truth

Red Skies

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 36; 147:12-20, Nehemiah 6:1-19, Revelation 19:1-10, Matthew 16:1-12

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

There’s some truth behind this ancient maritime folklore. The red appearance of the sky – really the underside of clouds – has to do with several factors including the wavelengths of light, the amount of condensation and particles in the air, and weather patterns generally moving from west to east. However, long before we knew the scientific reasons, people spent centuries observing this pattern and using those observations to fairly reliably make predictions about their world.

This observation goes back thousands of years, predating Christ. He mentions it to the Pharisees and Sadducees when they ask him for a sign: “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”

The only sign he is willing to offer them is the sign of Jonah (another famous seafaring reference), who after three days in the darkness of the belly of a great fish emerged to call the people of Nineveh to repentance. This is a bit of role reversal however. Jonah vigorously resisted God’s call to be a prophet while Jesus was obedient unto death, and the Ninevites were quick to repent while the Pharisees and Sadducees looked for ways to betray Jesus.

Do we ever ask for signs because we don’t want to face what’s obviously before us? As a species we are less swayed by truth than we are by emotion, and we can become very emotionally invested in a sign (or lack thereof). As a matter of fact, when faced with facts we don’t like we are more likely to dig in our heels than change our minds, and grasp at any straw supporting our position. Is it ever more obvious than when debate about political and social issues rapidly abandons facts for emotional and tribal attacks? And what gets really tricky is we’re all convinced we’re the ones being reasonable. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought they were protecting their fellow Jews by squashing what appeared to them a seditious movement.

When presented with new information, let’s try to be more repentant Ninevite and less inflexible Pharisee. If we spend too much effort searching the sky for those rare signs, we may just miss all the evidence right in front of us.

Comfort: The world is full of the wonder of God’s glory.

Challenge: Let’s look for it where it is, instead of trying to force it to be where we are looking.

Prayer: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)

Discussion: Are there any subjects that make you defensive?

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Past Tension

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 88; 148, Ezra 3:1-13, 1 Corinthians 16:10-24, Matthew 12:22-32

After the Persians conquered Babylon, King Cyrus began to release the Jewish people from exile and captivity to return to their homes. The Book of Ezra tells the story of how they began to rebuild the home they had lost, including the temple. Cyrus had also returned many of the holy items from the original temple, so this second temple was a mix of the new and the old. This new temple elicited a mixed reaction from the people:

[T]he people responded with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house […] so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping.

Why did the older people weep? Some scholars believe it was because the new temple could never match the remembered glory of Solomon’s original temple. But perhaps it’s more complicated than that; the taste of nostalgia is bittersweet. These older people not only mourned what they had lost, but mourned what never was. The sight of a more humble foundation for the house of the Lord was a reminder of the unfaithfulness and corruption that made God willing to let them be taken into exile in the first place. The home they rebuilt needed to be one of substantially different character from the one they had left, no matter how fondly they remembered it.

How do we remember the past? Is it all “the good old days?” Or is it really just a longing for a time of innocence before we knew what we know now? Just as the widows and orphans who’d been cast off instead of cared for probably didn’t think of Jerusalem’s pre-exile days as especially good, many women, people of color, disabled people, and others may not be so enamored of a past which marginalized them. We are increasingly aware of violence, but violence in the U.S. and most of the world has been trending downward for years. People on the whole are healthier and live longer.

So what is it we hope to recapture?

Perhaps what we can do with feelings of nostalgia is try to recreate the world, or at least our tiny corner of it, with the beloved values we think we remember. Neighbors caring for one another – but with an expanded definition of “neighbor.” Feelings of safety – but with a better understanding of the violence that happens outside our particular social circle. A sense of family – but with the combination of joy and weeping it really is instead of the idealized version that never existed.

Every one of us in exile from the past. It’s how we rebuild the future that matters.

Comfort: Whatever your past, Christ ushers you into a better future.

Challenge: Talk with you family and friends to see if they remember your shared history the same way you do.

Prayer: Turn, O LORD, save my life; deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love. (Psalm 6:4)

Discussion: What are you nostalgic for? What are you glad is part of the past?

