Things that should bother me more…
As a Christian & a human being, I am growing in my concern for justice issues throughout the world. I feel that most of my life, I have been oblivious to the needs of others, who lack some of the most simple things in life which I largely take for granted.
While this has escaped my concern for so long, I am actually grateful for some of the advances in technology & art. Example: I can no longer plead ignorance to the fact that right now there are around 300,000 children being coerced, forced or kidnapped to participate in armed conflicts throughout the world as child soldiers, most of them in Africa alone, since I went & saw Blood Diamond. I can’t say that I have no awareness that entire people group’s are having their simple rights as human beings trampled upon, because I spent over $150 to go see U2 in concert. The technology & art of today has made social concern and awareness an inescapable reality.
But what do I do about it?
Well, Jesus answered this question nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus taught a parable called “The Good Samaritan.” Perhaps you’ve grown up with this story being told to you by well-intentioned parents & teachers as a “why-you-should-be-nice-to-people” story meets lecture. But, that is a sanitized understanding of what Jesus was communicating.
You see, in this Parable, there is a man who has been robbed, beaten & abandoned along a very dangerous road, miles away from any form of help. He was deprived of his material possessions, depleted of his physical strength & means to fend for himself, left alone in a hostile & distant environment.
Now along this road, three different men pass by him. The first two we are told are Jewish - one a priest, the other an assistant to the priests. Both of these men went out of their way to avoid him who had been left for dead. The next person to come along is a Samaritan man, who attended to the fallen man. Jesus tells us that he not only “came to where he was,” but bandaged his wounds, put him on his donkey, took him to a hotel & took care of him by paying for his stay & any other needs he would have.
Jesus looks at the crowd around him and asks, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell?” In Jesus’ day, Jews and Samaritans were as close to each other as oil & water - it didn’t happen. Their attitude toward each other was one of animosity, not neighborliness.
So what Jesus is communicating through this parable is really worldview shattering.
It isn’t enough to be a nice, good person. This is not what Jesus, or Christianity is supposed to be about. All who would take up the name “Christian” are to be about embracing the “other” in their plight, situation, station in life, in order to bring them into the pathway of God’s grace & redemption in the person & work of Jesus Christ.
To you Christians out there reading this & are starting to get fidgety, this is not a reworking of the “social gospel”; its just an articulation of what Jesus does for all who would trust in Him.
He is the one who takes on the plight, situation, & station of those who were His enemies (Colossians 1:21-23). He is the one who pursues & redeems them through his own self-sacrifice & condescension. He is the one who ultimately inconvenienced himself in order to bring his people into a renewed relationship with God.
I’m sure the two priests who left the Samaritan had good reasons to do so, even if it was self-preservation. But according to Jesus, being a true neighbor to those around you means you take on their concerns at your own expense. It isn’t enough to go about your day when you see the plight of your fellow man around you. What’s even more staggering is that Jesus says that this the key to the fulfilling what God wants of his people - both new & old. The summation of God’s “law” is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength and to love your neighbor as yourself,” (Matthew 22:34-40).
If this is true, and I believe it to be, then how will you & I respond to our “neighbor” in this new Global Village we live in?
It isn’t a matter of should we, but are we, and how?
As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Hescel said “to be religious is to be impatient with injustices, a breathless impatience with injustice, a hysteria about injustices.”
we ourselves witness continually acts of injustice, manifestations of hypocrisy, falsehood, outrage, misery, but we rarely get indignant or overly excited. To the prophets a minor, commonplace sort of injustice assumes almost cosmic proportions.
thanks for posting this. it was a wonderful break down of the passage! rawk!
This post takes on even more significance in light of the Cyclone that hit Burma, and now the earthquake in China:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7397489.stm
It strikes me as both sad and ironic that this follows in the wake of protests and controversy over China’s hosting of the Olympics despite their abysmal record of “loving their neighbor…” scuse me, their own people.
The Chinese government wasn’t even going to delay the Olympic torch for a moment of silence if it weren’t for thousands of protesters demanding it via global media. So tragic…
On a related note, this is awesome:
http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/strategically-fighting-global-poverty/
Eugene Cho, a pastor our of Seattle, is spearheading a non-profit in response to this exact issue. It’s incredible how relevant and timely posts like this are.
“If this is true, and I believe it to be, then how will you & I respond to our “neighbor” in this new Global Village we live in?”
Saying ’social gospel’ actually is not a ’sin’ nor is it saying a ‘bad word’ - the gospel is very social and it’s focus needs to be.
I agree 110% with the post - faith is about being used - not about somethng we hide. We need to live a life that helps others in our local arena and afar (if we can).
This is actually my biggest beef with Christianity and the church - the use of finances. I think they are horrendously mis-managed and do very little to help ‘our neighbor’. This is a pattern I have seen. Now some do help - but the pattern I see - this is not quite the case all the time…and what kind of help?
Salvation - is about helping another person - as Brad pointed out - like how Jesus did it for us - are we not expected to do this also? If Jesus saved us - then in turn - we shoudl be out saving others - and this does mean in a very social way (ie: feeding the poor, helping those in need, etc).
I do this when and wherever I can - for friends, family, people in my community, and even started a local group to do this for others (I called it the Action Group). I see Jesus pointing our faith into action - to living as a ’salvific people’ - which means - we also save others…
Now Christianity is not too comfortable with the idea of ’saving others’ in some physical way - we seem to believe we can seperate spiritual salvation from the physical - which is a great act of faith - but it’s also false. Humanity, even if it consisted of 3 parts (body, soul, and spirit) - are not seperate parts of the person - it is the person. We always need to address the human first line of defense - the physical - help the physical aspects then we will move towards faith.
We can help a world away - I think also think when churches can do this - awesome…but let’s not forget our own backyards people. There are problems in our cities and towns also - and we need to develop local programs to help people move from impoverished to stable - this is also the gospel. Most of us won;t touch our inner-cities - but fact is - this is where some healing is also needed.
If Jesus is calling us to a life of loving the poor, by being his hands, eyes, feet, then surely we are demonstrating a life that Christ calls us to. If that’s the case, then isn’t acting like this actually a critical part OF the gospel, and not in addition to the gospel. We love because we are loved, we don’t split telling the gospel with showing the gospel.
Duncan, I think you definitely hit the nail on the head. We think of it as something “above and beyond the call of duty,” but in actuality, it is the unavoidable consequence of belief. All great comments, guys…
Duncan and Societyvs,
I’ll echo Brad and say really great thoughts.
I totally agree that “action”/”deed” is a natural consequence of the Gospel having an effect on our lives. I would also say though that we don’t really “show” the gospel without also “telling” the Gospel. The gospel has at its heart not only repairing life where it is broken, but also reconciling the world to God. This places man in both positions of victim and responsible agent.
I think doing Gospel work needs to keep both of these together - not in a bait & switch tactic (i.e. service in order to share the Gospel) - but because the Gospel encompasses both to the exclusion of neither one.
“I would also say though that we don’t really “show” the gospel without also “telling” the Gospel” (Chris)
It’s true - even a sign of Jesus’s mission was ‘preaching the gospel to the poor’. I think there needs to exist relationship building along with our compassion for others needs.
Now I am not referring to sharing the ‘4 spiritual laws’ or what not - but real and genuine conversation with the other (the one in need of compassion). I am overly concerned with that ‘type’ of conversion though - I am more conerned that person find a good community of people to mentor them into the realization of greater abilties and ideas. The good news is they are accepted and that’s what we need to share.