Wrong, Again

Have you ever been wrong about something? Of course you have. We all have.

Have you ever been wrong about something important? Of course you have. We all have.

We all make mistakes. We miss appointments. We forget to put out the trash. We forget a birthday or anniversary. We make mistakes in math. Or spelling. Or grammer. (We shall not speak of punctuation.) We make wrong turns when we drive. We give faulty directions.

We get facts wrong. We are wrong about the capital of Maine. Or which countries are in Central America. Or where Togo is. Or why the sky is blue. What the second law of thermodynamics is. What the four states of matter are.

We misunderstand or misinterpret things people say and do. We even misunderstand ourselves and why we do what we do.

We are wrong about all sorts of things, all the time.

But for some reason, many of us do not think we are mistaken about our theological beliefs.

Some of us think we are not allowed to be mistaken in our theological beliefs.

Isn’t that interesting? We know we are wrong about so many things, and yet we are so certain about others. I understand why we crave certainty. Some things really matter. They are important and we don’t want to be wrong about them. It’s difficult to hold an important belief firmly and also be able to consider the idea that we might be wrong about that same belief.

Many Christians are resistant to admitting that we might have some beliefs that need to change. We won’t admit that we have missed the mark or that we have misunderstood. This is understandable because our religious beliefs matter. For many of us our religious beliefs guide the way we live. We want to think correctly about important beliefs.

For some of us, our desire for certainty and to be correct is based in fear. Fear of letting God down. Fear of making God angry with us. Fear that others will think we are weak or wavering or not sufficiently Christian.

On the other hand, the Biblical witness is that people, even faithful people, had mistaken beliefs.

This week’s Gospel lectionary reading is Mark 8:31-38¹. Jesus is teaching the disciples about his coming passion, suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Peter takes Jesus aside and “rebukes” him.

Just before these verses², in Mark 8:27-30³, Jesus asks his disciples, “…who do you say that I am?”. Peter replies, “You are the Messiah.” When we keep reading, we find that immediately Peter shows that he doesn’t understand what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah. He is wrong about something that is extremely important. This isn’t the only time that Peter, and the other disciples hold mistaken ideas about who Jesus is and what the Kingdom of God is like.

They get things wrong- repeatedly. And what happens? Even if Jesus responds with a sharp rebuke, the disciples keep on following Jesus and trying to understand. No one gets booted out. No one is shamed or ridiculed. No one is told they aren’t a follower of Jesus. They keep following Jesus to the best of their ability. And Jesus, even when he corrects them, doesn’t send them away. Jesus keeps showing them, keeps teaching them.

We are more like Peter than we would like to admit. We proclaim, “Jesus is the Messiah”. And then we promptly say, “But not like that Jesus!”. We get things wrong, as individuals and as communities.

Our theological beliefs matter. Bad theology can be a dangerous thing. Bad theology can kill. It is important for us to be studious, to think deeply and prayerfully about our beliefs. It is important for us to do our best thinking as individuals and as part of the larger community. And yet, we will get things wrong. We will make mistakes. We need to always be willing to listen to the Spirit, in all the ways that the Spirit speaks to us. And we need to be willing to change our minds.

Like Peter, we may need to change our ideas about what it means to say that Jesus is the Messiah. We may need to change our beliefs about some things as we grow in wisdom. The disciples and the early church wrestled with a lot of ideas about what it means to say that Jesus is the Messiah. It was often difficult and confusing work. They got some things wrong and had to change their minds. That’s how we grow, isn’t it?

We don’t need to be afraid to ask questions. To wonder. To try out different ideas and thoughts. We’re not saved because we have all the correct answers. Or even because we have some of the correct answers. We are saved because of the love and grace of God.

Questioning some theological ideas, and sometimes letting go of them can feel scary. It can feel like we have nothing to stand on. Nothing to hold on to. But that’s not exactly true. We don’t need to hold on to doctrine because Jesus is holding on to us and he won’t let us go.

1. https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=575915887 ↩︎
2. It is helpful when we are given a Biblical passage to consider to look at what comes directly before and after the passage we are studying. Bible’s often have subheadings within each chapter. Sometimes these are helpful, but sometimes they are not. In one of my Bibles there is a subheading between 8:30 and 8:31 that unhelpfully interrupts the flow of the story. These sub headings, as well as the chapter and verse designations are not original to the text. While they can be helpful, we also don’t want them to create artificial divisions in the story. ↩︎
3. https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=575915950 ↩︎