Jeremiah’s perception was that God had picked him to the prophetic ministry even before his conception in his mother’s womb. The text (Jeremiah 1:4-10) very clearly affirms that Jeremiah’s ministry had nothing to do with any human agents. It is God who appointed him in that ministry.
The text also outlines the kind of task Jeremiah was to perform. He was expected “to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow” before he was permitted “to build and to plant”. This is spoken in a metaphorical language; it means that Jeremiah was to promote a counter culture, challenge the conventional wisdom of his time. Jeremiah precisely performed those duties and suffered for doing so!
Jesus also did much plucking up, pulling down, destroying and overthrowing that made the synagogue leaders very angry! One morning there was a disturbance in a synagogue. This was due to Jesus doing something very different from the usual Sabbath doing (Cf. Luke 13:10-17). The problem here was Jesus healing on the Sabbath. Healing on the Sabbath was considered working on the Sabbath. Jesus’ actions that morning suggested a counter culture!
For the Hebrew people working on the Sabbath was wrong and sinful. But for Jesus showing mercy, no matter whether it is Sabbath, or not is the essence of spirituality. Hence, Jesus did more than a healing on the Sabbath. He unseated their ‘religious culture’ in order to put a new one.
Three concerns that emerge from that single act are noteworthy. First, he challenged the synagogue leader and the system that considered women as mere possessions, and often less important than even an ox that ploughed the fields, or the donkey that carried the load! In this system an ox or a donkey brought more money! These were days when the work, women performed were not taken into consideration. Second, the Hebrews, like many of us, often lived with a misplaced value system. Money and money producing machineries are more important than humans! Finally, they also mistook a set of do’s and don’ts as the only requirement for faith and spirituality. But for Jesus, mercy and kindness is the core of spirituality. Those who show mercy and compassion even when they did not belong to a religious community or practice religious faith are indeed in a spiritual journey.
In lifting the woman on the Sabbath morning, then, Jesus challenged the status quo, upsetting the religious people of his time, particularly the synagogue leader. In the Gospels, Jesus’ troubles are always when he challenged the “conventional wisdom” of the people of his time, disturbing the status quo, or acting out a counter culture.
Jesus’ expressions of spirituality and cultural inclinations that morning did an uncomfortable unseating of the dominant value! He made the circle wider. He added an additional gender, with it a new sound and a new smell to the new sphere, making it more multi-gender the chief characteristic of heaven.
The text also outlines the kind of task Jeremiah was to perform. He was expected “to pluck up and pull down, to destroy and to overthrow” before he was permitted “to build and to plant”. This is spoken in a metaphorical language; it means that Jeremiah was to promote a counter culture, challenge the conventional wisdom of his time. Jeremiah precisely performed those duties and suffered for doing so!
Jesus also did much plucking up, pulling down, destroying and overthrowing that made the synagogue leaders very angry! One morning there was a disturbance in a synagogue. This was due to Jesus doing something very different from the usual Sabbath doing (Cf. Luke 13:10-17). The problem here was Jesus healing on the Sabbath. Healing on the Sabbath was considered working on the Sabbath. Jesus’ actions that morning suggested a counter culture!
For the Hebrew people working on the Sabbath was wrong and sinful. But for Jesus showing mercy, no matter whether it is Sabbath, or not is the essence of spirituality. Hence, Jesus did more than a healing on the Sabbath. He unseated their ‘religious culture’ in order to put a new one.
Three concerns that emerge from that single act are noteworthy. First, he challenged the synagogue leader and the system that considered women as mere possessions, and often less important than even an ox that ploughed the fields, or the donkey that carried the load! In this system an ox or a donkey brought more money! These were days when the work, women performed were not taken into consideration. Second, the Hebrews, like many of us, often lived with a misplaced value system. Money and money producing machineries are more important than humans! Finally, they also mistook a set of do’s and don’ts as the only requirement for faith and spirituality. But for Jesus, mercy and kindness is the core of spirituality. Those who show mercy and compassion even when they did not belong to a religious community or practice religious faith are indeed in a spiritual journey.
In lifting the woman on the Sabbath morning, then, Jesus challenged the status quo, upsetting the religious people of his time, particularly the synagogue leader. In the Gospels, Jesus’ troubles are always when he challenged the “conventional wisdom” of the people of his time, disturbing the status quo, or acting out a counter culture.
Jesus’ expressions of spirituality and cultural inclinations that morning did an uncomfortable unseating of the dominant value! He made the circle wider. He added an additional gender, with it a new sound and a new smell to the new sphere, making it more multi-gender the chief characteristic of heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment