Tag: assumptions

Don’t Assume (Job 32:1-22)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The Wrath of Elihu, by William Blake, 1805

Finally, these three men stopped arguing with Job, because he refused to admit he was guilty.

Elihu from Buz was there, and he had become upset with Job for blaming God instead of himself. He was also angry with Job’s three friends for not being able to prove that Job was wrong. Elihu was younger than these three, and he let them speak first. But he became irritated when they could not answer Job, and he said to them:

I am much younger than you,
so I have shown respect
    by keeping silent.
I once believed age
    was the source of wisdom;
now I truly realize
    wisdom comes from God.
Age is no guarantee of wisdom
    and understanding.
That’s why I ask you
    to listen to me.

I eagerly listened
    to each of your arguments,
but not one of you proved
    Job to be wrong.
You shouldn’t say,
“We know what’s right!
    Let God punish him.”
Job hasn’t spoken against me,
and so I won’t answer him
    with your arguments.

All of you are shocked;
    you don’t know what to say.
But am I to remain silent,
just because you
    have stopped speaking?
No! I will give my opinion,
because I have so much to say,
    that I can’t keep quiet.
I am like a swollen wineskin,
and I will burst
    if I don’t speak.
I don’t know how to be unfair
    or to flatter anyone—
if I did, my Creator
    would quickly destroy me! (Contemporary English Version)

Job and his three friends had talked themselves out. There were plenty of words and frustration, with nothing left but an impasse. We anticipate hearing from God….

But there is yet another who was present with Job and his companions. Elihu was a young man in tow with the older three friends. He respectfully held back and observed all the proceedings between the four men. As he watched, the angrier he became, to the point of feeling the need to speak up and offer his own voice concerning Job’s terrible suffering and trouble.

Elihu was angry because he believed Job was setting up himself as more righteous than God. And he was also perturbed with the three friends. He viewed them as bungling their argument against Job, offering no convincing answers.

Within the scope of what Elihu and the friends were talking about, the arguments were indeed found lacking. No one had the necessary wisdom to handle Job’s case.

But therein lies the problem. The assumptions are presuppositions which underlie all the arguments and speeches were off. The friends simply assumed Job was sinful, because they presupposed that anyone undergoing such terrible suffering is being punished by God.

Therefore, all of the bluster was doomed to go nowhere. Underneath all of the exhausting chaos was a cosmic drama which none of the human actors were privy to. In other words, nobody knew what they were talking about.

God only seems to be silent and absent from the perspective of us humans. We are an impatient people. Much like Elihu, we sit on our hands and bite our lips, waiting to get out what we want to say.

I wonder how much of Elihu’s listening wasn’t actually listening, but was thinking about what he was going to say when he got his chance. Job’s friends were ineffective in proving Job wrong and guilty before God, according to Elihu.

But if any of us begin our thinking and our speaking with assumptions and presuppositions which are off base, then it’s likely that nearly all of our thoughts and words will be unhelpful and even hurtful.

Too many people have a compulsion to speak and get their own opinions out. Few persons, however, have the same sort of compulsion to truly observe, listen, and learn. So, what we typically get are Elihu-like belching of speech – which may make the person speaking feel better, yet leaves everyone else groaning for them to keep their mouth shut.

An unteachable spirit which values one’s own thoughts and opinions over others is the mark of a fool, and not a sage. There ought never to be more wind coming from someone’s mouth than from the weather.

Unfortunately, many people claim to know and understand more than they actually do. And just because someone occupies a high position does not necessarily mean they know what they’re talking about.

In our anger and perturbed states of mind, we vent and talk too much, as if we have the corner on truth. Yet, how much of our talking is really worth others listening to us?

Instead of assuming we already know what is happening with another, there are questions we can ask ourselves, which may help guide us to speak more truthfully with helpful, not hurtful, words.

The following few questions can help orient us with compassion toward what another is saying:

  • What is the main point being made?
  • What might be going through their mind when they say that?
  • What need do they have that they are trying to satisfy?
  • What is the motivation of the person speaking?

Just as important is our own self-awareness. These questions can help us monitor ourselves as we listen and respond to others:

  • How am I feeling right now in this moment?
  • What do I need right now?
  • Why does that particular statement or opinion irritate me so much?
  • How am I presenting myself right now – my affect, posture, and eye contact?

We can also ask questions of God during a conversation:

  • Will you please help me to understand the person and what is being said?
  • How does this square with my understanding of you and your Word?
  • Which values – that are important to You – apply to this discussion?
  • What do you want me to say and do?

You will say the wrong thing
    if you talk too much—
so be sensible and watch
    what you say. (Proverbs 10:19, CEV)

The Book of Job would likely look a lot different if Job’s friends had taken such a wise saying to heart.

The following is a prayer from St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Who Is Jesus? (John 7:40-52)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Light of the World, by William Holman Hunt, c.1853

On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

“You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” (New International Version)

Orthodox Christian icon of Jesus Christ

There was a lot of buzz in Christ’s day of who Jesus really was. Prophet? Messiah? And, if Jesus really is a big deal, would he really come from Hicksville Nazareth? What about his credentials? His class? His pedigree?

Opinions on Jesus haven’t really changed all that much from the ancient world. They are still just as diverse now as when he was on this earth.

Unlike today, ancient people could not simply “Google” Jesus and find out where he was born and grew up. And they had no access to doing background checks in a matter of minutes to find out all kinds of things about him. Had the religious authorities bothered to do their homework and investigated Jesus, they would have found that, indeed, he was born of the Davidic line and in Bethlehem.

The short of it is that a chunk of the people simply assumed they knew Jesus wasn’t of proper Messiah credentials. They assumed and did not investigate because they did not want to know. No one can be faulted for ignorance. However, purposeful ignorance is perhaps the greatest of all sins, betraying a deep egoism of pride and prejudice.

In their hubris, the religious leaders sent the temple guards to bring Jesus in. Yet, in a clear demonstration of heavenly authority, the guards actually listened to Jesus and saw for themselves who he really is. Their simple confession testifies to Christ’s credibility. If one would but just see and listen for themselves, and engage in a genuine investigation, they could walk away finding truth.

6th-Century Byzantine mosaic of Jesus

Opponents of Jesus for the past two thousand years assume that Christians have been duped into taking the opiate of the people. Many think that followers of Christ were manipulated by religious hacks trying to gain power over others. But that’s a curious opinion, considering Jesus continually did just the opposite of that and was a champion for the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized persons of society.

When professional people with recognized degrees and competence do not believe you, nor take your own experience and learning seriously, what do you do?

Well, you could listen to them, or you could listen to your own gut telling you that you’re being gaslighted by a bunch of highly intelligent simpletons who are unfamiliar – are ignorant – of the faith you are familiar with.

What’s more, there are always smart and experienced people in the room who know better. Nicodemus was such a person. He was a serious scholar, and chose to speak up about these things. Authorities and credentials matter, yet of first importance is to know how to go about any sort of inquiry – rather than just passing over an objective investigation and assuming you know better.

Ethiopian artist depiction of Jesus teaching

For decades, I have (graciously) challenged others who do not believe in Jesus to actually read the Gospel accounts and at least engage in some minimal investigation – rather than giving opinions based on limited knowledge and secondary sources.

After all, as Nicodemus pointed out so long ago, shouldn’t we first give Jesus a fair hearing before we start dismissing him as nothing more than a religious figure that a bunch of people follow?

And I must also point out that this applies to us Christians, as well. Rather than waving aside Buddha or Muhammad or any other religious figure as false, don’t you owe their followers the basic respect of hearing them out before you dismiss them as fake, or in some cases, worse than that?

If you accuse another point of view, which is different than your own, as wrong or not real, without first hearing the accused and gathering objective evidence, then we really have no business getting uppity when another person accuses or dismisses our own faith.

Sadly, the colleagues of Nicodemus chose not to answer him but to instead engage in the age old practice of ad hominem argumentation by attacking the person, thereby deflecting having to give an answer.

People attack other people out of fear. And, in this case, it seems to me the religious leaders were downright afraid of investigating Jesus and giving him an honest hearing. Because if they did, they just might have their world turned upside-down; and they wanted the status quo to be maintained, at all costs, even if it meant ignoring the truth.

Jesus Washing the Feet of His Disciple, by Japanese artist Sadao Watanabe (1913-1996)

You don’t have to take my word on any of these things about Christ or Christianity. Read the Gospel of John for yourself – in one sitting if possible. Ingest the words. Drink in the experiences. Then, come and have a conversation with me.

Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, Bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.

Jesus, Redeemer of the world, give us your peace.

Jesus, Light of the world, shine in our hearts.

Jesus, Hope of all, be our companion on our way.

Jesus, Great Physician, heal our broken lives.

Jesus, Beloved Son of God, kindle within us the fire of your love. Amen.

