The Scientist & Jesus: Sharing the Devout Temper

William James once remarked that while scientists often possess no religious creed, their temper is devout. In other words, most scientists are deeply awed by the majesty of the universe. Thus they approach their work in a way that is earnest, patient, and humble before the face of the world’s grand complexity–regardless of whether or not they possess a religious faith.

These days it often seems that only the scientist retains a devout temper. A coarsening of discourse and temperament has invaded not only our popular media and politics, but our workplaces and even, at times, our churches–with preachers letting their egos get the better of them and using the power of the pulpit not to guide parishioners toward the Christ within, but to transform themselves into what Mark Twain might have called the braying ass.

If humankind is indeed a microcosm of the universe, we need to begin approaching our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family with a devout temperament equal (if not surpassing) that which the scientist shows his work–recognizing that there is a grand complexity at work within each and every one of us, and that it is our calling to assist and be a part of the smooth working of that system–to grease the wheels, as it were, and not throw wrenches into the gears. Today we have become more or less a society of wrench throwers, and we are paying the price in our economy, or families, and our communities.

Jesus said that the most important commandment was to love the Lord thy God with all our hearts and minds¹ because this is an act which creates a devout temperament; and a devout temper is the first step toward making his Father’s Kingdom Come.

——

To read about Jack Kerouac and what Beat means please go to: God is Pooh Bear.

Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

1. “Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law?” 37 His answer was: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” 38 This is the great first commandment. – Matt 22:36-38 [↩]

Did Jesus Have a Sense of Humor?

In our meditation on The Laughter of Christ, we talked about how Jesus must have had a great sense of humor. Finding examples of the Nazarene’s humor isn’t easy though when reading the Gospels. Some folks have pointed towards Jesus’s admonition that we shouldn’t worry about the speck in our brother’s eye when we have a beam in our own as one example. But that is a bit of a stretch.

All things considered, Jesus the humorist wasn’t likely a joke teller or smug connoisseur of witty epigrams. He undoubtedly was a satirist: the wielder of that eclectic humor which, to this day, continues to be the most effective way to speak truth to power and expose our petty egoism. Stephen Colbert proved this brilliantly in his now legendary take down of President Bush (and the journalists who cover him) at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Satire is an insiders’ game. Many people don’t get it, while others think that the satirist is actually serious. It would have been the perfect kind of humor for a prophet like Jesus, who loved to teach in enigmatic parables and metaphors, and who wouldn’t reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven to just anyone.¹ He also of course hated hypocrites,² who are notoriously the subject of so much satire.

Jesus’s greatest bit of satire comes ironically (or perhaps not so ironically) in the episode we celebrate on Palm Sunday. Jesus we are told comes riding into Jerusalem on an ass, and afterwards, being hungry, gets angry at a fig tree for bearing no fruit, even though it is out of season.

Like those Republicans who think that Stephen Colbert really is a conservative Republican, many of the early Christians who passed down Jesus’s story simply didn’t get it. They interpreted it through their ordinary blinders of Old Testament prophecy, as well as the belief that prayer can literally move mountains or part the Red Sea.

Today, let’s go back and re-read Matthew Chapter 21 and imagine Stephen Colbert (or Mark Twain) riding the ass and berating the fig tree. Palm Sunday will take on a new, and perhaps richer, meaning.

—

Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

1. Afterwards his disciples came to him, and said: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” “To you,” answered Jesus, “the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given, but not to them. – Matthew 13:10-12 [↩]
2. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! You pay tithes on mint, fennel, and caraway seed, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and good faith. These last you ought to have put into practice, without neglecting the first. You blind guides, to strain out a gnat and to swallow a camel! Woe to you, teachers of law and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are! – Luke 23:23-25 [↩]