I have been thinking--scary, I know. I have been learning many new things and many important things recently; school has a tendency to do that to a person. I feel that I've been given a lot of information but haven't been telling people (Lauren would probably say differently; she has to listen to it all the time--I don't feel bad, that's her job). So I thought maybe once a week or so I could send out an email with something short--something to think about or read about. You can respond if you would like, but you don't have to. This is really to give you a chance to read and think; if you want to talk about it or have something else to add, even better. I'll start with this one:
Mark 9:2-9 is known as the transfiguration. Here, Jesus takes his inner group, Peter, James, and John, to the top of a mountain. At the top, they see him as the resurrected figure, almost a "flash forward" that reveals his future seat on the throne. (Read the entire story; it's interesting) Towards the end, in verse 7, a voice from the clouds tells the 3 with him, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." Previously, the disciples have not understood many things (they question the parables, the miracles, the prediction of Jesus' death, etc.). Here, this voice says, "...listen to him." The very next thing it says that Jesus tells them is to tell no one what they have seen UNTIL THE SON OF MAN SHOULD HAVE RISEN FROM THE DEAD (verse 9). They have already been told to listen, but it seems their ears were still closed, or possibly just their minds. Then, over in verse 31 and 32, Jesus tells them very clearly, "The Son of man will be delivered into thehands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise." But still they didn't get it! It even says that they were afraid to ask which, to me, says that they knew they should be getting something out of it, but they didn't know what that was, even though he states it very clearly.
Are we, still today, so closed minded that we sometimes simply hear with our ears and not with our hearts? Jesus is still speaking to us; are we truly listening to every word with open minds and open hearts to understand what is being said? And even if we still do not understand, are we too afraid or have too much pride to ask?
-Matt
1 comment:
I like the idea of your weekly blog entry! And it has given something to think about. I had never thought about it from that passage, but I agree that the same may fit us sometime. The disciples seemed to have a preconceived idea of what to expect and had a hard time hearing anything outside of that. I guess we sometime do the same. It doesn't fit exactly, but when you get a chance go to www.rhchurch.org and view the sermon on "Lifestyles of the Rich & Amos #8 - A Non-Prophet Organization". It references listening and being open to God's word to us today. Let me know what you think.
Debbie
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