Stephen
Terry, Director
Seeing
the Goldsmith's Face
Commentary
for the July 23, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
"And we all, who with
unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his
image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV
Our lesson quarterly opens with
a story about a gold refiner that is attributed to Amy Carmichael by Stuart and
Brenda Blanch. Stuart was an Anglican prelate who wrote the forward to the book
which was put together by his wife Brenda. Stuart had suffered a breakdown
prior to this book being published and never fully recovered before his death a
few years later. He entered the ministry near the time of Amy Carmichael's
death and probably did not know her personally. There is no indication his
wife, Brenda, had any relationship with Ms. Carmichael either. In view of this,
it is strange that the lesson author went to such lengths to document the
source of the Refiner's Fire story. While Brenda Blanch added more details such
as the tamarind, the salt, and the tile, the story has been around for a very
long time in various forms, and if Amy Carmichael related the story at all to
school children as implied in the book "Learning of God," she was probably only
repeating the story as a parable that had been long in circulation as an apt illustration.
No one really knows who first related the parable and to whom. It illustrates
not only its intended lesson well, but it also shows how what is meant to
simply be a metaphor is also instructive for Christian living. The person
seeking the answer from the refiner is sometimes a woman, a young man, school
children, or whatever suitable seeker relates best to the intended audience. For
those who do not have access to the quarterly, I will share a similar parable
here:
Some time ago, a few
ladies met in a certain city to read the scriptures and make them the subject
of conversation. While reading the third chapter of Malachi they came upon a
remarkable expression in the third verse: "And He shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver."
One lady's opinion
was that this was intended to convey the view of the sanctifying influence of
the grace of Christ. Then she proposed to visit a silversmith and report to
them what he said on the subject. She went accordingly and without telling the
object of her errand, begged to know the process of refining silver, which he
fully described to her.
"But Sir"
she said, "do you sit while the work of refining is going on?"
"Oh, yes
madam," replied the silversmith; "I must sit with my eye steadily
fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the
slightest degree, the silver will be injured."
The lady at once saw
the beauty, and comfort too, of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver." Christ sees it needful to put His children into a
furnace; His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom
and love are both engaged in the best manner for them. Their trials do not come
at random; "the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
As the lady was
leaving the shop, the silversmith called her back, and said he had forgotten to
mention that the only way that he knows when the process of purifying is
complete is when he sees his own image reflected in the silver.
This story has been on our Still Waters Ministry website almost
as long as it has been since "Living for God" was published, and I acquired it
from a much older anthology that listed the source as anonymous. It continues
to be widely available on the internet through a simple Google search.
The value in these metaphors is
not in whether the incident is true but in the validity of their message.
Refining produces the image sought by the refiner, and if God is refining us,
it is only to see his image in us. Like the parables of Christ, it is a simple
story with a profound message. It encourages us to look in the mirror at
ourselves and ask what we see reflected there. In our time, there are so many
different and diametrically opposed definitions of what it means to be a Christian
that it becomes apparent that we are not looking in the same mirror, or like
James said "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like
someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes
away and immediately forgets what he looks like." (James 1:23-24)
That we are not looking at the
same mirror is apparent when some model an image of God that wants to stone
sinners to death for any of the capital infractions listed in the Old
Testament. The image reflected in their mirror is one of harshness, punishment,
and weeding sinners out before they taint the rest of the fruit in the barrel.
These may be personified by Puritans, strict Calvinists who settled in what is
now Massachusetts. They outlawed anything that deviated from a stern, somber
religious experience, even executing those who would deviate from that path.
Quakers were among those so treated. Puritan faith was based on being good
enough to be saved, while always being one step from falling away.
The Quakers took a far more
personal approach to faith with roots in Arminianism and Pelagianism. As one
might expect, with a more individual, less corporate, theological lens with
which to view the world, Quaker fellowships tended to fracture based on personal
inspiration, producing several different societies since the 17th
century. They often, though not always, leaned toward more progressive
understandings such as pacificism and leadership that was not gender exclusive.
Eager to share their progressive views with their Calvinist neighbors in Boston
resulted in imprisonment, banishment, and even execution as in the case of Mary
Dyer in 1660. The persecution of Quakers by the Puritans got to such a point
that the British Crown had to intervene, revoking the Massachusetts Charter and
sending a governor for direct rule. The 1689 Toleration Act gave the governor
further power to prevent religious persecution.
Despite the lessons from this
sad period of our nation's founding, we seem not to have learned from it, for
two versions of Christianity have continued to strive for supremacy in the
United States. Some churches found that the conflict existed within the same denomination.
For instance, in a split over the issue of the enslavement of Black people, those
who saw it as unbiblical formed the American Baptist Church, and those who felt
the Bible supported the idea of enslavement formed the Southern Baptist Church.
The split ran not only through denominations, but through families. When the Civil
War broke out, members of the same family would find themselves fighting on
opposite sides in the conflict.
Though hundreds of thousands
lost their lives in that conflagration, there are those few who continue today
to argue for the supremacy of the white race over all others and use Christian
terminology and imagery to advance that agenda. Those fault lines have only
deepened and widened as other issues have been added to the brewing cauldron.
Abortion, guns, gender diversity, sexism, headship theology, and biblical
inerrancy have fomented a poisonous goulash that each side tries to force the
other to eat. The same Bible that teaches that we are to love our enemies in
the Sermon on the Mount is also used to condemn, ostracize, and defame those
same enemies with proof texting from other places in the Bible. It is as though
we are believing that the Bible is literal when it is talking about stoning but
not when it is talking about loving.
We each make a theological salad
of the ingredients we like best, and we like to go around telling others how
our salad tastes so much better than theirs. When we are offered a taste of theirs,
we demur. Why would we taste theirs when we already know ours is the best because
it is filled with what we like? We may even spend hours on social media telling
others why our salad is best, and that those others are not worth the time to taste.
Maybe that attitude is why the Christianity our salad represents is so
unappealing to others.
We should understand that when we
investigate the melted metal that is in the refiner's fire, when the metal is purified,
the only image that will be staring back at us is our own. No matter how much
purity the metal has it will still reflect every one of our impurities. It
cannot help us to be other than what we are. Only God can do that and like the refiner
patiently works the metal ore, God will patiently work with us over our
lifetimes to an end that will be more than we would have expected at the
beginning of our spiritual journey. As one author put it:
"If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to bear will
prove a blessing. The cruel blow that blights the joys of earth will be the
means of turning our eyes to heaven. How many there are who would never have
known Jesus had not sorrow led them to seek comfort in him!"
"The trials of life
are God's workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character.
Their hewing, squaring, chiseling, their burnishing and polishing is a painful
process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is
brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no
useless material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only his
precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace."[i]