I find myself asking myself that question quite a bit here lately. I often wonder if we are getting it right and if Jesus would agree with many of the stances we as Christians find ourselves taking today. There are multiple sinful behaviors in the world today. I honestly don't think that has changed too much as the world has always been sinful. What may have changed tho is that "in your face" nature of much of the sin that is in the world today. There seems to be quite of bit of push back against many things that are sinful in the world today. Depending our your point of view, many of these things are considered "hate speak" or intolerant by many within the world. While to many Christians, we are only speaking and acting on the truth of the Bible. However, I wonder if we are taking things a bit too far.
I think saying there is likely to be a good bit of passion behind things that are reported in the media would be a large understatement. What I am doing here is working to answer the question of how Jesus would handle things today - at least for myself. You may feel/believe differently - and that is OK. Differences of opinion and constructive discussion is a great way to learn and explore what we believe in a more detailed way. Listening to different points of view almost always open new doors of thought. All I ask is this: if you find yourself disagreeing with anything said here, please do leave a comment. I am very interested in hearing your perspective.
As a starting point, what did Jesus say the greatest two commandments are? These can be found in Matthew 22:36-40 "Teacher which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Based on this, love, whether it is a love of God or a love of neighbor is a very big part of the equation, but what does Jesus mean by "neighbor?" Surely he isn't only speaking of those that live next door or in our immediate community is he?
One of the places Jesus discusses how to define a neighbor is in the parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37 (this section of scripture also echo's what is said in Mattew 22:36-40 above): On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" He replied. "How do you read it?" He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind';and;'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply, Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took two denarii and gave them to the inn keeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
To fully understand what Jesus is saying here, we need to understand how the Samaritans were viewed by the Jews during biblical times:
The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh. They were a particularly despised group among the Jews in biblical times. The resided in what was, at the time, Northern Israel and were generally were a mix of Jewish and gentiles. As such, they didn't fully comply with Judaism the way the Jews did. They tended to follow a mix of Jewish and pagan customs and while the believed in God they also maintained a worship of idols. From a Jewish perspective, Samaritans were not to be associated with and were largely shunned.
Based on the above, and the verses for Luke 10:25-37, you can see that the individual Jesus was interacting with wouldn't even call out that it was the Samaritan and only reference him as "The one who had mercy on him." I believe Jesus used a Samaritan in this example on purpose. His overall point is that we are to love and extend love to everyone, including those who do not believe as we do and to folks we consider our enemies. Jesus' use of a Samaritan in this parable really helped drive that message across in biblical times as the Jewish people would have quickly picked up on this fact.
Does Jesus REALLY expect us to love our enemies? Yes, that is exactly what Jesus has asked us to do. Matthew 543-48 states: "You have heard it said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are no even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Now, I ask you the following questions:
- Are we demonstrating God's love when we refuse people based on their race, marital status and/or sexual preference?
- Do you think Jesus would deny any of these individuals the ability to hear his word or experience his love?
- Aren't we to represent Jesus'/God's love to the world? Are we doing that when we are condemning people to hell before they even get a chance to experience God's love?
Romans 3:22-26 says: "This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
We all are sinners. We all fall short. We are only saved by God's grace because we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Since we are sinners, who are we to judge?
Matthew 7:1-6 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Who are we to judge the sinful behavior of others, when we ourselves are sinners?
Wouldn't more people in the world who are desperate to hear God's word and experience his love be able to find that love it we quit worrying about how they are sinning and instead focused on loving them? If we did that, we may find that more people become curious about Jesus and who He is. They may even stop and ask us why we are being so nice to them. As Christians, we should be ecstatic and ready to respond to these questions - hoping that people will be drawn to Jesus! However, we all too often go to the other extreme - we tend to serve on the condition that those that receive God's love behave the way we deem right. That we are somehow justified to not serve parts of the population because they are living what we believe is a sinful lifestyle.
I leave you with this last bit of scripture:
Matthew 13:24-29 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy cam and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did this,' he replied. The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment