The Greatness of Crazy Times -
Matthew 13:51-52, NLT - Do you understand all
these things?”
“Yes,” they said, “we do.”
Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who
becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from
his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.”
I hope all of you have had the
experience of at going through at least one season of awakenings. By that, I mean a season where you are
discovering new insights at such a rapid pace that you can actually notice how
you are changing in real time. I have
had a few such seasons, but the one that stands out for me above the others is a
time during 1995-97. In the space of one
month in 1995, I graduated from seminary, began my first full-time appointment
as a Pastor, and became a father for the first time. I can feel the stress of all that even now as
I remember it two and half decades later. However, my memory of that time is very
sweet. I think I learned more in the
next two to three years than I had in in other period of my life before. That’s saying a lot because I had just
finished twenty years of formal education!
Looking at that time now, I can see that it was the two decades of
formal education that “set me up” for that flood of insights as my education
met the reality of living and working in the “real world.” The “old” knowledge of my childhood was combined
and enhanced with the “new” wisdom I was gaining being a full-time pastor and
new father.
There have been other periods of
streaming insight since then, but they have all been different. One such period was the year following a
two-week trip to the Holy Land. My view
of scripture has never been the same since walking the terrain where so much of
that scripture happened. Another rich period
of wisdom followed some deeply painful experiences and losses. All of these periods of breakthrough, though,
involved the combination of new experience and insight with what I had known
before.
I think this is what Jesus is
talking about above in his comments to his disciples. He has been pouring into them new experience
and wisdom about the in-breaking kingdom of God that is happening before their
very eyes. However, what they are
experiencing and learning only enhances what they have already known. They see the old in a new light and re now
able to offer more to those that they will serve. Jesus is reminding them that it’s okay to
embrace new insight without fear of “losing” cherished beliefs and convictions
from the past. Those old insights still
have value and are still part of them.
This is so important for us to remember
right now. Collectively, the human race
is going through one of those periods of incredible change and insight right
now. The pandemic has forced us to look
at much of the “old ways” through a new lens.
This can be a time when a synthesis of the old and new can forge new wisdom
to meet our challenges. While we will
have to let go of much from the past, the past is still part of who we are and
will always be. Our new understanding on
the other side of this seminal time is built on the foundation of all that we
knew before.
I’d be lying if I said that I’m
excited about all this. Frankly, I’m
deeply disturbed by a lot of what I see happening now. I’m also a bit disoriented because I don’t
know where it all is going. Many who
experienced Jesus firsthand were just as disturbed and disoriented by what they
were seeing. It would be much later that
these disturbed and disoriented disciples would become the great apostles of
the church that we revere two thousand years later. It took them a while to digest what Jesus was
giving them and integrate it with all they had known before. It will be the same for us.
Question: What are you learning or experiencing right now
that has shed new light on something you knew or experienced before now?
Prayer: God, open our
eyes, ears, hearts, and minds to what is happening right now before our very
eyes. Give us insight into how our present
experience can enhance our experience of the past and prepare us for all that
is coming next. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray for
teachers you know today.
Song: Teach Your
Children – Crosby, Stills, and Nash
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