Conditioned

Mark 12

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”(Mark 12)

What does it take for any of us to undo our biases and deep-seated attitudes? This question came to me after overhearing the conversation that you just read. And now, weeks later, I find myself going back and re-playing it in my own mind. I just can’t get it out of my thoughts.

Let me explain. I know the scribe who is mentioned in the passage above. He is a friend. He is intelligent and he is well-educated. I respect him and would commend him to you as a man of integrity. And I will add that, to me, he is an example of someone who tries to open his mind to thoughts and ideas beyond what he was taught.

But how open? Can he literally change his mind? Jesus frequently uses the verb “repent” which means to change, or turn around, giving up false or partial truths and turning to his truth.

Jesus in the Temple

Eglise St. Jean Baptiste

My friend did go part way, didn’t he? He called Jesus “teacher” which is a term of respect in our day, and, hopefully, also in yours. But you may read the passage again and wonder about the origin of his question. As a fellow scribe, I can promise you that he already knew the answer, and that he was testing Jesus, possibly hoping to catch him in a false statement, one that could be criticized or corrected in front of a crowd. That would make my friend look good at the expense of Jesus.

But Jesus answered well. And to his credit, my friend complimented Jesus. But you may have noticed, that he did so as a learned one might compliment a child or a foreigner not versed in our law. In effect, he set himself up as a judge, or as a teacher would be to a student.

Jesus returned the compliment, as you recall. But then, the conversation ended, with what were, for me, unanswered questions.

For example, how far did my friend’s newfound respect for Jesus actually go? Was his curiosity aroused enough to ask more? Was he inclined to more closely examine the teachings of Jesus? And could it be said that this exchange might even lead my friend to repent and turn to Jesus?

I can tell you that nothing of the sort happened. The conversation ended, and my friend went on his way. So did Jesus.

You might blame my friend for that. Even though many in our nation think Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and even though my friend was momentarily impressed, he in no way was moved to such a belief. Why? Because, in truth, he has been conditioned by his position in our culture. His status as a scribe raises many obstacles that stand in his way.

Let me explain to you about those obstacles. Turning away and “repenting” from the traditions and beliefs of our culture would require a huge step of faith. I hope that, in your day, you will not face such obstacles to become a follower of Jesus.

What were they? Overall, they add up to the fact that my friend is well above Jesus in the accepted but unwritten rules of our nation. We elevate the upper class of the wealthy and educated, and Jesus is neither. He did not come from a good family, and it was even whispered that he did not know his real father. He is from a poor region of our country, a backwater of sorts, and far from the center of power in Jerusalem. He was not endorsed by any respected figure in our nation. Just the opposite, our leaders are suspicious of him as a potential threat to their position.

I could go on. But hopefully, you can see that for a respected scribe to turn and follow Jesus would require a total change of allegiance. He would have to associate with the rabble that makes up most of the Jesus-followers. To him, those people are “losers” and that makes Jesus a loser too. Scribes, of course, are not losers. What makes it worse is that my friend was taught all these things from childhood. The prejudice I saw in him was nothing new; it was something he learned as he grew up.

So, maybe you can understand why it might be so difficult for him to turn toward Jesus. The best he could say to me was that he was surprised to find himself impressed with this carpenter from Galilee. All he would admit was that he might like to find out “a little more” about Jesus. His conditioning to reject Jesus as inferior remains largely intact.

But here’s the funny thing:

Despite my friend’s lukewarm reaction to Jesus, my reaction was quite different.

It’s hard to explain, but the words of Jesus found their way deeply, not so much into my mind but instead, into my heart. And even more than his words, his manner, his touch, and his care for the poor (the losers!) make a deep impression on me. Yes, a deep impression, and I have to say that I am quite surprised.

Why? Surely you can guess that my life is subject to the very same conditioning as my friend. Yes, we are much alike in many ways. So, perhaps you can see why it would be such a surprise for me to find myself very attracted to Jesus, while my friend is not.

I can’t explain why Jesus touched my friend and me in such different ways. All that I can add is that Jesus seems to offer a new life to me, one of depth and meaning and even love. He speaks a truth that feeds a hunger that I have felt for a long time, a hunger that I can’t name, but which has seemed to grow as the years have gone by.

“I am going to follow Jesus,” I told my friend. I must add that saying so took a lot of courage on my part, because I am risking not only rejection from him, but also from others who will no doubt find out. My friend’s face showed surprise.

“I don’t understand,” he replied, “why you would follow that uncredentialed carpenter from Nazareth. He is surely an interesting fellow, and seems educated beyond his station. I respect the truth in his words, but that doesn’t mean that I would ever follow him. Actually, if he asked me, I would be willing to mentor him. But follow him? No, that would elevate him to a position as an equal to us, or potentially, even higher than us. Sorry, I just can’t make that leap.”

“I understand,” I responded. “Yes, this is very unusual, but for me, I must confess that he has touched something deep inside of me. I didn’t expect that, and honestly, I don’t understand it. But Jesus is feeding a longing that I have always felt, and I want more of that. I don’t expect you to understand, but I hope we can still be friends.”

“Of course,” he said, but I admit that he said it without much conviction. Would following Jesus cost a friendship? Or possibly even more, my standing among our peers?

It struck me that the truths that I find in Jesus are, in my very own words, undoing “biases and deep-seated attitudes.” Yes, the very conditioning that seems to hold my friend back are melting away from me into what Jesus calls “repentance.” To me, Jesus is not a “loser” because he associates with the poor and with those we call “sinners.”

All that I can conclude is that this is not my own doing, but is, instead, a gift from our YHWH God. Surely, it’s something that has produced sincere gratitude on my part.

And what about you? I am writing to you from the first century. In your time, do you suffer from the same conditioning that restricts us? Do status, wealth, education, place of birth, etc., create a class barrier that makes it difficult to see a truth that is outside its boundaries? Have you been taught to look down on others just because of superficial factors? Do you see “winners” and “losers?”

In our time, Jesus is calling us to his truth, to repent and turn away from the bonds of conditioning. Will you, in your time, hear that same calling? I hope so. If so, my prayer for you is that you will receive the same gift that I was given, the gift to respond to Jesus with “yes.”

P.S. I wrote this letter to you several days ago, early in what we call Passover Week. But I put off mailing it because events of this week are creating so much chaos and uncertainty.

You see, now, the week has turned violent. Yes, on Thursday, Jesus was arrested and tried before our council. They called for his death and on Friday, they took him before Pilate, our governor. Pilate was backed into a corner by a mob to release a murderer and condemn Jesus to death by crucifixion. The sentence was immediately carried out. Jesus is dead.

It seems that Jesus, this man whom our upper classes thought was too low to matter, turned out to be such a threat that they plotted to eliminate him.

My newfound faith is certainly challenged by these events. Jesus evidently predicted all of this and what’s more, he predicted that he would be raised from the dead after three days. It’s now one day after his death.

For me, I am just holding on. I still believe in Jesus, and I hope his prediction comes true. Despite his conviction as a criminal, and despite all of the terrible accusations against him, I still don’t see him as a loser. I wonder how my friend sees all of this and I hope that he can see through the evil behind it all. Please pray for him, that he can loosen his ties to the conditioning that binds him.

And please pray for me, too.