Erasmus: Jesus and Elmer's Glitter Glue -- Sophia Colbert
When I was younger, the passage where Jesus sends away the false believers ("Depart from me, I never knew you") used to scare me. I didn't understand how someone could claim to be a Christian and talk the talk but not walk the walk. Now that I'm older, I have a different perspective on the world. People can lie about anything for any reason. It ranges from small lies that don't effect anyone to big lies that could ruin your entire life, or worse, someone else's. The monks in Erasmus' criticism don't care that they are living apart from the Word of God. All they care about is beating the monastery on the next hill at being "holy." The monastery with the most rules wins, and the monk who can excel at following the rules humbly accepts the title of the most holy monk. The monks created a list of ways to come closer to God, not fully realizing that their own rules were pushing God off the pedestal and setting themselves on top. The ironic thing is that since they were monks, they should have known better.
This scene on pg 68-69 where Jesus speaks to them reminds me of a teacher looking at the end result of a group project where a group of students made up their own guidelines. I can see him picking up their instruction manual, bits of scrap paper falling off and Elmer's glue dripping down the sides. He squints really hard at it, trying to determine the words smothered by glitter and pipe cleaner fuzz. "Well, this is nice and all, guys," He says, peeling the sheet from His hand, "but what ever happened to the guidelines I gave to you?" "We improved them!" they tell Him, "And we made the biggest, brightest, most shiniest project in the class!" He frowns at the mess of glue, stickers, glitter, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and construction paper. "I didn't ask for you to make the biggest, brightest, most shiniest project in the whole class," He says, "I just asked you to follow MY instructions." The point is that we can get so busy comparing ourselves to others that we miss the main point of life, that is, to bring glory to God. Too often we're stuck on trying to outdo each other "in the name of Jesus" that we forget to include Him. We don't have to be holier than the person sitting next to us in church, we just have to follow Jesus and make glorifying Him our first priority.
P.S. I commented on Eliza and Zane's posts.
This scene on pg 68-69 where Jesus speaks to them reminds me of a teacher looking at the end result of a group project where a group of students made up their own guidelines. I can see him picking up their instruction manual, bits of scrap paper falling off and Elmer's glue dripping down the sides. He squints really hard at it, trying to determine the words smothered by glitter and pipe cleaner fuzz. "Well, this is nice and all, guys," He says, peeling the sheet from His hand, "but what ever happened to the guidelines I gave to you?" "We improved them!" they tell Him, "And we made the biggest, brightest, most shiniest project in the class!" He frowns at the mess of glue, stickers, glitter, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and construction paper. "I didn't ask for you to make the biggest, brightest, most shiniest project in the whole class," He says, "I just asked you to follow MY instructions." The point is that we can get so busy comparing ourselves to others that we miss the main point of life, that is, to bring glory to God. Too often we're stuck on trying to outdo each other "in the name of Jesus" that we forget to include Him. We don't have to be holier than the person sitting next to us in church, we just have to follow Jesus and make glorifying Him our first priority.
P.S. I commented on Eliza and Zane's posts.
I really loved your post! I think it managed to capture what Erasmus was trying to say in a very clear way -- Christians are caught up with trying to appear the most Christian they can be, without stopping to think about what the actual implications of living a Christian life is. God doesn't want us to simple say we're Christian and show it through meaningless actions to show how much better we are than others, but to be Christian and follow His laws and bring glory to Him, not use Him to make yourselves greater.
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