Today’s Scripture Reading (June 23,
2015): Genesis 38
A number of
years ago I took a Systematic Theology course at a local seminary. The make-up
of the class was fairly eclectic, with a wide variety of students coming from a
wide variety of theological backgrounds. And with the wide variety of students
taking part in the class, our discussions were often fairly rowdy, which
personally is exactly what I like in any discussion. Students would vigorously
try to defend their idea of what was orthodox belief against other students
whose view of orthodoxy was wildly divergent from the first. For the most part,
the class was great.
But one
student struggled with the class. Most of the time I think he doubted that any
of the rest of us could actually be Christian. He just simply didn’t believe the
things that we believed, and for him there could be no “wiggle room” in right
thinking. For him, doctrine was a straitjacket that he put on every morning
proving himself to be Christian, but no one else in the class seemed to be even
trying to wear the restricting garment. We seemed to be more attached to our belief
in doctrine as a flowing robe that allowed us to move and breathe – and even question
exactly what it was that we really did believe. Discussion times often seemed
too much for him to handle. And on top of all of this, he was barely passing
the course. To him, his grade was further proof of the decadence of the class,
and sometimes I am sure that he doubted whether even the prof could really be a
Christian.
He was so
focussed on what he considered the sin of the class that he did something amazingly
out of character to everything that he professed to believe. He bought a term
paper. The term paper was graded by the people who sold it to him as a B+ paper.
But more importantly, it was a paper that agreed with his own theological bent.
He was going to prove that it was not his own competence as a student that was
being tested here, it was the unfounded theological bent of the course that was
the cause of his struggle. If he received a B+ on the paper, then he was wrong
and the course had been fair. But if he got anything lower, then he was being
judged on his ultra-conservative theology and not on his academic prowess.
I remember
the day that the papers came back. He had a big red F marked on his. He had
proven how unfair the class was. I am not sure that it ever even entered into
his mind that he had done something very wrong – that in the purchase of the
term paper he had violated even his own straight laced theology. That was the
last day that I ever saw him in that class or any other. My suspicion is that
his unknowing sin had paid a dividend that he was not expecting. Rather than
proving his innocence, his paper stood as a testimony of his guilt – and of
having gone too far.
There are no
heroes in the story of Judah and Tamar. With the exception of Shelah, everyone in
the story is wrong. Tamar’s first two husbands, and the first two sons of
Judah, die in their rebellion against God. And Judah and Tamar are equally
wrong in their actions. And ultimately that is the exactly the message that
Tamar sends Judah as she shows the seal, cord and staff that she had received from
Judah on the day that he had slept with her. She could not be executed without
also bringing Judah down with her.
And Judah
can do nothing except let her go. They are both guilty of sexual misconduct,
but additionally Judah is guilty of not fulfilling his promise to allow Tamar
to marry Shelah when he came of age. In his mind, Judah was protecting the life
of his youngest son, but the deaths of his two older boys had nothing to do
with Tamar, and that was something that Judah had been unable to see. And it
may not have been until this moment that Judah realized how very wrong he had
been, as well as being confronted by the extreme consequences of his own sin.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis
39
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