Turning on the Lights

What’s it like when you’re in a dark room for a long time and someone turns on the lights.  It’s hard to see isn’t it?  You cover your eyes or close them or complain so they turn out the lights.  We like to be ready when the lights get turned on.

Have any of you learned anything new?  Was it easy?  Sometimes a first lesson can be easy but then second and later lessons can get hard.  You might even want to quit.

I took a drum class.  The teacher taught me a pattern.  I learned the pattern well.  Then she taught me a new pattern.   The old pattern got in the way of learning the new one.  I had to get used to playing the new pattern. In the past I dropped out of drum classes because it was hard to learn the new pattern.  But I have committed myself now to learn the new patterns despite the old ones.  Some day I’m going to know a lot of patterns and be able to play them at all!

Jesus came into the world with a new teaching.  It was a new understanding.  It shed light where there was darkness.  The people weren’t ready for it.  They were satisfied with their old understanding even though their old understanding wasn’t working so well anymore.  Some people were ready and they applied this new understanding to their life.  Some weren’t so ready.  They needed more preparation.  So they rejected Jesus and his teachings.   It takes time to integrate new teachings.  But that’s how we learn.