January 10, 2012
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Flawed Logic
The scene: Jesus is visiting in the home of a Pharisee named Simon. They are eating dinner. (Luke 7: 36 - 50)
A women (a notorious sinner, the Bible says) slips into the room and starts annointing Jesus feet with perfume and washing his feet with her hair.
Simon is watching all of this and he deciding that he will use this situation as a litmus test to find out whether Jesus really is a prophet or not?? It appears that Simon already had a lot of doubt about Jesus' identity, but either he invited him over to trip him up or to answer the questions in his mind.
Here is what Simon thinks that he knows:
A) If Jesus is a prophet + B) He will know what kind of a woman He is allowing to touch Him = C) He will ask her to go away from him. (Verse 39)
But here is the problem with Simon's logic: He doesn't really know Jesus. He is going on the assumption that prophets would not be in close proximity to sinners. And maybe that was true in his past experience with prophets or "holy men."
(He also is making another false assumption: He is assuming that he is NOT a sinner whose sin is equally as ugly in God's eyes and he is judging this women and ranking her at a whole different level than himself. If Jesus wasn't associating with sinners, He would have never been at Simon's house, but that thought probably never even crossed his mind.)
He thinks he has figured out how to tell if Jesus is truly a prophet. But his foundation for his test is all wrong. He is believing a lie about Jesus. Jesus gravitated towards sinners. He hung out with them. He welcomed them. Whether or not he allowed this woman to be near Him said nothing about whether or not He was a prophet.
But to Simon, who didn't know the true nature of Jesus, it seemed like a crystal clear way to make a fool-proof judgement.
Don't we all do the same thing at times in our lives?
Because we don't really know Jesus and His character? And because we are using a false premise for the truths that we believe to be accurate?
For example:
A) I was abused as a child + B) I prayed and asked God to help me and it didn't seem like He intervened = C) God does not care about me.
A) I am a very intense person + B) I feel like a lot of people don't really "get" me = C) God must have made a mistake when He made me as He did
A) My marriage is in shambles + B) I have prayed and worked so hard at it = C) God doesn't notice or doesn't care about my lonliness & struggle.
A) I have struggled and struggled with a certain temptation + B) God has not taken it away from me = C) Maybe God is punishing me for my past sins
A) I mess up every day + B) I feel like a failure = C) God must loathe me
We let these lies sink into our very soul and become a part of who we are. They shape us and define us.
The problem is...we are basing our equations on false information, just like Simon did.
Sometimes we maybe don't really know Jesus or we don't choose to believe who Jesus really is and what He is all about.
I don't really have concluding thoughts (which always feels kind of weirdly open-ended to me) and I don't know if I have been able to convey this message to you with the kind of force that it struck me as I was reading about this story, but I know that aligning ourselves with the truth is such a basic and vital part of our lives yet something that so often trips us (me) up.
Comments (8)
You make an excellent point with this. I love it.
That really is the heart of the matter isn't it. Who is this Jesus? I claim to be His follower but do I really know who I am following? Am I allowing Him to reveal Himself to me or do I keep Him at a safe distance? That flawed logic is really so dangerous. Ruins peoples lives.
I think about all the disciples who seemed to believe (up until the very end) that Jesus was coming to set up a physical kingdom. It's easy to look at them and say, "What were they thinking? He was right in front of them. How did they not see?" but I fall in that trap too.
Yes! Right on! I just finished reading "Beautiful Outlaw" by John Eldredge. If you haven't already read it you need to. Really good book....good enough that I may start over and read through it again more slowly....hoping to let more sink in!
Oh, this is so good. I think that if Jesus were here in the flesh walking among us, it might be shocking to see how many would still misjudge Him. Maybe even those of us who now believe in Him would disagree with some of His liberties.
Truth is such an important thing. Our enemy uses deception or illusions to trick us into sin, as your examples indicate.
Maybe you really didn't need any concluding thoughts! :~)
YES!!!!! Over and over again, it feels as though I am just touching the tip of knowledge about who Jesus really is and how much my perception of truth can be distorted!
one of the first things that popped into my head as i'm reading was that the love of Jesus that some others claim and share so freely... didn't include me. weird, huh? it hurts. and yet...sigh. it is sick of ME to think of someone else's speck when i know that i have this dang log. the stink of their self-righteousness seems to follow me around...until i realize the odor wafts from my own.
my flawed logic and misperceptions about Who He Is totally affects How i share Him and even who with. and this *once again*
seems to correlate with a certain book, knowing about Him isn't the key... how else to clarify the mud that i've made of it all, and see The Truth, until i am standing so close to Him that He's holding me?! great post aug!
Yes. Good points. I want to KNOW Him so much more.
i think this is the kind of story that SHOULD be open ended.. forcing us all to think and draw our own conclusions on what God is saying to us through this.
great post. we seem to think on the same wave lengths.. i always just GET what you write!
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