Monday: Week 2 in Lent Year B

Lent for Everyone
Mark Year B
WEEK 2: MONDAY...

...When Bertrand Russell wrote his famous book, Why I am Not a Christian, he listed various things about the life of Jesus which, he said, put him off. One was the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree (Mark 11.12–14, 20 –24). Another was this incident: Russell objected to Jesus’ apparently cavalier treatment of two thousand pigs. I have sometimes had atheists write to me, or speak to me after lectures, and repeat these same charges. Was Jesus not guilty of rough, violent treatment of the world of animals and plants?

Objections like these completely miss the point, and raise worrying questions about how serious Russell actually was in his consideration of Christianity. The gospels are not written to be a compendium of useful moral teaching and behaviour, to be offered to a world that simply needs good advice and good example. They are written to describe a one-off, unique moment in the history of the world...

Taken from Lent for Everyone Mark Year B by Tom Wright