Jonathots Daily Blog
(2352)
I can but I won’t.
I could but I shouldn’t.
It is an imaginative and ingenious philosophy put forth by Jesus to explain how to escape the lunacy of chasing every single possibility and problem that pops up in your face.
It happened one day while he was sharing with his disciples and friends about the true essence of their mission, and some of the obstacles they would face in the future as they tried to progress a message that most certainly would suffer some persecution.
As he’s closing out this admonishment, he renders these powerful words: “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should say.”
Amazingly enough, his own sharings are about to be put to the test–because he is interrupted in a clumsy, if not rude, way, by a gentleman who feels he has a much more urgent need than that of training disciples to preach the good news to the world.
The intruder inserts, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Talk about being off point.
Talk about misconstruing the meaning of offering power and wisdom. This man felt that since Jesus had the attention of the room, that Jesus should use that platform to resolve his personal conflict. This is where our opening couplet comes to play.
I can but I won’t.
I could but I shouldn’t.
The answer that Jesus gives this man is filled with insight and prophetic underpinning:
Who has made me a judge over you? I am not here to arbitrate. And by the way, beware covetousness.
Amazing.
- I thought Jesus was God and he was ordained to judge.
- I thought he was supposed to be the advocate for getting us forgiven our punishments when we’re ridiculously misaligned.
- I thought it was alright to go get your fair share when it was owed to you.
I discovered a parallel: it made me realize that even though we, as a nation, may find things that we can do, we should say we won’t.
And even though we could contribute to bringing a tentative peace in areas of the world where brothers are arguing over their inheritance, we shouldn’t.
Among the many reasons for sitting out the present conflict brewing in Mesopotamia is that it is grounded in covetousness. Covetousness is when selfishness punches jealousy in the nose and then wants recompense by stealing everything its enemy
Let me tell you–I am a follower of Jesus because he had a unique and God-given ability to know where his battles were and when he was to simply walk away.
No matter how much we may think that the conflicts in the Middle East are deadly, fierce or even genocidal, they are not our affair. And if we jump in there, we are failing to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speak to us as Jesus promised He would.
I can but I won’t.
I could but I shouldn’t.
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