Lenten Musings - 21. Har, har... Hardy, har, har.

Click here, to make some sense of that title.

I had an interview for a new job that I don't really want today. It's not that I don't want it (which I don't), it's more that I preffer where I am and the work that I do. The new job is better money on average, but what is money worth, really?

John 5
The part that stuck out to me was John 5:16-18. I realized that we, or more specifically I, am not that different from the Jewish leaders. I don't think they necessarily started out intending to have Jesus killed. There must have been some sort of progression. At first, they seemed to be somewhat irked because of smaller things. Healing and eating grains of wheat on the Sabbath. Hanging out with sinners and tax collectors. I know when people don't do what I expect them to, I get a little irked. It's maybe not much, but it still gets my bonnet all in a bunch. There are so many variants in church culture, doctrine, theology, etc. I think there was an old SNL skit that illustrates this all. I couldn't find it, but the joke it comes from is posted here. Little bits of doctrine, of belief, separate us. Should they? I don't get the feeling that the differences are as important as they used to be. Most people my age don't seem to be very "denominational". Anyway, I just finally understood where the Jewish leaders were coming from. Jesus was different, and different is always difficult. Even in our age of "tolerance", some things aren't tolerated. Where we, and the Jewish leaders, fail is to evaluate things on the scale of difference, rather than truth. What Jesus was sharing was radical and different, but it was life giving and true. Jesus got progressively difficult for the leaders to tolerate, especially in verse 18, where they are upset because Jesus equated Himself with God. I wonder at what point they decided that Jesus had to die?