The Writing on the Wall

Yes, as a matter of fact, He did do kung fu. He did a specific kind of kung fu that I have affectionately termed "Lung Fu".

You see, "kung fu" is the chinese term that simply translates as a "skill" and so I term "lung fu" as the "skillful use of words" particularly when used to manage conflict, which is often times called conflict management, debate, or apologetics -when used to defend Christian doctrine. So, here is my example: In Matt. 15:1-11 we see that Jesus was asked a question by the Pharisees, "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?...they wash not their hands when they eat bread." Notice that Jesus did not answer their question directly. In fact, He did not anser their question really at all! He instead side stepped their question and performed what I called the "adjacent challenge" verbal redirect. I call it that because instead of dealing with their question, He evaded it by challenging them a question about an issue that was adjacent to the one they brought up. He springboarded off of their question's topic, traditions of men, and put the spotlight on them and their sin. In effect, He was saying to them, "Don't talk to me of my disciples failure to follow the TRADITIONS of MEN, when you yourself are guilty of elevating those traditions above the COMMANDS of GOD!! Once again, Jesus forced the Pharisees to take a good hard look at their sin and their failure to please God.

You see, when Jesus dealt with an issue He never dealt with the issue as it was presented; instead, He always dove straight to the heart of the matter. He found the real issue, and dealt with that. In this issue, the real heart of the matter wasn't obeying the traditions of men, but obeying the commands of God. The Pharisees had placed so great an importance on the traditions of men that they ignored the commands of God, even seeking to use those traditions to circumvent their responsibilities that God gave them. They had no place to challenge Jesus' disciples and that is what Jesus responded to.

Isn't this true, that so often we bring to God's attention the faults of others when we have not even dealt with our far more pressing matter? It is so easy to be critical of others because they don't behave or think the way we think that they should, or because they defy the 'traditions' that we hold dear. How much better it is if we first go to God and say, "Search me oh God, and know me. See if there be any unclean way in me."

thanks for thinking about it.