When I was teaching Kindergarten, there were very often children who came to me who had already learned to write their names. This was great--when they had been taught correctly.Of those who could write their names, most of them had been taught by some very well-meaning individual to write in all capital letters. It was one of my most difficult tasks to have to "unteach" that form of writing which they learned from someone they trusted, and "reteach" the correct form (first letter capital, the rest lower case). I would say that the greatest difficulty to any student is to "unlearn" something so that it can be "relearned" correctly.

For years I kept my gradebook and plan book in (of all things!) a book. Several years ago, the school I work for instituted a new method of doing grades on the computer. That was scary to me and I never could seem to make it work. I tried and tried with the computer program, and by the end of the year, (whew!) I finally had it. Then I came back the next year and guess what, there was a new program--the gradebook didn't work the same and we had to put our lesson plans, discipline notices, communications with parents, and everything else on the computer. I am usually pretty calm and don't get my cage rattled by much, but I FREAKED OUT!
Third year on that program now, and maybe I've about got it--maybe. Not that the original way was wrong, but I had to learn the new way in order to fit within the system.

What about changes to the mychurch home page . . .

Maybe you've been in similar situations with things along the way that just changed all of a sudden, and it required change on your part--a job, relationship, income, residence, school, whatever. Perhaps you'd agree with me when I say that sometimes change is just hard. That is what the people who listened to and heard about Jesus found themselves in the midst of; and it wasn't just ordinary change, it was a change of tradition; a change of religion--big, hard stuff.

When the Christian missionaries moved across Europe and into the British Isles, they were met with a gaggle of pagan traditions. Not all those traditions were barbaric. The early Anglo-Saxon writings demonstrated the love of freedom, responsiveness to nature, strong religious conviction, particularly in "Wyrd," or what we might call "fate," a reverence for womanhood, and a devotion to honor and glory. What a huge mistake it would have been for those missionaries to come in and try to tell the people to just forget everything their elders had taught them and to learn a new way. Ingeniously, they took the deep-seated traditions of the people and began to add to them and change them so that the stories became laced with Christianity, and eventually, Christianity became the tradition. This can be found in the greatest English epic, Beowulf. Though many pagan elements remained in the story, when it was finally written down around 1020, the character Beowulf acknowledged God as the One who decided victory in battle, and gave thanks to Him for his accomplishments. (Don't rely on the movie; read the book).

The Jews in the time of Christ were also deep in their traditions. Remember, Jesus was criticised, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat" (Matthew 15:2). The Jews also honored Moses as the "giver of the law." They honored Moses the man more than God who gave the law to Moses, even though Moses himself prophesied "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (Gen. 3:15), so their studies should have revealed that someone else was on the way. Jesus testified:

Jesus had the awesome task of "teaching the old dogs new tricks." People who had put their trust, even their faith, in men that they considered the earthly authorities and emissaries of God were all of a sudden wrong. Jesus challenged their authority:

Jesus also declared to them, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:20).

Jesus had to "unteach" the following of the letter of the law without the spirit of the law. He urged them to make it a heart thing, and so they could do that, He gave them a different perspective--love. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it; Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matt. 22:37-40). Watch--Jesus didn't say, "Everything you've learned up until now is wrong. Change all that you believe." That would have bred rebellion. But Jesus knows our weaknesses so well. Instead He said, "All those things you have studied and learned, all those laws--this is the way to put them all into practice; this is what Moses and Elijah were talking about; love God and love your neighbor--that's the way to do what they say. And Jesus didn't just tell it, He demonstrated it . . . all the way to Calvary.
And praise God, many of the "old dogs" got it (no disrespect intended).

The Holy Spirit does indeed reveal truth to us through the scriptures, but God expects us to be more than Bible scholars, He expects us to love. If your way has not been a way of love, your way needs to change. With God, as long as we live and breathe, it's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Lord Jesus, thank You for the lessons You teach, the Word You reveal, and the example You set. Help me to continue to study, to learn, and to love, in Your Holy Name. Amen