March
10, 2016 ~ Day 31
My
2016 Lenten Journey: Exploring the Gospels to discover what following Jesus and
becoming more like him would look like? ‘And I, when
I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).
Matthew 9:14-17
~ It comes from all quarters; in this case, from the Apostles
of John, who was, in turn, a follower of Jesus. In fact, it was John who
baptized Jesus. “Why do you do it differently than we do it?”
I’ve
frequently noted the tendency—it seems an increasing tendency to me—for
Americans to fall into a pathological “I’m right” syndrome. There seems to be a
culturally engrained inability for people to consider, “What if I’m wrong?”
But,
as I read this text I see that it’s not a new phenomenon.
It’s
a symptom of a lack of trust in grace. We pay lip service to grace. We sing of
its “Amazing” qualities. But then, when the chips are down, our trust really—really—is in the way we do things: the religious
vocabulary we choose, the rituals we repeat, the symbols to which we point,
the Bible verses we've memorized (and the English version in which we've memorized them), etc.
I
recall a conversation in the early ‘70s. The director of the pre-school program
in our church was “old-school” Pentecostal. I don’t remember how the
conversation began, but it involved comparing “the way we do things.” At one
point, as I recall, she asked, passionately, “But have your ‘prayed the blood’?”
I
had to admit I didn’t know, because I’d never heard that phrase. Well, that did
it. I was weighed in the balances and found wanting—because I didn’t say the
right words.
In
this text, Jesus is announcing a new age. Everything must be reevaluated in the
light of the present reality. The infamous, “we never did it that way before”
is invalid. One does not put new wine in old wineskins.
And,
if I may sneak a preview of the last chapter, Jesus is “the visible image of
the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15): the one who said, “Behold, I am always
making all things new!” (Revelation 21:5) Always, he said! (Actually, it's the imperfect tense, which implies ongoing, incomplete action, i.e., "I am always making all things new" or "I keep on making all things new".) Faith is never a "one-and-done" matter.
Am
I stuck in a rut of liturgical and theological habit? How hard will it be to
follow Jesus and become more like him, if I never ask, “What new thing must I consider? What new way must I try? What if I'm wrong?"
Whoever
has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9 NRSV)
‘And
I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NRSV).
That's the way it
looks through the flawed glass that is my world view.
Together in the Walk,
Jim
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