Challenge

Jesus enters Jerusalem

Crowd of Disciples:  The King who comes in the name of the Eternal One is blessed! Peace in heaven! Glory in the highest! 

 Pharisees (who were in the crowd):  Teacher, tell these people to stop making these wild claims and acting this way!

 Jesus: Listen—if they were silent, the very rocks would start to shout!

Gospel of Luke 19.38-40, Voice


The Kingdom of God is an irresistible thing. Some of Jesus' followers today fear, and many who are not proclaim, that the days of the Christians are numbered. The scales will  eventually fall from our eyes and people will see that science has shown them to be deluded. Sure, they've been saying that, off and on, since Voltaire and rationalism in the 1700s but this time, we are assured, they are certainly right.

Now, I love science myself, and am no fan of the fundamentalist approach to knowledge.  But I can't help but notice that this makes a nice challenge, in a way, because Jesus of Nazareth will have none of it. You may recall his take on the subject:

Simon, son of Jonah, your knowledge is a mark of blessing. For you didn’t learn this truth from your friends or from teachers or from sages you’ve met on the way. You learned it from My Father in heaven. This is why I have called you Peter (rock): for on this rock I will build My church. The church will reign triumphant even at the gates of hell.

Gospel of Matthew 16.17-18, Voice

Let's wait and see who's right.