Am I my brother's keeper? Where do I begin and end in relationship to caring for those less fortunate, those afflicted with diseases they did not ask for, and those who lack because they won't work? The story is told of a man who comes to his pastor and tells the pastor that he cannot stand his situation anymore and is going to divorce his wife. The pastor asks the man if he loves his wife. The man says he doesn't love her as his wife. The pastor asks the man if he loves her as a fellow believer. The man said he didn't love her in that manner either. The pastor asks the man if he loves her as a friend. The man sadly tells the pastor that he is unable to do that either. The pastor asks the man if he loves her as a part of humanity. The man says no. The pastor then said that the man is left with the responsibility to love his wife as his enemy. There was no escaping the responsibility to love. The ability to love is governed only by how we want to expend ourselves for others. For many there is no expending done at all. Others, though few, expend their lives for those around them who are fortunate or not. Discretion shouldn't be used in the same sense as the verb, love.
Defining who my brother is should be easy. However, we seek only those who agree with us, understand like us, believe like us and act like us to fill the definition of brother. If you fall outside of that understanding the result is we don't consider you our brother and use this as justification to not be my brother's keeper. Jesus tells us that "whatever you do with the least of these, you do to me." Well, that doesn't really fit with what I do, believe and do not do because I do not believe. Love your enemy? Do good to those who persecute you? Go the extra mile? Give your coat to someone who asks for it? Really!? Jesus, you surely don't mean so and so? They aren't in my social group. They don't believe in you. They don't do what society expects them to do to fit in. They are mentally ill. They are sick and might be contagious. They are to big, to small, to...whatever. They are the wrong color. They don't do to me what they want me to do for them. Ahh...there is part of the problem. Jesus didn't tell us to be our brother's keeper in order to have anyone treat us as we treat them. He told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.
What it comes down to is what kind of vision we have. I don't mean what we see God doing in the future. That's important but not at question right now. What I mean is how we see others. Do we see others from God's eyes or our own? My eyes are tainted with all the crap of humanity. There is a prejudice in the way we look at anything and everything. Some think this way, some think that way and others don't seem to think at all! What do I see? What does it take to see what God sees. First is a willingness to see me as God sees me. I am the brother that I'm asked to be a keeper to. There is no difference between anyone. We are all a fallen creation who sin daily and live a fallen life. Except for the grace of God there go I. How about you? When I stop seeing my fallen nature, I begin to exclude people and groups from the tab labelled "brother" in my mind. Like Samuel told David when confronting David on his multiple sins, "You are that man." That's what God tells us every day. Yet in our piety we don't see the world from God's eyes and ignore the simple command to "feed my sheep." As far as excuses go, I am the king of excuse making. I've driven by the homeless, ignored the pleas of the plight of those less fortunate and corralled my resources and protected my bank account while not once realizing that TODAY my soul may be demanded of me and all of my unspent life wasted. God want us to be spent today...totally...for Him.
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