Recently I began working my way through a book entitled Ancient Christian Devotional. The book provides a year's worth of scripture readings in combination with selected comments from the church fathers. Thanks to excellent work on the part the editors, Thomas Oden and Cindy Crosby, some of the wisest insights from the church fathers are now readily available.

For example, in a comment of John 9:1-41 (the healing of the man blind from birth), Theodore of Mopsuestia provides the following insight

Since the disciples had this opinion about the blind man, the Lord approriately adjusts his speech in order to answer their question: "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" They were asking, in other words, whether this happened to him because of the sins of his parents, or because of the man's sin--as if there was no other cause for such an event. After they asked this, the Lord taught them that there are many reasons for all these events, and that they are certainly secret and unexplainable.

Upon reading the passage, I found myself thinking about how easily we fall into the trap of "either/or" thinking. Life usually is far more complicated. Almost nothing which matters follows from a single cause. Take the realitively simple matter of the mild asthma from which I've suffered all my life. What's the cause? The very use of the term "the" is inappropriate. Genetics certainly plays some role. At least two of my uncles suffered from asthma. Environmental factors matter. Smoke of any kind, various allergens, cold temperatures, and infections can trigger or reinforce an attack. Personal decisions affect the situation as well. Generally speaking when I exercise in moderation, keep my weight under control, and practice the disciplines of staying calm and breathing slowly I manage quite well. No one, though, can say why I alone of my generation have asthma. It's a bit of a mystery.

If discerning "why" I have asthma requires more than "either/or" thinking (plus a dose of humility in the face of the unknowable), surely human actions, feelings and thinking should be regarded as great mysteries. The next time you're tempted to believe you can unpack the cause of another person's situation, take care. Most likely, far more is involved than meets the eye. Perhaps all of us would do better to lay aside the quest to discover a one-dimensional "cause" and instead take up the Christ-ordained ministries of prayer, compassion and acts of kindness.