Passage
In which Jesus makes a lot of people angry. Hooray!
I mean, I understand why people would have been angry. If you have been told that if you break these rules you will die, you would feel quite passionate about that. For a leader to start ignoring them would be frustrating beyond belief. For people to listen to those lies. For someone to say that you were wrong, that the rules don't matter. And then to call you out for calling them out. I mean, isn't that the same thing as in the tale of the Prodigal's Son. The second son was frustrated, and it's understandable.
So if you look at it from their perspective, it's understandable. But why should this be different? It's trite to say "because it was Jesus!" and "because we are right!" That isn't a good answer. We have some things on our side if we do say that--accounts that check-out and of which we have numerous copies, multiple people confirming stories, and the truth within the pages. There's the holy spirit--I can feel it, with every tiny cell in me, that there is a God, and there is a Jesus. But why would another person believe? Miracles? Because Jesus can send out demons?
Maybe it goes to being chosen--is a person chosen, by God, to believe or not. I was chosen to believe, which is why I feel so confident. Maybe it is whether a person is genuinely willing to consider. Maybe the people who were upset didn't want to think they could be wrong. But am I willing to believe I'm wrong? I'm not wrong. I can't be wrong.
Did they know they were wrong? We couldn't both be right.
There's pride, that clouds everything. There's a deep cultural belief. There's expectations. I'm dealing right now with God not following my expectations, and it's unnerving; of course it would be for the people back then. Maybe it does go back to being called. Hmm.
Plenty of food for thought today.
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