"The Danger of Certainty"

A while back the Saturday paper had a story that asked, “What is the single most dangerous idea in religion?”

I don’t remember all the answers given by various religious leaders, but I do remember what my immediate response was – religious certitude, thinking that one’s own beliefs are unquestionably right, and that all others are wrong.

Religious certitude is a kind of arrogance, a belief that one’s own faith is the only way to God, that there is no need to even consider that others may have different, equally valid, experiences of and ideas about the divine.

Today, our reading from Kings tells a story about the arrogance of those in power, the dangers of certainty, and the inclusive nature of God, all themes that echo in our world today.

The story begins with the great military leader Naaman, the commander of the army of the nation of Aram, an army that has just conducted a victorious raid against Israel.

Although Namaan is a mighty warrior, held in great esteem by the king, he also suffers from leprosy. The word leprosy could be used to describe a variety of skin ailments. If Namaan had had a full-blown case of leprosy, he would have been a total outcast, no matter how great his military prowess.

Whatever Namaan’s ailment was, we can assume it was physically uncomfortable, and a cause of some social stigma as well. All attempts to cure the disease had failed. All of Namaan’s power and wealth could not help him.

During the raid against Israel, Naaman’s soldiers captured a young girl and brought her back in captivity to Aram, where she served as a slave to Naaman’s wife.

One would think that someone in her position might take pleasure in seeing her captor suffer from a devastating physical ailment. But this young girl tells Namaan’s wife that there is a prophet in Israel who could cure her husband’s leprosy.

With his king’s blessings and loaded with gifts, Naaman goes to see the king of Israel, who panics at the request. The Israelite king sees this as a political problem, and is petrified at what the consequences will be for failing to cure this powerful military opponent.

The prophet Elisha hears of the king’s distress, and sends word to have Naaman come to him.

Naaman, with his horses and chariots laden with riches, arrives with great fanfare at the prophet’s house. But what he expects to occur does not happen.

The prophet does not even deign to come out of his house to greet this great and powerful man.

Instead, he sends a messenger with a one-sentence instruction – “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”

This is where Naaman’s arrogance shines forth. He is indignant at this perceived affront from the prophet.

The general angrily storms off, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprosy!”

Never mind that Naaman does not believe in this God. Naaman expects Elisha, and by implication, Elisha’s God, to know with whom they are dealing.

Equally insulting to Naaman are the instructions he is given by the messenger. Wash seven times in the Jordan River! It is beneath Naaman’s dignity to even consider such a thing.

There are far better rivers in his own land. If washing in a river would make him clean, he could have just stayed home and bathed in the superior waters there.

Naaman’s attitude is one of great arrogance and certainty. A deadly combination for leaders then, as it is in our own time.

When those in power believe they are deserving of special treatment, even from the divine; when they seek out advice from experts, then refuse to follow it when it doesn’t agree with what they already believe – then trouble is ahead.

I read an op-ed piece recently that addressed this issue of arrogant certainty. In our political and religious climate, to express doubt, to ask questions, to see more than one side of an issue, or to change one’s mind are all seen as fatal signs of weakness.

But that has not always been the case, points out Loyal Rue, a professor of science and religion at Luther College.

In Renaissance England, political jesters were allowed to poke fun at the alleged wisdom of the king, injecting a little doubt into the royal court. In the medieval church, a devil’s advocate would participate in the debate over whether a person deserved sainthood.

And in ancient Rome, the victorious general returning from battle would have a slave trotting by his side – reminding the general, Rue says, that he is a mere mortal.

Luckily for Naaman, he had the equivalent of a Roman slave trotting by his side.

In an act of real courage, Naaman’s servants approach their seething master, just as he is ready to get back in his chariot and storm away.

“If the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it?” they ask. “Why not try what he said?”

Naaman, in a moment of rare humility, listens to his servants, and goes to the river and bathes. His leprosy is cured.

A common perception in religious circles in that the opposite of faith is doubt.

But in fact, our religious tradition shows us that faith and doubt co-exist, that true faith is not threatened, but strengthened by questions and wonderings and openness to new ways of seeing God at work in the world.

The opposite of faith is absolute certitude, that arrogant belief in one’s own rightness that leaves no room for questions or the possibilities of new ideas or beliefs —no room for faith itself.

Ironically, the arrogantly certain Naaman was not a man of faith. But when he dropped his certainty and was healed, he also came to believe in the God of Israel.

In our own day, we see the dangers of absolute certainties all around us.

In the Episcopal Church, we see certainty making many refuse to even consider that God may be doing a new thing in the Church, that God may be calling us to include those who were once excluded; just as God once extended grace and healing to an opposing military leader who professed no faith at all.

Around the world we see religious certainty leading to acts of terrorism and violence against those of other beliefs. Only religious certitude can lead to calls for a “holy war.”

In our own country, we hear our leaders claiming divinely-inspired political and moral certitudes, about which they admit not the slightest doubts or hesitations.

Several decades ago, two books were published in the same week in England. One by Archbishop Donald Coogan was entitled Convictions. The other, by theologian Monica Furlong, was called Christian Uncertainties.

When a reviewer noted the irony of those two titles, Furlong responded, “I have to admit that I am not very interested in ‘convictions,’ that the fascination of Christianity is not what I know, but what I don’t know, like the figure that the sculptor perceives in the uncarved block.

“Christianity appears to me as a religion of few certainties, perhaps only one – that the pattern of crucifixion and resurrection is cut through the middle of our lives…

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Readings

2 Kings 5:1-14

Galatians 6:7-16

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised–only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule–peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Luke 10:1-11,16-20

The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

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