Wednesday, March 11: Tim Blok

John 8:19. Then [the Pharisees] said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you know me, you would know my Father also.”

This passage begins with one of those hypnotic Biblical phrases that I dearly love: “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying…” Such a loaded word, “again.” Nothing to this point seems to have gotten through. What next? Pull back, regroup, and try again. The great patience of Jesus.

The “them” here is the Pharisees, and they just don’t get it. Maybe they are so wrapped up in following the law that they can’t adjust to a new way of living. Maybe they are power-hungry and self-absorbed. Maybe, to borrow another hypnotic (and terrifying) Biblical phrase, their hearts are hardened. Here in John’s gospel, Jesus offers some of his most expansive and precious ideas: “I am the light of the world”; “I judge no one”; “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” Despite what Jesus is offering, the Pharisees keep poking him with questions, looking for holes in the story, trying to find answers without letting go of their comfortable right-ness.

The Pharisees miss the point. So, I would wager, do I. I want to read this passage over and over again until it clicks, or until I can answer all my questions and explain away any ambiguities. I want to break it down until it makes sense. I would like to do the same with Lent: to know what to expect, or to find answers to all my questions.

Marilynne Robinson, a writer who has given me life more than any other, talks about Scripture thus: “What can these strange stories mean? After so much time and event and so much revelation, the mystery is only compounded.” Why is it so hard to live with mystery? And what sort of delusional monster would I be to think that I have a handle on any of this? This seems appropriate for Lent, a season of mystery that could be prefaced by the same phrase: “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying...” I can imagine it as a personal address: “You missed a few things last time. Let’s try again.”                                                                                       

—Tim Blok