Holy Curiosity

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

—John 9:1–3

Our culture specializes in boxes, in categories, in labels. We think we know all about someone because they send their kids to this kind of school, or because they go to that kind of church. This is sloppy. And this is dangerous.

A wise friend of mine is teaching me to ask this question every time I disagree with someone in a visceral way: “How did that person come to feel this way?” Essentially, he’s teaching me to ask: “What part of this person’s story do I need to know to understand what he or she is telling me right now?”

Wouldn’t that change everything?

When we listen to stories, there’s no room for stereotypes. Storytelling and story listening is unfamiliar at first, and scary, but you begin to develop muscle memory for it. You begin to feel a holy curiosity for everyone you see: What’s her story? How did he come to feel this way? What is it that I don’t yet know about her story?

This is a Kingdom way to live, because instead of labels and categories, we begin to dwell in actual humanity, which was the plan all along, of course.