For The PEW

Dear Kuti,

How are you doing? And how’s your faith? I hope it grows clearer every day as you breathe in and breathe out. I hope that your faith pleases GOD like sweet incense in every beautiful moment of life. I also hope that your faith grows firmer with every instance of difficulties and hurdles. I hope that these challenges draw you closer to the finish line (not as a destination but) as a realisation that the track doesn’t stop—only the sprinter does. I’m doing well, thank you for asking.

For example, there is a conversation that took place between JESUS and the Pharisees. In that conversation, the Pharisees praised JESUS as a man of integrity and a Rabbi who was never afraid of people when HE spoke the truth. Then they asked a highly divisive question on paying taxes to Caesar.

In Mark 12:13 & 14¹, the Bible tells us that the Pharisees and the Herodians were trying to entrap JESUS in HIS own words, and so they came to HIM and began the conversation. In Matthew 22:15 & 16², we read that the Pharisees plotted to entangle JESUS in HIS own words, and so they sent their disciples along with the Herodians to speak with HIM.

Finally, in Luke 20:20³, the Bible tells us that they watched HIM and then sent spies who pretended to be righteous so they could catch HIM in HIS own words and deliver HIM to the governor for punishment. Do you see the repetition dotted with variations?

From all the synoptic gospels, we know that the Pharisees and the Herodians planned to trap JESUS in HIS own words. So they sent their disciples, who served as spies, to listen intently to what JESUS had to say and then ask HIM a question that would lead HIM to commit a crime against Roman law. This would give them the right to hand HIM over to the governor.

Now, if we only read Mark’s gospel, we would not have known that they were disciples and not main clerics, or that they spied on JESUS. If we never read Luke’s gospel, we would not have understood why they thought to entrap JESUS until we see that it was to bring HIM before the governor for punishment. Variations and different perspectives can be tools for understanding the whole picture.

It seems to me, in cases like this, that the whole picture of Faith is found in pieces we have in our possession. It seems to me that GOD uses the differences in perspectives and understanding to present a holistic image of HIMSELF: weaving knowledge and wisdom into our consciousness directly or indirectly. This is evidence that we can embrace the intervention of GOD in helping our understanding of events through diverse perspectives of the same event(s).

From this instance of scripture, we can conclude that while we have one message in the Bible, we have different presentations that help us to see the full picture of what is really happening; none contradicting the other. This, too, is harmony. I am certain that differences—like this one—in scripture, or the repetition of events, help us understand GOD in the best way possible. And when we understand GOD, our faith grows in grace and stature before GOD and men.

I hope you become open to the endless possibilities of a million pieces of GOD coming together in a community of faith. I need your portion just as you need mine to come to the fullness of it all. Don’t be discouraged. If you need Luke to understand Mark and Matthew, it is beautiful, too. Do not relent. Embrace GOD-given variations.

Write back when you can. I’d love to know how your own reading is going.

Olatunde

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1. ¹³Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. ¹⁴ When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? ↩︎
2. ¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. ¹⁶ And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. ↩︎
3. ²⁰ So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. ↩︎