Take Care of #1

We're not all alike. Now, there's a surprise! On top of the family history differences, the very real gender differences, and the birth order differences, are the simple differences in personality and preference. This makes our understanding of each other, and even our appreciation for each other, rather difficult sometimes.

I'm thinking of this in light of today's scripture. It is very straightforward — kind of an extension of the righteous anger of Jesus that we saw in operation last week, as he chased the cheats and blasphemers from the temple area. It's not bashful. It's confrontational. And, honestly, it makes me squirm. I respond so much more enthusiastically to the loving, gentle, patient, long-suffering side of Jesus that we see most of the time. Even the thought of reading this scripture in church today kind of makes me shiver. I don't like to talk like that. But this is Jesus speaking; and I don't only have to listen, I have to accept the rightness of this confrontation.

Some of us really need to hear the truth this way. We may be avoiders. We may be deceiving or excusing ourselves. We may be prone to blame others for our missteps — even God. We may be painting on our faces a false piety, rather like the teachers of the law and the Pharisees that Jesus confronted so straightforwardly.

So, as I listen to Jesus talk about and confront some of the religious folks to whom he says "Woe to you" I'm going to think about #1. Is there anything that he is saying here that he is saying to me? And if that is true, as one who would be his disciple, what am I going to do about it?