Enlightened Witnessing by Kevin Beck
Schools of scholars offer critiques of the Gospels. Some read the Gospels as a dialogue (or diatribe) between competing communities of Jesus’ followers. Others suggest that they contain latent (if not blatant) anti-Jewish sentiment. I understand these assessments; however, it seems to me that there other readings of the Gospels provide a broader comment on humanity.
One incident in particular resonates deep within my heart. Jesus provides sight to a man who had been born blind. As he approaches the man, Jesus’ disciples ask a revealing question. "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind." Sadly, instead of seeing a man longing for vision, the disciples sought to assign blame for his condition. Rather than feeling human compassion, they saw opportunity for a theological debate — thereby displaying their own myopia.
Jesus refuted their agenda and proceeded to open the man’s eyes. Quickly, word of the amazing wonder reached the proper religious authorities. Instead of celebrating, the elites raged, ostensibly because this work occurred on a sacred day of rest. Craving to discover the identity of the healer, they hauled the man before a board of inquiry. When his answers refused to satisfy them, they subpoenaed his parents.
His mother and father assured the powers-that-be that this was their son and that indeed he had been born blind. However, they asserted to the inquisitors that they did not know the identity of the healer. The narrative tells us that they answered in this way because they feared that they would be shunned by their community.
We might be tempted to bypass the parents quickly. They seem to play a small part in the story — and a part that is less than admirable. We might be eager to proceed to the end of the tale to find the formerly-blind man turning the tables on his questioners. This one lowly individual stands against the establishment and jolts them with questions and maybe even a bit of sarcasm.
If we pay any attention to the parents, it might involve a stern scolding. How dare they hide cowardly in the shadows instead of standing up for their son and his healer? We might judge them timid, weak, and faithless. Have they no appreciation? They should be strong as they face the loss of friendships, dedicated enough to undergo exclusion, proud to suffer unjustly.
However, this approach resembles the disciples. More than just a theological treatise, this is a human story. And on a human level, I’m struck by the parents as humble people feeling a powerful emotion motivating them to evade the interrogation. Fear. They knew that any association with a renegade would cause them to be seen as sharing in the guilt of his crimes. Although they celebrated the godsend for their son, they still had to live with their family, friends, and neighbors. Could they risk alienating themselves from everyone for the rest of their lives?
Before judging them contemptible, imagine the lifelong relationships they held. Consider the possible back-story of their lives. Sense the palpable anxiety they felt as they sought to answer truthfully-yet-securely. When I envision the scene, I feel deep sympathy for them both.
I know the angst of the impossible pressure of living according to the standards of others. When I came to an uncommon understanding of the Bible, God, and humanity, I bore the heaviness of worry. What will my friends, family, and fellowship think? Will they still accept me? What will happen when they don’t? I don’t want to travel this path alone, but I can’t continue in the way I’ve always gone.
Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience — if not in your spirituality, perhaps in another facet of your life. If you didn’t measure up you’d incur the wrath of parents, the confusion of in-laws, the irritation of neighbors, the exasperation of co-workers, or the censure of a spiritual community. If you hold to a different political opinion, approach to family life, view of the origins of humanity, attitude toward human sexuality, sense of fashion, or understanding of God then you may risk estranging yourself from the people you love most.
I feel sorry for the parents of the formerly-blind man because they found themselves living at the mercy of the opinions of others — not just in this once incident, but most likely throughout their years. Over a lifetime, they sacrificed their own integrity to the god of people’s perceptions. Always wondering what their neighbors, friends, and family thought, they lived with disquiet harassing their spirit. And that is no life at all.
It would be easy to blame them for their own plight. We might assume that they should have been stronger. Damn the opinions of others! Full steam ahead!
However, chiding them as cravenly feeble ignores the possibility that they couldn’t act in any other way. Fear had burrowed its way into their hearts because no one had offered them alternatives. No one had confirmed to them that their uniqueness mattered. No one had served in the capacity of what psychologist Alice Miller calls an enlightened witness.
An enlightened witness is a person who assures others that they have options, that they don’t have to go along with the crowd, and that holding to their own values and ideas is more important than succumbing to peer pressure. An enlightened witness serves others by validating the principle that you affirm your own humanity by holding to your integrity.
In the opening paragraphs of Walden, Henry David Thoreau asserted his integrity by describing "my mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent, but considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent."
If you feel sorely torn between holding to your individuality and conforming to a prefabricated identity forged by the arbitrary wishes of someone else, listen to the small still voice whispering to you, "Be true to yourself." That voice is the sound of God directing you to hold fast to what resides at the core of your being — Love. Know that someone who truly loves you wants you to be no one but yourself. Understand that God loves you because God is Love.