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Lost Gospels

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 42; 146, 2 Kings 22:1-13, 1 Corinthians 11:2 (3-16) 17-22, Matthew 9:1-8

Josiah was only eight years old when he became king of Judah, but he was the best king to come along in a while. He tried his best to restore the honor of The Lord to his kingdom. During a restoration project at the Temple, the high priest found the book of the law (probably Deuteronomy) and had it delivered to the king. Josiah was outraged to discover his people had not been following the Lord’s commands for quite some time, and immediately set about making things right.

Whether the book had been lost for a long time or simply rediscovered is up for debate, but one thing is clear: by the time of Josiah’s reign, the Jewish people had strayed from the core of what defined them. From the time they insisted on being ruled by kings as were their neighbors, they began more and more to resemble those neighbors in so many ways – including the gods they worshipped – that they could comfortably neglect and eventually forget to do what God had commanded. They still identified fiercely as a people … but what did that really mean?

Being a Christian today is not nearly as well-defined as being a Jew of Josiah’s time, and that may be all the more reason to take a valuable lesson from today’s scripture.

It’s easy for the Gospel to get buried under everything we’ve borrowed from our neighbors. Sometimes it’s obscured by well-intended effort, such as trying to make the faith more “relevant” by assuming the trappings of culture instead of meetings its emptiness head-on. Other times it may take a renovation – of our church community or personal spiritual life – to understand we’ve inherited a Gospel clad in a fortress of bias, tradition, superstition, and ignorance. So much so that not only can’t outsiders find a way in, our central message – assuming we can find it – can’t find its way out.

The Gospel is sufficient on its own. We study a lifetime to understand it, but there’s nothing we can do to improve on it. Grace defines us as a people, yet it cannot be defined. God’s love contains us, but trying to contain it thwarts love. We can domesticate the Gospel and settle for being nominally Christian but otherwise unidentifiable as followers of Christ, or we can let it work its radical change upon us to be seen by all who would seek it.

Comfort: The Gospel speaks for itself…

Challenge: … but if we are to hear, we must be committed to changing.

Prayer:  As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.. (Psalm 42:1)

Discussion: As you mature in your faith, what aspects of Christian culture do you find more or less important?

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Broken Rudders

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 96; 147:1-11, 1 Kings 9:24-10:13, James 3:1-12, Mark 15:1-11

The Book of James teaches the tongue is small but capable of great feats. James compares this relatively small body part to a tiny rudder guiding large ships through strong winds. For this reason he warns religious teaching is a perilous pursuit, as our tongues are difficult to tame and when used carelessly cause misdirection and harm to ourselves and others. Teachers, James says, are held to a higher standard because a spring cannot produce both brackish and fresh waters – that is, because people rely on them for truth, their instruction must neither contaminate nor dilute the Gospel.

The chief priests and other leaders appearing in Mark 15 would have served several roles, including teachers. When Pontius Pilate realized Jesus had been brought to him because these leaders were jealous, he offered to free a prisoner at the discretion of the people. He hoped they would select Jesus. These leaders used their tongues to convince the people to free Barabbas instead. Technically Jesus and Barabbas would both have been accused of insurrection, but Barabbas was also a murderer. The chief priests used their powerful tongues to steer the crowd to free a killer instead of a messiah.

Even today many a preacher grows a flock by appealing to people’s baser nature and focusing on the “enemies” of the church. In the Western world, authentic persecution of Christians is rare, and systematic persecution is non-existent. Yet some preachers insist on targeting a group (when one group is not politically viable for attack they will move on to the next) and claiming specific people are the enemy we need to fight, all the while twisting the message to seem like love.

We do have real enemies, but Jesus taught us to love them. He also taught us what to fight: poverty, injustice, oppression, and the planks in our own eyes.  They know binding Christ’s message to hate crucifies undeserving victims. They open our eyes to how Christ’s love transforms us, and through us transforms the world.

Comfort: It’s perfectly acceptable to question your teachers. The good ones will welcome and even encourage it. 

