life is full of middle ways

This week, I'm thinking about those of us who reside in the middle between Mr. Ya-but, Nicodemus, and Mr. what-ever-you-say-God, Abram. Of course both stories are charicatures of these men; Abra(ha)m was not always so willing to ask "how high?" when God said "jump." Neither, as we see later in John, was Nicodemus always tentative in his belief and "understanding." Still, it does give us some insight into the poles of belief; lotsa faith from Abram and not-so-much from Nicodemus.

There are days, weeks, months where I could fit into either category, but most of the time I feel like I'm somewhere in between. It doesn't seem quite so simple as there being only two options when God says "jump" - i.e. jumping or not. There is nuance in our jumping and our not jumping. This metaphor will now break down, but suffice it to say that even as we jump we may not be faithful and even as we hesitate we could be full of faith.

Abram and Nicodemus aren't so simple as to live only in those two options either. Seems as though as they fluctuate between ya-buts and yes-sirs they would have been in those shades of gray. As Nicodemus packed up the 75lbs of materials to help bury Jesus he must have given a lot of thought and prayer to how this would affect his status as a Pharisee, his standing in the culture, and his safety in Roman occupied Jerusalem. As Abram questions God faithfulness in Gen 15 he must still have a glimmer of hope in his soul, he must know that God will remain faithful to His word, he must be thinking about what life will be like in God's great reward.

It just isn't so simple as black-white, liberal-conservative, yes-no when it comes to following God. There are shades of gray in just about every interaction between humans and the Divine; makes sense, I guess, since knowing the mind of God ain't a possibility. Life is full of middle ways, and the one between the ya-buts and the yes-sirs is where I am living today.