It’s tough to decide the difference between those living in fear and those living in willful ignorance in scripture, but there are signposts that point to Jesus’ disdain for those who are willfully acting foolish when they should know better.
Looking at the Gospel According to Mark, there are two times where we know that Jesus got angry early in these chapters. One time is in Mark Chapter 1 when a man with a withered hand approaches him. The other one is in the chapter 3 and the story about another “Man with a Withered Hand.” Mark writes, “Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored.”
There’s much to be said about this scene. First, the idea of anger is prevalent because the people are closed off from possibility. The symbology of the withered hand cannot be lost on us either. Henri Nouwen notes in his book “With Open Hands” the concept of metanoia. We see this as repentance but it actually means to do a 180 and “go above the mind.”
Jesus is angry at the “hardness of heart.” It grieves him. At one point he cries for Jerusalem over this. Aside from the Garden of Gethsemane where he sweated blood, the most emotional times we see Jesus is when he points out that people don’t care for others and practice willful ignorance.
Why was Jesus crying over Jerusalem? He is sad that they do not see God’s peace among them. He foretells that the city will be turned to rubble. In other words, there is an answer here that is being given to them and they refuse to see God’s presence. Looking at these passages, we see that Jesus is well aware of the fact that they are unwilling to recognize truth. Why is this? More than likely because they are considering their own needs over others.
The study of scripture can teach us a great deal. Look to the passages before and after a scene you are studying and you’ll have a better understanding of what is intended in the passage. Another important way to understand intention is to look to see how many gospels mention the event. All four gospels talk about the expulsion of the money changers. Three of them predict that he will pay a price for the expulsion with his life and Jesus states as much. In all four of them he is confronted by the powers that be for doing this. It is the ultimate act of civil disobedience on Jesus’ part.
In each of the passages, Jesus is calling them out for knowing better. I’ll use the example of Luke to illustrate my point. In Luke, the scene that happens after Jesus’ weeping is the “expulsion of the money changers.” He is making a statement about their willful ignorance. Don’t be fooled by people who are taking advantage of something that is sacred. Don’t defile the temple with your worldliness. The same could be said of us. We cannot let the temples of our mind be defiled with accepting people who are corrupt and seeking their own gains. We cannot accept people who are willing to fill their own coffers at the expense of the poor.
The scene that takes place after the expulsion is Jesus’ authority is challenged. In other words, who is this guy who is gumming up the works for the rest of us? Who is he to challenge us? Jesus confronts them about their immorality. He foretells that they will kill him because of his actions in calling them to account for their willful ignorance. He tells them to “render unto Cesar that which is Cesar’s and unto God what is God’s.”
We live in a world where people are telling us to first take care of ourselves. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and everything will take care of itself. This is easier said than done.
We need to hold leaders to the same accountability as Jesus does. We need to call out actions when there is an injustice. If a politician is lying because he wants to save his own skin, the press needs to call it out. If people have died at the hands of a narcissist, we need to call that out.
Sometimes we justify our own immorality by saying, “Look, he did it. Why shouldn’t I?” We are accountable to God for our willful ignorance and looking the other way. Jesus gets indignant when innocence is corrupted. He says, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” Matthew 18: 5
Willful ignorance stifles progress. It prevents people from moving forward and disrupts the peace of society as a whole. There is a snowball effect. Willful ignorance leads to poor choices. Poor choices lead to causing suffering in society and suffering leads to injustice.
When I think of situations like Nazi Germany people were willing to look the other way when they knew that people were dying in ovens. People often look the other way in the name of their own financial gains and interests. They support people who are not concerned with the greater good and legislation is enacted that enables injustice to exist; compromising voting rights, undermining of people of color, appointment of judges who lie and seek their own ill-gotten gains and other judges who look the other way in the name of their own financial interests.
It can be said that ignorance is a byproduct of Original Sin. Whatever the case may be, the goal is to find our way to the tree of immortality by doing right and conquering ignorance. This is where the beginning of true salvation is to be found.
spirit beat 