March 1, 2022

 

Who Do You Exclude?

 

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) – John 4:9

 

Would you have asked her for a drink? Would you even have spoken to her? Or would you have turned away because of her reputation? Would you have cast her aside without even trying to know her?

 

The other day a woman admitted that her Sunday School class is a clique. It excludes people. It’s self-involved. No excuses. It’s just how it is.

 

Another woman spoke of her young daughter who is being bullied. She is heartbroken and yet unable to fully protect her beautiful child from the ugliness of others.

 

Does anyone see a connection here? When we exclude people, badmouth them, cast them aside as unworthy to be a part of our group, our children are watching and learning how to behave. Sure, there are always exceptions but don’t fall too hard on that old excuse. Look at your own behavior.

 

Then look at Jesus. Have you ever noticed that Jesus didn’t hang out with the wealthy? The religious elite hated Him. He spoke truth that made Him even more unpopular. He wasn’t focused on acceptance. He was focused on saving the lost. He ministered to the hungry and the desperate and those the rest of the world had cast aside.

 

God’s always done that. He’s a God that looks at the heart and not the pocketbook. He’s the God that Hagar declared saw her. He sees those who are cast aside, those who aren’t included, those who are bullied and broken. So why do we think it’s okay to exclude the very people Jesus came to save?

The Samaritan woman was an outcast. She was of mixed race, had been married numerous times and was living with yet another man. She’s the one most of us would have gossiped about and excluded from our gatherings. Not Jesus. And because of Him, her life changed and so did the lives of so many others who believed her story and sought Jesus for themselves.

 

The next time you get ready to exclude someone, invite them to join you instead. Don’t just say you love Jesus. Actually be His hands and feet.

 

November 3, 2018

Would You Help?

“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” – Luke 10:33

Most of us are familiar with this story. Jesus told us how the priest and the Levite saw the victim of a brutal attack and just kept on walking. The Samaritan, the one who knew rejection, was the one who stopped to help.

We all know the point of the story. We are to love others as ourselves, to show kindness and compassion to everyone. We miss that Jesus meant just that: everyone. Not just those who look and believe like us.

The Samaritans were half-Jewish and half-Gentile. The Jewish people wanted no part of them. They were all about purity in their bloodline. Do you remember the woman at the well? She was surprised that Jesus would talk to her because she was a Samaritan.

I wonder if the Samaritan was able to show such kindness because he knew what it was like to be rejected. I wonder if perhaps he helped because he understood what it felt like to be cast aside. I wonder if his actions changed the man he helped.

The hard truth is that those who have suffered greatly sometimes have a greater compassion for others. Those who have had their lives destroyed are more likely to show mercy on those who are experiencing the same. We reach out and embrace those who are hurting because we, too, have known deep hurt.

I’ve heard all those sayings about how God breaks us in order to remake us. There’s some truth in that. How could we possibly know how blessed we are if we never experience true heartbreak?

Please note, too, that it wasn’t the religious leaders who helped. It wasn’t those who thought of themselves as men of God who gave of themselves. Did they consider themselves too important? Were they worried they would be defiled and kept from the temple for a time? Did they truly have no compassion on someone who was in such sad shape?

The Samaritan didn’t just offer a prayer. He didn’t thrust a few coins in the man’s hands and go on his way. He gave of himself. He tended the man himself. He paid for him to stay in a hotel. He sacrificed his time and his money to see to the needs of a total stranger.

Would you have done the same? Probably not. Most of us would have walked on by. We might have called the police. We might have said a prayer or offered money. But we wouldn’t have stopped. We wouldn’t have gotten involved.

I know. There’s a real danger in our world. Sometimes people die when all they’re trying to do is good. Therein lies the true question: How much are we willing to risk to follow Jesus?

Jesus said to love others as ourselves. He didn’t say to only love those who look like us. He didn’t say to only love those we actually like. He didn’t say to love those who see the world as we do. Jesus said to love everyone.

Can we do that? Can you do it? Can I? It’s not an easy road. But, then, following Jesus was never meant to be easy.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Jesus Offers Living Water

“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water?” -- John 4:11

How easy it is to doubt! Oh, we believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We’re just not so certain He can or will save us from our mess. Whatever that might be.

Doubt has got to be one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. We look around and we can’t see a way out. We can’t see how Jesus could possibly fix whatever is going on. We forget that He fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish.

