Love the B*****d!

(click on the pic to listen to it) In the 1960’s, a Yale Divinity School graduate and Southerner named Will Campbell befriended student named Jonathan Daniels. Campbell and Daniels were each involved in the civil rights crusade. Campbell’s theology was undergoing some testing in those days. Much of the opposition to his civil rights work came from “good Christians”. Campbell found allies more easily among agnostics, socialists, and a few devout Northerners.
“In ten words or less, what’s the Christian Message?” one agnostic had challenged him. The questioner was P.D. East, a renegade newspaper editor who viewed Christians at the enemy.
Campbell replied, “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway.”
The definition stung P.D. East, who, unbeknown to Campbell, was indeed illegitimate and had been called “bastard” all his life. He put that definition to a ruthless test on the darkest day of Campbell’s life. A day when the Alabama deputy Sheriff named Thomas Coleman gunned down Campbell’s twenty-six year old friend Jonathan Daniels.
That night Campbell spoke with P.D. East and got “the most enlightening theological lesson I ever had in my life.” P.D. East pressed Campbell on whether his definition of faith would stand the test.
Was Jonathan a bastard?” P.D. asked first? Campbell replied that though he was one of the most gentle guys he’d ever known, it’s true that everyone is a sinner. In those terms, yes, he was a “bastard.”
“All right. Is Thomas Coleman a bastard?” That question , Campbell found much easier to answer. You bet the murderer was a bastard.
Then P. D. pulled his chair up close, placed his boy hand on Campbell’s knew, and looked directly into his eyes. “Which one of those bastards do you think God loved the most?” The question hit home, like an arrow in the heart. (Yancey – What’s So Amazing About Grace?)

Which one do you think God loves the most?

The Sheriff who gunned down Johnathan Daniel? or Johnathan Daniel? or Both?

John 3:16 reminds us, “God so loved the world …..”

That is  difficult to swallow isn’t it? God loves the Sheriff just as much as he loved Jonathan Daniel. Even the person you hate the most deserves to experience the love of God when they really deserve the wrath of God. What we learn from this little story is the free offer of grace extends not just to the undeserving but to those who deserve the opposite. (Yancey)

Christ followers may build walls with people they hate or feel superior to because of the color of their skin or their economic status, We can’t afford to build any more walls.A relationship with Jesus tears down those walls.

What we will learn in this following parable is that Jesus tears down the skin color wall, the socio-economic wall, or whatever wall we build in our heart and mind.

Before you read the parable, you need to know that Samaritans were a mixed race produced when Jews from the northern kingdom intermarried with other people after Israel’s exile. There was a deep hatred between the Jews and Samaritans.

Luke 10:25-37
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Parable of the Good Samaritan
Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Despite their differences in religion, despite their differences in economic status, despite their difference ethnicity, despite the hatred between these races, the good (but despised) Samaritan still treats the Jewish man like a human being.

Jesus is tearing down every prejudicial wall between human beings. It was shocking to the listener of the story to hear Jesus say. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.” A Samaritan helped a Jew! I am pretty sure they fell off their proverbial chair.

One of the key elements of grace is compassion.

Compassion allows you to do something for someone despite the walls that you and/or the society have built. Compassion allows you to love and care when everybody else tells you it is the wrong thing to do.

Compassion literally means – “to suffer together”.

In the story of the good Samaritan, we read about the Samaritans who hated Jews and Jews who hated Samaritans. He was the only one willing to suffer with him. After all this happened Jesus ask an important question:

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?”

It was the one who did something! The despised Samaritan did something. Not because he had to. The Samaritan helped a Jew. Not because he was expected to …. But because he was filled with compassion. The man had (not the Jewish man) a need. The other man (not the Samaritan man) could help meet the need. Remove the labels and you have a man helping another man. Despite the difference in race between the Samaritan and Jew – he did something. Despite the intense hatred between these two races – he did something.

