Friday of the Third Week of Lent
I’m a scholar; I admit that I love a good discussion (okay, argument, if you will) and I enjoy hearing peoples’ views on a variety of issues. But one of the things that troubles me is when people decide, in the heat of trying to “win” an argument, to trump the whole debate by bringing in a “hypothetical.” As an ethicist, I tend to hear the same hypothetical stories over and over: five people are in a boat, they get lost at sea, and realize that until the time for probable rescue, they have only enough food for four. Who should get thrown overboard?
Or, when it comes to a discussion of the church’s teachings on poverty and justice, or just war, or other controversial topics, people often bring up hypothetical what if questions: “Most poor people are alcoholics, so we shouldn’t give them money.” “What if there is probable cause that the enemy is likely to come after you unless you bomb them first? Then it doesn’t seem plausible to follow the church’s teachings on not being the aggressor in a just war.”
I am not saying that there aren’t very, very tough situations that need some careful thought and candid discussion nor am I saying that there is no benefit at all to discussing hypothetical possibilities – as long as they are treated as possibilities and not factual assessments of an argument.
The kinds of hypotheticals I’ve mentioned above are not typically brought in for the purpose of careful thought. They are brought in, as I said, as a way to trump someone else’s thought process so that a person can win an argument. The trouble with hypotheticals is that they aren’t real: they are based on stories or fears we have and not on an actual living breathing person, or they are predictions of a future that we, with our limited human knowledge, cannot know.
Today’s gospel reading (Mark 12:28-34) shows Jesus in the midst of arguing with people who are bringing in hypotheticals, because they mean to trip up Jesus and arrest him. Take a look at the whole context of Mark 12, and you get an excellent sense of the kind of hypotheticals (taken to ridiculous ends) that Jesus is asked to address (my favorite in this chapter is the hypothetical woman who marries seven brothers in succession).
Jesus answers each of these questions with creativity, in ways that his audience would not have expected. In today’s passage, his creative answer involves summing up all 613 laws to two: love the Lord your God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself. The scribe who asks the question is impressed by Jesus, and responds with wisdom and insight. Jesus sees that this scribe is open to his teaching and says that he is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven, unlike the other questioners. By the end of the passage, the people are so impressed and a little afraid of Jesus that no one tries to trip him up anymore.
In connection with the Gospel, we might read the Old Testament reading (Hosea 14:2-10) as an exhortation to be wise like the scribe, so that God can fill our lives with abundance and fruitfulness.
And so, in our Lenten journey this week, perhaps we should take the time to reflect on the hypothetical questions we ask God. Are we trying to “trump” God’s direction and creative guidance in our lives by saying, “Yes, but…”? Are there ways we need to be wise like the scribe? Can we creatively find better solutions to problems and questions we face, like Jesus does? Is God calling us toward the Kingdom of God in ways are scary or that seem implausible?
- Jana M. Bennett