The Boss of Me

No one likes being told what to do. We dislike it so much that we have come to idolize rebellion as a moral good. We long for a world without authority, criticism or the pressure necessary to change how we live. When a teacher rightly judges our child, we shelter the student and malign the instructor. When our manager confronts us with a problem at work, we cringe, scrambling to show that we have already learned our lesson. Why? Because we want the criticism to stop; but a wise manager does not stop. He or she delivers the message in full, repeating it as often as necessary to help the employee change their behavior. But in order for any of this to work, the teacher, the parent, the student, the manager, and the employee must all–first and foremost–place their trust in the wisdom being offered. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is tireless in his efforts to train the disciples to trust in the Lord’s wisdom. He does not reason with them or attempt to justify himself; nor does try to package the message in an appealing way. On the contrary, he keeps repeating and simultaneously following his Father’s commandments. The more resistance he encounters, the more persistent his message: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching; Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments about your neck.” (Proverbs 1:7-8) Richard and Fr. Marc discuss Mark 11:1-11. Episode 183 Mark 11:1-11; Subscribe: http://feedpress.me/the-bible-as-literature; “Pinball Spring” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com (http://incompetech.com/)) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http:// creativecommons .org/ licenses /by/3.0/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★