Once upon a time there was a community of rabbis. Like all communities, they had their way of doing things. They had long standing traditions and rules.

For example:

[Rule #1] All rabbis must invest the majority of their time at the synagogue or temple (because this is where serious God stuff gets accomplished).

[Rule #2] Never go to Samaria (because Samaritans are bad).

[Rule #3] “Maturity” means knowing a lot about the Bible, and having an academic appreciation of it.

[Rule #4] The optimal context for making disciples is in the programatic, polished, and controlled setting(s) of the temple and synagogue.

[Rule #5] The most holy and venerable members of the community are “credentialed experts” not children!

Then, one day, a new rabbi came around. And He seemed to operate with a very different set of rules:

[Rule #1] Invest the majority of your time at the fishing docks, on mountains, on beaches, walking and talking with people, sitting around camp fires, chatting in people’s living rooms, attending parties and wedding receptions; and especially make sure to be with plebeians and the misfits as much as possible (because this is where serious God stuff gets accomplished).

[Rule #2] Definitely go to Samaria (because Samaritans are super receptive to the truth), and definitely make Samaritans the heroes of your short stories (and be sure to bake in brutally honest references regarding the villainy of the most proper and mannerly members of society)!

[Rule #3] “Maturity” means imaginatively immersing yourself in God’s Word – rejecting a merely academic appreciation of it – and embracing it as autobiographical; and tasting it and savoring it as active and living! Relishing the reality that the Word of God is to be lived (and not simply studied).

[Rule #4] The optimal context for making disciples is in boats, on mountains, traveling from town to town, in homes, over intimate meals; away from the distractions and anxieites of the frenzied popularity contests raging on religious campuses and in bustling city centers.

[Rule #5] The most holy and venerable members of the community are children not “credentialed experts.” And as far as the “credentialed experts” go, you will most likely need to whip’em & flip’em in their complacent, decently ordered, decorous cathedrals and hallowed synagogue settings.