To which he replied, “Oh, yeah? I used to live in India, and I rode to work every
day on an elephant! Not only that, but I’m flying back tomorrow to star in a
Bollywood movie. And the movie is about me!”
Okay, I’m exaggerating. But it did seem like for
anything I said, he had a topper. “My son just graduated from college.” “Oh,
yeah? My son was the commencement
speaker at his college graduation, and now they’ve named the school after
him!”
Anyhow, we probably all know somebody whose job it is to
trump whatever your life experience is with a bigger, better, deeper, and wider
experience from their own life. Blowhards are irritating at best, and
insufferable at worst.
That’s what makes it so amazing when you encounter Jesus’
authority in the Bible. He manages to act and speak without pretense, but with
the calm assurance of absolute sovereignty.
As I was reading the Sermon on the Mount, I kept noticing
these words of Christ: “you have heard
it said…but I say to you…” (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44). Jesus
calmly places His own word over Jewish tradition and established interpretation
of Scripture.
When Jesus tells us , “Your tradition says one thing. But I’ll
tell you the real truth,” He is more than credible. He is compelling. We
believe Him.
Maybe we're all blowhards sometimes. But when Jesus starts talking, we need to start listening.
By the way, one of the funniest stand-up bits I ever heard on the "blowhard syndrome" is from Brian Regan.
