The Famous Cat That Never Was ... Or Was It? (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Inside the box: (a) one vial of poison, (b) one mechanism for spilling it, and (c) one cat. 

The set up: if the mechanism activates, the poison will spill and kill the cat. 

The outcome: We can’t know whether the cat is dead or alive until we open the box.

Does that sound cruel to you? It would be ... if it had ever actually happened. 

If you paid attention in science class, you likely heard of Schrödinger's Cat. This is the famous experiment set up by physicist Erwin Schrödinger. It is purely theoretical, just a mental exercise. No actual cats were harmed. From a physics standpoint, as long as the box remains closed, nothing has actually occurred ... yet. The cat is constantly either alive or dead until we open the box. Schrödinger went a step further, insisting the cat was both alive and dead until it could be observed.

The cat in the experiment was in a continuous state of possibility. 

What it boils down to is this: we cannot know what we cannot know ... anything is possible. And that is the key to the story of Joseph in this week’s Genesis scripture. There are many treasures to be mined from the story of Joseph  —the limits of prophecy, fractured families, the power of forgiveness, even agronomics—  but it's the "not knowing" part that keeps me coming back to Joseph. In this particular sense, Joseph is just like us. Despite the cryptic dreams he received as a young man, Joseph could never have known he would become "a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt." 

Joseph is a great model for us. At each challenge point, Joseph, not knowing his future, could have chosen either way, good or bad. Just like us. We now know that, each time, he chose to behave in a way that was pleasing to God. He did this even though the Law had yet to be handed down from God: there were no Ten Commandments for Joseph to use as a guide. 

Anyone can know right from wrong.

We, like Joseph, remain in a continuous state of possibility. That only changes when we "open the box," so to speak. Similar to Schrödinger's Cat, until we choose a course of action  —in that nanosecond before our thoughts settle into our choice—  we can go either way. And like Joseph, none of us can actually know our future.  

But God can.  

God sees all our possibilities. God can see into the "box," if you will. And, if we will allow it  —if we can trust God as Joseph did—  God will guide us into the best path ... and even to undreamed of achievements.

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Portions of this reflection are drawn from a different one that appeared in August 2014 as Schrodinger’s Cat and in 2019 as No Cats Were Harmed in the Making ...

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 15 (20) (August 16, 2020)

Genesis 45:1-15

Psalm 133

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

Psalm 67

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

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We’re still working behind the scenes to decide if we can meet DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast on Zoom. Please keep us in your prayers. For now, here are this coming week’s scriptures and a reflection. 

Blessings,

Steve