In Jesus’ life and teaching, he intentionally destroyed any sort of conditional response to his command to “love your neighbor.” Consider Bartimaeus: poor, blind, beggar. Probably looked like every homeless person you know. Outcast, shunned from the temple, unclean, discarded in every way— a true societal reject. Jesus pauses for one such as these but his disciples became embarrassed, worried by this. Jesus ate with both the Pharisee (Lk. 7:36) and the tax collector (Lk. 5:29). Throughout the New Testament, Jesus was constantly reaching out to the socially, politically, and religiously marginalized. And we have the nerve to get embarrassed and to confront fellow Christians who pause for these whom we deem worldly and culturally depraved. We need to start practicing crazy love. Jesus said that people would know we are his disciples by our love. There is nothing more powerful than the love of Christ and it is through his church that this love is to be encountered.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:33:01 +0000
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