Jacob’s family is running out of food. The famine is severe, and everyone knows something needs to be done. But Jacob finds his sons looking at one another.
So, he asks them, “Why do you keep looking at one another?”
It sounds like a question Jesus could ask some churches today.
Attendance is declining. Volunteers are exhausted. Younger generations are missing. The community outside our doors has changed. We see it. We discuss it. We may even form committees to study it. But sometimes we keep looking at one another, waiting for someone else to move.
Social psychologists call this the “diffusion of responsibility.” When several people see the same problem, each person feels less responsible to address it. Everybody is concerned, but nobody moves.
In the Genesis story, we don't know the reason for the brothers’ hesitation. Are they overwhelmed or just waiting for Jacob to decide what to do? Maybe each one assumes the other will act.
They see the famine, and they probably heard, too, about grain in Egypt, but are not yet willing to do anything about it. Sometimes, we're not waiting for more information. We are waiting for someone else to take responsibility, or for a way forward that doesn't require risk.
That happens in churches, too. Sometimes, we resist the right step because we do not know what to do. But sometimes we know. We’re just afraid of what obedience might cost or change. There's a difference between not knowing what to do and not wanting to do what you know you need to do.
Jacob finally says, “Go down there and buy grain for us, so that we may live and not die.”
There's no real plan behind that. And the brothers don't know what awaits them. They simply take the next necessary step.
You may not have the certainty you think you need right now. But don't let that keep you just looking at one another.
Stay blessed...john
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