Our Houston hotel received about 40 letters from Louisville in one day. We read them a few hours after learning I did not have bone cancer but a harmless benign tumor. Our shared surreal experience was that the cards we were reading with relief and elation were written from dire, drastic, deadly perspectives.

At 18 I was watching myself read what my parents’ friends write to give love, hope, and support in horrible situations, but I wasn’t needing what they were offering. They believed I was facing arm amputation, horrendous treatments, and an abbreviated lifespan when they wrote. I was evaluating their word choices, because of the evolution of my reality when I read.

Early in the last century, German Biblical scholars used the term “Sitz im Leben” — “Situation in Life.” In interpreting texts from the Bible, we need to understand the perspectives of the writers in their times, places, and worldviews. Their situations were different than ours; understanding their backgrounds helps bring their words forward into our lived experience.

As Marcus Borg wrote: “the Bible is a human product: it tells us how our religious ancestors saw things, not how God sees things.” I’d add that the Bible is a conversation over thousands of years; the different perspectives on life and the Divine reveal the “sitz im leben” of the storytellers. We also read a passage in different ways depending on our own “situation in life” which evolves and changes in the passage of time.

How does knowing a person’s background help you better understand their perspectives? When have you read the same words in a different way because of a transformation in life? How does understanding the matrix of his time help you come to know the historical Jesus?