for her, but now it looks like her political career is over. 

Sanija was shooting a gun at a shooting range, and she used a picture as her target. The picture now has several bullet holes. And here is the important part of this story; she chose a picture of Mary and the baby Jesus, as her target, and she shot several bullets into a picture of Jesus.

She shot Jesus, or a least a picture of him, and she is a Muslim refugee. 

If you want to know more, you can watch the video:

Layer 2, the ‘shame and blame’ reaction:

Yes, Sanija Ameti made a foolish mistake, and she admits it. Possibly she is telling the truth when she says that she didn’t recognize the picture and she didn’t know who that mother and child were. It is also possible that she knew more than she admits.

I am writing as a Christian, and I think we should judge this story and Sanija, cautiously. Jesus has some strong words for us:

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7: 1 to 5)

We live in the time of the Internet, and the news is often just an image and an emotional reaction; exactly the opposite of what Jesus told us. A picture of the baby Jesus with bullet holes is a powerful image, and the best modern response is emotional, usually anger.

That is the news, in our modern Internet times. See the picture – get angry, and then – click on the next story.

Yes, Sanija Amedi did something that she should not have done, and the second layer was to make a mistake that fits into an Internet image. Also, as a politician, she has rivals who would like to put the emotional blame on her and her political party. The rivals might then be more popular and more successful.

Layer 3, So, who is this Jesus?:

In our shallow ‘click – shame and blame’ culture, we might miss the good news. Did you know, the stories about Jesus, in the Bible, are named “Gospels” and that means good news.

So, how could a random picture of a mother and a baby, who lived two thousand years ago, cause so much stress now? A critic of that person could tell us that his parents were not married, when he was born, and that man was not his real father.

Also, he was born in a stable—an animal barn—and his family were refugees in Egypt when he was a baby. He was then raised to be a carpenter in a small town in the province of Nazareth in Galilee. He became a street preacher, and when he annoyed important people, he was executed on a cross. Some people laughed at him when he died.

So, why does that target-picture in Switzerland matter now, two thousand years later? My pictures will not matter to anyone, in a few years, for example.

Here is an example of an ancient street argument:

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh. (John 8: 12 to 15)

I think the best picture of Jesus is in words, in those Gospels, and also in the lives of his followers. But this huge fight over an old picture is an illustration of how that one life, lived among us, continues to change history.

There is some power here that doesn’t fit in this world, and there is a lesson in the third layer. 

Also, there is more than bullet holes in a piece of paper in the Jesus experience: