I started eating Scottish porridge for breakfast this winter and it is creamy perfection. It’s the only thing I took away from an audiobook called Clandlands by two Scottish actors about their journey through Scotland to discover its history. You should only listen to it if you like road trips, crumbling castles, and Scottish accents, which I do.
They spend a lot of time uncovering the “real” Scotland and include a whole section on porridge. Apparently, innkeepers would make a huge pot in the morning, pour the leftovers in a drawer where they’d solidify, then cut cold slices for people who needed a fast afternoon meal. Also, you’re only allowed to stir your porridge clockwise. If you reverse the direction, evil spirits will get into your breakfast. Unfortunately, I have stirred my porridge counter-clockwise a couple of times and that’s probably why I fell out of my doorway so hard I bounced off the stairs and landed in the yard. Twice.
You’re also only supposed to use three ingredients: Scottish oats, water, and a pinch of salt. And maybe some heavy cream for serving. People are very adamant about no extra nonsense in their porridge.
It’s been said, “No true Scotsman puts sugar in their porridge.” In fact, there’s a logical fallacy named after this strict adherence to porridge practices. It’s called “The No True Scotsman” fallacy.
A fallacy is an error in reasoning that undermines the logic of an argument. This one goes like this:
Person A states all x are y. Person B states an example showing that not all x are y. Person A states that not all TRUE x are y. I get it. We love standards. We love knowing who is in and who is out. We use this line of reasoning all the time.
“Real men don’t ________.”
“A true Seahawks fan would never ____________.”
“A good mom always _________.”
Hang with me for a second and fill in this blank:
No true disciple of Jesus would ever _______________.
Think about it. Fill that space with whatever comes to mind.
What did you fill in?
Maybe…
“No true disciple would ever be pro-choice.”
“No true disciple would ever vote for Trump.”
“No true disciple would ever support Black Lives Matter.”
“No true disciple would ever be anti-mask.”
“No true disciple would ever storm the Capitol.”
“No true disciple denies the cries of the oppressed.”
“No true disciple is for socialism.”
Or maybe...no true disciple would ever deny knowing Jesus? No true disciple would ever abandon Jesus while he prayed alone in the Garden of Gethsemane? No true disciple would ever have heard the words “get behind me, Satan” directed at him by Jesus?
By the time we get to the end of chapter 26 in the book of Matthew, everything in that last paragraph is true of Peter. So is Peter a true disciple?
Of course, he is. In Matthew 4 Jesus tells him to drop the nets he’s using to catch fish, follow him, and he will make him a fisher of people.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Would Jesus toss a statement like that at just anybody? Or only someone who is a true follower, a true friend, a TRUE disciple?
When Jesus sits down at the last supper with his disciples, he turns to them and says, “You will all become deserters because of me this night.”
Peter jumps up and proclaims that even if everyone else deserts Jesus, he never will. And Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
And he does. They all let Jesus down. They fall asleep in the garden when an anguished Jesus asks them to pray with him. Judas turns him over to the guards to be arrested. And Peter, who had followed the party that arrested Jesus as far as the courtyard outside the house of the High Priest, waits outside as Jesus is accused, hit, and spit on. He just sits there, waiting, and when three different people say they’ve either seen him or recognize his accent, he denies knowing Jesus at all.
What would you have done? What would someone who truly loved Jesus do?
It is easy and feels empowering to say, “No true Christian would ever deny Jesus.” But, in truth, all of us eventually do. We all proclaim our love and devotion on a Sunday morning and have jacked it up by bedtime.
Matthew 25:35-40 says “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’ And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ “
We have all overlooked the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, or the stranger. None of us can deny that we’ve all sinned. We’ve turned Jesus away. We’ve been faced with a choice and said, “I don’t know him.”
But here’s the hope. At the end of Matthew, when Jesus has been resurrected and is meeting with the eleven remaining disciples, he commissions them. He sends them out to make more disciples. They are not excluded from his mission because of their failures and choices but included because of his grace.
John chapter 21 shows us that he was even more thorough with Peter. Just as Peter had denied him three times, Jesus gave him three opportunities to proclaim his love, asking, “Peter, do you love me?” And each time Peter replied that he did, Jesus said, “Feed my lambs,” then, “watch over my sheep,” then, “Feed my sheep.”
There is nothing that God can’t restore and none of us are beyond the need for restoration. We can spend time defining who is in and who is out, or recognize that we were all out until Jesus called us in.
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