Bearing the Blame

Bearing the Blame

There is an undesigned coinci­dence this month between points made in the “Exhortation,” the “Notes on the Daily Read­ings,” and the article on the cross of Christ. In the exhortation, Bra Joe Hill sets forth examples where spiri­tual giants don’t excuse themselves, but bear the blame as part of a com­munity which has failed. In his com­ments, Bro. Jack Robinson considers the Jerusalem poor fund, which is an ideal example of how all parts of the body of Christ share one another’s bur­dens. And the crucifix­ion article by Bro. Gary Burns elaborates the ul­timate example of taking to oneself the failures and problems of others.

No pointing of fingers

Who among us has not read with awe the prayers of Daniel, Nehemiah and Ezra? These were godly men who could easily have distanced them­selves from Israel, referring to their sinful community as “they.” Nehemiah does this when referring to historical incidents: “Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear” (Neh. 9:30). But when it comes to his own day, he shifts from the third person to the first person: “we have done wickedly.. .both I and my father’s house have sinned” (9:33; 1:6). Nehemiah was not using words carelessly; he really looked at himself as part of the problem.

Moses felt his own involvement so keenly, he didn’t want to live if the nation died. All of these men were in leadership positions and all of them no doubt shared a sense of personal failure in the sins of the community.

We may admire these men for their gracious and humble attitudes, but what of ourselves? When failure oc­curs, the human tendency is strong to blame the other person. Many a time when a marriage is in trouble, we start iterating the things the other person has done wrong. Or when our children are having problems we point fingers at the school, the soci­ety, the ecclesia or our partner.

It’s amazing how we can admire others for graciously accepting the blame and find it so hard to do our­selves.

A right response

In his notes on II Corinthians 8 and 9, Bro. Jack draws out exhortation that relates to the tragedy reported in the January Tidings. A similar report of the starvation death of Sis. Estrina in Jamaica appeared in the Caribbean Pioneer giving the incident wide pub­licity in the ecclesial world.

In the many responses to those re­ports, there was at first a sense of find­ing somewhere to place the blame. We are all human and we all struggle with wrong reactions. In a commu­nity of disciples, however, spiritual thinking should gradually prevail in­dividually and collectively And that is starting to happen A letter to the editor and our remarks appear later in this issue alluding to a determined resolve that this won’t happen again, if we can in any way prevent it

Proactive response

Part of the problem in taking the blame is the feeling that if we do, then we are responsible to take action That is precisely what spiritual people do.

Nehemiah did not just lament the plight of his people, he determined to improve it Part of his lament was an appeal that the king might help him rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

And “when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God” the matter didn’t end there He followed up his confession with vigorous action to correct the iniquity of the people.

Moses didn’t stop with his dra­matic offer to die with the people, “he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai “(Ex 34 4).

These faithful ones didn’t stand around, wringing their hands, look­ing for someone to blame They first acknowledged their share in the guilt and then went about to correct the problem That’s what God wants “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD” (Hag 1 8) The returned exiles had miserably failed, they needed to be thoroughly ashamed of their ways But after feel-mg shame, let them set their hands to the work

It does little good to wring our hands about lack of hospitality in an ecclesia, or a poor preaching effort or neglect of the mission field Let us accept our share of the blame and then let us put our shoulder to the work Pointing fingers in a marriage never made it work better, nor does accus­ing someone else when our child is struggling The spiritual giants of old show us the way — admit a share of the blame and then do more than our share in correcting the problem.

The remarkable example

In considering the crucifixion of our Lord with Bro Gary, we are brought to the most remarkable ex­ample of sharing the burden of fail­ure and giving of oneself to correct the problem “Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (II Cor 8 9) He was born King of the Jews, heir of the world, Son of God No man ever had his status or his heritage At 30 years old, he was given the fullness of power so that he could conquer the world and bring peace in his lifetime.

But that was not the way to save his people from their sins So he did not grasp for glory then, but humbled himself, “making himself of no reputation and became obedient unto death” (Phil 2 7-8) He became a servant first of God and then of those around him It was no easier for him to be humble than it is for any­one else for he “was made in the like­ness of me” Yet m spite of “being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself’ and “offered himself with­out spot to God” that all who are his might be delivered from the oppres­sion of sin (Phil 2 7-8, Heb 9 14)

While in some way Moses, Hezekiah, Ezra and Nehemiah may have felt their own weakness had contributed to Israel’s trouble, that was not so with Jesus The Lord was not part of the problem, yet he acted as if he were He “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” being “numbered with the transgressors” as if he were one of them (I Peter 2 24, Isa 53 12) Jesus was part of a race ruled by the power of sin and he set about to break that power And break it he did for all who will believe and follow him.

When it comes to bearing the blame, let’s not look around to see whom we can accuse, let’s follow our Master, doing everything we can to solve the problems of which we are a part.