Changing perspective

About four months ago Dan and me were in Taco Bell, (the new "all christian" restaurant in Madrid), with David and Tyler. Both are missionaries in Madrid, from the states. Moreover David is what we can call a priest. His resident permission in Spain says so. He studied theology, so sometimes we call him "Reverendo" David.

Anyway, we were there and Dan and me were talking about how great it would be to have a more... rational bible study. Something more interactive, and somehow, intelectual thing, than what we had in church right now. Just gather in a flat together, with a piece of Bible to read, and try to talk about what God is trying to tell us in Bible. That way we can all share what we think God has teached us, and learn from each other. It's a give and take study.

The good thing is that David has studied. He can read ancient greek, so when we have doubts he can go to the original fountain (during the studies he has his greek new testament), and clear the languaje doubts we may have. Finally one thing i love about our gatherings is that we always finish trying to understand how to apply what Bible says to our daily lifes. Otherwise we would not be a group of believers trying to learn and understand God's will, but just a group of people that loves words and likes to argue about pieces of literature.

So... now that i have explain all this, i can explain why the title of the post... is like that. We have been studying Luke for about three months, and finally reached the half of the gospel(maybe a little bit more). And till now two big ideas have been appearing in almost all of our studies.

The first one is about the Kingdom of Heaven. Where is it? How is it? What do we know about it? What does it mean to us? It is supposed to be here, now, and at the same time it is still coming... so... somehow it hasen't arrived yet... but at the same time, it's here, now... again. And another important thing, we're supposed to belong to it. And that somehow should affect everything in our livings. Our minds should be focused in that key reality.

And when we do it... everything changes. Our perspective of life, world, people, work, problems... Suddenly, what seemed to be important it isn't anymore, and what looked to be a grain of sand in a beach becomes a big mountain. To be conscious of a bigger reality beyond this, and to live that consciousness... well... it changes everything. I suppose that's one part of what Jesus meant when He said he was making everything knew. Cause a new reality appears when you see everything through the glass of the Kingdom of Heaven. And you understand your life has a new meaning, your priorities change... everything is still the same, but your perspective is brand new.



The second thing that has been appearing lately in most of our studies is the question: "Who is Jesus?"
And this is a question that appears several times in Luke. People was wondering the answer, the king too, even the disciples. The answer to that question is something that gives sense to all the rest of the gospel, and sense to christianity. Most of the people recognice Jesus existed. A lot recognice him as a great moral master. Some even recognice that he was a prophet and that he died on the cross. And some of us even believe that he rose up from the death.

There have been a lot of "good" men in History. A lot of prophets of all religions. Believers could say that Jesus wasn't the only one who rose up from the death. So somehow human beings should stop focusing on what Jesus did. Because the difference between him and all the others are not his acts. He himself said his followers would do bigger things than him.

So in this second point what we have to change is our perspective on what he did. And this perspective can only be changed when the question of who he really was is well answered. Without than answer all His acts don't mean anything. With it, a whole new rality and comprehension can open our eyes, mind and heart.