Don't Arrest Him

Mark 12:12 (NIV84) — 12 Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

"Kill the messenger!" That is the cry of the unsure, the weak and the insecure. Do we do it? When someone calls us out on something do we degrade the person rather than respond to the call out? When someone disagrees with us to we use an "ad hominem", a reaction directed against a person rather than directed against a position. When a preacher says something we don't like to we go after him or her rather than the doctrine or stance they have taken? Do we feel compelled to use their name as the bad example or are we able to teach truth and divide it from error? It's time for a checkup?

They wanted to arrest and kill Jesus because his teaching was against their teaching and against them. I realize the Jesus himself called out certain sects when teaching. It's not like we can always ignore the nonsense that passes for religion, but the breadth of Jesus life was dedicated to preaching truth and good news, healing and releasing. He brought hope, love and power. That is our aspiration.