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A New Steakhouse in Town

The first time I heard the phrase, 'Mickey D's Steakhouse', I was in the 7th grade. Our band teacher was taking us through a school-wide survey on dating. I'm not sure what a band teacher would know about dating, but I knew even less, so who was I to judge?

The survey was all about what we would do on a date, something I had plenty of expertise in when I was in the 7th grade. And by 'plenty' I mean 'none' and by 'expertise' I mean that I was socially further from getting a date than Pluto was from the Sun.

One of the questions asked where we'd take a first date. One of the options was Mickey D's Steakhouse. I hadn't remembered seeing that restaurant in town, but I thought, 'Hmmm, a steakhouse. That'd probably be nice.' Check.

I refer you back to the amount of expertise I had in this area. That would be less than none. I don't remember any of the other questions, due in large part to the fact that I was still trying to figure out where this new steakhouse was. It would be years before I figured out that my band teacher was referring to McDonald's. I kind of wish I could go back and take that survey. It's not that I have much more dating experience now, but I would have at least marked some place classy like White Castle.

This just taught me that not everyone knows what we're talking about. Not surprisingly, this happened to Jesus. Yet on time Jesus was surprised. It's in John 3 when Jesus is talking with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Nic seemed to be having trouble with elementary topics such as God being able to do whatever He wants.

Basic principle or not, the fact is that Jesus had to back up a step and deal with Nic where he was at. Because Jesus did that, we get one of the best purpose statements ever in John 3:16. If ever you've wanted the Cliff's Notes version of the Bible, this was it.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
For a man, even one who was supposed to be teaching Israel like Nic, it paid off to slow down and make sure that everyone was on the same page. Consider that the next time you assume everyone already knows what you know.

Don't assume that everyone understand what we mean when we talk about 'Good News'. Seriously, some people don't even know that McDonald's is not actually considered a steakhouse.
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