"GIVE TRUTH A CHANCE"

Reading: Mark 11:27-33

It can be a waste of time debating with people who are not interested in the truth. And that is the impression we get from the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees of Jesus time. They were always asking questions but few of them seemed to really care about the answers. They were more often than not merely trying to prove their own points. They seemed to have had their minds made up and they wanted everyone else to accept what they believed. If they didn’t accept, they were then considered anathema. Those who didn’t agree with them were hated and excluded from the privileged circle.

Most of us don’t go that far. We all have opinions of things; some of us are very opinionated. What we believe, we believe, and very strongly. Our ways of doing things are better than somebody else’s, at least that’s what we might think. But ordinarily that isn’t going to end our acquaintance or friendship with those who disagree with us.

We might stick to our opinion as the gospel truth no matter how much the facts might prove us wrong, but unlike the leading Jews we seldom condemn those who disagree with us just because they won’t see things our way.You know people who ask a question but who don’t really want to hear your answer. They just want to tell you theirs, and convince you to believe it. We all might do that at times. But we’ve got to be careful.

Jesus once told the Jewish leaders they would die in their sins if they didn’t start listening to him and letting go of their narrow beliefs. There is only one person totally right, or should I say three? And that’s God!God is the only one with all the answers to all the questions. He’s the only one who knows all the facets and angles of all the subjects. We’ve just got to listen to him. But the way he communicates to us is often not direct. It is through other people, even through so-called uneducated people. We have got to listen to the answers other people give our questions, we have got to weigh well the ideas they put forth. When we don’t, chances are we will remain narrow and prejudiced, while truth passes us by.

Let us learn from the obvious mistakes of the scribes and Pharisees and give the whole truth a chance to enter our minds. Shut out truth, and we shut out God. Let’s not risk that possibility ever happening. Let’s keep our ears and our minds open. Let us always have room in us for more knowledge and deeper understandings. Let us welcome truth in all the forms it chooses to come to us. Holy Spirit, please open our minds.