The Humility and Simplicity to Say, "I Don't Know"
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent – March 21, 2015
One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about this own thoughts. Someone noticed this and said to him, “Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?”
He replied, “I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.”
[Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 10]
As a young adult in the late 1970’s, I was invited to hear Tom Landry speak at a big Fellowship of Christian Athletes luncheon in downtown Tulsa. Coach Landry led the Dallas Cowboys to several Super Bowls and was well-respected as a coach and leader. He was never an exciting speaker (in my opinion), but had a low-key way that seemed sincere and appealing. His talk in Tulsa was a big deal and drew a large following.
What I remember most about his long, long talk that day, however, is that Coach Landry didn’t talk about football, and only talked a little bit about his Christian faith. Mostly, he talked politics and theology.
Honestly, I didn’t attend the event in order to hear Landry talk about politics. And I think I had more theological understanding than he did at that time. I was disappointed he didn’t talk more about football or his own experience of God. He was an expert in one field, but he wanted to talk about something else.
This happens all the time in our world. Persons who have become “successful” in one field, all of a sudden feel like authority figures in another field. Usually this happens with those who have made a lot of money . . . or with those who have a lot of education in one particular field. The rest of us suddenly invest a lot of authority to these persons, even in fields where they don’t have much knowledge or expertise.
Through the years I’ve noticed that champion golfers become experts in theology when some tragedy happens.
Basketball players who can slam home a dunk become experts on cultural issues.
Wealthy business men and women suddenly are enabled to speak with authority on foreign policy.
Movie stars become experts on social issues.
Abba Arsenius was held by a humility and simplicity that dared to say, “I don’t know.” Formerly a wealthy and highly educated man, he consulted a peasant monk about his own life. Those around Arsenius assumed that, because he was so highly educated, he should not defer to this peasant monk.
Arsenius, though, held no such illusion. In simplicity, he was able to hold his own personhood in humility and learn the language of this peasant.
I’ll say again . . . the humility and simplicity that allows us to say, “I don’t know,” leads to remarkable freedom.
One day Abba Arsenius consulted an old Egyptian monk about this own thoughts. Someone noticed this and said to him, “Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?”
He replied, “I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.”
[Benedicta Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 10]
As a young adult in the late 1970’s, I was invited to hear Tom Landry speak at a big Fellowship of Christian Athletes luncheon in downtown Tulsa. Coach Landry led the Dallas Cowboys to several Super Bowls and was well-respected as a coach and leader. He was never an exciting speaker (in my opinion), but had a low-key way that seemed sincere and appealing. His talk in Tulsa was a big deal and drew a large following.
What I remember most about his long, long talk that day, however, is that Coach Landry didn’t talk about football, and only talked a little bit about his Christian faith. Mostly, he talked politics and theology.
Honestly, I didn’t attend the event in order to hear Landry talk about politics. And I think I had more theological understanding than he did at that time. I was disappointed he didn’t talk more about football or his own experience of God. He was an expert in one field, but he wanted to talk about something else.
This happens all the time in our world. Persons who have become “successful” in one field, all of a sudden feel like authority figures in another field. Usually this happens with those who have made a lot of money . . . or with those who have a lot of education in one particular field. The rest of us suddenly invest a lot of authority to these persons, even in fields where they don’t have much knowledge or expertise.
Through the years I’ve noticed that champion golfers become experts in theology when some tragedy happens.
Basketball players who can slam home a dunk become experts on cultural issues.
Wealthy business men and women suddenly are enabled to speak with authority on foreign policy.
Movie stars become experts on social issues.
Abba Arsenius was held by a humility and simplicity that dared to say, “I don’t know.” Formerly a wealthy and highly educated man, he consulted a peasant monk about his own life. Those around Arsenius assumed that, because he was so highly educated, he should not defer to this peasant monk.
Arsenius, though, held no such illusion. In simplicity, he was able to hold his own personhood in humility and learn the language of this peasant.
I’ll say again . . . the humility and simplicity that allows us to say, “I don’t know,” leads to remarkable freedom.
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