“The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the spirit.” John 3:8 (New Living Translation)
I think it was in his book “Velvet Elvis” that Rob Bell made the point that since one of the descriptions for God is that He is truth we are free to embrace truth wherever we find it. Lately I have been reading and listening to a lot of Buddhist teaching. It has been so interesting to find how much it has opened up new understanding for me about the Bible in general and the teachings of Jesus in particular. My new perspective about truth has truly been a freeing thing.
There is a Zen teaching about a monk who goes to his master and wants to learn how to be enlightened. The gist of the story, as I understand it, is that this monk has been searching for a long time and has studied hard for many years. During the course of the discussion the master invites the monk to share a cup of tea with him. The master begins to pour tea into the monk’s cup. It becomes full and the master keeps pouring. The tea is running all out of the cup. The monk finally says, “Master, the cup is full. It won’t hold anymore.” To this the master replied, “You are like the cup. First you must empty yourself before you can gain any new understanding.”
It has been so interesting to find how much Buddhist teachings have opened up new understanding for me about the Bible in general and the teachings of Jesus in particular.
What if that is what is going on in the famous encounter between Jesus and the older and very studied Nicodemus? What if Jesus is saying to him (and to those of us in the Christian tradition), “You have your mind made up about how people come to God and who belongs to Him. But it is time to clear your mind of those concepts that are keeping you from seeing a bigger truth.”?
What if the love of God is far more immense than the exclusive mindset that we have come to use in order to say who is “saved” and who is “lost,” who is “one of us” and who is “one of them?” What if we have a cup that needs to be emptied so God can fill it with more tea (or, new wine)?
Think about it
P.S. What I hope to do from this time forward is to have a new post up every Sunday morning. I may not always succeed but that is the goal. Thank you for reading.
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