sick (ported from myspace)

healthy people don't need a doctor --sick people do. i have come to call not those who think they are righteous but those who know they are sinners. - mark 2.17

i'm pretty sure I have seen this before...but it strikes me every time. i guess I get hung up on the balance between the two worlds...those who don't think they are righteous and those who are not sick (unless of course, they are mutually exclusive in which case, hey...what can i say, i'm wasting words here). actually, it is also recorded in matthew...a little differently:

'healthly people don't need a doctor --sick people do.' Then he added 'now go and learn the meaning of this scripture: 'i want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' for I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.' - matthew 9.12-13.

odd differentiation...i want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices...almost as though Jesus is saying that we should not focus so much on what we have done wrong but on what we can do right for others. i had a wake up call to something very similar this past weekend...Jason d'souza was teaching about the various commandments in the Bible (there are 613 total)...of which Loving God is first and loving your (thy) neighbor is second. it really hit me and made me wonder if my priorities were straight. i think i tend to digress down the chain of commandments without really realizing it. i havent typically spent much time loving on God...reading the Bible, praying/meditating...and that is pretty lame. it's so easy to focus on things that are in our faces everyday...sex...stealing...patience...without even touching on the things that God wants from us the most. it's really strange. but anyways...it was good that I heard what i did...i like wake up calls (most of the time...and i'm not talking about actual phone calls that wake me up...'cause they usually suck).

maybe i'm way off in my interpretation. that's another funny (probably not so much) thing about the Bible...there are SOOOO many different interpretations/translations of it and within those, there are SOOOO many different interpretations of the translations...it's pretty insane. I almost feel as though I could find a church somewhere that would interpret a verse in just about any and every shade of grey. that's where i have always felt pretty solid about myself and my own perspective. i really feel that in life and in God, we have to find our own paths...we have to trust what God has given each of us in the way of grey matter and really find our own interpretations. not to say that we shouldn't listen to what others say...just that ultimately, God holds each of us accountable for our own actions. i wonder if there really are supposed to be (per God) different interpretations for each of the scriptures...and that each variety speaks to one person or another in order to lead them towards God in their own unique way. so in that...the Vineyard has been pretty great. I really feel like they are open to a lot (liberal) and are almost hippyish in their way of interpreting the Bible. it's very odd...with open expression of spiritual gifts...people speaking in tongues...truly a new experience for me. i'm still not sure where i'm at with that. I get uncomfortable easily (as evidenced by a bead of sweat forming on my brow) which is something that God truly has quelled at times.

another nugget:
the sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the needs of the sabbath. - mark 2.27

very interesting. i dont think I have heard that before...oh...i guess i have (it's underlined in my Bible). i'm a little slow tonight. oh well. work has been draining. too much stuff to do, too little time. i guess that's better than the alternative...i really dislike not having things to do at work. so the verse...it almost feels like Jesus is saying that we should use the Sabbath for that which we consider to be making the most use of it. (did that even make sense?)...but it's very generic. like saying "woman was made to meet the needs of man and not man to meet the needs of the woman" ok, that was a little chauvenistic...and doesnt quite draw a parallel...hmm..."computers were made to meet the needs of people and not people to meet the needs of computers" that's much better. so it feels like Jesus is saying that we can mostly do what we want on the Sabbath...as it is a day of rest for us (that we can choose to use in any way we see fit - with all of the basic underlying assumptions about not doing things that bring shame to God and all that).

i'm getting tired and my content feels to be heading towards diminishing returns very shortly...