Today’s Scripture Reading (January 4, 2018): 1 Corinthians 3
There is a Zen Proverb that instructs readers that “If you wish
to see the truth, then hold no opinions.” The reality is that whatever it is
that you hold as truth will actually
color your world according to that truth.
And if that truth is false, then so is
everything else that you may have thought you had discovered. In reality, this
is the house of cards on which much of our science is built. We have formed belief according to some fairly basic
ideas that we think to be true. But if any one of them were to be proven false,
then much of the house that had been built
on that foundation would fall. Now, please don’t infer from this that I am
anti-scientific. I am a scientist at heart. But I also recognize how much we
just don’t know.
I have a pet peeve. I don’t like it when
people advertise their education or expect to be respected just because of the
number of years that they have spent in school. Just because there is a Ph.D. behind your name, or you have completed a
Doctor of Ministry degree, does not mean that you know everything. To be
honest, titles of any kind bore me. Now, having
said that, I will admit that I struggle with calling someone with a
Doctorate by their first name unless they
are my friends. But that is my decision to honor the years that they have spent
in school, not something that I do because they expect it.
More often in our contemporary society, we
have grown beyond the use of titles. I am frequently
asked the question what title I prefer; Reverend or Pastor, or sometimes even
Father. And my response is always that I prefer Garry, but if you must use a title,
Pastor is fine. It is not that I do not
deserve to be called Reverend, but I find that titles often erect barriers that
we can do without. Yet, maybe especially in the church, I still see people who expect to be respected solely
because of their educational degree.
Paul apparently had run into these people as
well. Again, to be upfront, Paul had educational achievements that deserved to be honored. He was a Rabbi (teacher), been taught by
the most exceptional Jewish teachers of
the day, and he was a member of the Pharisee’s (which were actually a well-respected group in his day. We
see them differently only because of the way that Jesus described them during
his ministry. But Jesus view of the Pharisee’s did not match the view of most of the people of his day.) But Paul
repeatedly described himself as a servant or as one called to Christ. There was
nothing in his educational background that he believed should engender him greater
respect. In fact, Paul did not think himself wise. After all, in spite of all
of his education and intelligence, he had still been a persecutor of the
Christian Church.
And so Paul encourages his readers to take a
different approach to life. If you think you are wise, then work on becoming
foolish, because everything that you know can
carry you away from the truth. If you seek truth, then be willing to learn even if it proves that much of what
you have believed is wrong. This is Paul’s
personal story. His encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road that done precisely
that. It had torn down everything that he thought was the truth and left him a fool on which Christ could
build true wisdom.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 4
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