New Wineskins for New Wine Part 2

So, as I mentioned yesterday, Jesus is challenging the religious authorities and his own disciples to be conscious about their relationship to their beliefs, traditions, moral codes and ritual practices. What do I mean by this relationship? For starters, is there a gap between what they/we espouse to believe or think is true, or good, and what we actually do in practice. We might call this the "knowing/doing gap." He vigorously challenges their hypocrisy, that they say one thing and do another-- for instance paying such attention to their ritual purifications of their hands and neglecting their purity of heart. Or that they profess to obey the prophets and then they lay heavy taxes on people, even poor widows, to support their temple economy

This knowing/doing gap is a universal feature of human experience, isn't it? We profess to love our neighbor, and then we draw a line when it comes to people who rub us the wrong way, or who are different from us in some way. The classic example is of people who make a display of going to Church on Sunday and then have altercations in the parking lot on their way home.

In my own life, I think of any variety of things I know that are good and that I should do, and then I do the opposite. I have to acknowledge that I live with this knowing/doing gap, so for starters, I need to be very slow to judge others for their hypocrisy. Second, the energy I spend worrying about the hypocrisy of others would probably be better spent closing my own gaps, deepening the integrity that we are called to.

So, a thought to consider: where do you find gaps between what you say and what you do, or between things you know are good and how you're actually living in practice? When you sit with one or two these gaps, how does it feel to recognize this? Do you feel guilty, or prompted to action? If it is guilt... move on! Let this be a prompt to wise, gentle, and discerning discipline as you address one of these gaps. Blessings on your day!