#122 - Finding The Third Way {Reflections}

Stuck between two bad choices that both feel wrong? We’ve been there too. Today we talk about the subtle art of finding a third way—an approach modeled by Jesus that refuses shallow binaries and restores nuance, courage, and care for people. Instead of choosing between silence or shouting, canceling or condoning, we slow down and study two famous Gospel moments where a trap demanded a yes or no, and wisdom answered with something better.

First, we unpack the “taxes to Caesar” showdown. A simple coin becomes a lesson in proportion and allegiance: what bears Caesar’s image can go back to Caesar, but what bears God’s image—people, conscience, devotion—belongs to God alone. That shift helps us engage civic life without making politics our religion. Then we turn to the woman caught in adultery, where a public spectacle dares Jesus to pick punishment or permissiveness. His answer—“Let the one without sin cast the first stone”—reframes justice as self-examination before accusation, exposing hypocrisy while honoring dignity and aiming for restoration.

Along the way, we offer practical tools you can use when conversations turn combative: ask better questions that surface values, refuse manufactured urgency, protect image-bearing people over talking points, and seek outcomes that heal rather than humiliate. If you’re tired of hot takes and hardened camps, this conversation will help you practice wisdom that is firm, compassionate, and unshakeably human. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s navigating tough conversations, and tell us: where do you need a third way right now?

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Chapters

• 0:16 Naming The False Two Choices
• 1:51 Jesus And The Third Way
• 2:35 The Taxes To Caesar Trap
• 4:32 Give To God What Bears His Image
• 5:35 The Woman Caught In Adultery
• 8:08 Writing In The Dust And Self-Examination
• 9:46 Third Way Wisdom For Today
• 9:56 Farewell And Invitations

