Monday 25 July 2011

25th July 2011

Mark 1:22 (King James Version)

22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

Here, Mark writes about what happens in teaching.  The importance of teaching and learning are at the heart of human existence.  From the tenderest beginnings of human life, we are engineered to learn.  Absorbing and processing experience is an essential part of our genetic fabric.  Through teaching ‘as one that had authority, and not as the scribes’, we are able to equip others with the tools to determine for themselves, and to imagine new possibilities.

Monday 18 July 2011

18th July 2011

‘Get thee behind me, Satan’ (Luke 4.8)Jesus’ response to the devil when being tempted with all the kingdoms of the earth is a rejection of the self-centred lure of power and of worshipping that which is undeserving (i.e. all that is not God).
Having gained a life of its own, the phrase has both grown and been diminished. Today, it is a dieting slogan, the message on mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, even a thong (see, e.g., http://shop.cafepress.co.uk/get-thee-behind-me). Who knows what the King James’ translators, or the Jesus whom they depict, would make of this? ‘Get thee behind me,’ perhaps?

Monday 4 July 2011

4th July 2011

‘I desired mercy and not sacrifice’ (Hosea 6:6, KJV).

This saying is a little odd, coming from the same Lord who prescribed a good deal of sacrifice in the covenant with Israel made through Moses at Mt Sinai (see Leviticus, passim!). But he has become impatient with the practice! ‘Sacrificing’ can become a fault: a calculation of life in terms of cost and gain; an attempt to force God and the earth to yield their bounty.

‘Mercy’ is first a quality of God that overwhelms even his requirement of human obedience. In human beings, it entails both receiving life as a gift, and a disposition to seek the good of others, beyond personal interest or due.