UNQUESTIONING FEAR

Everyone had an opinion about Jesus, and no one wanted to say anything. Much of the nation’s population was gathered in Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles. Rather than having open conversations, people whispered quietly among themselves. Jesus’ unbelieving brothers urged Him to go to Jerusalem to “show yourself to the world” (John 7:4), while the Jewish leaders were on the lookout for Jesus and any trouble He might cause.

Among the people, some thought He was a good man; others thought He was a deceiver. All these ideas and agendas were swirling around, but everyone was too afraid to talk about Him openly, even as they were all celebrating a festival that remembered how God had led their people in the past. Fear that inhibits or ends conversations is an unhealthy thing.

Faith communities should be the places in which people can most afford to ask questions, work through disagreements, and even express doubts and fears, all as part of learning and growing in our faith and knowledge. Different perspectives and positions should be shared with gentleness and respect, and our discussion groups, even between churches, should also move beyond continual debates. But if we are unable to ask questions and wrestle with important ideas together in church contexts, where could we do it any better? Leaders or members who seek to restrict questions and honest doubts and who define faithful thinking more and more narrowly are echoing the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day. Despite their best attempts to keep Him contained, Jesus kept bursting through their walls of fear, rules, and traditions.

When Jesus arrived at the Festival a few days later, His teaching and boldness stood in refreshing contrast to that of his persecutors. “The Jews there were amazed and asked, ‘How did this man get such learning without having been taught?’ ” (John 7:15).

The public debate grew all the louder as Jesus presented a faithful and freeing alternative to the regime of fear maintained by the Jewish leaders.