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This is a blog that I post to several times a week although not necessarily daily. These reflections are triggered by the scripture found in the lectionary used by many Christian denominations. While I am part of the Catholic tradition, these posts are not --or rarely--sectarian. I try to put myself in the space of a of Jesus Christ and listen to words that come to me as I read and pray the scriptures. Each post also includes a photograph. These rarely have any connection to the content of the post but are simply pleasing images that I capture as I make my pilgrimage through life.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Proof may be over rated.




As the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: “The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody’s looking for proof, but you’re looking for the wrong kind. All you’re looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you’re going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all. What Jonah was to Nineveh, the Son of Man is to this age.s the crowd swelled, he took a fresh tack: “The mood of this age is all wrong. Everybody’s looking for proof, but you’re looking for the wrong kind. All you’re looking for is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. But the only proof you’re going to get is the Jonah-proof given to the Ninevites, which looks like no proof at all. What Jonah was to Nineveh, the Son of Man is to this age. Luke 11:29-30


We all wish we had proof of faith, of our belief. It would make it so much easier to deal with our inevitable and normal questions as well as the doubts and challenges of others. Luke here recounts Jesus dealing with this issue in his ministry. Miracles are not the point. We read accounts of Jesus healing miracles which had little impact on the acceptance of his message by the crowds and their leaders. What was the answer? Perform more miracles? Hardly.

Faith came from hearing the Word of the Divine and acting on it. One could almost think that the believing and the doing were simultaneous. Faith comes not from proof or wonder working. It comes from the action of the Divine in me. I am most likely to be aware of that action and to respond to it when I experience people who hear the Word of the Divine One, act on it in their everyday lives, and preach it through words and example. All that the king and people of Nineveh needed was to hear the Word of God preached as a call to repentance by Jonah. Why do we think that we need more than that?

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1 comment:

  1. Galen PickettFebruary 20, 2013 at 4:00 PM

    Proof and epistemology are strange cousins. you would think that in my profession, I would value proofas the bedrock of knowledge, but it is the other way around. I most value uncertainty, the discipline to say that I don't understand when I don't understand. which makes what I do professionally look a lot more like a faith-prqctice than any of my colleagues would be comfortable acknowledging.

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