We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)
“So, Melchizedek … oh, a glassy stare. Yeah, I was afraid of this. Language, the study of literature, logic, history – especially logic and history, why are we going there? You know all about Melchizedek or at least all there is to know. Like Nicodemus, the Pharisee who went to Jesus by night and couldn’t figure out what this “born again” stuff was about. Or like the guys on the road to Emmaus whose hearts burned as a stranger told them all that Jewish Scripture, from Moses to the Prophets, had to say about the Messiah. Don’t you get it? Among other things, the scriptures with which we grew up is a series of “Where’s Jesus” puzzles – one you missed.
“And it’s not enough to find His face among the sea of faces, but you need to understand what it means, why it’s there. But at the very least, your hearts should be burning. But instead, your eyes are glazing over.” That’s about what the scholar who wrote Hebrews might say to us.
We like to think we’re sophisticated, wise, well-educated… we have the answers. Then someone like Ravi Zacarias, John Lennox, or Dallas Willard walks in and we go hide. “Boring!” we say, but the truth is that 1) we disagree and/or 2) we can’t possibly out-argue them even in our own imaginations! Follow their line of reasoning? Our eyes glaze over.
But we’re sophisticated, wise, well-educated. We’re the teachers, not these, these … lunatics. We want love, not moldy old stories. We need milk? Not solid food? Shame on the author for shaming us! Sadly, though, the author is right. I suspect I’m at least as likely to get glassy-eyed as the next person. If I’ve heard the story before, and especially if I’m hearing the same things I heard last time about it, and my mind wanders off on its own. But this is where we fail. The old, boring truths that don’t apply to our society? They are where we find God.
“And it’s not enough to find His face among the sea of faces, but you need to understand what it means, why it’s there. But at the very least, your hearts should be burning. But instead, your eyes are glazing over.” That’s about what the scholar who wrote Hebrews might say to us.
We like to think we’re sophisticated, wise, well-educated… we have the answers. Then someone like Ravi Zacarias, John Lennox, or Dallas Willard walks in and we go hide. “Boring!” we say, but the truth is that 1) we disagree and/or 2) we can’t possibly out-argue them even in our own imaginations! Follow their line of reasoning? Our eyes glaze over.
But we’re sophisticated, wise, well-educated. We’re the teachers, not these, these … lunatics. We want love, not moldy old stories. We need milk? Not solid food? Shame on the author for shaming us! Sadly, though, the author is right. I suspect I’m at least as likely to get glassy-eyed as the next person. If I’ve heard the story before, and especially if I’m hearing the same things I heard last time about it, and my mind wanders off on its own. But this is where we fail. The old, boring truths that don’t apply to our society? They are where we find God.
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