This week continued the reading of "Beautiful Outlaw" by John Eldredge.
One of the main ideas discussed in my reading for this week was that of Jesus' "disruptive honesty." The author gives examples of Jesus confronting people in the bible with incredible honest and challenges the question of why we rarely experience this and do this for others in our own lives.
One example used is when Jesus is invited to the house of a religious leader, and rather than keeping the custom of washing one's hands before eating, Jesus proceeds directly to the table and makes himself comfortable. This amazes the religious leader that this man who claims to be the son of God would ignore such a deeply rooted tradition. Jesus responds by saying that such traditions put on a good image outside, but on the inside allows people to still be corrupt. His response may be demeaning and rude, but the author argues that this is more so just honesty and that it was necessary to challenge the beliefs of this particular individual.
He cites another example from the story about Mary and Martha, showing more gentle, compassionate honest confrontation from Jesus.
The point of this is to suggest that sometimes the most loving thing we can do is be honest with those that we care about--even when it is hard, and even when it may cause turbulence in our lives or in the relationship we have with them. Similarly, it is important to confront others with the truth in an appropriate way, knowing that some people need a more direct approach while others, more gentle.
This was a very interesting way to present the importance of honesty with those around us using Jesus as an example.
Reading Log:
Monday: 9-9:15
Tuesday: 9-9:15
Thursday: 9-9:30
Saturday: 11-11:30
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