The Weight of Evidence

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condemn, discernment, guilt, innocence, Jesus, John, judge, judgment, justice, law, Nicodemus, Pharisees, psalm 7, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Both the psalm and the gospel in this morning’s lectionary remind me of a basic principle of law in the United States of America, i.e. “innocent until proven guilty.” We are still in chapter 7 of John’s gospel where people are divided about Jesus. As yesterday, they are convinced he cannot be the messiah because he comes from Galilee but the guards say to the authorities, “No one has ever spoken like this man!” The Pharisees are still resistant asking, “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?” (as if position alone yields probity.) It is Nicodemus that enters then and asks my question: “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” Would that this question always be raised at moments of personal and/or public judging in our lives!

The psalmist turns the job of judging over to God, as in psalm 7 he cries out: Judge us, judge me, judge everything and all that’s in your care. Weigh me on the scale of innocence, according to your law, and as you establish justice, bring evil to an end. For this I know, you are the source of justice done, the fairest judge of all. You know what’s in the human heart to the very secrets of the soul. You are also the great protecting one, you shield the good, defending all that’s true. (vs. 8-11)

The faculty of judgment in the manner of discernment is essential to our lives in assessing what is beneficial and what is not – from what we ought to eat, to wear, to spend our money on, etc. When judging moves into the public arena, however, where we begin to assess the intelligence, worthiness of respect, good character – or any other quality – of another person or the rightness in a situation, we ought to be sure we have spent the time and energy it takes to really make an informed judgment. And, in truth, we would be better off leaving that kind of judgment to God, letting love be the measure of our lives. I will try today to notice how quickly I move to judgment in my thoughts throughout the day and I will try to keep those thoughts to myself for the benefit of all!

Agency

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agent of revelation, believe, Father, Jesus, Nicodemus, our role, Philip, put on the mind of Christ, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understand, unity

In this morning’s gospel Jesus is having one of those frustrating conversations with his disciple, Philip. He is talking about things that seem beyond rational comprehension however. “If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” I can see why that would be a hard concept to grasp but when Philip says to Jesus, “Show us the Father,” Jesus gets frustrated: “Have I been with you for so long a time and still you do not know me?…Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?…The Father who dwells in me is doing his works…” Poor Philip.

If even we, with 2,000 years of living in the light of Christ, still have trouble understanding the depth of the words and teachings of Jesus, how can we blame Philip for his confusion? The difficulty, of course, is like that of Nicodemus when he was trying to understand the concept of being born again on a literal, physical level. This morning Jesus is speaking about unity, about his role as an agent of revelation for the God in whom he “lived and moved and had his being” – so at one with God that God shone through his every word and deed. But the most amazing thing about this morning’s passage is that Jesus is trying to get Philip to understand that our role in life is also one of agency for God in the same way! “Whoever believes in me,” Jesus says later in the passage,” will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these…” And how will we do this? It seems to me that it will only be possible if we follow the dictum of Paul to put on the mind of Christ, in love, compassion and surrender to the best of who we are becoming. Now there’s a mighty challenge to try on for size!