Last night at, Theology at the Taproom, a group of guys started talking about how different the world is now than it was in the past—especially in the context of how we do our jobs. One of the more, um, experienced members of our conversation was telling us about how he learned to do basic computer programing using punch cards. You would punch the correct physical holes in dozens of cards, hand them off to someone else, they would physically load your cards in the computer, and it would run your program until it hit an error.
We laugh at how archaic the idea is now, but at the time this was cutting edge technology. It got me thinking about how difficult it can be to accept change. We hear about the laborious nature of this process and think that it would be easier to do your computing by hand rather than mess with this clunky machine’s punch cards, and I’m sure many people chose that option. Hindsight being 20/20 we realize it was the wrong choice; computers and the internet, with their slow and clumsy beginnings have grown to revolutionize how almost every area of our lives.
I’m sure if we think about it we can see a time in our lives when we’ve made the wrong choice. We want to stick with what we know rather than reach for something new. We think, “I’m used to the old way, I liked the old way, and I know how to make it work.” We see this all the time on the internet, your email provider or favorite social media changes their layout and people cry out, “YOU IDIOTS! IT WAS PERFECT THE WAY IT WAS! YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING!” Then we use it for a while, get used to it, and don’t even remember the old version.
This is how the Hebrew people felt when Jesus showed up. They thought, “we have Moses, we have the law, and the ‘real’ messiah would be supremely powerful over our oppressors.” To some Jesus was spitting in the face of the old way. They thought Jesus was disrespectful of the law and the prophets. But he told them in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus interrupted their plans. They knew the law, how to behave, and to certain extent how to circumvent those laws. Often times Jesus presents us with opportunities that interrupt our plans. In times like this we must trust in Him even if it means taking a risk. God has called us to be bold followers of Jesus that are willing to do the things even if they scare us.