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:16

What is up everybody? Hey, this is Ryan. Welcome to our Reflections podcast. And um I don't know if you notice this or not, but man, in in our culture today, it feels like almost every single conversation, especially important ones, they only come with like two options. And both of them feel terrible. It's like even our elections, and I'm not knocking any one party or any one candidate, but our elections, obvious oftentimes, the most important ones, or you could say the highest level ones, often come with only two choices, which is weird. You're like, these are these are the two best choices. We couldn't have five choices, or even I know it's I know I'm being, you know, an outlier here, but but um yeah, and and and sometimes you're like neither one of these feel really good to be, you know. But even in culture, so like, you know, are you gonna align yourself with the left or the right? You know, uh, should we cancel people or condone what they're doing? Um, should we agree loudly or be dismissed, you know? It's like uh some people would say here, uh, silence is violence. But if you speak up, you're like admitting kind of where you stand. And that it's like there none of these feel like neutral choices. They all feel like traps, you know what I mean? Like if you're on a road and there's a rut on either side, they're like the rut you just fall off into and crash and burn. And if you choose one, you can kind of lose credibility or I don't know, friends uh with half of the room. And if you choose the other, you might lose your soul, or at least nuance, you know. Like, what is there nothing else between these two options in our culture? And uh, here's what I love about Jesus. Many times in the Gospels, he was presented with options like this like, hey, A or B, Jesus. And either one or both of them, each of them were terrible options or would get him into big trouble. And he will many times give a third, what I call a third way, and it's masterful and brilliant. It's not a cop-out, he's not trying to avoid getting into trouble, uh, but he's offering a deeper sense of wisdom, it's more nuanced because sometimes these options or the the issue at hand is much more complex and we give it, you know, give it uh then we give credibility. And so he gives us an incredible third option, sort of showing and revealing a more brilliant uh way. So, okay, so for example, there's this one moment in the gospels where where Jesus is approached by some of the uh the Jewish leaders, and they say, Hey, Jesus, should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? I love it. And they're trying to trap him. Again, two options, both are not great, and uh they're trying to trap him. So if he says yes, yeah, you should pay to Caesar what you know the taxes, then he's saying, Yeah, then your allegiance is also to Caesar and should be to Caesar. This is remember the Caesar who calls himself the son of God, who imprints his own face on coins, which was a faux pas, which was anathema if you're a Jewish person. And the Caesar was the oppressive ruler of the Roman Empire who was oppressing at the moment the Jewish people. And so if he says yes, he's a sellout. He's been co-opted by by the state, by the empire, and he's an he's he's allied himself with the empire. Not a great option if you're a Jewish rabbi. If he says no, don't pay to Caesar taxes, then he's saying, uh, hey, he's indicating he's a revolutionary, a rabble rouser, and uh he'll be arrested, if not worse. Remember, in in ancient, uh, in the ancient Roman Empire, they would crucify revolutionaries and rabble rousers, which is partially why he does get crucified. But that's not until later. But but it happened all the time. They would squash rebellions. And so Jesus is like sort of stuck here. But what he does is he like flips the script and he offers this third way. It's beautiful and brilliant, and it it really sort of disarms the question and it troubles the people asking it. And they have to go away and wrestle with it. So here's what he says He says, Hey, who has a coin on them? I'm paraphrasing. And they pull out a coin, he goes, Who's whose uh image is on that coin? And by the way, this is ancient Jewish language, image? What do you think of when you when you hear image? Whose image is on the coin? And they say, Oh, it's Caesar's image. So here's Jesus' answer. He goes, Okay, then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's. Now here's what he means. I love it. It's not a dodge, he's not dodging the question, it's this creative refusal to kind of live in either rut, but to go this third way. So give to Caesar what bears his own image. Well, what bears his image? That coin. Really, it's a meaningless coin. So go ahead, yeah, give him that coin. I don't care. It bears his image. But give to God what bears God's image. Now to a Jew, what bears God's image? Oh, humans, humanity. Way more valuable, way more important. So give give to Caesar that flimsy little coin, but give to God yourselves, your very self, your life, your whole being, the whole of humanity, the whole of creation. Give it, give that to God. You could also say this if you're an ancient Jew and you hear Jesus say, give to God what belongs to God, you would say, What belongs to God? Well, what belongs to God? Well, the answer would be everything. So yeah, God give give the Caesar that coin. I don't care, give him the coin. Because all of it, including the Caesar, belongs to God. It all belongs to God. I love that. Now, once you start noticing this, that Jesus does this all the time. He does these incredible judo moves. You see it everywhere. I'll give you one more. And then for the third one, or the third way, uh, see what I did there, Olivia? See what I did there? Uh, I want you to find one. But here's here's the second one. There's this woman who's in John 8 is caught in adultery, and um they bring her, a whole bunch of these leaders, Jewish leaders, bring her in front of Jesus. And they're like, hey, Jesus, what do we do with her? The law says we're to stone her. Um, what do you think we should do? Now, here's the deal. If Jesus is like, yeah, no, not not every Jewish person condoned stoning as like sort of capital punishment in this kind of situation, but but uh some did. And so like, Jesus, what should we do? So if he says yes, let's stone her, I mean, it would violate Roman law. He's also cruel, it's unusual punishment, it's it's vi you know, it's it's horrible. So uh if he says yes, go ahead, he's sort of indicating that he's in favor of capital punishment and it's this violent act for a woman who's caught in adultery. By the way, uh they didn't drag the man out there. Where's the man in this story? It's like it's crazy. And how did these dudes know that she was you know caught in the act of adultery? Like, what were they doing? Were they spying on this couple? What was going on? What where's the backstory, you know, and where's the dude? Why did they grab grab the woman and drag her up? That's another story for another time. Now, if they if he says, yeah, stone her, it's cruel, uh inhumane, if he says let her go, he is undermining the Torah. So what's he gonna do? Well, he offers the third way. He says, uh, hey, I'll tell you what, guys, okay, let's do this. But let anyone, anyone of you, anyone among you, who's without sin, you throw the first stone. Okay, I'll let's stone her. But uh here's how we're gonna do it. Whoever, whichever one of you has no sin, uh, we're gonna cast the first stone or you you can cast the first stone. So he like turns the law back on the accusers. And uh, it becomes this his justice, when he he sort of brings justice here, it sort of becomes an opportunity for everyone to have this self-examination. So he doesn't deny her sin, nor does he enforce the violence. He creates this sort of moral vacuum where uh where her hypocrisy and their their own blindness to their own sin can, it just can't survive any longer. They're confronted with their own wicked ways. Then he draws in the sand. I mean, no one knows what he was drawing in the sand. Some people think maybe he was writing their names in the sand, uh, you know, the woman's condemners. Some people think that he was writing their own sins in the sand. Some think that Jesus was like kind of pointing back to this ancient prophecy in Jeremiah. So in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 13, it says, This as Lord, you are the hope of Israel. All who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they've they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. So some people think he's maybe writing their names in the sand, indicating like you guys have turned away from the Lord. You've forsaken the call of God to love and to love your neighbor and these kind of things, which is incredibly powerful and beautiful. Yeah, so Jesus, I don't think he's copping out. I don't think he's sort of dodging the question. He knows if it's a trap and that there's more than just two options here. And he provides an incredible, and by the way, both options are are they really lack nuance. They're such extremes. You might call them fundamentalist sort of ideas. And Jesus offers this brilliant third way of wisdom. And uh yeah, and so I wonder if there's an opportunity for us today in a culture that is so polarized that we can begin to slow down and in our responses to find a third way, not as a cop-out, not as a way to dodge the questions, but as a nuanced, you know, uh understanding and identifying the complexities of these situations and offering a third way, a way of peace or reconciliation, um, a way of like of resisting the rut on both sides in order to move to move forward. I think we desperately need something like this in our culture today. So, today, uh, whenever you're confronted by by these two polar opposite ideas, slow down and seek the wisdom of God and and maybe try to find a third way of beautiful, brilliant uh wisdom and resistance. Okay, love you guys. Peace. Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends. And don't forget you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8 30, which is our liturgical gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering. Or you can check us out online at clcelkriver.org. Peace.