664
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
end of John
| Putting aside the unscientific notion of stars heralding a new king, the Magi were clearly both knowledgeable and observant about the night sky. They were presumably not Jewish (i.e. not one of God's people) and yet God used their pre-scientific astronomy to draw them into God's plan. Is there any reason why we should not expect the same today -- that people who study the created world are drawn towards the Creator, even those who are outside the Christian faith?
|-
| [[Matthew 7:24]] - [[Matthew 7:27]]<br/>
[[Luke 6:46]] - [[Luke 6:49]]
| Wise and foolish builders
| An engineering metaphor. Every wise builder understands the need for a solid foundation, just as every software engineer needs a solid development platform, every scientist needs a well-formed experimental method, every mathematician relies on the axioms of set theory, every mobile phone carrier needs a solid infrastructure, etc. Do we build our worldview with the same attention to the foundation?
|-
| [[Matthew 9:16]] - [[Matthew 9:17]]<br/>[[Mark 2:21]] - [[Mark 2:22]]<br/>
[[Luke 5:36]] - [[Luke 5:39]]
| New cloth to patch old clothes; new wine in old wineskins.
| I don't know if there is any spiritual lesson here about technology, but the principle is certainly still true: don't try putting new software onto an old computer!
|-
| [[Matthew 10:9]] - [[Matthew 10:10]]<br/>
[[Mark 6:8]]
| The disciples are sent out, without money or luggage or shoes or walking stick.
And note that later on, [[Luke 22:36]] records Jesus telling his disciples that they should now take money and a bag and even a sword.
|-
| [[Matthew 26:51]] - [[Matthew 26:53]]<br/>[[Luke 22:50]]<br/>[[John 18:10]]
| During Jesus' arrest, one of his companions cuts of someone's ear with a sword, but Jesus rebukes the use of the sword.
| Like the comment on Matthew 10:9 (above), Jesus does not need technology to achieve his goal.
| Nothing special here, but this is obviously one of many time that Jesus happily used technology.
|-
| [[Matthew 13:55]] and <br/>[[Mark 6:33]]
| Jesus is the son of a carpenter.
| As a carpenter he would have used tools frequently.
|-
| [[Mark 4:21]]<br/>
[[Luke 8:16]], [[Luke 11:33]]
| Metaphor: you don't put a lamp under a bowl.
|
|-
| [[Luke 5:1]]-[[Luke 5:11]]
| Boats and fishing nets
| Jesus honours the work of Simon and other fishermen, but calls them to leave their technology in order to follow him. Jesus is happy to make use of boats for his own purpose of teaching. Jesus also shows that nets and boats are not enough: not even enough to catch fish -- you also need knowledge and, by implication, spiritual insight.
|-
| [[Luke 13:4]]
| A building accident causes 18 to die, but it is not because those people the victoms were evil.
|
|-
| [[John 1:3]]| Through him all things were made| The Word of God, i.e. Jesus, was the tool of choice for God.
|-
| [[John 2:1]] - [[John 2:10]]| Water into wine| The process of making wine usually requires substantial technology: agricultural implements, irrigation, fertiliser, grape press, chemistry, temperature-controlled vats, etc. But Jesus gets a better result by his own authority.
|-
| [[John 2:15]]| Jesus makes a whip to drive the animals out of the Temple grounds
|
|-
| [[John 6:19]]| Jesus walks on water| Even though Jesus frequently uses boats, he actually doesn't need them. Jesus can achieve his purpose without any need for technology of any sort.
|-
|
