Fresh Studies in Matthew, Matthew 11 continued

Sometimes I think that being a modern, as I call it, has divorced us from the rest of humanity that has been on the planet for thousands of years.  For about 150 years we have had quickly evolving technologies that have transformed our ways of thinking and relating.  So we come to Scripture with a mindset that is new in human history but we think is the only right one.  And we land in Matthew 11.

  Jesus may seem a little moody or all over the place, a bit up and down here.  We are assuming this is directly chronological, like a novel, which may or may not be true.  He comforts and judges in the same thirty verses. He comforts John’s disciples, he castigates the crowds for wanting a show, he condemns the surrounding towns for ignoring the revelations they have received, and then he makes a clear declaration of deity, and finish by inviting the weary and oppressed.  Comfort, a little sarcasm, and anger, condemnation, and comfort.  So, we see the human emotions.  Which one of us has not run the same gamut, without it being recorded as holy writ?  And of course we expect a flat sameness from Jesus, because he’s perfect, right?  It’s something we are not going to get.  Are emotions no less real or justified because they come close together?  In our medication-induced stupor, what have we lost?  I myself take a mild dosage of an SSRI to help with panic attacks, yet I had one yesterday, or at least one of those wild compulsions to run out o a room or church service, to even jump off the banister of the balcony.  So odd.  Sitting here in this office, with the door closed, with the heat on, with my big picture window, with my books and computer, I feel safe, yet this is somewhat of an artificial world.