Quotations for April, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Commemoration of Frederick Denison Maurice, Priest, teacher, 1872
Jesus Christ is the Master who can comfort and strengthen a man like that Macedonian, a labourer and working man who has a hard life, because He is the Great Man of Sorrows who knows our ills, who was called a carpenter’s son, though He was the Son of God, who worked for thirty years in a humble carpenter’s shop to fulfil God’s will, and God wills that in imitation of Christ, man should live humbly and go through life, not reaching after lofty aims, but adapting himself to the lowly, learning from the Gospel to be meek and simple of heart.
... Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), in a letter, Dec 26, 1878, The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to His Brother, 1872-1886, Constable & Company, Limited, 1927, p. 192 
(see the book; see also Isa. 53:3-4; Acts 16:9; 27:2; more at Authenticity, Christ, Comfort, God, Gospel, Humility, Jesus, Master, Meekness, Simplicity, Work)
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Maundy Thursday
[Jesus said to] His disciples in earth, This, this is the Passover that “I have so longed for,” as it were embracing and even welcoming His death. And which is more, “how am I pinched, or straitened,” till I be at it! as if He were in pain, till He were in pain to deliver us. Which joy if ever He shewed, in this He did, that He went to His Passion with Psalms, and with such triumph and solemnity, as He never admitted all His life before. And that this His lowest estate, one would think it, He calleth His exaltation. And when any would think He was most imperfect, He esteemeth His highest perfection. “Here is love.” If not here, where? But here it is, and that in his highest elevation. That the joys of Heaven set on the one side, and this poor joy of saving us on the other, He quit them to choose this. That those pains and shames set before Him, and with them this joy, He chose them rather than forego this.
... Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Ninety-six Sermons, v. II, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1841, p. 176
(see the book; see also Isa. 53:5; Luke 12:50; 13:32; 22:15; Heb. 12:2; 1 John 4:10; more at Choices, Death, Joy, Longing, Love, Pain, Perfection, Salvation, Shame)
Friday, April 3, 2015
Good Friday
I’ve already named what I consider to be the great-grandfather of all stumbling blocks: the fear of losing—of looking like a failure, and above all of being a failure. On examination, however, it turns out to be an odd fear. For one thing, it’s clean contrary to the words of Jesus: “Those who save their life will lose it, and those who lose their lives for my sake will save it.”... If that Friday, as we claim to believe, is the best thing that ever happened to the world—if we have been rescued by the world’s champion Loser—it’s got to be surpassing strange that we’re afraid of the very failures that are our personal sacraments of salvation.
... Robert Farrar Capon (1925-2013), The Foolishness of Preaching, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1997, p. 16
(see the book; see also Isa. 53:6-7,12; Matt. 16:25; 27:39-43; Mark 8:35; 15:29-32; Luke 9:24; 23:35-37; more at Belief, Failure, Fear, Jesus, Life, Sacrament, Salvation)
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Holy Saturday
The blood of Jesu’s crossWas never shed in vain;There is not any lossOf His most precious pain:This is the great, the finished planTo open heaven’s door for man.
Let all bow down and ownThe sacrificèd Lamb!Among all titles knownHis is the greatest name:Praise, laud, and blessing to our Lord,Let Him be evermore adored!
... William Williams (1717-1791), Sweet Singers of Wales: a story of Welsh hymns and their authors, Howell Elvet Lewis, London: Religious Tract Society, 1889, p. 45
(see the book; see also Isa. 53:8-9; Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; John 1:29; Eph. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Heb. 9:15; 10:19-20; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 5:12-13; more at Blessing, Blood, Cross, Heaven, Lamb, Praise, Sacrifice)
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Easter
In the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we see God’s decisive victory not only over death but over all God’s other enemies as well. In that one climactic event, we see the certainty that someday, in the kingdom of God, there will be no more violence, war, jealousy, or death... These forces are still alive and at work in the world, but because of the victory that God won at Easter, their doom is certain. One day death will die.
