I've been reading the three Johns recently. I finished them up the other day and decided to read them again. I think maybe I shall thrice go through them. But, this morning, some very familiar verses in chapter three stood out to me.
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brothers in need, but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth." (v16-18)
...we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. Who is my brother? I ask this and immediately think of the story of the good Samaritan. An expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus prompts him to answer his own question and the man says, "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'." The man then asks Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"
It is interesting that after telling the parable, Jesus asks, "Which of these do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" Rather than directly answering the man's question of who his neighbor was, Jesus turns it around and asks the expert to whom he will be a neighbor. The expert answers, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus says,
"Go and do likewise."
Our brothers, our neighbors, are those who are need of mercy. We are all in need of mercy, are we not? I won’t lie, I don’t really like the definition Jesus gives me. There are a lot of people I can think if right now that I do not want to consider my neighbors. I want to be able to pick and choose who I would like to include in my family. But that isn’t the way it works. I mean, I seriously doubt that the Samaritan was stoked to pick up some bloody, stinking wretch from the side of the road, walk so the stranger could have his ride, and then use his own money to pay for the man’s care.
These are the situations I like to avoid. The really messy ones. “Go and do likewise.” Really, Jesus? Do I have to?
The Samaritan believed something I have yet to fully accept. The battered man was not by any means a friend by societal standards. He was an enemy. He was his oppressor. Maybe directly, most likely, indirectly. Nonetheless, the Samaritan saw past the rigid structure of his culture, past the lies of division and inequality, and straight into the eyes of a fellow child of the Most High. This man knew that God had ascribed value to this man just as God had ascribed value to him.
Who is my brother? Who is my sister? Do I really believe that all people are as valuable as I am? Do I believe that I am valuable?
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
i've gotta use it.
Twice this week, this has happened to me. While working intently on a paper in a local coffee shop, I've had the urge to utilize the "wash room" for a while...but, I've got to complete this paragraph. Finally, my body goes into high alert and with it my brain and sense of pride -- finishing a sentence at the price of walking around the rest of the day with wet pants is not worth it. So, I get up and try to calmly make my way to the bathroom, nervous smile plastered to my face. Inevitably, someone stops me to chat. I squirm, trying to be polite as they finish their extended greeting.
Then I'm there. I've made it. Almost. Something doesn't look quite right. Toilet paper is dissolving in the bottom of the potty. I'm suspicious. I decide to flush the toilet first -- just to make sure. Bad idea. Yep. The water in the toilet does not recede. Instead, the bowl begins to fill at an alarming rate.
Note to self: In these circumstances, just adhere to the rule about "if its yellow, let it mellow..." Lindsey. Just pee in the toilet. DON'T FLUSH IT FIRST.
On both occasions, I have been lucky -- the water stopped JUST in time. You know, at that point where just enough water is sloshing out of the toilet to get your shoes a little wet.
What is one to do? I mean, if you go out and tell the baristas that "someone else clogged the toilet and now its overflowing..." do you REALLY think they're going to believe that? Besides, these people are my friends...I don't want them to deal with it. The worst thing to do is just leave it. That's really a jerk thing to do. That's why I'm in this mess in the first place. So, I end up standing over the toilet, plunger in hand, obscenities trying to escape through my pursed lips.
...by now, I'm about to burst.
one way or another, we collide. my decisions and yours inevitably affect the lives of others.
Then I'm there. I've made it. Almost. Something doesn't look quite right. Toilet paper is dissolving in the bottom of the potty. I'm suspicious. I decide to flush the toilet first -- just to make sure. Bad idea. Yep. The water in the toilet does not recede. Instead, the bowl begins to fill at an alarming rate.
Note to self: In these circumstances, just adhere to the rule about "if its yellow, let it mellow..." Lindsey. Just pee in the toilet. DON'T FLUSH IT FIRST.
On both occasions, I have been lucky -- the water stopped JUST in time. You know, at that point where just enough water is sloshing out of the toilet to get your shoes a little wet.
What is one to do? I mean, if you go out and tell the baristas that "someone else clogged the toilet and now its overflowing..." do you REALLY think they're going to believe that? Besides, these people are my friends...I don't want them to deal with it. The worst thing to do is just leave it. That's really a jerk thing to do. That's why I'm in this mess in the first place. So, I end up standing over the toilet, plunger in hand, obscenities trying to escape through my pursed lips.
...by now, I'm about to burst.
one way or another, we collide. my decisions and yours inevitably affect the lives of others.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
hope
Yesterday, I heard the news about Allison. She was 21 years old. I barely knew her. It has been almost a year since I last saw her -- gorgeous curly brown hair, big brown eyes, and a smile that covered half of her face.
When Katie told me yesterday, she said, "If only she could have just seen some little bit of hope..."
In The Secret Life of Bees, there is a woman named May who is a "little off," but is this way because she feels the burdens of the world so deeply. It is said many times that she carries the weight of the world. In her backyard, she and her sisters have constructed her very own "wailing wall" where she goes with those burdens, writes them on a piece of paper, and tucks it beneath the stones. In one scene, after she hears some particularly disturbing news about a boy dear to her, she goes to the wall, in shock. After some time had passed, her sisters began to wonder why she had been gone so long. Not finding her at the wall, they begin to search for her, eventually finding her in the creek behind their home, with a rock on her chest. Later, they find that she has left a note. In it, she tells them that the pain became to great to bear.
I was reading Lamentations 3 earlier. We like to pull verses 21-24 out a lot. And for good reason, they're incredible. But rarely do we consider the rest of the passage. Those verses are only really incredible because of the context they're in. I mean, Jeremiah was really "going through." "he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light," "though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayers," "he drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver," "I have become the laughingstock of all peoples." "He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'My endurance has perished so has my hope from the Lord.'"
hopelessness.
But, he goes on to say,
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul,
therefore I will hope in him.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good for one to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
The truth is, apart from the steadfast love of the Lord, there is no hope. But with him, every moment of our lives has the potential of being saturated with a hopeful expectation of a life free of the burdens of this world, one in which we are all liberated, one in which we are all at peace, one in which we are all ALIVE.
hold fast to that hope. it's all we've got.
When Katie told me yesterday, she said, "If only she could have just seen some little bit of hope..."
In The Secret Life of Bees, there is a woman named May who is a "little off," but is this way because she feels the burdens of the world so deeply. It is said many times that she carries the weight of the world. In her backyard, she and her sisters have constructed her very own "wailing wall" where she goes with those burdens, writes them on a piece of paper, and tucks it beneath the stones. In one scene, after she hears some particularly disturbing news about a boy dear to her, she goes to the wall, in shock. After some time had passed, her sisters began to wonder why she had been gone so long. Not finding her at the wall, they begin to search for her, eventually finding her in the creek behind their home, with a rock on her chest. Later, they find that she has left a note. In it, she tells them that the pain became to great to bear.
I was reading Lamentations 3 earlier. We like to pull verses 21-24 out a lot. And for good reason, they're incredible. But rarely do we consider the rest of the passage. Those verses are only really incredible because of the context they're in. I mean, Jeremiah was really "going through." "he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light," "though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayers," "he drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver," "I have become the laughingstock of all peoples." "He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'My endurance has perished so has my hope from the Lord.'"
hopelessness.
But, he goes on to say,
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, says my soul,
therefore I will hope in him.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good for one to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
The truth is, apart from the steadfast love of the Lord, there is no hope. But with him, every moment of our lives has the potential of being saturated with a hopeful expectation of a life free of the burdens of this world, one in which we are all liberated, one in which we are all at peace, one in which we are all ALIVE.
hold fast to that hope. it's all we've got.
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