Jack Of All Trades
I am a geek and a nerd and an introvert but I have a good memory for details especially if they are a part of a story. No, I do not have a photographic memory and I am horrible remembering names, but if I read a story, I’m likely to remember a good portion of it for years at a time.
Yesterday, I was in a small music group. One of my peers mentioned that she was diagnosed with a bulging Achilles heel and that she had to start wearing a boot at night to prevent it from tearing until it healed. The leader of our group is a PhD and she asked where the Achilles heel is. The young lady explained that that is the connecting parts (tendons and ligaments) between the bottom of the foot and the leg. I chimed in and added that it is called this due to Greek mythology of Achilles’ mom dipping him in the river Styx making him invulnerable to weapons except where his mom held him by the heel. As a side note, this is where his eventual demise comes from and thus the idea of a weak point in human anatomy.
Why did I know this? In High School, I had a unit on Greek mythology. For the life of me, I can’t remember a college class or any other opportunity to read Greek mythology since then.
A little later in the day, I was in a Bible study group. The leader was focusing on patience (can I pause here and say he did a wonderful job laying out several passages and wrangling the discussion, for the most part). One of the passages mentioned gall as in the gall mixed with wine that they offered our savior. The group was asked if anyone knew what gall was. I retorted that gall was produced by the liver which was correct but wasn’t the response he was looking for. This resulted in a discussion of why our savior refused the gall/wine mixture.
Several people were adamant that Christ refused the gall/wine mixture because he had to be sober, if you will, to take on our sins. To help the leader out, I commented that why Christ refused the gall/wine mixture was above my pay grade and, at best, fell into the non-essential doctrine category. But as I was sitting there listening to those adamantly stating that Christ had to be sober to take on our sins, I suddenly saw how slight interpretations result in denominational differences between Christians.
“Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”- 1 Timothy 6:2-12 ESV
To be fair, I did look up the usage of the word gall in the Bible and it is used in a couple of places to mean a bitter substance. According to the Internet, it was offered to people crucified to help dull the pain of suffering and it is believed that Christ refused it to take on the full pain of human suffering. I still contend that this interpretation is above my pay grade.
“And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.” - Matthew 27:33-34
