Gnats, Camels and $400 Haircuts
July 16, 2007
Dear Friends,
United States’ presidential candidate John Edwards gets $400 haircuts. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you too much else about his campaign. Where does he stand on the war in Iraq? What is his position on the record deficits that America is piling up? What separates him from other Democratic Party hopefuls like Senators Clinton and Obama? I do know for sure, however, that he does get $400 haircuts because it has been in the media over and over and over again.
What does this say about the democratic process and the media? More importantly, what does this say about human nature? Why is it that more people can tell you about Paris Hilton and her recent incarceration than can tell you about the Aids epidemic in Africa? From what I can tell, people have always been like this. Human beings take notice of the inconsequential and often ignore the substance. How else can you explain the Son of God walking among men, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, all the while performing miracles and people asking such insightful (inciteful!) questions such as “Why do your disciples eat without washing their hands?” How else can you explain the Persian army surrounding the walls of Babylon and Belshazzar considering such important issues like “which cups should we drink out of tonight?”
It seems to me that turning our focus to the inconsequential is just another form of escapism like alcohol, drugs, impulse shopping or TV. When life starts to get tough, we can only deal with it to a point. We need some down time. Rather than sit down and understand the nuances of why people starve to death in a world with plenty of food, we bury ourselves in the inconsequential. It is a lot easier on the psyche to mull over our favorite ball club or the latest fashion than the problem of substance abuse. The real problem comes when we remain woefully ignorant of anything consequential.
Jesus, sharing our humanity, needed some downtime too. It is recorded again and again in the Gospels that Jesus would go off alone and pray. In Matthew 14, it says in the King James version that Jesus “constrained” his disciples to go away so that he could dismiss the crowds and pray. Part of this is because the people were trying to make him King. However, it seems to me that the other part of this is that Jesus had a visceral need to be alone and pray. The word “constrained” is the Greek word anagkazo. The word means “to compel or drive by force, threats, entreaties.” Jesus was either demanding or begging his disciples to leave. He needed to pray. Prayer and meditation would be the preferred method of recharging our own batteries and may be among the best kept “secrets” of how to do so.
I personally believe that many of the controversies we face are a form of escapism. Why focus on the needs of our brethren in the third world when we can argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Why deal with the real life issues of brethren in our own ecclesias when we can focus on one esoteric piece of doctrine or prophecy? Israel was famous for this. Jesus told the Pharisees “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.” (Matt. 23:24) We can’t help but chuckle at the ridiculous mental image of a Pharisee worriedly picking a little gnat out of his cup and then accidentally swallowing a whole camel. It is funny when we see that “missing the forest for the trees” mentality in others, but not so much when we see it in ourselves. Jesus precedes the “swallowing camels” verse with his advice. He tells us that there is nothing wrong with looking at the details and fine points of doctrine and walk. At the same time, he warns us about allowing these things to hinder our ability to see the big picture, missing the consequential for the inconsequential.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Have a great week,
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