BLANK-AND-MISDIRECT

Good classroom teachers develop an armory of looks. 

There’s the child-if-you-don’t-sit-your-butt-down-right-now look, the no-before-you-even-ask-NOOOOO look, the I-dare-you-I-double-dog-dare-you-to mess-with-her-one-mo’-time look, and of course the forget-about-them-you-can-do-this-I-got-your-back look.

But my favorite look is the blank-and-misdirect.

The Look

Ask a kid a question they're unsure of or  feel vulnerable (because they have to take a public stand on some topic) and the kid will look at the teacher for clue. The student will watch your facial expression and body language, trying to figure out which answer you WANT to hear.

So when I asked those question I’d immediately blank my facial expression and adopt neutral body language.  No clues. No cues.  BLANK.  When the student started answering, whether the answer was right or wrong, I’d twist my face to look like they were uttering the most ridiculous thing in the history of uttering. MISDIRECT

And if I felt really mischievous, I’d phrase the question to make it seem like the wrong answer was the right answer.

I’d ask something like, “Moses and Aaron were brothers, but only one of them came back to save his people from slavery.  Aaron was the oldest, so it wasn’t Moses, was it?”

Oh, yeah.  I still use blank-and-misdirect when I teach adult Bible study.

I didn’t develop the blank-and-misdirect look to torture my students (that was an unexpected bonus).  I want my students to KNOW their stuff, not just know my face.  I want them to study themselves into confidence, to KNOW the right answer for themselves no matter how people look at them.

And that’s what God wants for us.  Which is why some of the greatest leaders of the Bible also used the blank-and-misdirect.

Joshua’s Blank-and-Misdirect

Joshua, protégé of Moses and general of the Israelite armies that took possession of the Promised Land, gathered the leadership of Israel and offered what seemed like a blankly neutral choice.

If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. (Joshua 24: 15)

When the people answered the way they figured Joshua wanted them to answer, Joshua misdirected.

They said, “We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” (Joshua 24: 18-20)

Despite Joshua’s blank-and-misdirect, the people stood by their answer. 

So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!” (Joshua 24: 22)

Jesus’ Classroom Review

In Matthew chapter 13, after a long day of teaching and preaching a series of parables, Jesus pulled His disciples aside for a review and asked, Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13: 51)

            The disciples immediately auto-replied, “Yes, Lord.”

And I think that Jesus’ expression at that point said, “Yeah, right.  Of course you don’t,” because Jesus didn’t just accept their answer. 

Good teachers know that “We understand” may really mean, “We don’t want you to ask us anymore questions.”

The Lord pushed His disciples to demonstrate mastery of the concepts He’d taught. 

He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13: 52)

When you, the scribe/ scholar/ student,  understand what God is saying out of His Word, when you really get it then you’ll have some evidence.  You’ll be able to show your work as treasure:  new treasure and old treasure.

Your new treasure will be revelation and applications for your specific life in this particular moment.  Like when you read the Sabbath laws in Leviticus and you realize how to reorder your financial practices to achieve prosperity without working yourself to death, compromising your integrity, or waiting to hit the spiritual lottery.

The old treasure is a deeper reassurance of God’s Word.  You read 1 Thessalonians and come away knowing that Hell is as real as Heaven.  You don’t like that old truth, but you receive it because you really studied.  You didn’t just look around at your teacher or your peers and repeat what you think their faces say they want to hear.

Joshua wanted for his people what I want for my student, which is what Jesus wants for all of us who call ourselves His disciples.

We want you to KNOW the truth in the Bible. We want you to know FOR YOURSELF that the Bible is true for always and true for right now.  We want you to stand on that Truth and for that Truth no matter how many blank stares you get.  We want you to stand on that Truth no matter what forces try to misdirect you into compromise or quasi-intellectual rejection of God’s Word.

Because when you can stand for God’s Truth against the blank-and-misdirect, then you will discover the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore prepare yourself and arise,

And speak to them all that I command you.

Do not be dismayed before their faces,

Lest I dismay you before them.  (Jeremiah 1: 17)

And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.  You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. (Eekiel 2: 6-7)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

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