The Matrix - Mk. 8:33

"Get away from me Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's." Mk. 8:33

Anyone who knows me (or Ray Bartelucci), has heard about the parallels we have drawn between the movie "The Matrix" and the Gospel. I know it sounds nuts, but both are about liberating people from a world that they think is real, but is not. A world that is created by an entity with its own agenda, whose goal it is to keep us in a deceived state so we remain blind to what is REALLY going on. Enter a "Savior" who has the power to deliver us from the clutches of the evil entity. The analogy gets more complex, but that is the gist of it -- not too far out of a theory is it?! Well, in Mark 8, Jesus basically validates the comparision (not necessarily "The Matrix" but the message). He is identifying Satan with the "human point of view." This point of view is uninfluenced by the Holy Spirit, therefore can only see the world as Satan presents it. Upon salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to see through God's eyes rather than our own. That same power enables us to walk this world (of which we are really strangers) with abilities, power and weapons that were not available to us previous, to deliver a message of salvation and a path to TRUE life.

Jesus, keep me "unplugged" from the world just enough so I can truly see, but not so much that I am ineffective.

Today's reading: Job 22; Mk. 7, 8