in making our way through the pages of Holy Scripture, it is necessary to remember that this sea seems to get even greater with our advancing years, and our craft of understanding (exegesis) frequently seems ever so small and in danger of being swamped.
Questions for Reflection and Conversation
1 In what ways have you found your sea getting greater and your boat getting smaller?
2 Have you ever wanted to respond to someone in this “Information Age”: “Please feel free not to share that with me,” or “Why do I need to know that”?
3 Did anything in the “Musings” section surprise or disturb you?
2 Tom Butler-Bowdon, 50 Self-Help Classics: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life (New York: MJF Books, 2007).
3 Tom Butler-Bowdon, 50 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do (London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2003).
4 Robert M. Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst (New York: Penguin Books, 2017), 674.
5 Ibid, 225.
6 Christopher A. Hall and John Sanders, Does God Have a Future: A Debate on Divine Providence (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 16.
Chapter 1:
Frequently,
Instead of
an Answer,
We Find
a Way
The question that refuses to go away.
The cry of a heart broken mother in the movie Steel Magnolias is the perennial question: “If I just knew why!” Her plea is one I have heard in various ways from people (including myself) seeking answers to some seemingly senseless occurrence. The supposition is that if we could just find an answer then we would understand why such a terrible thing happened. Truth be told, there is no possible answer that would cause us to say, “Oh, now that I know why, everything is okay.”
Not only is “why?” the most difficult question to answer, it is also the most useless question to ask. What difference will it make if someone tells us why? The situation of loss or tragedy will not be altered, the loved-one will not return, the situation will not be reversed. Nothing will bring back life to the way it was. The “why?” seeks a rational response to the irrational events in life. Almost all the whys I ask about life are dead ends. If anything, they only lead to more frustration and a deeper sense of helplessness in the face of life’s assaults.
My classic illustration is found in John 9 and the disciples’ question, “Why was this man born blind? Was it the result of his own sins of those of his parents?” (NLT). Except for saying, “Neither,” Jesus did not supply a reason for a person being born blind. Instead, he said (my translation), “I will not give you an explanation but I will use this man’s blindness as an occasion to demonstrate the grace of God.” He gives this instruction, “All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent me…” (NLT) and then Jesus gives sight to the blind man.
What if the blind man could have been told: “Here is the reason you were born blind” — how would this have changed his condition? He would still have found it necessary to claim his regular roadside begging station every morning. This knowledge would have done nothing to enrich his life or lift his spirits. His blindness would have continued to be a reality. My interpretation of this event is, instead of seeking to know why a certain tragedy occurred, we are to seek a way — according to our abilities — to act creatively and redemptively in the situation. We are to be looking for a way instead of an answer. Note: that way is often not quickly or easily discovered.
The difference between an answer and a way.
It seems not accidental that the first Christians were called “Followers of the Way.” Many have pointed out that Jesus did not say, “I am the answer.” He taught: “I am the way.” An answer is something you simply accept or reject. An answer is something you either believe or you don’t believe. The Way is a path, a direction in life, a perspective you adopt, a journey you take, a commitment you make. To have a set of answers makes life too packaged and too small. It seems to imply that there is not much need for exploring, expanding, or asking new questions. It has always intrigued me that the rabbis (almost without exception) taught that the secret of life is not in the discovery of certain answers but in learning how to ask better questions. This is illustrated in the classic story is of the Jewish mother who greeted her son upon his return from school with: “Did you ask any good questions today?”
Living by answers is always in danger of becoming judgmental: if I have the answers, my only task is to convince you I am right. People march every day with banners proclaiming simplistic answers to complex questions. I always want to ask, “You may be right under certain circumstances, but is this the right answer under all circumstances?” The classic Pilgrim’s Progress is the best argument for seeking a way rather than answers. As Pilgrim makes his way, the challenges and changes in life literally change him. This is what happens when you are a follower of the Way. It is not meant to make us Know-It-All Believers, but those who are growing in grace and knowledge (wisdom). Answers are frequently too excluding. Answers often leave too little room for a greater dimension of the truth and for different aspects of one’s answer to be explored.
I have no doubt that I am called to be a consistent learner as I make my journey through the life of faith. Although there are indeed some answers I have found and some truths that have grown larger in my life, I am not called to be the Answer Man.
Musing and insights from hither and yon.
Many answers are simply not big enough.
It has always seemed to me that many of the answers I have heard have been not so much incorrect as they have been far too small. Then again, little questions call for little answers which is one of the reasons we need to keep making our questions bigger. We usually want to have answers in order to keep life manageable. We don’t want words like mystery, paradox, and ambiguity (words I will keep using in this book) to interfere with our explanations. These words should be the continual reminder that the expanding sea of the unexplored make our small boats ill-equipped to ride out the increasing heights of the waves of the unknown.
A Surprising Place to Begin.
On her deathbed, Gertrude Stein is said to have asked, “What is the answer?” Then, after a long silence, “What is the question?” Don’t start looking in the Bible for the answers it gives. Start by listening for the questions it asks.7
Buechner is not the only one to make this suggestion. I once did two sermon series: “Questions from the Hebrew Scriptures” and “Questions Jesus Asked.” The Bible opens with what I call the two great questions (both asked by God): “Adam, where are you?” and “Cain where is your brother?” Of course, no single sermon could begin to address all of the dimensions found in each question. A case can be made for considering the remainder of Scripture the attempt to answer these two questions. I still believe the best Bible reading I do is when I allow it to question me. I still believe a better question
