The other day the announcement of the approval of the first, we hope of more than one, COVID vaccine lifted spirits. Then a petty point scoring exchange started over bragging about being light on our feet as a country, while others say we are light on scrutiny. UK Regulators are highly responsible people and though we may not always like encounters with then, they protect us all. Why draw them into a political exchange?
Pondering this my mind went back to the record of a conversation in Luke 7. The exchange was about the identity of Jesus and what people wanted. It included reference to rough treatment of John the Baptist and was summarised in Jesus’ exasperated (my interpretation) summary:
[Luke 7:31-33] ‘To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling out to each other: “We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.”’
Another idiom says, ‘if the cap fits, wear it’.
Are we really like that? Do we really behave as though we are largely incapable of being pleased or is that purely the realm of politicians? I fear not. There is a little bit of the politician in each of us and while those in high profile places may be more extreme and outspoken, we all are inclined to polarise around often irrelevant arguments
The conclusion Jesus came to was, [Luke 7:35] ‘but wisdom is proved right by all her children’.
In other places, Jesus encouraged people to speak from experience, not to judge from hearsay. Now that is wise.
A prayer
Lord, it can be hard to know what to think,
Easy to join bandwagons of hearsay,
Tempting to have opinions without understanding,
Tricky to know what we really think.
We know that Jesus came into the world,
~He told us that you love us all so much you would let the bandwagon run him over,
But for our sake he would jump up again undamaged,
So we can be people who think.
Your love enables us to think differently,
So help us to be who we are
And work on what you would have us be
As we think about your Christmas gift.
Amen.