On John the Baptist
What started out as a summary of message given at my church turned into a mini-sermonette (could I make that any more diminuitive?). Anyway, I’ve posted it here.
After hearing Dawson’s message on Luke 3:1-14, I thought it’s no wonder there were people who wanted John’s head on a platter. I don’t like being told I’m wrong or coming up short either. I don’t like it because they think they have it together. I don’t like it because that person assumes they can know what’s inside of me.
But they don’t know. They don’t know that I feel the Grand Canyon-sized gap between what I believe and how I act. They don’t know that I feel in my gut that I’m supposed to help that woman with the cardboard sign on the exit ramp to the mall. I tell myself she’ll just use the money for a drunken Smirnoff binge. They don’t know that I’m aware it’s a cop out and if I really wanted to help her I’d offer to take her and her husband to lunch (or volunteer at Food Bank, or serve meals at the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission or… but time costs me more).
I want to say that I struggle with this every day. That I stretch into the global arena this idea of giving up one of my two tunics for someone who has none (Spring ethnic cleansing in Darfur anyone?). But the truth is, left on my own, I think more about the next iMac I want to buy or whether I’ll get to eat a spicy tuna handroll this week.
You know how the thing that bothers you in other people is many times the thing that you least like about yourself. Maybe that was true of John too. Maybe he knew very well how a soul can be crushed under its own mediocrity. Maybe that’s why he confronted people the way he did, anything less wouldn’t have worked. He knows that I need someone to wake me from my latte-induced coma, so that I can live my life in the full and generous way that Jesus did.
Smalls says:
April 20th, 2007 at 8:09 am
It is interesting to read this. I think I knew this about you, but it is always good to be reminded now and again. I struggle with some of the same things, but the bigger struggle for me is what John did. I remember when you described my gift as “the gift of pointing fingers” It has always stuck with me. From that point on, I have been trying to find a way to use my gift in a less threatening way. It actually makes me stop and ponder what my next words will be, and when is a good time to say them.
However, no matter how hard I try and how hard I pray, I find the first reaction is always self defense. I guess it is the way of human nature. But if I let it sit with them, and they are able to chew on it thoroughly. They eventually digest it and can openly talk about it. They do not always agree with me, but they are less defensive, and can see my point a lot better.
The ones I have helped with my “gift” have truely gotten to know me and realize I am not out to condem them. They actually love me for the things I say. They understand how hard it is for me to open my mouth and take the chance of hurting my friends for the moment. I hate it when my friends get angry with me. The next step is always the hardest and that is to back off and wait for them to come to me. It is an anguishing task.
I often use the verse “open rebuke is better then love carefully concealed.” I think it is more to make me feel better then to make them feel better. So the next time someone points something out to you, which more often then not is the obvious, try to understand that you don’t know what is going on inside them at that moment either. They probably just haven’t figured out how to say it, and even if they did, you will still hear it in an irritated defense mode. I’ve practiced a lot and gotten feedback as well, and it is still hard. I also try to think of Nathan when he had to confront David. He is a good example too.
OH, by the way, you should talk to Jes, Molly’s husband, about the people with the signs. You might be surprised when you find out the truth. I don’t give them money at all. I have to really feel the spirit pushing me to give before I do. May sound selfish, or too supernatural for you, but it’s how I do it. I once saw a guy with a sign that said “please help, very hungry” I had just gotten a large pepperoni pizza and was bringing it home to eat. I pulled over and offered it to him, showed him it was whole, and that I had just picked it up and he said no thanks. However,if I had given him the twelve dollars I used to pay for the pizza he would have taken it and said God bless. He wasn’t hungry, he wanted money. A truely hungry man would have jumped at a fresh hot pizza all to himself. Talk to Jes, you’ll be surprised.
OK, my last thing, you should add a link to your church at the side under general links.
kenny says:
April 20th, 2007 at 9:41 am
For me, I’m pretty sure I’m never going to feel okay about this kind of thing (nicely described at ‘grand-canyon sized’) until I’ve given over my life to the poor in a manner that makes people, particularly my parents, think I’m insane.
Thanks for spreading the spirit of the Baptist.
Smalls says:
April 21st, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Is it possible too that unless we are surrounded by the poor, we are desensatized to them? Think about how you felt when you came back from Slovakia each summer. It sure made me more aware of the poor and how spoiled we are. Living in the inner-city of Milwaukee did the same for me too. Kenny mentioned being thought of as insane, I dealt with that on a regular basis from my parents, and my close friends. Not to mention the abandon I felt from my friends fear of the neighborhood I was in. It can be pretty lonely when you get to that state of insanity.
Smalls says:
April 28th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I just read this one again, mostly because there was nothing new to read, but I want you to know
I don’t think I have ever “had it together.” As a matter of fact, I know I haven’t.
Miss you and Susan. Hope you are doing well.
smalls
nichole says:
May 1st, 2007 at 11:07 pm
beautifully stated!
jose says:
May 7th, 2007 at 10:05 am
thanks for responding everyone. i’ve been responding to you in my head for the past couple of weeks. maybe i’ll put it down on paper soon.