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Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not arrest him?” The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Then the Pharisees replied, “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.” –– John 7:45-47
Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
–– Galatians 5:26
When do conversations become disputes and disagreements become destructive? When the need to be right outweighs the need to be in relationship. How quickly promise and hope are squeezed out of the room as egos inflate and false certitudes based on partial or suspect assumptions masquerade as established truths. Perhaps you’ve seen the latest generation of Progressive Insurance ads. A couple encounters a problem –– a stray cat has made itself at home, and there is a dispute over who left the door open; there’s a disagreement over who forgot to bring the sweet potatoes to Thanksgiving dinner; there’s a quarrel over who forgot to bring the life jackets –– and just as with a football game, the red challenge flag is thrown, an official appears with an instant replay camera, one person is chastened, and the other preens in the bliss of rightness. I once watched a tiff blow up into a conflagration when one relative said to his spouse: This time, dear, I’m in the right! I’d bet that parking lot still bears the scorch marks of the explosion those words ignited. Voltaire said that doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
The chief priests and Pharisees had grown lazy and comfortable in their certitudes, so when Jesus, the Word made flesh, challenged their convictions, they did not have the ears to listen to truth when they met it face to face. In fact, they were so offended and threatened by the truth that they sent the temple police to arrest this Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
However, the temple police were not prepared for this Word, this Truth they encountered. It made no sense to them to shackle the Truth when they saw it. “Why did you not arrest him?” The police answered, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Yet, rather than re-examining their assumptions, the chief priests and Pharisees chose to double down on their premature certitudes, holding to them with such pride and ferocity that they would question their own people’s intelligence, and would seek to destroy the Truth that questioned them. Of course, in this story the challenge for us is to reflect on how often we are the chief priests and Pharisees, valuing our prideful certitudes more than God’s infinite love. Einstein said that the only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance. When you think about it, a case could be made that arrogance is ignorance, because it involves a refusal to learn and grow. Conceit becomes a primary impediment to truth and love. The blessing of humility is trusting that there is a God, and knowing you are not it.
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