麻豆社

From Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds:

I know it was a week or two ago, but I am still - somewhat perversely - amused by Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥榤is-speaking鈥� in a press conference with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Do you remember it. He missed the word 鈥榥ot鈥� off. Easily done, obviously.

The funny thing is that as soon as you hear the ... er ... wrong statement, it makes your mind search for the real thing.

I remember speaking at a dinner for charitable financiers in London and concluding with the words of Jesus: 鈥淚t is easier to put a needle through your eye than for a rich man to pass a camel.鈥� Silence was followed by laughter as the mental cogs turned in search of the what Jesus had actually said.

Or, do you remember Jeremy Thorpe鈥檚 famous judgement on Harold Macmillan鈥檚 so-called 鈥楴ight of the Long Knives鈥� when he sacked loads of ministers in order to stay in power: 鈥淕reater love has no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life鈥�?

Or Monty Python鈥檚 鈥楲ife of Brian鈥� where the people at the back of the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount think Jesus said: 鈥淏lessed are the cheesemakers鈥�?

I love it. Being so familiar with the real thing means we sometimes don鈥檛 listen and catch the power of the words or the idea any more. We just hear 鈥渂lah blah blah鈥�.

It鈥檚 a bit like drawing. My wife is an artist and she once tried to get me to draw a chair. I drew it ... and it looked terrible. When I showed it to her she told me to go away and this time draw the spaces around the chair. I did it - still badly - but the chair emerged from the spaces and I got the point.

The point here, of course, is that we become surprised and curious when we see and hear things differently. So, if Jesus didn鈥檛 bless the cheesemakers, who did he bless? Isn鈥檛 the startling truth that love is seen in the sacrifice of my life for my friends?

I think misspeaking can, if handled right, shine a light on something even more powerful and true. Anyway, didn鈥檛 Jesus also say: 鈥淟et your yea be nay, and you nay be yea?鈥� Didn鈥檛 he?