New Ideas

Let’s face it, if we’re not challenged, we’re living inside our own thoughts. When new ideas, new expressions of faith, new concepts, are presented to us, we struggle. We collectively close our eyes, ears, minds, and hearts to other possibilities. To be honest, we don’t want to think. If we hear a new idea, we discount it, or find a way to belittle it, if it doesn’t fit into our preconceived notion of the world, or our personal narrative. We fear the reality that new ideas may help us express our world, our faith, in a new and exciting way. We simply want to live in our own thoughts, comfortable in the distorted reality that we have everything figured out.

The Pharisee’, the Sadrasee’, and other religious leaders, felt the same way when they were confronted with Jesus. They were all set in their ways; their world was complete, and they did not need any new ideas, and they certainly did not need the Jesus standing before them. They were so set, so closed to the new, that it was impossible for them to see Jesus as the Christ. They had, over centuries, defined and determined what the Messiah would look like; they determined what his political views would be, what his purpose would be, his role in the Hebrew world. Unfortunately for them, Jesus didn’t meet any of their expectations. So, instead of opening their eyes, ears, hearts, and minds to new possibilities, they rejected his teachings.

What we all need to do is be willing to hear the new, and different. We need to be willing to ask ourselves, “Who am I, and can I change?”