Jesus teaches us that hatred and prejudice get you nowhere. Hatred and prejudice only breed more hatred and more prejudice. I saw this first hand when we dropped my sister off at her high school in 1970. Schools were being forced to desegregate. I watched my sister walk through shielded police to get into the school because they were afraid of a riot.  On a more personal level, our best friends growing up were African/American. They were the Browns. I got my best friend to come to church with me and get involved in kid’s choir. We also got a couple of other boys from the family to come to church. One of them stayed long enough to get married in the church. They didn’t stay very long because there were a few people in our church who had trouble with skin color and ask my dad, “why on earth are you bringing those people here? They don’t belong here.“

Christ followers are called to show compassion. The church in the book of Acts grew exponentially not because of the great preaching and great music and great looking buildings. It grew exponentially because they showed compassion to people who they religiously disagreed with. They showed compassion to the people who had been abandoned and left for dead. They came in cared for them. This is why the church grew so much so fast. They were willing to suffer with them.

How do you show compassion (or suffer with) to someone you hate or simply disagree with? How do you show compassion (or suffer with) to someone who society tells you shouldn’t?

#1 You begin by asking the question …. “do they deserve to know that they are loved by God?”

If you can answer yes to that question – then do a simple act of kindness. When I worked with the homeless in Atlanta, GA a number of years ago, our leader told us the greatest thing you can do for a homeless is not give them money, or buy them food – those are good things – but to look them in the eye and treat them like a human being.

Our enemies, the people we don’t like, the people we don’t agree with, and those who deserve something other than the love of God are to be treated like a human being! Compassion allows you to treat them like a human being. You don’t let them leave your presence without them knowing they are loved.

“‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

When you love others you are loving God. We learn to love others by loving God. The opposite is true to. If you refuse to love others, there is no way you can love God. You can’t love others without loving God first. When you love, compassion will follow.

#2 Ask God to help you show compassion

Showing compassion is not a natural we thing we do.  In fact,  it is a supernatural thing that happens inside. People who have gone through cancer can show compassion (suffer with) those who have cancer. There is a breaking that happens inside of you. When your heart is broken for them you can pray for them, you can listen to them, and you even create time for them.

If you are having trouble loving those who are less fortunate than you – go and hang out at your local mission that serves meals a few times a week. Sit with some of the regulars and you will learn they suffer the same way you suffer.

Go to a nursing home and ask if you can visit with some one who hasn’t had a visitor in while. You will definitely learn compassion by sitting a listening to their story.

Go and visit your children and youth ministries. You will see the most compassionate people in action.

Go to a different country and experience a culture that is different from the one you live in. Ask God to help you then go to these places that will teach you how to do it.

#3 Do something to demonstrate and says God loves them too.

He just doesn’t love you! He also loves your enemy. He loves the person you can’t stand to be around. He loves your supervisor who you can’t stand. We tend to think God only loves the lovely. But the profound truth in this simple song is often missed:

Jesus loves the little children

All the children of the world

Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world

God loves PERIOD.

One of the greatest pictures I saw during the riots in Baltimore is a little black boy handing a white police officer a bottle of water. Here was a boy who recognized someone’s need and he had compassion for him. The greatest way to demonstrate the love of God is through simple acts of kindness. They don’t have to be extraordinary acts – they simply need to be acts that causes something to break in you.

I believe this is what makes grace so amazing – compassion.

We are learning in the 21st century that people are not drawn to Jesus by church buildings, great programs, or even great preaching. Religious people are.

People are drawn to Jesus by the compassion of his followers.

Jesus is the only one who can tear down the walls that you have built or have been built for you. If you love him, you will show compassion to others. Jesus is the only one who can show you what you need to do and give you the courage to do it. Jesus is the only one who can give you the courage to do an act of kindness that says, “God loves you too.” It’s an awkward feeling at the start – but when you keep doing it time and time again – something supernatural happens inside of you.

How compassionate are you?