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Monday, September 21, 2015

Deciphering Babel


Recently I was asked to write a post for the school I work for.
I am pleased to share that post with you today!

 

Joseph and Benjamin are hard at work on a new construction project. It’s the biggest contract their company has ever had, and they are proud to be working on an impressive, top-of-the-line skyscraper.

“When we’re finished,” touts Joseph, “Our company will be the most famous in the area. We’ll never have to move far away for another job!”

“What?” says Benjamin, “Wo ting bu dong. Ni shuo shenme?”

“You está diciendo palabras locos!” replies a worried Joseph.

Shortly afterwards, they abandon their skyscraper.

******

Fast forward several thousand years. Joseph’s and Benjamin’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren gather in Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel. It’s early in the morning, and street vendors are just opening their fruit stands and meat carts to welcome the influx of tourists here for the festival. Suddenly, a local man stands on a nearby rooftop and begins preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“Ting de dong!” exclaims Benji.

“Yo comprendo!” shouts Joe.

“He’s right! Jesus truly is the way to God!” others chime.

******

Pentecost is a glorious anti-Babel. Where Babel shows the devastating discipline of a God who deserves obedience, Pentecost reveals Divine wisdom that leaps language barriers in a single bound. Occasionally even now, God gives this supernatural understanding. But most often, he trains us through the slow, arduous process of climbing the language barrier with nothing but a rope and the guidance of those who’ve climbed before.

I am absolutely blessed to help our students scale this wall. I hope that once they do, they will travel to Judea, Samaria, and even the ends of the earth.

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