I watched today while a safety technician went over my car. It was time for the annual inspection. He jacked it up and tried to wiggle the wheels. He blew the horn and tried to make the car move when the hand brake was on. He had quite a list of things to do. And of course he checked to see if I was unduly polluting the environment. Finally I got my sticker. As I drove away I remembered that once a year on the Day of Atonement the children of Israel had to do an inspection of their homes and their inner beings. All pollutants had to go. You most likely noticed I qualified my polluting with the word “unduly.” That’s because my car does pollute. However, I like to think of the carbon dioxide it produces as food for the trees so they can make oxygen for me. It makes me feel better when I just go for a ride instead of some place I have to be.
One of my really good friends used the word “damn” today. At first I thought, “Oh dear, she polluted her speech with this foul word!” However, sometimes a good “damn” is appropriate. It was. In Matthew 21 Jesus cursed (damned) a fig tree. While He didn’t use that word because it is an English word, He did the equivalent in Hebrew or Aramaic. In Matthew 23 He pronounced seven “woes” upon the religious establishment. As I read them it does seem that He certainly wasn’t blessing them. It is fascinating that in Mark 7 Jesus had quite a discussion about what pollutes us. It seemed the religion establishment was very concerned about what went into their mouths. Jesus seemed much more concerned about what came out.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 3, 2009
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
rogerbothwell.org