... Stephen T. Davis, Risen Indeed, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1993, p. 200-201
(see the book; see also Isa. 53:10-11; Hos. 13:14; Rom. 6:9; 1 Cor. 15:53-54; 1 Thess. 4:14; Rev. 21:4; more at Certainty, Death, Doom, Easter, Enemy, God, Jesus, Kingdom, Resurrection, Victory)
Monday, April 6, 2015
Commemoration of Albrecht Dürer, artist, 1528, and Michelangelo Buonarrotti, artist, spiritual writer, 1564
Eternal Lord! eased of a cumbrous load,And loosened from the world, I turn to Thee;Shun, like a shattered bark, the storm, and fleeTo thy protection for a safe abode.The crowns of thorns, hands pierced upon the tree,The meek, benign, and lacerated face,To a sincere repentance promised grace,To the sad soul give hope of pardon free.With justice mark not Thou, O Light divine,My fault, nor hear it with thy sacred ear;Neither put forth that way thy arm severe;Wash with thy blood my sins; thereto inclineMore readily the more my years requireHelp, and forgiveness speedy and entire.
... Michelangelo Buonarrotti (1475-1564), translated by William Wordsworth in The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, William Wordsworth, Philadelphia: Troutman & Hayes, 1851, p. 326
(see the book; see also Ps. 46:1; 51:2-3,10,17; 62:7-8; 91:1-2; Matt. 27:28-29; Eph. 1:7-8; Heb. 6:18; 1 John 2:12; more at Blood, Forgiveness, Grace, Hope, Justice, Meekness, Promise, Repentance, Safety, Sin, World)
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
It is we who are Christians who hold the secret behind the façade [of Christmas], but it was never meant to be a secret; on the contrary, from the beginning it was meant to be ‘good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people’. By thought, by prayer, by every tried and untried means let us do all that we possibly can to make known that astonishing mystery, which is also an historical fact, that God became one of us that we might become like Him.
... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), God With Us: a Message for Christmas, London: Epworth Press, 1957, p. 13
(see the book; see also 1 Cor. 4:1; Luke 2:10; Rom. 16:25-26; 1 Cor. 2:7-8; Eph. 3:2-6,9-10; Col. 1:25-27; 2:2-3; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 3:2; more at Christmas, God, Historical, Incarnation, Joy, Tidings)
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877
We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.
... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1964, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 75
(see the book; see also Heb. 13:2; Isa. 58:6-7; Matt. 25:40; Rom. 12:13; Gal. 6:9; Tit. 1:8; 2 Thess. 3:13; more at Awakening, Awareness, Presence of God, Remembrance, World)
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945
We pray to God because we believe in him through Jesus Christ; that is to say, our prayer can never be an entreaty to God, for we have no need to come before him in that way. We are privileged to know that he knows our needs before we ask him. This is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty. It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use, what matters is the faith which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to him.
... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 163
(see the book; see also Heb. 4:16; Matt. 6:32; Jer. 1:5; 2 Cor. 3:4; Eph. 3:12; more at Belief, Faith, Father, God, Jesus, Joy, Knowledge, Prayer)
Friday, April 10, 2015
Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955
O plain, and easy, and simple way of salvation, wanting no subtleties of art or science, no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason, but all done by the simple natural motion of every heart, that truly longs after God. For no sooner is the finite desire of the creature in motion towards God, but the infinite desire of God is united with it, co-operates with it. And in this united desire of God, and the creature, is the salvation and life of the soul brought forth.
... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Prayer [1749], London: E. Justins for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1816, p. 47
(see the book; see also Ps. 42:1-2; 63:1; 84:2; 143:6-7; John 6:37-39; 7:37; Rev. 22:1-2; more at Heart, Life, Longing, Salvation, Soul)
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
We suffer today from a false distinction between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual. The Christian church has sometimes behaved as though only the spiritual element in man was the subject of God’s concern. The actions of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels give the lie to this, and show that God’s salvation concerns the whole man (Mark 3:4). Indeed the word [salvation] is used most frequently in the Gospels with reference to the healing of disease.
... Michael Green (1930-2019), The Meaning of Salvation, Regent College Publishing, 2000, p. 112
(see the book; see also Matt. 8:25; 14:30,36; Mark 3:4-5; 6:56; 10:52; Luke 8:36; 17:19; more at Church, God, Jesus, Man, Miracle, Salvation)
Sunday, April 12, 2015
It doesn’t matter, really, how great the pressure is; it only matters where the pressure lies. See that it never comes between you and the Lord—then, the greater the pressure, the more it presses you to His breast.
... J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor, Moody Publishers, 2009, p. 127
(see the book; see also 2 Cor. 1:8-9; 3:5; 4:7-11; 12:7-10; more at God, Strife, Trust)
Monday, April 13, 2015
How can you expect to keep your powers of hearing when you never want to listen? That God should have time for you, you seem to take as much for granted as that you cannot have time for Him.
... Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Markings, tr. Leif Sjöberg & W. H. Auden, (q.v.), New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 (post.), p.12
(see the book; see also Ps. 37:7; 73:23-24; Hab. 2:1; John 1:1-2; Eph. 2:17; Heb. 12:25; more at God, Listening, Time)
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
The Divine Wisdom has given us prayer, not as a means whereby to obtain the good things of earth, but as a means whereby we learn to do without them; not as a means whereby we escape evil, but as a means whereby we become strong to meet it.
... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons, v. IV, Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1866, p. 34
(see the book; see also Ps. 5:7; 85:8; Luke 22:43; Rom. 8:34; 2 Cor. 12:10; Eph. 3:16; 2 Thess. 3:3; more at Evil, Gifts, Prayer, Strength)
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Enough has... been said to show that the impoverished secularised versions of Christianity which are being urged upon us for our acceptance today rest not upon the rigid application of the methods of scientific scholarship nor upon a serious intuitive appreciation of the Gospels as a whole in their natural context, but upon a radical distaste for the supernatural.
... E. L. Mascall (1905-1993), The Secularization of Christianity, London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1966, p. 282
(see the book; see also Heb. 4:2; Isa. 59:1-2; Matt. 13:58; Mark 6:5-6; 9:23; more at Apologetics, Gospel, Miracle)
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Paul, in matters of Christian liberty, commendeth the unity of their faith in the Holy Spirit, giving order that we should not judge nor condemn one another, in difference of judgment and practice of such things where men live to God on both sides, even though there were some error on one side. How much less in things indifferent, where there may be no error on either side.
... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), The Bloudy Tenent [1644], London: J. Haddon, 1848, p. 224
(see the book; see also Eph. 4:3; Rom. 14:1-6,21; 1 Cor. 1:10; 12:12-13; Gal. 5:1; Col. 3:13-15; more at Error, Faith, God, Holy Spirit, Judgment, Liberty, Unity)
Friday, April 17, 2015
If our principal treasure be, as we profess, in things spiritual and heavenly, (and woe unto us if it be not so!) on them will our affections, and consequently our desires and thoughts, be principally fixed.
... John Owen (1616-1683), The Grace and Duty of being Spiritually Minded [1681], in Works of John Owen, v. VII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 302
(see the book; see also Matt. 6:19-21; Ps. 62:10; Pr. 16:16; Luke 12:16-21,33-34; Col. 2:2-3; 1 Tim. 6:8-10; Heb. 12:2; 13:5; 1 John 2:15-16; more at Affection, Heaven, Loyalty, Treasure)
Saturday, April 18, 2015
For Jesus, a realistic assessment of human society in general flowed directly from his radical analysis of human nature. He held out no glib hopes for this world. He saw the problems of society as being rooted in the selfishness of man. The problems of society are like large-scale paintings of the problems of each individual... The teaching of Jesus was centred not on vague recommendations for mankind at large, but on specific remedies for the needs of individuals.
... Denis Alexander (b. 1945), Beyond Science, Berkhamsted: Lion Pub., 1972, reprint, A. J. Holman Co., 1973, p. 166-167
(see the book; see also Matt. 5:20; Ps. 51:10; Isa. 55:7; Eze. 18:31; Matt. 23:12,25-26; Luke 6:41-42; 14:11; 18:10-14; Jas. 4:8; more at Jesus, Man, Selfish, Social, Teach, World)
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Commemoration of Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1012
The heavens and the earth, and the waters, and the things that are therein, the fish, and birds, and trees, are not evil. All these are good: but it is evil men who make this evil world. Yet as we cannot be without evil men, let us, as I have said, whilst we live pour out our groans before the Lord our God, and endure the evils, that we may attain to the things that are good. Let us not find fault with the Master of the household; for He is loving to us. He beareth us, and not we him. He knoweth how to govern what He made; do what He hath bidden, and hope for what He hath promised.
... St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Sermon XXX [Ben 80], in Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, v. I, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1844, p. 243-244
(see the book; see also Matt. 17:15-21; Gen. 1:31; Ps. 94:18; Matt. 18:7; Luke 17:5; John 1:14; Rom. 8:22,26; more at Earth, Evil, God, Goodness, Hope, Love, Man, Promise, Water)
Monday, April 20, 2015
Did God really forsake Jesus Christ upon the cross? Then from the desertion of Christ’s, singular consolation springs up to the people of God... Christ’s desertion is preventive of your final desertion. Because He was forsaken for a time you shall not be forsaken forever. For He was forsaken for you... Though God deserted Christ, yet at the same time He powerfully supported Him. His omnipotent arms were under Him, though His pleased Face was hid from Him. He had not indeed His smiles, but He had His support. So Christian, just so shall it be with thee. Thy God may turn away His face, He will not pluck away His arm.
