Not safe at all
"Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them. Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to them, 'What did Moses command you?' ...In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again." (Mark 10:1-3, 10)
Crowds "gathered around Him again;" "according to His custom" He began to teach them "once more." The disciples, later, "began questioning Him again." In my relationship with Jesus, He loves to teach me, again and again. It is His custom, His habit, His delight. I, like the crowd and the disciples, should be in the position of always wanting to learn from Him, always asking Him, always willing to recognize that even after He has explained, I often still don't understand, (as the disciples so often still didn't understand) and to say to Him, "Please, teach me." Is this how I come to Him? Or do I think I understand things pretty well?
Jesus asks the Pharisees, "What did Moses command you?" Why? Was it some kind of teaching technique? Did He not know what Moses commanded? Was He trying to catch them out?
Maybe He simply cared about them. They ask a question; He responds with, "What do you know/think about the issue? Let's talk. Tell me your opinion. Let me stand where you are standing." He enters into their space, their world. The believer should never talk to the non-believer from a distance. We are not to stand and say, "I am over here with God -- come over and join us." Rather, we are to go to the side of our unbelieving friend and say to God, "We are here together -- please come to us both." We can't expect the non-believer to easily enter into our world -- from where would they have the power to do that? But we are to go to them, just as Jesus came to us. We are to go to them, even when they are being a bit tricky, even when they are maybe "testing" us.
The goal for Jesus was not to communicate with the people around Him but to invite them to be in communion with Him. To share His body with them as He did on the cross. ...For Jesus, to live in communion with those around Him, it was not safe at all. This is the story of the Gospels. It was not safe at all for Him to share everything in His life.
[GEN, 2004]
Crowds "gathered around Him again;" "according to His custom" He began to teach them "once more." The disciples, later, "began questioning Him again." In my relationship with Jesus, He loves to teach me, again and again. It is His custom, His habit, His delight. I, like the crowd and the disciples, should be in the position of always wanting to learn from Him, always asking Him, always willing to recognize that even after He has explained, I often still don't understand, (as the disciples so often still didn't understand) and to say to Him, "Please, teach me." Is this how I come to Him? Or do I think I understand things pretty well?
Jesus asks the Pharisees, "What did Moses command you?" Why? Was it some kind of teaching technique? Did He not know what Moses commanded? Was He trying to catch them out?
Maybe He simply cared about them. They ask a question; He responds with, "What do you know/think about the issue? Let's talk. Tell me your opinion. Let me stand where you are standing." He enters into their space, their world. The believer should never talk to the non-believer from a distance. We are not to stand and say, "I am over here with God -- come over and join us." Rather, we are to go to the side of our unbelieving friend and say to God, "We are here together -- please come to us both." We can't expect the non-believer to easily enter into our world -- from where would they have the power to do that? But we are to go to them, just as Jesus came to us. We are to go to them, even when they are being a bit tricky, even when they are maybe "testing" us.
The goal for Jesus was not to communicate with the people around Him but to invite them to be in communion with Him. To share His body with them as He did on the cross. ...For Jesus, to live in communion with those around Him, it was not safe at all. This is the story of the Gospels. It was not safe at all for Him to share everything in His life.
[GEN, 2004]
posted by CS at 6:26 PM
1 Comments:
I love how the final application about safety is missing, but that freedom also scares me
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