Understanding

Matthew 15:15-16 - But Peter answered and said to him, "Explain this parable to us." And he answered him, "Are you also still without understanding?"

It is the also thrown in there that is important to me. Jesus, in adding that word, that also, places Peter on the same level with the Pharisees. Here is a man who several chapters/verses ago walked on water by Jesus' command and yet, he too, cannot understand what Jesus has been saying.

I am not ragging on Peter, only pointing out how difficult it is for us to understand that which will radically change our lives. I went to a film about climate change recently and was struck by how putting the deniers - not the businesses but the individual people they pay - in context made them somewhat sympathetic. They are afraid of the word socialist because they are cold-war warriors who are still concerned with the bogeyman of communism. They have been told that socialism and communism are the same. Spoiler alert; they're not. They are still objectively wrong about climate change. They know this - however, they cannot countenance communism or anything close to it. Therefore anything that involves regulation is right out.

The problem is that, like the Pharisees in Jesus' time, they are abetting the duping of ordinary Americans and the (now) Republican desire to get rid of regulation on things they don't want regulated - they're fine regulating being gay or transgender and abortion. They lie to people who have very few means of researching the truth. And because they have cast into doubt the media - any news that actually gets reported is not believed. They have taken an issue that is 100% true and by casting doubt have created teams. It is the same with the Pharisees. Both groups are all about winning. They don't care about anything else, even human lives or hardship. They just want to win. It is just as dangerous an attitude now as it was then.

So today my prayer is for better understanding - not just of Jesus' parables but also of those who would use lies and distortions to get what they want. They are just as much loved by God as I am. I pray for ways to find the common ground.
B