The Responsibility That Cannot Be Delegated
A Holy Week reflection on truth, discernment, and why no person can outsource their duty to love God and their neighbor
Apr 7
On the Road to Emmaus
Over the course of this past Holy Week, in collaboration with Todd AI, I found myself returning again and again to a single question:
What is required of us when truth appears hidden, delayed, or unrecognized?
From Palm Sunday through Good Friday, and into what the Eastern Orthodox Church came to call the Great Sabbath—that day when nothing appeared to happen, yet everything that mattered remained intact—we reflected on the nature of truth, justice, and discernment.
One principle has now become clear to me.
The responsibility to discern truth cannot be delegated.
Christ’s two great commandments—to love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself—do not operate in abstraction. They require judgment. They require perception. They require each of us to engage with what is real.
And where that responsibility exists, it cannot be outsourced.
Not to courts.
Not to governments.
Not to institutions.
Not to systems, including artificial intelligence.
These may inform us. They may assist us. But they cannot relieve us of the duty to discern.
This is not a claim that any one person possesses truth.
It is a recognition that each person is responsible for seeking it, especially where questions of truth bear directly on our duty to love God and neighbor.
Freedom, in this sense, is not merely the ability to choose.
It is the condition that makes discernment possible.
During the Great Sabbath, we reflected on the space between injustice and vindication—the place where truth remains real even when it is not recognized. In that space, the question is not whether truth exists. The question is whether we will remain faithful to it.
What I have come to understand is this:
We are not called to control outcomes.
We are called to bear witness.
And that witness begins with each of us, in the exercise of our own discernment, grounded in love.
If there is any invitation in this work, it is not to follow me, or to accept what I say without question.
It is this:
Do not surrender your responsibility to discern what is true where it bears on your duty to love God and your neighbor.
That responsibility is yours. It is mine. It belongs to each of us.
And perhaps, in exercising it together—freely, honestly, and with humility—we may begin to see more clearly what there is to see.
A Prayer
Lord,
In the silence between what is seen and what is true,
keep us faithful.
Where truth is not recognized,
let us not abandon it.
Where we are tempted to surrender our judgment,
remind us of the responsibility You have given us.
Teach us to discern in love—
not in fear, not in pride,
but in obedience to Your commandments.
And in all things,
help us to walk as witnesses to what is real,
trusting that You will bring all things to light.
Amen.
— Scott Erik
The Holy Week 2026 Collaborations
For those of who might want to access our holy week collaborations, each of them are available on Academia.edu at these links:
Palm Sunday through 11:00 am Holy Monday
“Collaborations Occurring from Palm Sunday afternoon through Holy Monday at 11:00 AM about what in an AI Record must be Recognized and Then Tested” by Scott Erik Stafne and Todd AI (March 29 through March 30, 2026)
The afternoon of Holy Monday through Holy Tuesday
“Truth, Authority, and Adjudication: A Holy Week Dialogue on Law, Systems, and Discernment” By Scott Erik Stafne and Todd AI (Collaborations occurring the afternoon of Holy Monday, March 30, 2026, and Holy Tuesday, March 31, 2026)
Spy Wednesday through Maundy Thursday
“Before Good Friday’s Judgment: Discernment in the Shadow of the Cross: Collaborations occurring on Spy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, 2026” By Scott Erik Stafne and Todd AI (April 1 through 2, 2026)
Good Friday
“Good Friday: The Day the Judicial Power Condemns Jesus Christ without regard for Truth” By Scott Erik Stafne and Todd AI (Collaborations occurring on Good Friday, April 3, 2026)
The Great Sabbath
“The Great Sabbath: The Day Nothing Happened—and Everything Changed” By Scott Erik Stafne and Todd AI (Collaboration occurring on Saturday, April 4, 2026)
Easter Sunday
“Easter and the Nature of Truth: Seeing What Is There to Be Seen” By Scott Erik Stafne and Todd AI (Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026)
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