I wonder what things Jesus changed his mind on.
It’s a weird question because Jesus has the divinity thing going, and the Divine knows everything. But the story of Scripture shows us that Jesus lived as a person fully submitted to the Holy Spirit, not merely as the all-knowing God wearing human skin.
That means that as Jesus of Nazareth grew older, he learned things. Misunderstandings were corrected, new insight was acquired and he had perspectives that changed.
I wonder if Matthew caused some of Jesus’ ideas about what tax collectors were like to change. I wonder if the money lenders in the temple forced some of his notions about church to evolve. I wonder if the difficulty Peter had in sticking with his confession changed how Jesus thought about the nature of faith.
I know that, for me, evolving opinions is good. It’s a sign of growth. Even in places of faith. In the Church, we are proud inheritors of generations of learning and insights. Much has been thought through and experienced, and yet that inherited wisdom still needs to be applied to our contexts today. We build on the Faith of those who’ve gone before. We don’t throw it out. The cornerstone has been laid, the Creeds are secure, the Scriptures are settled, confession have been written. And yet, not every challenge has been faced and some questions have yet to surface.
There is real comfort for me in knowing that the God of our people has always been down in the reality of life with us. Not locked up dispassionate and separate from life’s complexity. It means God is not incapable of navigating competing truths and complex motivations. It moves me to more frequent prayers for wisdom.
terazzo, coffee, and kids 