need

There’s a story about a young man who told Socrates he wanted to gain wisdom. Socrates dunked his head in the water until the man gasped and begged for air. The Socrates supposedly said, “When you need wisdom as much as you just needed air, come back and I’ll teach you.”

The point of the story is that Socrates could see this young man wanted something cheap and easy that would help him move ahead quickly. He wanted to be able to say he’d studied under the great Socrates and be esteemed because of it. He didn’t really want to put in the lifetime of hard work Socrates had dedicated to becoming wise.

In the first two verses of Luke 15 is a sad story of misunderstood need: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

At this point Jesus had already revealed himself as the Messiah, and confirmed it with many signs. This group of sinners clustered around him because they craved what he offered. The Jewish religious leaders, on the other hand, stood back and criticized.

The key difference is this: the religious leaders, although they led a religion centered on the prophesied Savior, didn’t really think they needed one. They felt they were doing fine by themselves, with their own good works and exceptional compliance with the law. The tax collectors and sinners, on the other hand, knew they needed to be saved; they craved a Savior.

Which am I? A complacent Christian confident in my performance? Or a desperate sinner grasping for salvation like Socrates’ young man gasped for air?

Note: Tomorrow I leave for a couple of weeks of vacation with uncertain access to the internet. The break will be a blessing, but it does mean I won’t be posting for a while. I did this once before, when we toured Europe, and I lost about a third of you. I value you all, so this time I want to specifically ask you to rejoin me on August 6. Thanks for reading!