Saturday, 14 November 2015
Blind Guides.
"Listen, you that are deaf, and you that are blind look up and see!
Who is blind like my servant....?
Who is blind like my dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the Lord?
He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear." Isaiah 42:18-20 (NRSV)
Jesus called the Pharisees (the servants of God) "'blind guides of the blind.'" Matthew 15:14a (NRSV)
These quotations represent the situation in which we find that those in positions of religious authority (the servants of God) are blind.
They teach "'human precepts as doctrines.'" Matthew 15:9b (NRSV)
This is the situation we find ourselves in today.
God's priests and ministers preach an imperial Christology which assumes absolute power while ignoring Jesus' teachings of unconditional love and forgiveness.
They use Machiavellian power plays to control the masses.
They water down the Gospel and uphold the status quo.
Blind guides!
How can the Church be saved?
You preach violence and hatred and resist all change.
Can you not see the Love of God?
Can you not hear the whispers?
Unless you wake from your dreadful sleep God's Church will die.
Listen! Look up and see!
A new thing is coming from the Lord.
A new way of preaching that does not use violence or threat but God's abundant Love.
There is nothing to fear.
God will not punish you.
God punishes no one.
Throw off the yoke that you have placed around our necks.
And preach the Gospel of Love.
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.]
Photo Credit: David Rosen Photography via Compfight cc
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