Challenge: In most situations experienced sailors rely on subtle adjustments, not sweeping gestures. This is a good model for using our tongues.

Prayer: God of peace, may my words be pleasing to you and beneficial to your people. Amen. 

Discussion: Who was your favorite teacher and why?

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Cornered

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 123; 146, 2 Samuel 18:9-18, Acts 23:12-24, Mark 11:27-12:12

Have you ever heard the phrase “paint yourself into a corner?” It means to unwittingly trap yourself in a no-win situation, like a person who, while painting a floor, ends in a corner where they can neither finish the job nor exit the room without making a mess.

The forty or so Jewish men of Jerusalem who were committed to killing Paul painted themselves into a kind of reputational corner. They publicly took an oath not to eat or drink until they’d killed him. Unfortunately for them (though fortunately for Paul), Paul’s nephew overheard their plot and arranged to have Paul removed to Caesarea before they could act. Scripture doesn’t tell us what the forty-plus men did next, but oaths were serious business so they couldn’t break one lightly. Given the undesirable and unlikely outcome of letting themselves die of hunger and thirst, we might wonder how long it took each of them to break down and take that first bite after realizing they faced the choice of dying or becoming an oath-breaker.

Remember Galileo? The Church convicted him of heresy for promoting the idea that the earth revolved around the sun. They clung to a vision of the cosmos with the earth at the physical center, despite clear evidence to the contrary. The paint on the church floor dried for centuries before they managed to escape the corner of pride and willful ignorance.

When a cherished or comforting belief conflicts with undeniable reality, clinging to that belief doesn’t demonstrate strong faith; it illuminates a fear that God does not dwell in the truth. A round earth and a heliocentric orbit may have once felt like threats to the Christian worldview, but scientists of the church like LeMaitre and Mendel, who advanced the fields of physics and genetics, understood the discovery of new truths – even if they conflict with our current beliefs – leads us to greater understanding of God.

Let us never be so closed-minded that our thoughts and words conspire to trap us into a corner where our instinct to be defensive overrides our willingness to expand our understanding.

Comfort: Wherever the truth leads you, God is there. 

Challenge: Read this article about scientists who were also Christians.

Prayer: Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. (Psalm 86:4)

Discussion: Have you ever been afraid of the truth?

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Sense and Ostensibility

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 36; 147:12-20, 1 Samuel 28:3-20, Acts 15:1-11, Mark 5:1-20

Ostensible:
adjective, outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended:
an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.

Quite often people conceal the reasons for their actions from other people (and possibly also from themselves) by offering reasonable-sounding explanations to cover their tracks. One such example is the history of Jim Crow laws enacted after the Civil War. Ostensibly, literacy tests and proof-of-residency requirements were instituted in many states to make sure voters could comprehend the ballot and were qualified to vote. Of course the real reason was to disenfranchise black voters who prior to emancipation had often not been allowed to learn to read, and whose residency documentation was at best a bill of sale. The true intentions were revealed when the voting rights of illiterate white voters were grandfathered in. ‘

The legacy of Jim Crow continues today, as evidenced when the Supreme Court overturned recent North Carolina voting laws which were ostensibly about preventing voter fraud but blatantly targeted African-American and Hispanic voters.

This kind of behavior is neither particularly modern nor particularly American. As more and more gentiles began to convert to Christianity, many of the Jews who became the first followers of Christ didn’t believe they were legitimate. They began to demand that gentile converts be circumcised, as Jews were. After some deliberation, Peter said: “[I]n cleansing their hearts by faith [God] has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?” On the surface their concerns may have sounded legitimate, but scrutiny revealed them to be little more than cultural bias against the gentiles.

Part of being “innocent as doves and wise as serpents” is knowing when reasonable explanations like tradition, cost, loyalty, or practicality hide unsavory motives. One big clue is when a group who has been historically marginalized – particularly if they have been gaining ground – suffers disproportionately as a result. The Pharisees had “good reasons” to crucify Christ; let’s be wary of smooth talkers who are readying the nails.

