[Craic] my gospel reflection. for this time

[Allan Baker]

Hi Art;

I like your reflection on this Sunday’s lectionary passages.
I heard you re-phrasing some of the content in this morning’s discussion about people on the margins.

I’m n to sure that I would agree with the statement about the omnipotence of God. That’s another matter though.

As for your reference to Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity, the Book of Proverbs contain many aphorisms about people who are referred to as “fools”. 
One of my favourites is 18:2
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
But only in expressing his opinion.” (RSV)

Stay hopeful;
Allan


> On Jan 29, 2022, at 12:36 PM, Arthur Blomme via craic <craic at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi all.
> 
> Below is my reflection for this Sunday.  I think that it speaks to a reality beyond left and right.  Following it is a short video essay on Bonhoeffer.
> 
> Art Blomme 
> 
>  
> 
> Jesus Encounters Mob Madness
> 
> In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus encounters the same mob madness that precipitated his crucifixion. Luke continues the story from last Sunday where the people of Nazareth are “amazed at Jesus’ gracious word. His message is from Isaiah. “Give sight to the blind” … liberation and acceptance to the marginalized and “good news to the poor”. In essence it is a proclamation of universal inclusivity or catholicity.  All peoples are the chosen people of God.
> 
> The Nazarenes spoke highly of him recognizing him as a member of their tribe.  When Jesus exposes their ethnocentrism or tribal ideology their adulation turns to rage.  With the Jews as with many ethnic groups, they believe in their moral superiority.  They are the chosen people of God.  They create their identity against the backdrop of fear for the other.  When Jesus provides scriptural evidence that the widow an outsider from Siden is chosen and another outsider Nasman from Syria is chosen the crowd gathered turns furious and they attempt to throw Jesus over the cliff.
> 
> Luke identifies a characteristic of human society that has occurred repeatedly in the history of our civilization with the burning of witches and heretics, the gassing at Auschwitz, other genocides and war after war in modern and ancient  history. Society protects its delusion of moral superiority by destroying the messenger. Karl Jung says of this phenomenon; “It is not empire nor earthquakes, not microbes, not cancer, but man himself, who is man’s greatest danger to man; for the simple reason that there are no adequate protections against psycho epidemics which are definitely more devastating than the worst natural catastrophes.
> 
> Luke identifies this social madness as the great enemy of the catholic kingdom of God.  It is the darkness residing in our hearts that can erupt in a fit of emotional violence that can exceed the level of vigilance- to which we are capable of as individuals. 
> 
> The God of love and creation is all powerful.  The antidote for this madness lies in the Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians.  “Love is patient. Love is kind… It does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth… when I was a child I used to talk as a child, think as a child reason as a child when I became a man, I put aside childish things”. To be an adult is to discard our need to feel morally superior to the other.
> 
> Arthur Blomme
> Jan 27 2022
> 
> 
>  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc>5:59 Now playing
> Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww47bR86wSc>
> Sprouts <https://www.youtube.com/c/SproutsVideos>1.5M views
> Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless —...
> 
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