I’m sitting in the sunroom (wishful thinking because although it is warm there is no sun – just a variation on the theme of grey) and I’m enjoying some pretty nice Rwandan dark roast courtesy of my homies on the Westside (yo, yo) and I am thinking about Columbo, Matlock and Jesus Christ.
When I was little there weren’t as many channels to choose from as there are now – we had channels 2 through 13 and that was pretty much it. We also had one tv. This meant that we pretty much watched what mum watched. Now mum was not a fan of Columbo or Matlock but periodically if nothing else was on one of these two shows would come on and although as a kid I would not pick either since it was on tv I would watch it. It really is amazing what children remember. I don’t know when it was but at a certain point I adopted some of the character attributes of both Matlock and Columbo. It was a conscious decision sometime in university I think.
SIDE NOTE: I adopt all sorts of other people’s attributes. It’s what I do. I am a mocking bird with no real call of my own. Not sure why I do this…I just do. I like a person’s laugh I will take part of it. I like the way someone walks or talks and that gets rolled into the mix that is me too. I’m sure that’s a whole other blog post though.
Anyhow back to business. The characters of Matlock and Columbo, both detectives, share an interesting character attribute. They both, in their way, enjoyed exploiting the arrogance and pride of the people around them to get at the truth. Of course such a tactic came at a cost. Both Columbo and Matlock would have to sacrifice their own persona’s for the sake of the goal – truth. This sacrifice came in the form of presenting themselves as somewhat clueless in the face of their suspects. In the ongoing interview process both Columbo and Matlock would feign a deep level of respect for the clearly superior intellect of the suspect while at the same time modelling classic fools of themselves in the face of such cleverness.
If you’ve read any amount of Shakespeare you know that the fool is often the only wise person in the entire play. So it is with Matlock and Columbo. By the end of the show our suspects have been lulled into a false sense of security by our heroes who have admittedly become somewhat annoying to them with the constant questioning. Each question forming a thread in a web that will eventually bind the very ones who are weaving them with their answers. By the end of the show when it becomes apparent to all that Columbo and Matlock are not as stupid as they appear it is far too late for the suspects who are being hauled off to their reward.
I think that in many ways Christ does the same thing, both with the disciples and with the Pharisees. "Who do people say I am?" Christ asks the disciples. Of course He knows the answer but there is often more power in the question then the answer. The comparison is more apt with the Pharisees…who often derided Christ as a poor teacher at best and at worst a heretic deserving of death. The attacks of the Pharisees were loaded with arrogance and pride in their own knowledge of love of God. In response Christ would tell a story about a farmer or a shepherd and in the process, as the Pharisees tried to work out what was being said they would inevitably show themselves for who they were – whitewashed tombs.
Don’t get me wrong, Christ is not a bumbling fool stumbling through the New Testament trapping Pharisees in their own egos – but in comparison to His heavenly nature Christ was very much the celestial Matlock or Columbo as Philippians 2:6-8 says of Him:
"Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! "
Christ was clearly under-estimated by the people around Him and this was not an accident but to what end? In His weakness the truth is revealed and salvation can come to the entire world. In His weakness the arrogance and ego of others are revealed for what they are -compensations for a deep-seated insecurity that all that they are is still not quite good enough.
So sometimes I imagine Christ, like the Heavenly Columbo or Matlock turning all questions on there heads and trying to get the suspect (us) to reveal our own guilt and our own need. There is Christ being confronted by the teacher of the law who asks "who is my neighbor?" Christ who responds with a parable that somehow ends with the teacher answering his own question and in the process standing wordless and dumbfounded before the Word and being directed to take the truth which he is cognizant of and live it.
Christ could penetrate to the heart of things because He came stripped of all arrogance and ego. He came in full humility and allowed the arrogance and ego of the world to reveal its own corruption.
As much as I try to model myself after the Columbos and Matlocks of the world I often find myself no different then the teacher of the law filled with arrogance and pride and in need of Christ to force me to ask the very questions I ask of Him. He is patient and loving though and I am thankful for that.
Harnessing Chaos 