Additional Reading:
Read more about today’s passage from Acts in Entrance Exams.
For additional thoughts on Mark, see The Devils You Know.

Comfort: You’re smart enough to figure out what’s really going on.

Challenge: Don’t play dumb.

Prayer: Lord, teach me to see hard truth and resist attractive lies. Amen.

Discussion: What are some examples of good reasons for not-so-good actions?

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Healthy Skepticism

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 89:1-18; 147:1-11, 1 Samuel 20:1-23, Acts 12:18-25, Mark 2:13-22

“But he seemed like such a nice guy!”

“I never thought she would do something like that…”

How often have we heard similar sentiments after someone has been caught doing something wrong? We even hear them expressed by family members who we believe certainly must have known better. In Nuts, when the main character reveals that her stepfather abused her, her mother insists, “I didn’t know.” She replies, “You didn’t want to know, Mama.” When we love someone, or are otherwise invested in them, we often “don’t want to know.”

When David told Jonathan his father Saul was plotting to kill him, Jonathan’s response was basically, “No way! He woulda told me!” As if the spear marks in the wall from the two or three times Saul had previously tried to kill him were just nicks in the plaster, and Saul’s fits of anger and despair were a minor tic. Because David persuades him their close relationship might prevent Saul from being completely forthcoming, Jonathan concocts an elaborate scheme to let David know whether his suspicions pan out.

We need to be healthy skeptics, even of people we love.

Is that a discomforting thought? If so, let’s keep in mind the difference between being skeptical and being accusatory. We don’t have to assume guilt to be curious.

Predators and con artists survive on charm and our aversion to unpleasant truths. This preference for pleasant denial is so powerful that in families, social circles, or organizations where a person asks questions or speaks the truth, that person is often branded the problem. Are we really more willing to risk neglecting victims of abuse and criminal behavior than to risk offending someone by frankly verifying their intentions? If it seems like a tough call, ask yourself which you’d rather explain to Christ.

We don’t have to believe every accusation by default, for that is also foolishness, but as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “test everything, hold fast to what is good.” As Christians, we should be a safe place for people to share hard truths, even if we would rather not know them.

Additional Reading:
Read more about today’s passage from Mark in Gimme Some Skin.

Comfort: In the long run, an uncomfortable truth is better than a comfortable lie.

Challenge: Practice withholding judgment based on hearsay or opinion.

Prayer: Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,  even as we hope in you. (Psalm 33:22)

Discussion: How do you think we balance love and skepticism?

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No (Fake) News is (The) Good News

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 102; 148, Isaiah 10:5-19, 2 Peter 2:17-22, Matthew 11:2-15

There’s a lot of real news about fake news – but it’s old news.

2 Peter warned the faithful against false teachings circulating among them.  It cautioned them against listening to teachings that appealed to their baser natures –that approved of licentiousness and corruption. Many gentile converts were used to fertility cults and temple prostitution, and the lure remained. When certain teachers coopted Jesus’s name to say pretty all this was permissible, many thought they could return to their old ways.

According to Matthew, Jesus may not have been what John was expecting. Never one to soften a message for popularity’s sake, John held a hard line on God’s coming judgment. When Jesus started a ministry revealing God’s judgment would be expressed through mercy, John questioned what he heard. John asked Jesus to confirm he was the real thing. If that makes his commitment seem wishy-washy, remember self-proclaimed messiahs had been popping up with startling regularity.

How do we know when news about faith or current events is fake? Our first clue is that it perfectly confirms everything we want to believe. When it tells us we are biased against the right people, or that our foes fit every stereotype we would layer upon them … it’s probably fake. When it doesn’t challenge us to change in any ways that make us unhappy or uncomfortable … it’s probably fake. If it makes us feel righteous in our anger, hatred, or cowardice … it’s probably fake.

“But I know the difference,” we might say. Smart people of all political persuasions are duped by fake news. Well-meaning Christians have been bilked by charlatans since the first person realized there was profit in it. Like John the Baptist, we can be both faithful and skeptical. How did Jesus confirm his identity? By sending this message to John: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

The fruits of truth are reconciliation and healing. Let us devour them hungrily, and reject what poisons our spirits.

