Teaching

I recently read that Jesus' purpose in teaching was to change the lives of those who were listening to him. No, really? It seems pretty obvious, right?

Maybe not.

Let me toss in a generalization. Our modern culture is infatuated with knowledge. Think about the news. We have news about everything. We value being informed about things that will never have an impact on our lives.

We learn facts in school that we will never use. The pat response to any complaints is that "You are being taught how to learn."

We have a game called Trivial Pursuit.

I'm not arguing for ignorance, and obviously a lot of knowledge that we don't use explicitly is used to form a framework for how we understand the world we live in. My point is that to a large extent we've disconnected knowledge from response.

For example, we can have disposable income, know of an urgent financial need that we could meet, and proceed to spend the money on ourselves without recognizing any kind of serious incongruity. Maybe it's the way we've been trained.

I know that I often approach my time in God's word and sermons on Sunday with a kind of detached attitude. I'm interested, but I'm not necessarily looking for a deeper understanding of God's Kingdom that will change the way I live. I think I'm usually looking for a few more facts, a couple more concepts or connections that I can tuck under my belt. They help me build a spiritual framework through which I should be seeing all the time but which I far too seldom apply to my life. I don't really want my cage rattled when Jesus turns my world upside down with his teaching.

But Jesus didn't come to puff us up with knowledge, he came to open up the Kingdom and explain how it works. I think I want to let myself be rattled to the core. I guess this is what Paul was talking about when he wrote:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Jesus knew it would be painful for me to go through this lifelong transformation, but I think the last thing he wanted was to throw open the gates of the Kingdom so I could stand there at the threshold with a pair of binoculars and a notebook. So Jesus, please take my hand and lead me in.