Well, it's official, I am now a 1L law student at Michigan State University. When I look back and think about what God used in my life to set me up right where I am today, I am both awed and thankful. Read any of my blog posts from the past three years, and you will see how God used my time in the classroom to teach me to meet people where they are, and to teach me how to truly love unconditionally. God also used what I felt were extenuating circumstances to equip me to reach people that others so often ignore, write off, or overlook.
This morning on my drive to church, I was talking with God about who I would be friends with this first semester of my law school journey. In the conversation God showed me a motley crew of people; those who stand on the side of the room in a big crowd, those who just don't quite fit in with the masses. I asked God why it was always these people that I ended up befriending in many spheres of my life; the response, "It is the sick who need a physician." Now for those reading this who are not familiar with this phrase, it is a bible verse found in the book of Luke 5:27-31. In this story, Jesus is at a banquet at the house of a tax collector when the Jewish (religious) leaders approach Jesus and his disciples and basically berate them for eating with "tax collectors and sinners." Now in our time, this might not make a lot of sense, you may be asking, what is the problem with eating with people who collect taxes? Why are these people associated with "sinners?" Well, during this time, the tax collectors were people who worked for the Roman army, and Rome had invaded the land and was unlawfully taxing the inhabitants. You can think about it kind of like how Europeans came to America and stole the land from the Native Americans, then they would force them to pay a tax to keep living in their own land or else face a penalty for not paying the tax. So, from this perspective it makes sense why the Jewish leaders were not too fond of the tax collectors- they were a part of the daily oppression they faced in their country.
Now, the Bible does not directly say this, but it seems to me, from the text, that the tax collectors were not welcome in religious circles; they were another religiously ostracized group like women and individuals who were disabled. The tax collectors were people who were not welcome in the synagogue, and to whom the Jewish leaders would not reach out in an effort to share their faith. But these are EXACTLY the people to whom Jesus reached out; the people with whom Jesus chose to spend his time.
I assume the tax collectors knew they were not well liked and likely felt unwelcome and unable to enter the synagogues to learn about the faith of the people around them. If you read the story of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector- a man of great wealth and short stature- who climbs a tree just to see Jesus, this religious leader about whom he has heard so much, it becomes apparent that although no one was reaching out to the tax collectors, they had a desire to know the Truth and be saved. The issue was, no one was willing to talk to them- no one was willing to step out of their own comfort zone, or their own ideas about who was worthy, or who had an acceptable line of work to tell this group of people about the faith.
As I read these stories and reflect on the Message shared at City Life Church today, I can't help but see this not as a story of the past, but as a warning for the present- especially for those who claim to be followers of Christ.
A poll from LifeWay Research found that over 61 percent of people living in America who claim to follow Christ have not shared their faith in the last six months. And to that, I would ask, of the 39 percent of Christians who have shared their faith, how many have done so with a person who our Christian circles so often ignore, or marginalize?
The bible is full of commands for followers of Christ to reach out and love the broken and the hurting. In Matthew 5:13, Christians are called the "salt of the earth." Salt by itself performs no purpose; it is only when salt comes into contact with whatever it is being used on, that salt begins to serve a purpose. If we as followers of Christ insulate ourselves in our Christian bubbles, only living life with other salt, we serve absolutely no purpose, and the bible says the only thing useless salt is good for, is being thrown out.
Matthew 28:19-20 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you."
The very last command Jesus gave to his followers before he ascended was to GO and make disciples of ALL nations and to TEACH them. As followers of Christ, we should be eager and ready to step into contexts that make us uncomfortable, where the characteristics that we view as so salient to our own identities are in the minority and where we must consciously humble ourselves to understand the lives of those into whose context we have entered. And these contexts cannot be limited, Jesus said to make disciples of ALL nations, not just nations across the ocean, but that also means the nations right here at home; who is reaching out to the nations of gangs, the nations of extremists, the nations of erotic dancers, the nations of homosexuals, the nations of drug addicts, the nations of anything that we, in our flesh, find uncomfortable or find ourselves afraid to approach? These are the nations Christ called us to teach- notice, Christ did not call us to simply bring them to church, but he called each of us to TEACH the nations his commands. This means we are expected to do life with the people of the nations. In order to teach someone, you have to sit with them, talk with them, show them; you don't teach someone by simply handing them a bible or a flyer to come to your church's program, teaching is an act done in relationship and proximity.
So, ask yourself, is your salt useless or is it serving its purpose.
God, help me to be salt that preserves, adds flavor, and where necessary melts those with whom I come in contact. Let me be bold and unafraid to go into the uncomfortable places and to love and pursue uncomfortable people. Father, humble me and remind me that my own sin is a stench before you just as those who I so often see through jaded and judgmental lenses. Father let me see the extent of my own depravity and to consider others better than myself. Father give me the strength and grace to risk relationship with those who are not like me in the ways I see myself. Be my foundation as I pursue living out your commands. Thank you.
Amen.