Comfort: You can discern the truth…

Challenge: … but you may have to work a little harder at it.

Prayer: God of Truth, lead me in Your ways. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever fallen for a fake news story? What about?

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Truth Will Out

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 116; 147:12-20, Nahum 1:15-2:12, Revelation 12:7-17, Luke 11:53-12:12

The next time someone wonders what a first century messiah has to say to a twenty-first century audience, haul out this passage from Luke:

Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

We live in an age when secrets are practically extinct. Social media accounts get hacked. Classified information gets leaked. Omnipresent cameras record us without our knowledge or consent. And any of this information can be distributed around the globe with the click of a Send key. Yet many of us go about our business as though privacy still exists.

Ever heard of the New York Times Rule? In a nutshell it says: don’t say, do, or write anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the newspaper. Not everything we prefer to keep private is shameful, but the NYT Rule can be a good benchmark for decision-making. More than any time in history, we should understand how quickly a whisper becomes a scream. Barely a day goes by without some celebrity, politician, or hapless schmuck getting caught in a scandal of exposed secrets.

ll of us have moments we’d rather not see in a headline, but the key to not crashing against the rocks of scandal is simple: integrity. If it seems too obvious, consider the endless parade of people exposed for hypocrisy and corruption. Now multiple that by a large number to understand how many people haven’t been caught (yet). In the two thousand years since Christ told us secrets would be uncovered, we don’t seem to have taken that message to heart.

Be the person you want people to think you are. And if you can’t be that person, don’t pretend to be what you’re not. Better to be a flawed witness to Christ’s love and forgiveness than a Pharisee who “clean[s] the outside of the cup […], but inside [is] full of greed and wickedness.”

Comfort: Integrity protects you from all kinds of trouble.

Challenge: In the evenings, reflect on your day. Ask yourself which parts you wouldn’t want to have exposed to the world, and how you can change for the better.

Prayer: Lord, help me to walk in my integrity and to trust You without wavering. Amen.

Discussion: What damage have you seen secrets cause?

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Patterns

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 130; 148, Hosea 13:9-16, Acts 28:1-16, Luke 9:28-36

The human mind is wired to recognize patterns – visual, behavioral, and temporal. This trait is a survival mechanism: breaks from expected patterns alert us to potential danger. Now that most of us no longer need to detect predators on the savanna, our brains still want to impose patterns – that is, a sense of order – onto the thinPattgs we observe, regardless of whether it actually makes sense to do so.

The ship that was taking Paul to Rome ran aground on the island of Malta. The inhabitants offered hospitality to the stranded crew. As the new friends huddled around a fire on a rainy night, a viper which had been nesting beneath the fire tried to escape the heat by biting Paul’s hand. Paul shook it off into the flames, but the Maltese whispered: “This man must be a murderer; though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” When Paul suffered no ill effects, they reversed their decision and declared him a God.

Confirmation bias – a warped adaptation of pattern recognition – is the habit of interpreting events to support what you already want to believe. The Maltese wanted to believe only the guilty were punished, so the bite indicated evil … until it didn’t, and they created an outlandish excuse that supported their assumptions. Religious and political affiliations virtually require confirmation bias to survive, though the threats they perceive are not physical, but ideological.

A sneaky byproduct of our environment, confirmation bias is much easier to recognize in others than in ourselves. We all would rather feel safe than threatened, so we are not inclined to question false but comforting assurances. Simply put, we like to be right.

Faith, however, does not need to be right. Instead of twisting truth to fit our preconceptions, it frees us up to meet the world as it is, because we trust that however the world is put together, God did it and is fully present in it. We can see the patterns behind the mere shadows of patterns, the ebb and flow of the Spirit through our world.

Comfort: Faith will get you through difficult truths.

Challenge: Pick a topic you feel strongly about. Speak with someone or read something that represents the other side. Try to find common ground based in truth.

Prayer: God of truth and wisdom, may my opinions be humble and my thoughts pointed toward you. Amen.

Discussion: Where might your blind spots be?

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