Dealing with Spiritual Blindness (John 9:1-41)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Coptic Church depiction of Jesus healing the man born blind

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Jesus said] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

Some Pharisees, who were with him, heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (New International Version)

Jesus healing blind Bartimaeus by Johann Heinrich Stöver, 1861. St John’s Church, Hesse, Germany

Assuming Blindness

Behind everything we believe and talk about, there are pre-suppositions or assumptions. The disciples had an assumption about blindness: its sin – not just a result of living in a fallen world, but personal sin. That is, an individual sinner whom we can point the finger to. The disciples demonstrated they were just as blind as the physically blind man.

Jesus had a clear and concise response to that assumption: nobody is at fault here, nobody. Which, to me, begs the question:

Have you considered that your thoughts are subjective, not objective?

Too many people treat their thoughts, ideas, and beliefs as if they were pure gospel truth (which is probably why they feel justified in assuming they are always right and are arbiters of truth!). Reality check: You, nor I, have the corner on truth. Jesus is the truth, not anybody else.

Healing Blindness

Since Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, he has the power and authority to heal, making the blind to see. Sin wasn’t the issue; the true issue was an opportunity to showcase the gracious work of God. So, Jesus healed the man’s eyes so that he could see again. Healing is not a one-size-fits-all, which is why Jesus did something unique with the blind man, and then gave specific instructions on what to do.

Therefore, we must not assume that we know how a healing is supposed to happen. There’s no codifying a particular process or prayer in order to leverage God into performing one.

Investigating Blindness

The religious leaders always seem to have a problem about something. They, like the disciples, assumed sin was at the core of the man’s blindness. The leaders were befuddled that a sinner like Jesus (who doesn’t keep the Sabbath properly) could ever heal another sinner (a blind man). That’s a conundrum they couldn’t live with, and so, the questions kept getting heaped on the poor guy who was healed.

The religious leaders were trying to make sense out of what they thought was a nonsensical situation. It’s only nonsensical to them because they didn’t have any good sense to begin with. Their interaction with the healed man, and then with Jesus, only demonstrated their profound lack of awareness resulting in spiritual blindness.

Remaining in Blindness 

Many of the religious leaders, heretics in the early church, and spiritual phonies of today are not deliberately trying to deceive or lead others astray; they think they are doing the right thing when they are actually not. 

An eye-opening reality I discovered when I first studied church history is that the early heresies, condemned at church councils, were doctrines promoted by men who were not evil – they were just sincerely misguided. The heretics believed they were helping the church better understand the nature of God and Christ. However, they were unaware and blind to the actual nature of their teachings. 

Back when I wrote my master’s thesis in nineteenth century American Religious History, I read hundreds of sermons from southern preachers before the American Civil War. They had a “biblical” defense of Black chattel slavery. Many of them were influential pastors of large churches who led many people to Christ, that is, white people. Yet, at the same time, they were blind to how they slammed the door of God’s kingdom in the faces of Black folk, were complicit in slaveholder abuse, and fueled antagonisms between North and South.

Churches and Christians may be unaware and blind to how they keep people out of God’s kingdom by saying God’s grace is for all, and then avoid certain people; by having explicit written statements or rules that exclude people from service; or by binding people to human traditions and practices instead of Holy Scripture.

Our Eyes

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:22-23, NIV)

In the ancient world, the eye represented what you fixed your gaze on, or what your focus was. In our culture, we could replace the word “eye” with the word “goal.” The word “body” represents the entirety of one’s life.  So, we might interpret Christ’s words in this way: 

A goal is the focus of a life. If your goals are good, your whole life will be full of proper focus. But if your goals are bad, your whole life will be full of blindness. If then, the focus within you is only really blindness, how great is that darkness!

If goals and dreams are toward earthly treasure, one will blindly move in that direction and have misplaced values. Today’s Gospel story portrays the need to be self-aware as individual Christians and as a church. We can choose to:

  1. Be open to new information
  2. Entertain the notion that you might be wrong
  3. Embrace a full range of knowing (head, heart, and gut)
  4. Allow the light of Christ to shine on every person and each situation
  5. Stick to your experience of others and events
  6. Consider how your words and actions affect others
  7. Keep accountable to others and ask for feedback

Monitoring ourselves and our own emotional landscape will help us to become aware of what’s happening inside us. And then, in turn, having our eyes opened enables us to truly see others and be aware of their needs.

Job 4:1-21 – Where Is God?

