The Problem: Cars That Break Down (an analogy for narrative theology)

Out of all the bad luck that I have been dealt in my life, the worst is evidenced in the mechanical malfunction of cars.  Its as though they break down to mock me.  Maybe you have had similar experiences.  For the sake of analogy, lets assume that a brand new car is designed in such a way that it will function as we would all like, never breaking down or depreciating in value.  The designer put this particular car together so that it has the ability to start in one place, with the intention of reaching an even greater destination.  And inside the hood, is the most important part of the car, the engine.  It is the engine that propels the car forward, working with all of the other parts to enable the vehicle to serve its purpose of travel.  In a real sense, the engine is the central component of the automobile.

Now imagine this same car invited outside objects to enter its components that were not designed to be there – say, a handful of marbles.  What will happen to the engine if it has marbles bouncing around in the pistons?  It will break down and the car will be stuck, no longer able to fulfill its designed intention to move towards that great destination.

To fix the problem we would call a trustworthy mechanic to take a look at the engine and repair it back to its original purpose.  This mechanic would take the broken pieces out and replace them with his own restored parts, and would remove all of the marbles and throw them in the trash forever.  Then, and only then would the car become all that it was made for – to drive from the starting point towards an even greater destination.

What if we looked at this ridiculous story and applied it to the story of God?  Imagine that God is the designer of the car (earth) and that the engine is humanity.  The engine is what makes the car become all that it was designed for, to the delight of the designer.  Having allowed the marbles (sin) into the engine block, the car was stuck on the side of the road.  The engine (humanity) needed a repair from the destruction caused by the marbles, which was only possible when the mechanic (Jesus) came into the situation to restore the engine so that the whole of the car could once again move forward toward its destination (the coming of heaven to earth).

Humanity is the core component God’s creation project.  We were designed to fulfill a purpose, to help this world become everything that God had given it potential to become.  But rather than living up to our purpose of caring for the world and reflecting God’s stewardship and love as gardeners, we chose to allow sin to enter in, leaving the rest of creation stuck on the side of the road so to speak.  The problem in creation was humanity, so this is the very thing that God sent his Son to restore.  Now we have the opportunity to place our lives back into the hands of a loving God, and implement our original calling.  For new creation to be possible, God longs to have image-bearers that are bringers of shalom in the present and into the coming renewed creation.  We are the engines that can help a broken world see its potential once again, as we anticipate the return of Jesus who will make all things new!