The Intoxicating Effects of Certainty

Certainty drives many of the Pharisees and legal scholars of Jesus day to oppose him. They’ve got the answers sorted, and any questions they might have certainly can’t be answered by the lowly Jesus, a radical rabbi from sticks. It is their certainty that keeps them from getting what Jesus is really doing. Honestly, though, the same is true for Jesus’ closest followers. Once they decide he’s the messiah, they know with absolute certainty what it means. Peter, so certain that the messiah is a warrior-priest who will reestablish God’s kingdom in a physical sense on earth, whips out a sword in the garden and fires the first (and only) shot in the Battle of the Garden. His certainty was no more well founded than that of the Pharisees- both misled in different ways by what they already “know” to be true. So, how are you doing the same thing?