... John Flavel (1628-1691), The Fountain of Life [1671], in The Whole Works of the Reverend Mr. John Flavel, v. I, Paisley: A. Weir and A. McLean, 1770, p. 170
(see the book; see also Matt. 27:46; Ps. 22:1; 37:28; 71:11-12; Matt. 28:20; Mark 15:34; Heb. 5:7; 12:2; 13:5; more at Christ, Church, Consolation, Cross, God, Jesus)
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Feast of Anselm, Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1109
It is true that we are sinners;—but Christ has suffered for us. It is true that we deserve death;—but Christ has died for us. It is true that we are guilty debtors;—but Christ has paid our debts with His own blood. This is the real Gospel! This is the good news! On this let us lean while we live. To this let us cling when we die. Christ has been “lifted up” on the cross, and has thrown open the gates of heaven to all believers.
... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), Expository thoughts on the Gospels, with the text complete, St. John, v. I, Robert Carter and brothers, 1874, p. 143
(see the book; see also John 12:32; Ps. 22:16; Matt. 26:54; Luke 18:31-33; John 3:14-15; 6:44; 8:28; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Heb. 9:15; more at Blood, Christ, Cross, Death, Debt, Gospel, Heaven, Sinner, Suffer, Truth)
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
A Christian can never say, “I knew the power of the Holy Spirit yesterday, so today I can be at rest.” It is one of the existential realities of the Christian life to stand before God consciously recognizing our need.
... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), No Little People, Downer Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1974, reprint, Crossway, 2003, p. 66-67
(see the book; see also John 14:26; Ps. 42:1-2; Luke 12:31; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 2:14; Heb. 6:4-6; more at Holy Spirit, Need, Power, Rest, Today, Truth, Yesterday)
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
That appearance on earth as an individual is the crisis in the history both of Christ Himself and of the humanity He saves and leads. The ministry of Jesus, therefore, culminating in His death, is essential to Paul’s whole thought. If in certain aspects of his theology it is the death that bulks most largely—because it seemed to him to be the purest and most moving expression of what the whole life meant—he is quite aware that the ethical impulse given by the example and teaching of Jesus is of the very stuff of the Christian life. He alludes to the Gospel story but sparingly, but those who study his teaching most closely become aware that he is himself acting and speaking all through under the impulse of the life and teaching of Jesus. If he refuses to “know Christ after the flesh,” it means that he will not risk a harking back to the temporary conditions of the Galilean ministry when the Spirit of Christ is clearly leading out into new fields. The issues of that ministry have been gathered up in the new experience of “Christ in me,” and that experience gives a living Christ, who leads ever onward those who will adventure with Him, and not a prophet of the past, whose words might pass into a dead tradition.
... C. Harold Dodd (1884-1973), The Meaning of Paul for Today, London: Swarthmore, 1920, reprint, Fount Paperbacks, 1978, p. 92
(see the book; see also Col. 1:19-22; Luke 17:20-21; John 6:56; 14:16-17; 17:26; Rom. 8:10; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:27; 2:2-3; 3:11; ; more at Death, Historical, Jesus, Man, Minister, Past, Prophet, Theology, Tradition)
Friday, April 24, 2015
Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Anything large enough for a wish to light upon, is large enough to hang a prayer upon: the thought of him to whom that prayer goes will purify and correct the desire. To say, ‘Father, I should like this or that,’ would be enough at once, if the wish were bad, to make us know it and turn from it... Was it not thus the Lord carried himself towards his Father when he said, ‘If it be possible, let this cup pass from me’? But there was something he cared for more than his own fear—his Father’s will: ‘Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.’
... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Word of Jesus on Prayer”, in Unspoken Sermons, Second Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1886, p. 75
(see the book; see also Luke 22:42; Ps. 10:17; Matt. 10:19-20; 26:39; Rom. 8:15,26-27; Eph. 2:18; 6:18; Jas. 4:3; Jude 1:20; more at Cup, Father, Prayer, Thought, Will of God)
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Feast of Mark the Evangelist
The clerks of the law have great need [of penance], which have been ever against God the Lord, both in the old law, and in the new, to slay the prophets that spake to them the Word of God. Ye see that they spared not the Son of God... and so forth of the apostles and martyrs that hath spoken truly to the word [of] God to them, and they say it is heresy to speak of the holy Scripture in English, and so they would condemn the Holy Ghost that gave it in tongues to the apostles of Christ to speak the Word of God in all languages that were ordained of God under heaven.
