1 Samuel 1:4-16

Mark 13:1-8

Jumping to Wrong Conclusions

Each time we read scripture it’s a new experience. I have preached on these texts several times, and each time there is a new lesson. I see something new in the text. Given these readings, what stands out as the central message to you? If you were preparing the sermon, what would you preach on this morning?

The lesson for me this morning is “Don’t jump to conclusions.” When I jump to conclusions, most of the time, I am wrong.

  In 1 Samuel, the priest Eli makes a huge mistake. Too quickly, he jumps to a false conclusion about Hannah. In general, we humans like understandable patterns, and we like closure. We like to have things wrapped up in nice packages that we can put nice labels on. But it’s easy to jump to conclusions. It’s easy to judge others. But we must be careful, thinking we know something is true, when actually, we don’t know. We think we know what God is or who God is. We think we know what is going on in someone else’s life. We think we know how to help others. But really, most of the time, we don’t know. We are simply jumping to wrong conclusions. This is why Shunryu Suzuki wrote, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” The beginner’s mind is a “don’t know” mind. It’s an open mind. Not an expert mind.

The Rope and the Snake

There’s a story about a man thrown into a dark prison cell, a dungeon cell, like in an old castle or fortress dungeon. There is only one window in the cell. It’s nighttime, and the man can hardly see anything. But as his eyes adjust to the darkness, he looks across the cell, and there, in the opposite corner, all coiled up, is a snake. Just quietly sitting there, is that snake. Just looking at the man, is that snake. And the man is terrified. Paralyzed with terror. Sweat pours out of him, and he sits on the cell floor all night, awake and unmoving, waiting for the snake to strike.

After a long time, the first rays of dawn begin to light up the dungeon cell, and the man finally sees that the snake is not a snake, but a rope, coiled up in the corner.

The Principle of Closure

The human mind abhors a vacuum. The mind wants clarity and completion. The mind searches for conclusions and closures. The mind prefers to know rather than to not know. In psychology this is called “the principle of closure” or “the law of closure.” We fill in the blank so that we can perceive a complete object. We want order, and so we organize our fragmented and incomplete perceptions to create order, completeness, and closure.

Now, what am I talking about? Imagine drawing a circle on paper. The circle is closed. It is complete. Now imagine drawing a partial circle on paper. There’s a gap. Notice how your mind wants to fill in the gap, to close the circle. We want to see complete and closed circles. We are uncomfortable with incomplete and partial circles.

Driving in Traffic

Now, there is nothing wrong with this tendency. It’s just how we are. The principle of closure is a survival mechanism. It helps us make decisions very quickly, and we use it every day. For example, in driving. Things happen very fast out there on the highway. We are always on the lookout for visual clues about what’s going on in traffic. For example, now that marijuana is legal, it seems like there are more cars out there driving too slowly. Or, at least, I jump to that conclusion. If someone is driving too slowly, they must be smoking marijuana. That’s an example of jumping to conclusions and the need for closure. Of course, I don’t know if it’s true or not. Maybe their engine is overheating, or maybe their transmission is going out. I don’t have complete information, and yet, I jump to a conclusion about marijuana.  This conclusion forms instantly, below the level of my conscious awareness. It’s an instant conclusion, a knee-jerk judgement.

When it comes to driving, of course, there are other conclusions that are more easily discerned. When someone offers me certain hand gestures out the window, for example, the meaning is quite clear. So, in these cases, we can be grateful for clear communication.

But more often, things tend to be murky and unclear. Often, we don’t know. It’s nice to think we know what’s going on, but so much of the time, we are in the dark, like the prisoner watching the snake and waiting for the light of dawn.

Our Readings This Morning

Mark 13:1-8

In Mark 13, Jesus makes a prediction about the future of Jerusalem. “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” On one level, this is a reference to the First Jewish-Roman War, 66 to 74 AD, a Jewish uprising in response to Roman oppression which ended badly in a Roman victory and disaster for the Jews. Thousands were killed and the Jerusalem Temple and much of the city was destroyed in 70AD.

Christ teaches his disciples to see the future wars in context of a bigger picture: “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

Some people read this passage as prophecy about the end of the world. I’m not so sure. I’m not a big fan of eschatology or cosmic prophecies about the end of the world. If I get in trouble with the theology police, so be it. There will always be wars and earthquakes. Wars and earthquakes, to me, are reasons to practice compassion for all the suffering that never ends, and a general call to do what we can do to help alleviate suffering right here and now, in whatever way possible.

1 Samuel 1:4-16

In our reading from 1 Samuel, the priest Eli makes a mistake. Eli gives us a perfect example of jumping to an incorrect conclusion. The story takes place in the Temple in Shiloh, many years before Christ teaches the disciples in Jerusalem.

The first chapter of Samuel tells of Samuel’s conception and birth. Samuel’s father was Elkanah [el-kah-na] and he had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah [pen-nih-nah]. Hannah could not have children, and because of this, Peninnah treated her badly. Hannah desperately wanted to have children, so she went to the temple to pray.

Hannah prayed silently in the temple, while Eli sat near the temple door, watching her. He could see her lips moving, but did not hear her voice. So, he jumped to the conclusion that she was drunk. This was a huge mistake. How out of touch Eli was! But after Hannah explained the situation, after Eli learned the whole story, he changed his thinking. He no longer judged her, but he blessed her and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”

Eli assumed he knew what was going on. But he was completely wrong. The good news is that he accepted that he was wrong and changed his thinking. However, it would have been better if he had kept an open mind and not judged so quickly.

Elma Johnson’s Blackberry Pie

I want to conclude with a story about Elma Johnson’s blackberry pie. We don’t always know how to help others, but if we refrain from snap-judgements and act with compassion, we won’t make a mistake.

This is a story my wife sent to me. I’ll include a link in my written sermon text:

https://komonews.com/news/local/elmas-humble-pie

As a young woman in Washington State, Elma Johnson loved to pick wild blackberries from the patches she found along old logging roads. She started baking blackberry pies early on. Later in life, when her daughter was dying of cancer, Elma got involved as a volunteer with Hospice care. Her husband, too, died in hospice care. And her stepson, a doctor who was the medical director of hospice, also died of cancer in hospice care. So Elma had a strong connection to hospice.

In 2009, at the Hospice of the Northwest’s annual fundraising auction, Elma brought her first blackberry pie to offer for sale. While other contributors offered huge cakes and brownies and beautiful lemon meringue pies, Elma brought her pie in a little cardboard box. At first, Elma’s other daughter Susan, the event organizer, was embarrassed by her mother’s pie. But her hasty judgement was wrong.

That night, Elma’s pie sold for $300, more than any other dessert. Then, in 2011, Elma’s pie sold for $2000.00.

The next year, it sold for $5,900. And then in 2015, for $10,000. In 2018, for $26,450.

In 2022, when her pie was up for sale, Elma walked to the stage and all 400 people in the room stood up and applauded. She was 96 years old. That night, her pie sold for $30,000. But that wasn’t all. After the pie sold, the buyers gave it back to the auction, they cut it into slices, and auctioned off each slice separately, raising another $30,000. More than any other item in the auction. In 13 years, Elma and her pies raised close to $200,000 for Hospice of the Northwest.

Don’t make snap judgements. Don’t jump to conclusions. Keep an open mind, a beginner’s mind. Remember that everyone is suffering in one way or another. Amen? Amen.