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Eliphaz and the other friends of Job, speaking down to him in his suffering, from a fresco in the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow

Job, will you be annoyed if I speak?
    I can’t keep quiet any longer.
You have taught many people
    and given strength to feeble hands.
When someone stumbled, weak and tired,
    your words encouraged him to stand.
Now it’s your turn to be in trouble,
    and you are too stunned to face it.
You worshiped God, and your life was blameless;
    and so you should have confidence and hope.
Think back now. Name a single case
    where someone righteous met with disaster.
I have seen people plow fields of evil
    and plant wickedness like seed;
    now they harvest wickedness and evil.
Like a storm, God destroys them in his anger.
The wicked roar and growl like lions,
    but God silences them and breaks their teeth.
Like lions with nothing to kill and eat,
    they die, and all their children are scattered.

Once a message came quietly,
    so quietly I could hardly hear it.
Like a nightmare it disturbed my sleep.
    I trembled and shuddered;
    my whole body shook with fear.
A light breeze touched my face,
    and my skin crawled with fright.
I could see something standing there;
    I stared, but couldn’t tell what it was.
Then I heard a voice out of the silence:
“Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God
    or be pure before his Creator?
God does not trust his heavenly servants;
    he finds fault even with his angels.
Do you think he will trust a creature of clay,
    a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth?
We may be alive in the morning,
    but die unnoticed before evening comes.
All that we have is taken away;
    we die, still lacking wisdom.” (Good News Translation)

The Christian spiritual classic, The Dark Night of the Soul, was written nearly five hundred years ago by St. John of the Cross. The gist of John’s observation is that God sometimes takes the Christian through dry times of hiding himself from the believer. 

The pain of wondering where God is and if he will even show up; experiencing unanswered prayer; enduring uncaring and misdirected comments from well-meaning people; all these and more are inevitably part of the Christian spiritual experience. 

The dark night of the soul is not to be confused with personal sinfulness. Its origin is not in self, but God. 

“Silence is God’s first language.”

St. John of the Cross

Whenever one knows with a settled confidence that personal integrity is intact, but trouble abounds, we need not immediately rush to the conclusion that something is wrong with us. It may be the Spirit of God thrusting us into a desert experience to test and approve our faith.

Job’s “friend” Eliphaz offered one of those tired age-old arguments that bad things only happen to bad people. He comes at Job with the inexperience and absurdity of making misguided assumptions. He rhetorically asks: Who that was innocent ever perished?  Where were the upright cut off? 

The conclusion of Eliphaz, therefore, was bound to be off the mark – believing secret sin must surely be the culprit behind Job’s awful misfortune. Certainly, Eliphaz thinks, Job cannot possibly go through such terrible suffering without having done something to anger God.

Times change; the basic nature of people, not so much. In today’s church and world, the same notions still endure. If I had a quarter for every time I heard crazy comments, like the following, I would be a rich man: 

“He’s poor because he is lazy and doesn’t want to work.”

“She keeps having chronic health issues. God is punishing her.”

“The pandemic is God’s judgment on us for not having the Ten Commandments in our courthouses.”

“If you just confess your sin and have faith, you’ll be healed.”

“They’re in big trouble. They obviously did something evil.”

On and on the wrong-headed statements continue, ad nauseum.

The Apostle Peter understood how to view trouble in a healthy way. He said we all suffer – both the good person and the wicked. It’s just a matter of whether we will suffer for doing good and the right thing, or suffer because of saying shallow, illogical, and stupid comments that offend God and hurt others. (1 Peter 3:17-18)

Even Christ suffered. And it wasn’t because of his own sin. It was because of ours. Jesus suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 

Jesus suffered; so, the follower of Jesus will suffer. There is a big picture only God sees. Whenever we suffer, there is something going on behind the spiritual scene. We must allow God to do divine work, and then, trust that the Lord bends all human suffering for good and redemptive purposes.

“Where there is no love, pour love in, and you will draw love out.”

St. John of the Cross

So, let’s change the rhetoric. Instead of jumping to judgment, reflexively hop to grace with comments like these:

  • “He has poverty of spirit. He’s blessed and will inherit the kingdom of God.”
  • “She’s in chronic pain. God has allowed her the privilege of suffering in solidarity with her Lord.”
  • “We’re in a pandemic. Here’s a chance for us to live out of the Ten Commandments.”
  • “If we confess the world’s sins of pride, hate, and injustice, perhaps God’s mercy will deliver us.”
  • “We’re in a big pickle. No better time than now to grow in grace.”

Where is God? Beside you, quietly and confidently holding you up in your suffering.

Lord God, I entrust myself to you because you know what you are doing. Thank you for the trials of life which humbles my heart to pray. Do your work in me so that my faith is fortified for a lifetime of service in the church and the world, through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.