Think outside the box

For many people thinking outside the box is a very difficult thing to do. Given a task, and a blank sheet of paper, they almost inevitably come up with something they have seen or done before. And that is also true in the church.

As we continue our Sunday series in Luke's gospel, Jesus' challenge this week to the Pharisees is 'Think outside the box' (Luke 5:27-39). That's the point of the two parables at the end - the new thing won't fit into the old way of doing things, they are incompatible. Therefore to do the new things you need a totally new way of thinking and doing and being.

But because they find it so hard to put aside the way they've always thought and done things, they can't get their heads round the fact that Jesus could be God (5:21), or that eating with a tax-collector might not make you ceremonially unclean (5:30), or that not fasting might not be a sign that you're not serious about your faith (5:33), or that doing good on the Sabbath is better than doing nothing (6:9)...

2000 years later and in a very different society it is very easy to pass judgement on these Pharisees. But are we any better at the new kind of thinking that Jesus requires? Where do I need to start thinking outside of the box?