Know Thyself

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. (I Cor. 8:2).

Like so many of the kings in Israel’s history, Uzziah is a tragic hero. The blessings and victories of the first part of his reign are seemingly nullified by the arrogant folly of the latter part. The Scriptures tell us that when he became powerful, “he grew proud, to his destruction” (II Chron. 26:16). Violating the separation that God had established between church and state, Uzziah took upon himself the prerogatives of a priest by offering incense in the temple. Although eighty priests tried to stop him, he refused to listen. So, God struck him with leprosy which suddenly “broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests” (II Chron. 26:19). For the rest of his life, Uzziah lived in isolation in a separate house, cut off from both the palace and the temple.   

Although there are many lessons to be learned from this intriguing story, my interest is fixated on where the leprosy appeared on Uzziah’s body. The disease showed up on his forehead, where it was most visible and obvious. Everyone could see that Uzziah was a leper. Yes, everyone – except the king himself. It’s interesting that the king’s leprosy appeared on that one part of his body that, without outside help, he could not see.     

When you pause to think about it, this is funny. I don’t mean funny ha-ha, as if we should laugh at someone else’s pain. I mean funny peculiar, that is ironic, satirical, ludicrous, absurd. There’s the king in his royal robes looking ever so regal, and with the censer in his hand looking ever so priestly. His inflated sense of self-importance is palpable. But suddenly, plain as day, he’s a leper. In a flash, the king’s hifalutin, cockamamie pomposity is exposed and everybody in Jerusalem knows what a silly nincompoop he is.

Yeah, this is funny. It’s Jewish humor, of course. And many people don’t “get it”. But it’s the kind of sanctified silliness that is often necessary to save our souls by enabling us to laugh at what pompous little idiots we really are. I can only hope that one day Uzziah was also able to laugh at himself as well. The truth is that his very salvation depended on it!

The Bible actually has a lot to say about foreheads. It seems God intends to use this most visible part of our bodies, like a billboard, to proclaim to the world the truth about who we really are. Yes, for those who have eyes to see, foreheads announce a person’s spiritual condition, both for bad and for good. 

• After Cain killed his brother, God put a mark on him, perhaps on his forehead, so that everyone would remember what he had done (Gen. 4:15). 

• Aaron, the high priest, wore a plate of pure gold on his forehead inscribed with the words, “Holy to the Lord” (Ex. 28:36-38).

• In the days of Jeremiah, God said that his people had “the forehead of a whore” because they showed no shame for their behavior (Jer. 3:3).

• In Ezekiel’s day, people had “a hard forehead and a stubborn heart”. So God made Ezekiel’s forehead just as hard and stubborn as theirs (Ezek. 3:7-9).

• When judgement was coming on Jerusalem, angels put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieved over the sin of the city so that they would be spared (Ezek. 9:1-6).

• In the last days, Satan will put “the mark of the beast” on all those lost souls who belong to him (Rev. 13:16-17; 14:9-11; etc.). Believers will be marked on their foreheads as well. In the New Jerusalem, the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father will be written on their foreheads (Rev. 7:3;14:1; 22:3-4). 

What about you? Are you aware of the message that is written so clearly on your forehead? Everyone else can see it. Can you? Although it is relatively easy to read what is written on the foreheads of others, it takes at least three ingredients to know what is written on our own.  First, it demands humility. Second, it requires courage. And third, we need a good mirror. Thankfully, God has provided a mirror that always gives an accurate reflection of who we really are; the Bible (see Jam. 1:22-25). The Word of God always tells the truth about who we really are and what Christ can really do about who we really are. 

“Know thyself,” Socrates famously said. He believed that self-knowledge comes through  self-reflection. But after centuries of following his advice, you would think we would recognize the futility of trying to know ourselves by trying to know ourselves (you might want to re-read that sentence). Walker Percy wrote about the comic absurdity of saving ourselves. His book is filled with Jewish humor. In his opening chapter, he explains what he is writing about.

How you can survive in the cosmos about which you know more and more while knowing less and less about yourself, this despite 10,000 self-help books, 100,000 psychotherapists, and 100 million fundamentalist Christians…. Why it is that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the cosmos – novas, quasars, pulsars, black holes – you are beyond doubt the strangest…. Why it is possible to learn more in ten minutes about the Crab Nebula in Taurus, which is 6,000 light-years away, than you presently know about yourself, even though you’ve been stuck with yourself all your life…. (Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book. 1983).  

Far wiser than Socrates (and Walker Percy, for that matter), Jesus explains that there is only one true path to self-knowledge: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it” (Matt. 16:25 NLT).  

One Sunday after morning worship in the church where I pastored in Albany, New York, a man came up to me in the lobby and said: “Do you know what we like about you, Pastor Stan?” I replied, “I have no idea. What do you like about me?”  He said, “You are just as messed up as the rest of us!” I said, “Thank you for the compliment.” 

And we both laughed. 

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