Out Our Way: The Gospel according to Goliath: 'Looking for Junior'

(When Jesus declared the paralyzed man had been forgiven of his sins as well as healed) some of the experts in the Law sitting there were shocked and grumbled amongst themselves, "How dare this man say such things! What blasphemy! Only God can forgive sin!" Jesus knew at once what they were saying and said to them, "Why are you rejecting what God is doing here? Which is easier - to say to a paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven' - or to tell that man to get up, take up your mat, and walk as a whole man?' So you may know that I have the authority to forgive sins, I say to this paralyzed man, 'Get up, take up your mat, and go home fully healed!'"

And the man immediately stood up, took up his mat, and walked in the sight of them all, and they were astounded. The people praised God and cried out, "We have never seen anything like this!" 

- Mark 2: 7-12

Out our way, folks have heard me quote President John Adams who won his case defending the British soldiers after the so-called Boston Massacre by noting, "Facts are stubborn things." Though their innocence was not a popular verdict, once all the facts were presented there could be no choice but for the jury to acquit them as innocent.

We may have our own ideas about what is or isn't true - our own version of things based on what we want to believe or what is convenient or politically correct to believe - but truth is not up for a vote. Facts are stubborn things that can't be dismissed simply because we find them "inconvenient."

When Junior, the smallest of the herd bulls, came up missing one fall season, Charlie and I set out to find him. There was a lot of country up there on the Tiger Ridge, and it would have been great if he had just wandered off into a nearby arroyo or maybe on the other side of the nearest ridge. It would have been convenient if Junior had been there. It would have been popular with Charlie, Jet, Goliath and me. It is certainly what we wanted to be the case.

But when we rode through the gully and then up and over the ridge, all we saw was the Big Open. Wishing just doesn't make it so - and Junior wasn't there. It took another hour of riding over a great many ridges and gullies before we found him basking in the fall sunshine with his harem on the other side of the pasture. As some folks like to say these days, "It is what it is - deal with it!"

The scribes of the Pharisees as well as the scoffers of religion did not want to believe Jesus was the long awaited "Anointed One of God," which is "Messiah" in Hebrew and "Christ" in Greek. The secularists and liberals of the day didn't want to believe a Messiah was even possible, and the fundamentalists didn't want a Messiah who wasn't one of them. And here was this Jesus - a redneck from rural Galilee - whom some had begun to proclaim was that very Messiah so many of high society denied and whom the Bible thumpers said had to fit into their mold.

Facts are stubborn things. Anyone can say, "I am the Messiah," just as anyone can say, "Your sins are forgiven." But to demonstrate it in such an unmistakable way, that is a different matter!

It is sadly true, as many scoffers and closed-minded people will point out, there are an awful lot of scoundrels and pretenders who claim the same authority as Jesus. They may say they are disciples and followers, but facts are stubborn things. Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them." But the fact that weeds grow in the garden does not mean there are no flowers. And there are those who, while perhaps not flashy or rich or famous, still bear the fruit of love. People are healed, lives are mended, souls transformed in and through the power of Christ.  

Facts are stubborn things. That there are con artists and hucksters masquerading as disciples of Jesus is a fact. That there are real disciples and that God is working through them is also a fact. False prophets do not preclude real ones! God is still at work in this world and is still making Himself known to those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and minds that are open. Ignoring such facts doesn't negate them.

(John Bruington, Goliath and Scout can be reached at bruingtonjohn@gmail.com. This and other columns, cartoons, messages and children's stories are available at havrepres.org. The book "Out Our Way: Theology Under Saddle" is available at Amazon.com.)