Quotes

In Spanish, levantarse is a reflexive verb that means to rise, to get up, like when you stand up from a chair or get out of bed in the morning. It is often used in command form, and I surmised that Jesus heard this verb in some language when he was in his darkest hour, most abandoned by the holy, in the tomb. And he responded. Levantarse has the same root as levadura, which is leaven. The Jews had that interesting relationship with leavening agents, as in regulations prohibiting them, but I figured that Jesus' new bread and wine were both well-leavened with that never-ending love and mercy and grace, and the reflexive nature of it (that part of Spanish grammar is always tricky to understand) tells me that when we make it a practice to gather around the table and partake of the love-leavened bread and wine, then eventually love and mercy and grace become reflex actions for us. Stan Yes, it's that last part in particular that's intriguing, where (if I'm understanding correctly) there is no gap between the commanding and the doing; or the "be doers of the word and not hearers only" of James, but especially of the King James Version's rendition of "One who doeth the truth," where there's no distinguishing between the doing and the truth, or truth separated from hearing. I'm looking for more organic ways to speak of this. What dominates English language is like the operating logic of many machines, like computers: you tell it what to do in one action, then to do it in a second. Biblically speaking, if the truth is not being done, it has not been heard, regardless of how theologically orthodox or pietistically rigorous your demeanor. Ken Yes, that's the sense of the reflexive verb, you are an active participant in doing what is being done to you. Stan Stan — Conversation between Stan Dotson and Ken Sehested