As we might guess, the emergence of Jesus in ancient Israel brought all sorts of questions and arguments and craziness. Many marveled at his teaching, while others dismissed him as demon-possessed.
Jesus spoke into the debates with wisdom that spans the centuries: Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.
I wonder what Jesus meant by judge correctly?
We get a hint from the argumentation around Jesus. One group believed that based on his stunning words and miraculous works, Jesus stood before them as the Messiah. Another pushed back with a point from prophecy that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem, not Galilee (where Jesus grew up). But no one stopped to ask Jesus, who we know entered life in a Bethlehem stable.
Jesus first appeared to fail the criteria of Messiah, but upon deeper investigation he passed the test. Is that part of what Jesus meant by judge correctly?
It seems to me that judging correctly involves gathering facts, asking questions, listening carefully to answers, and considering an issue from various perspectives.
Exactly the opposite of social media.
Most of my experiences on social media involve everyone talking and no one listening. I watch again and again the rush to judgement based on social media misinformation, and the resulting cost to good people’s lives and character.
Jesus spoke to our behavior 2,000 years ago. Stunning how little we’ve changed.
John 7 in week forty-four of reading the Bible cover to cover
Photo by Christopher Ott
If only there was a way social media could be redesigned to reward listening …