Do You Really Feel Free?
Don't let "knowing " trap your mind in a stereotype, paralysing it in know-it-all statements.
Be careful, because knowledge can make you proud and fanatical. Do you think that feeling above others is freedom?
A few days ago I spoke with a very cultured person whom I respect, and they asked me questions which I answered, but probably not as they expected. Behind a tight-lipped smile I sensed a statement like: "Oh, what a pity! If only she could see this 'thing' the way I see it!"
I hope my answers were, for this person, a way to reflect; not because we all have to think the same way, but as a way of opening up to dialogue, which surely helps improve one's ideas and life plans, and break mental prisons made of fears and even simply of habits.
When people from different backgrounds, opinions and personalities meet, there are often prejudices that should be broken down so there can be dialogue. These could cause rigidity and, as a result, a lack of listening to what the other side wants to communicate. All this would lead to what I call: small-talk communication.
And now I'll ask you some questions: in your opinion, was Jesus (in His infinite Wisdom) a man who approached people with prejudice? In your opinion, was Jesus truly free?
Here's my view: I have always read in the New Testament that He approached sinners without prejudice, and it was His love that led people to change their lifestyle (without obligations, without paranoia about doing or not doing, without asking for "sacrifices" in return. You can check it in the Bible).
I'll answer the second question:
In my opinion Jesus was truly free, and He is the example we should all imitate. We could never be like Him, but through Him we can recognise how limited our knowledge of things is, very far from what He wanted to communicate to us: love.
He never felt better than anyone (even though Righteous in everything), not even than the Pharisees, to whom He simply said that although they had studied the Bible and knew about the great event of the coming of the MESSIAH, they were not recognising Him.
The Pharisees had an excellent knowledge of the scriptures, but that knowledge did not set them free to believe that Jesus (Yeshua) was the MESSIAH, the very one standing in front of them. In that knowledge they were rigid in their "knowing": perhaps they imagined a warrior would come, a king, a figure of some importance, and certainly not a man from Nazareth.
Many of us have a lot of knowledge of the scriptures and, like the Pharisees of that time, struggle to break reasonings or interpretations that "clash" with what Jesus (still today) wants to teach us.
Many of us, instead, think they know the scriptures through traditions handed down without ever having read the Bible, unknowingly giving themselves over to pure idolatry of the same idols the Greeks once practised.
Unfortunately this is what happens when we don't approach the experience of knowing Jesus (Yeshua) by engaging with the Bible personally, but have others explain to us how it "works".
Jesus is not a game, nor a system to be explained; He is a person to be known. Yes, even right where you are at this moment.
Have you ever talked to Jesus? Have you ever told Him what you think of your life? Of your dreams, of your struggles? Have you asked Him whether He really loves you, as you've often heard people say? Have you ever asked Him whether He is listening to you and whether He can really answer you? If you haven't done it yet, Do it! I'll tell you one last thing: I asked Jesus if He was real and if He could help me, and He answered me; if He did it with me, why shouldn't He do it with you?!
This time I want to suggest a film: RISEN. Look for it on Netflix, or you can also rent it on Amazon.