... John Wycliffe (1320?-1384), Wyckett, in Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe, Robert Vaughan, ed., London: Blackburn and Pardon, 1845, p. 275
(see the book; see also Isa. 55:11; Matt. 4:4; 23:27; 27:24; Isa. 40:8; Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:4; 1 John 2:27; more at God, Heresy, Holy Spirit, Martyr, Penance, Prophet, Scripture)
Sunday, April 26, 2015
It was [on the world He created] that the angels sang Glory to God in the highest, as at the most amazing work of God. They behold lowest humility and recognize the highest sublimity. This plan to redeem the human race is Christ’s life, Christ’s teaching, Christ’s miracles. It is His passion, cross, resurrection, appearance, ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit—the transformation of the earth by a few humble and ignorant men. It is a plan, replete with miracles, that even the angelic spirits could not fathom.
... Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), The Essential Erasmus, J. P. Dolan, ed., New York: New American Library, 1964, p. 232
(see the book; see also 1 Pet. 1:12; Matt. 11:25; Mark 9:35; Luke 2:13-14; John 7:15-16; 13:14-16; Acts 4:13; 1 Cor. 1:27; Phil. 2:5-8; more at Angel, Ascension, Christ, Cross, Glory, God, Holy Spirit, Humility, Life, Miracle, Redemption, Resurrection, Teach)
Monday, April 27, 2015
Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Give me the lowest place: not that I dareAsk for that lowest place, but Thou hast diedThat I might live and shareThy glory by Thy side.
Give me the lowest place: or if for meThat lowest place too high, make one more lowWhere I may sit and seeMy God and love Thee so.
... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Christina Rossetti: the complete poems, London: Penguin Classics, 2001, p. 181
(see the book; see also Matt. 23:11-12; Ps. 18:27; Pr. 15:33; 25:6-7; 29:23; Isa. 57:15; Luke 14:8-11; 18:10-14; Jas. 1:9-10; 1 Pet. 5:5; more at Death, Glory, God, Humility, Life, Love, Sight)
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
By the time most of our children reach junior high school, their natural curiosity has been neutralized by an insidious set of unwritten assumptions:Assumption 1: Questions can be embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to admit you don’t know something. What is important is never to reveal your ignorance. Don’t admit you don’t know something because others may think less of you. In today’s world, truth doesn’t matter. Image does. Silence your doubts, ignore your questions, don’t do anything that might cause someone to think ill of you. As Flannery O’Connor reminded us, “mystery is the great embarrassment to the modern mind.” [Continued tomorrow]
... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38
(see the book; see also Pr. 12:1; 1:7; Rom. 11:33-34; 1 Cor. 8:1; more at Doubt, Ignorance, Knowledge, Question, Silence, Thought)
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Feast of Catherine of Siena, Mystic, Teacher, 1380
[Continued from yesterday:]Assumption 2: Questions can make people uncomfortable. Questions can cause others to question. Our doubts might resonate with others’ doubts. Because of our questions, others might have to face questions they have learned to ignore. Questions force us to think, to struggle, to interact with truth. In other words, the act of questioning is discomforting. Many Christians have silenced their questions; they’ve ignored the gaps in their thinking and don’t want those questions reawakened. [Continued tomorrow]
... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38
(see the book; see also John 6:27; Hos. 4:6; Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31; more at Doubt, People, Question, Truth)
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922
[Continued from yesterday:]Assumption 3: Questions can be dangerous. Many in our culture have opted to stay safe by limiting our knowledge to what we already know—a self-induced retirement of the mind. If we ask too many questions, the resulting answers might cause us to change. We might become accountable for truth and have to act on it. The Pharisees wanted to shut up Jesus for good. His constant questions were threatening to the status quo. Jesus’ questions were dangerous because the very asking of them was eroding the power structure. Jesus had to be killed because He had to be silenced. Asking “who is my neighbor?” and “whose image is on this coin?” can start a riot. [Continued tomorrow]
... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Dangerous Wonder: the Adventure of Childlike Faith, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1998, p. 38-39
(see the book; see also Luke 20:40; Matt. 22:18-21,42-46; Luke 10:29-36; more at Culture, Danger, Jesus, Neighbor, Pharisaism, Question)
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