In the Bible, knowledge is not just about mental cognition or logic. Rather, knowledge is relational, intuitive, imaginative, beautiful, intimate, embodied. The Hebrew word for knowledge, yada, is about sexual union. In other words, knowledge is relational. Knowledge is having eyes to see God’s works.
I can remember how my father who was the head of the math department for years at the University of Southern Indiana would share at times how the professors there would tend to get into conflict with each other over all kinds of things. After a while, I told him that his department sounded like the church I was serving at the time. I guess all that head knowledge did not always translate into relational or spiritual, insight.
With respect to the story of the man born blind, I can’t help but wonder if this might be why so many people are so unhappy! They all think they know what Jesus is doing, but they miss his lovingkindness right toward this man who had been excluded from the community. Indeed, at the end of the passage, the blind man gets kicked out for believing in Jesus.
I also can’t help but wonder if this is what Jesus was getting at when he told Nicodemus that true knowledge of God is about understanding that the Spirit blows where it wills (John 3:8). No one controls what the Spirit does, or whom the Spirit rests upon – whether it is college students at Asbury University, or sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968, or a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth.
The test of faith is not about dismissing outright what the Spirit is doing, but seeking further what the Spirit is up to, for if something is truly of God, it will bring forth good fruit, along with healing which builds up and does not tear down.
How may we receive the Spirit to see what Christ is doing? What are the way we may confess Jesus as the Christ, knowing that there might be risks involved?
Pastor Andy Kinsey
I can remember how my father who was the head of the math department for years at the University of Southern Indiana would share at times how the professors there would tend to get into conflict with each other over all kinds of things. After a while, I told him that his department sounded like the church I was serving at the time. I guess all that head knowledge did not always translate into relational or spiritual, insight.
With respect to the story of the man born blind, I can’t help but wonder if this might be why so many people are so unhappy! They all think they know what Jesus is doing, but they miss his lovingkindness right toward this man who had been excluded from the community. Indeed, at the end of the passage, the blind man gets kicked out for believing in Jesus.
I also can’t help but wonder if this is what Jesus was getting at when he told Nicodemus that true knowledge of God is about understanding that the Spirit blows where it wills (John 3:8). No one controls what the Spirit does, or whom the Spirit rests upon – whether it is college students at Asbury University, or sanitation workers in Memphis in 1968, or a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth.
The test of faith is not about dismissing outright what the Spirit is doing, but seeking further what the Spirit is up to, for if something is truly of God, it will bring forth good fruit, along with healing which builds up and does not tear down.
How may we receive the Spirit to see what Christ is doing? What are the way we may confess Jesus as the Christ, knowing that there might be risks involved?
Pastor Andy Kinsey
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