The Indicative Mood - Linguistic Moods and Preaching


The Indicative Mood

Indicative - explains or describes something, often used in the form of narrative.

Most preaching spends a good deal of time in the indicative mood. Ford points out that the gospels are primarily in the indicative mood; telling stories about Jesus. Any good preacher knows that stories form the basis of a good sermon. For most preachers this comes naturally, as a text is usually used as the basis of a sermon, and so part of the sermon is spent explaining the text in question. 

The Two Horizons

This "explaining the text" is extremely useful; Biblical Scholar Anthony Thiselton has pointed out the gulf or divide that stands between the original hearers of scripture and us today. Thiselton calls this gulf 'the two horizons'; the horizon of the original text and our own horizon. To this end, the preacher stands as a bridge between these two horizons by both helping the hearers to enter into the ancient world of scripture whilst also bringing the truth of scripture into the hearers' world. This is one reason why study of scripture is so important. The preacher must immerse themselves into the world of scripture in order to understand the concerns of the day, the metaphors being used and the reference points the writers had in mind.

Inhabiting Stories

The indicative is also used to stimulate the imagination of the congregation. Oftentimes hearing a general application, such as a call to compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience is not enough to help the congregation; the preacher must cement this application with some stories of how this passage has been applied to peoples lives in ways that seem both ordinary (something people can realistically expect to do) and radical (something that involves a departure from common practice).

The Story of the Gospel

Finally, the indicative is also used to tell the story of Jesus (the gospel). It is my belief, and one I think that has a firm foundation, that preaching that does not include a retelling of the gospel is not preaching at all (by the gospel I mean the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus). Any imperative and any application that has not been filtered through the lens of the cross is at best a moralising scheme and at worst a burden placed on the backs of God's people. When I say this, people often balk at its rigidity; "surely people will be bored of hearing that week in and week out", but the truth of the matter is that Christians need to hear the gospel as regularly and sincerely as anybody else does. If we have truly grasped the gospel then we will never tire of hearing it afresh every week. Indeed we need to hear it week in week out, it should be a balm to our soul.

For the preacher today then, it is important to look at how we use the indicative mood. What stories are we telling? What are our explanations of scripture like? Is our preaching a balm to the soul or a burden on our backs?

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