Reflection This Week
IF THE SHOE FITS

Jesus never wanted anyone to follow him either blindly or out of fear or loyalty. He wanted those who would cast their lot with him make that choice because they wanted to and because they had some idea what they were getting themselves into. Thus, throughout the Gospels Jesus used parables to teach lessons and answer questions. More often than not, his listeners were usually more confused after the question, after the lesson, than before. How people responded to those parables was not Jesus’ concern so much as it was to make them think.

     In one of his parables Jesus told the story about the owner of a vineyard who went away and gave over to certain people the responsibility of taking care of the vineyard, harvesting and selling the crop, taking their share of the proceeds and then sending the rest to the owner. They did everything except the last. Instead of sending the owner his share, they beat and kill those whom the owner sent to collect his money. They even killed the owner’s son.

     Immediately the scribes and chief priests assumed that Jesus addressed the parable to them, that they were the wicked tenants. Jesus never said they were. What he said unsaid was that if the shoe fit, then perhaps they were hearing what they thought they heard. Whether or not these men were indeed the object of the intent of the parable, they believed they were. And, again, they reacted as anyone of us would. They got angry. We would be angry too.

     I used this parable once in a sermon in seminary as a allegory. The faculty believed I was addressing them, that I was accusing them of being the stewards of the vineyard who persecuted and killed those sent by the owner to collect his share of the harvest. They were quite upset and some even said so. They also had a right to be because that is exactly what I was saying.

     No one of us wants to be accused of doing wrong even when we know we are doing wrong, certainly not accused publicly. Even in private we would be angry. But when we are accused of being in the wrong and accused in front of others, embarrassment is added to our anger. Our natural reaction then leads us to try to find fault with the one who found fault with us. And that is what these men did by trying to trap Jesus in his speech. When this ploy failed, all they could do was shut up. They probably should not have gone down the road of taking on Jesus in the first place. This was not the first time Jesus had turned the tables on them.

They never did learn. I’m not sure any of us do, not fully, anyway. When we finally get it, we get it, it seems, in bits and pieces, in spurts, never all-at-once. I want to believe my seminary faculty eventually heard me – after they calmed down, after they called me on the carpet and asked how I could have accused them of such dastardly deeds. My initial gut response was to say, “if the shoe fits….” But I was wise enough to just shut up.

     We have to work to fight the natural reaction to defend ourselves against any kind of attack: physical, verbal or otherwise, whether justified or not. This is especially true, I think, whenever we are attacked with the truth. Our immediate impulse is to defend our actions even if we have no real defense and know we do not. All we do when we react so impulsively is delay making amends or correcting our behavior.

     As with the people of Jesus’ time, so, too, with us. Even though the truth often hurts, when the shoe fits, we always have to be honest with ourselves when others are honest with us about our behavior. We need to listen in love and then ask God to give us the courage to admit our mistakes and then do all we can to correct them.    WJP