Mark 14:18-19
I
remember when I was a kid hearing those in authority in my life tell be about the
finger pointing used when I was trying to shift blame away from myself. They
would say something like this. “Remember,
when you point your finger at someone else you have four fingers pointing back
at yourself.” To which I would give a smart-mouthed response, which was never
well received, “Only three, my thumb is pointing forward also.” And when I say
it was never received well, I mean NEVER!
Blame
shifting really never works the way we want it to work. Even if we can convince
others it wasn’t you, we still know the truth. This kind of lie works its
damage on us. We pay a price for blame shifting. Kids learn to blame shift as
soon as they have a sibling. If they are an only child, they are behind the
power curve. By the time they get to school, everyone else will have perfected
the art of blame shifting, and their rank amateur status will become obvious.
But
kids aren’t the only ones who do this. When things are going south at work, not
working out, and the heat is starting to be felt, blame is a wonderful tool.
Point at the economy, the changing demographics, the competition, the delays in
the supply chain, the workers, and the management. The secret is to point
everywhere else. Never take responsibility for your part. It can’t be you, can
it? You didn’t contribute to the problem, did you?
Marriages
are a great place for the blame shifting game. When hurts happen, it is easier
to point the finger, raise the voice, and point out the other’s faults. But it
takes two for a marriage to fail, even if your part was very small. Blaming
helps put off the pain, if only for a few moments. Anger is easy. Grief is
painful.
Jesus
tells His disciples that one of them is going to betray Him. This would have
been the perfect opportunity to blame shift. Peter could have spoken up as the
most impulsive in the group and blamed one of the more introverted disciples. Many
of them could have pointed to Peter since he made an easy target. Jesus had,
after all, told Peter, “get behind me, Satan” on one occasion. Others could
have been singled out for their individual times of “not getting it.” There was
plenty of blame to go around.
But
amazingly, each disciple in turn points the finger at themselves. This is so
unlike them. They are willing, in this moment of greatest vulnerability, to
take responsibility. They can’t believe what Jesus is saying. How could any of
them betray their close friend, this One who cared so much for them.
And
yet, this is exactly what Jesus says will happen. One of them. This isn’t true!
It wasn’t just Judas that betrayed Jesus. He might have taken the money and
arranged the physical betrayal, but all the disciples fled. All of them turned
their backs to one degree or another. None stayed rock solid.