As you establish confidence in holding to your integrity, begin the practice of enlightened witnessing. Open space to others so that they know in their hearts that their integrity trumps groupthink.
Even though retaining integrity may result in exclusion from certain relationships (you can’t control how others will respond to your integrity), it provides freedom from the hellish prison of the fear of the inability to please others, the torture of the thought police, and the inner anguish of a divided self.
Begin to embrace your mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to you at all impertinent, but considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent.
Written by Kevin Beck You can read more of Kevin Here!
That was deeply profound, Brother Kevin. As I have said before, this fear is heightened when your soul and your salary are intertwined. It feels to me as if every effort to share the dynamics of the love of God is confused and darkened by this enormous load of theological tradition that sees the mass of Christ rejectors seperated and tormented througout all eternity.
Thanks for this, for Christ’s desire was to expose this compassionless,
loveless attitude in the pharisees. When God’s passion for reconciliation is discovered in the texts, they we really have been given eyes to see, and we want to tell others.
Don
Good words Kevin!!
So many of us can relate to how difficult the journey is when we leave the “status quo norm of christendom” or maybe more accurate would be to say leave the denominational scene, for I dont know that we can bunch them all up and call them christians. Either way, its leaving orthodoxy as we knew it and as it has been for a long time. I am shocked at the realization that my new witness has so affected my relationships with other spiritual brothers and sisters. So then I ask myself, “What was that relationship really based on anyway, if when I believe different, you can no longer be my friend? It surely wasnt about love then, but more about common ground where we both felt good to hang out together cause we stroked each other by confirming what we beleived was surely the truth.What you said Kevin, someone who truly loves you wants you to be no one but yourself. Yes, we are not free witnesses for we are in this prison of fear, of pleasing man, and bieng tortured by our thoughts..so well put Kevin. The anguish of a divided self. How strongly these things hold us back from bieng HIS shining witness. But we know who our liberator is and HIS name is JESUS… We trust HIM to make us the witnesses HE has called us to be.Thanks for sharing this great word.
Connie
Kevin this truly hit deep in my heart what a wonderful message of freedom and love.I thank God for a place to go and truly receive living words that free the heart and mind.
Love in Christ Dan
“Be true to yourself”… and you will be true to God.
It’s too bad people won’t trust a loving God. They want to be lorded over by a God who is easily angered, and willing to turn his back on people who don’t perform correctly. That was the perception of God the Jews had (have), and that’s exactly what Jesus came to change.
REPENT! Change your mind about God!
Repent of thinking God is angry and divisive. Turn your mind to God who is unconditionally loving, and all-inclusive! You can trust this loving God… that is the message of the Cross of Christ. God is worthy of your trust because his love surpasses all understanding, and cannot be diverted by you, or anyone else!
You cannot love someone you don’t trust. But if you trust someone THAT completely, your love will flow out to them without your understanding or permission. That was God’s plan all along. Demanding love won’t make it happen. But, he knew that showing you how perfect his love is would bring you to trust him. And if you trust him, you will find yourself loving him!
It’s sad to me that God lovingly showed his heart for us through the Cross, but instead of realizing what he did for us, our religious scholars took his simple message of relentless love and turned it into a complex religion full of burdensome obligations, expectations, and requirement. They promote relationship through fear, and that will never result in love. It only produces hypocrites.
God got it right! Man screwed it up terribly.
Both the post and all your comments are excellent and timely! There is the very real sense in which, though I know I must be true to the God of love, I still dread the cost.
That is of particular concern at this Thanksgiving season when visiting friends and family will afford occasions to speak of a wholly gracious Lord. In my faithlessness I do not foresee those as entirely positive opportunities because of the likelihood that an old friend may longer come around when he discovers my perception of God as more compassionate than our encrusted theology permits.
Old friends are dear friends and the loss of one goes down hard. I pray my fears will not materialize during this holiday!
Peace,
Mike
Wow, yes this hit home for me to. I want to embrace who I am because I do strongly believe that God made me perfect. This journey can be tough, but I feel like I get stronger and stronger each step I take. I don’t ever want to conform to what others think I should be.
That was a great piece of writing and brings the human element of it to life…awesome! I think we all end up in that place where we need to be ourselves or follow the group (a peer pressure of sorts) - and it always sucks. But I have found that being yourself and not being a ‘clone’ works so much better for reality - we are responsible for ourselves - not neccesarily for others. I want to make decisions that align me with helping others and being their friend - not choices that help ruin others.