I just realized the other week why Starbucks calls the one size venti. It's 20 oz., and venti means twenty. Smart. It's still annoying, but at least it's smart-annoying.
John 4
One thing that keeps popping up is this idea of belief. Over and over John's emphasis is on people's belief, or Jesus' insistence upon belief. The Samaritan woman, and many of her friends and neighbours, believed in Jesus. The royal official first believes what Jesus says is true, that his son will be healed, and then believes in Jesus. What does it mean to "believe" in Jesus? It's never laid out for us, but I think there's something we intrinsically understand about it. What does it mean to "be in love"? Equally difficult to nail down, yet we do it all the time. I think belief has some sort of action attached to it. If I believe something, then I behave a certain way. Belief is a powerful shaper of how we live our life. On the way home from work, there was an interview with some professor who had done a survey on "normal vs. abnormal sexual practices" with his university classes. As he was explaining the whole thing, you could get a clear picture of what he believed about the subject. He pretty much stated that we need to teach our kids that anything and everything is OK. I'm not going to argue that point, other than to say that his belief on this subject will have big implications on how he lives his life and the effect he has on others.
I think that be directing our belief at Himself, Jesus is giving us a standard to go by. He is what we believe in, and therefore we act accordingly. Belief in him gives us a platform to work and live from, rather than having to float in the baseless muck of believing whatever you feel like believing in. Jesus tells us like it is, confronting our sinfulness and our inability to do anything about it. Left to our own devices, we are nothing short of monstrous. Yes, yes, there are lots of "good" or "nice" people, but if you look at the history of the human race, and what each one of us is capable of at our core, it's not a pretty picture. I think part of Jesus' act of redemption is not only to remove our sin, and to offer forgiveness. He wipes the slate clean, and then he starts to fill in the blanks of what comes next.
Some might wish for a little more direction that "believe". However, we are not so much called to do as to be. Our belief in Jesus is organic, ongoing, ever evolving, just like a real relationship. In some ways, I believe in my wife. I trust her, I feel safe with her, I share in her labours, her hopes and her dreams, as she does in mine. I think something similar is at work in the way we are to follow God... to believe, to trust, to share, etc. That is what He is calling us to.
1 comment:
Glad you're blogging again. And it's really cool that you're blogging through a couple gospels. I wish I had known when you were starting, so I could keep up with you. As it is, I'm reading a few posts a day, and am almost caught up.
May I encourage you to go further with your Lenten Musings though? This post, in particular, I think you've done a good job of asking the question and then telling us how you'd answer it.
I'd like to hear if you think Mark 16:9-20 is scripture. I'd like to hear what that says about your position on Biblical inerrancy. I think you have an opinion on Mark 16:16, let's hear it.
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