This woman was a Samaritan, an outcast, someone Jews refused to associate with. She was amazed that this man, this rabbi, this Jesus would speak to her. And then He offered her living water. She didn’t understand. How could it be any better than the water Jacob left for his people?

Jesus explained and still she didn’t understand. How could He offer living water so that she would never be thirsty again? Aren’t we that way? We don’t understand how something can be so we doubt. We try to fix it on our own. We fall into despair. We fail to believe.

But Jesus knows things about us. He knew the Samaritan woman had had five husbands and lived with a man she wasn’t married to. She was amazed. Jesus knows all of our secrets, good and bad. He knows the deep desires of our hearts and the fears that rest within us. He understands.

What are you afraid of today? What are the secret desires of your heart? What do you think is impossible? What are you doubting Jesus for today?

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah. She wanted to believe. She did believe. Sort of. She left her water jar and went back to the village to tell others of this man she’d just met. People streamed from the village to see this man who might be the Messiah.

Jesus looked out and saw the fields of people, ripe for harvest. People who hungered for living water, for a secure haven, for a promise of forever. People like you and me. We all hunger with a yearning only Jesus can fill. No possessions, no job, no people, can fill that empty spot deep inside. Those things are merely misguided attempts to fill ourselves with living water. But only Jesus can do that.

We doubt what we cannot see. We fear what we cannot understand. Our faith wavers when we look around and see no way out. Faith. Jesus offers us living water and still we hesitate. What are we waiting for? When will we finally believe, understand and trust?

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Grace Offered To Everyone

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said,

“All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!” -- John 8:7

A few years ago a woman at the church I was attending had an affair. She became pregnant. Her actions destroyed her marriage and put her teenage son in the untenable situation of defending her and living with the consequences of her actions.

But she chose to follow a different path, one that led away from her sin. She kept the baby and vowed to bring that child up in church, knowing Jesus and being surrounded by Christians. Some members of the church viewed her decision differently.

The Sunday for baby dedications loomed. She wanted to have her baby dedicated to God. There was no reason not to. She had sinned, not her child. The preacher agreed. The chairman of the deacons strongly disagreed. In fact, he left the church because he felt so strongly about this issue.

He forgot that Jesus offers grace to everyone, including this woman. She’d repented. She’s changed her life course. And she was determined not to repeat past mistakes. Her church family should have stood with her, not bickered over whether she deserved their forgiveness.

Then Jesus stood up again and said her,

“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said,

“Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” -- John 8:10-11

A year or so later, this man had a change of heart. He wanted to return to the church and the members welcomed him, even restoring him to a position as a deacon. I don’t know if his heart had truly changed but he missed his church and wanted his three boys to be taught by people he knew.

One son, not too far out of high school, met a girl and, well, you probably know where this is going. They did get married and a short time later their baby was born. Grace. Jesus offers grace to everyone.

So this hard-hearted man, determined to condemn a woman for a sin she couldn’t undo, himself faced such a situation with his child. It was a lesson we’d all do well to learn.

Helping Others

"Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Luke 10:37b

This quote ends the parable Jesus told about the Good Samaritan. Most Christians are familiar with the story. Robbers attacked a man as he traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest came along and, seeing the man, passed by on the other side of the road. A Levite did the same. It was the Samaritan -- a mixed race viewed as inferior by the Jews -- who stopped to help. He bandaged the man's wounds, placed the victim on his own donkey, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day the Samaritan paid the innkeeper to look after the man, promising to reimburse the innkeeper for any extra expense.

The priest and the Levite looked down from their lofty perch as God's chosen people and viewed the Samaritan as inferior to them. Yet it was the Samaritan who showed the kindness and compassion that is a mark of Christianity.

Our country is in a heated debate over health care reform. It pits the Republicans -- who frequently claim the Christian mantle for themselves -- against the Liberal -- and supposedly immoral -- Democrats. The leading industrial nation in the world can't afford to provide health care for the working poor. How sad is that? How can anyone claim to be a Christian and yet cross to the other side of the road and walk on by?

I don't have any answers when it comes to health care reform beyond the obvious need. It's way past time for the Republicans to get off their high road and get down in the trenches to help Democrats formulate a workable plan that would make Jesus proud. Jesus would take care of the working poor. Will we?