If we lived 2,000 years ago we may have asked what those 50 New Zealand Muslims had done to get themselves killed.

How had they sinned? How had their parents sinned? It would have been the subject of endless debate.

Today we ask, what has our culture become, so that hateful ideologies can be so easily communicated? Why has our society failed to be properly infused with tolerance and mutual respect? And it is also the subject of no small amount of pontification.

While we’ve certainly evolved to a better informed and more compassionate understanding of how the world works, we can’t help but notice the way both of these responses fall short. For neither of them gets to the most critical question we can ask: what are we going to do about it?

All the endless chit chat, Monday morning quarterbacking and water cooler debating, does just as little 2,000 years ago as it does today. We’re all wired to take way more time talking than taking action.

And what this world needs is more action.

On Sunday, we will hear Jesus teach about this.

He knows the easy role of the critic and cynic - and the far more difficult job of the doer and mover.

And he urges us to be among those who get off the sidelines and get into the game.

What does this mean to you and me?

In what ways do we talk more than do?

Ultimately we need to ask, what are the stall tactics we use to avoid doing the work?