The Church, The Homeless, and Jesus

Maybe you've seen this photo circulating on facebook with a story about a pastor masquerading as homeless man and being rejected by his church. I have seen it several times recently.

First off, this story is MADE UP.

Also the photo is an art shot of a REAL homeless guy, being used without the photographer's permission.

(Photo credit to Brad J. Gerrard, for what it's worth.)

Still, it makes you think. What do we, both as individuals and collectively as The Church do about the homeless?

The short answer is: We do what we can to help. But this can be discouraging.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me about a homeless man, an addict, who had been a regular attender at their church. She said the church had helped him get a place to live, a car and a job, and that he had faithfully stayed sober for nearly two years, coming to church every Sunday. Then he stopped coming. My friend recently saw him downtown, back on the street, obviously "off the wagon." She spoke to him and he seemed pleased to see her. She was glad he was still alive but discouraged that he hadn't managed to "go straight." She wondered what more the church could have done to help him.

This reminded me of a similar story that had played out at my church, years ago in another state. We'd had many homeless people in and out of the church doors and given them various levels of assistance, but mostly just food and clothes. But there was one man the church considered a real success. He'd been clean and sober several years; he had an apartment and a steady job (as a janitor for the church); he was doing really well. Then he started drinking again. Eventually he lost the job, the apartment, all of it. He drifted away from us. We shook our collective heads, thinking we'd given him every chance. We wondered why some people just can't help themselves.

I don't have the answer to this question. The truth is that addiction, homelessness, and poverty in general are sometimes just too big for anyone to handle.

In Matthew 26:11a, Jesus says, "For you have the poor with you always."

Sometimes people quote this verse as an excuse to do nothing for the poor. After all, even Jesus said the problem will never be solved! So why bother, right? Isn't that what these stories of people who "can't be helped" teach us?

Um. No.

I don't think He meant it that way at all. Maybe He meant we will always have endless opportunties to help the poor, not to "fix" them, whatever that means, but simply to serve them, and to show them compassion.

After all, we love because He first loved us, and we have compassion only because He first extended compassion to us.

Psalm 103: 13-18

¹³ The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
¹⁵ Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
¹⁶ The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
¹⁷ But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
¹⁸ of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!

 

We serve a God who remembers that we are dust, and loves us anyways. What can we do, but love our fellow creatures with the same open heart?

 

No one said this was easy, by the way. In fact, it's impossible.

 

But God is in the business of doing the impossible, of saving the unsavable, and fixing the unfixable. We can only trust Him.

 

Matthew 19:25b-26

[The Disciples] said, ‘Then who can be saved?’  But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’

The Weight of the Word

At the airport, my suitcase was six pounds over the limit. The man suggested I remove some heavy items.

I pulled out my Bible and devotional book, figuring those were the weightiest things I own.

Amazingly, the suitcase was then perfectly acceptable.

Who knew God's Word was so very heavy?

He did not come to save the righteous. Why not?

^{"Jesus eats with Publicans and Sinners" by Alexandre Bida from  http://www.gci.org}

¹⁰ Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house,

that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came

and sat down with Him and His disciples.

¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples,

“Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹² When Jesus heard that, He said to them,

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’

For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Matthew 9:10-13

Wait a sec there, Jesus... Aren't we all sinners? That's how I always heard it.

"There is none righteous, no, not one." (Romans 3:10)

So these Pharisees were not actually "the righteous," were they? So why did He call them that?

Here's another passage that throws some light on that subject, I think. This takes place after Jesus heals the man born blind from birth (my favorite miracle, by the way) in John chapter 9.

The man born blind was excommunicated by the Pharisees for professing faith in Jesus. Then he meets Jesus Himself again, and the following conversation takes place:

³⁸ Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

³⁹ And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world,

that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

⁴⁰ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words,

and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin;

but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains."

 

So the Pharisees were, in fact, the opposite of righteous. And what made them so, was the fact that they were so very sure of their righteousness.

 

That's what I think Jesus was pointing out, by using the term "The Rightoeus" ironically. 

 

He did not come to call those who believed in their own righteousness, but those who admit their sinfulness and accept His grace.

 

Oh Lord I want to be in that number....

Why can't we all just get along?

Sibling Love/ Rivilary Photo Feb 2010

I have boy/girl twins that are four years old now. They have been together all their lives and they love each other.

They also fight like crazy. Why?

Because they want different things at the same time. Or because they want the same things at the same time. Or because they want the same things at different times. Or because.... I think you get the idea.

In short, they want what they want when they want it, regardless of the other person.

Little Boy has recently become obsessed with playing Mario. The problem is that this game takes up our only TV, which everyone else wants to watch. So we have to take turns.

When the timer goes off, signalling the end of his turn and the beginning of his sister's turn, Little Boy goes into meltdown mode. He curls into a fetal position on the couch over the TV remote, sheilding the controller with his body from all invaders and screaming, "No! No! No!"

As I peel his limbs slowly from the remote control, explaining as patiently as I can that his turn is over, he sobs piteously, "But I want it to always be my turn!"

Isn't that just like a human being? We all want it to always be our turn. We want what we want when we want it.

And that's why we can't get along.

That is why there is no peace in the world, and no unity in the church. But this is not how God wants us to be.

So what is God's plan for us?

Ephesians 3:6
And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

You can imagine the Jews of the first century saying indignantly, "What? We're supposed to share with the Gentiles? But I thought we were the chosen people! I thought it was OUR TURN!!! Why would He do this?!"

Ephesians 3:10
God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 

So it is His will that we display unity and love to all our brothers and sisters.

And even let them have turn sometimes...

Moses the Unqualified

http://www.reverendfun.com

Did you know Moses argued with God about his calling? As my friend Alyce pointed out, "That wasn't in the movie!"

But the real Moses protested mightily when confronted with the burning bush and God's command to free the Hebrew people from slavery.

Moses insisted on bringing his brother Aaron with him as kind of a crutch. And God allowed him to do so, even though He knew Moses was perfectly capable of doing the task on his own.

(See Exodus 3 and 4 for Moses' long argument with God.)

Here's the thing I take away from that: God doesn't force us to do anything.

We have all heard this: If He calls us, He will equip us to do what He has called us for. (See Eph 4:11)

Moses was already equipped to accomplish the task that God had set before him. But Moses wasn't so sure about it, and came up with all kinds of reasons why he thought the Lord should really send someone else.

Finally God said, "FINE!! Aaron can go with you! OKAY?!?!" Even though Aaron didn't really do anything, (and by the time of the exodus, he had nearly faded into the background while Moses did everything himself the way he had been called to) God allowed Aaron to accompany Moses just to make Moses feel better.

What this shows me is: God will do whatever it takes to assure us that He has equipped us. Including something like send a brother to tag along and hold the stick for us, if we need it.

Romans 2:4a "Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? "

What can we learn from the calling of the disciples?

"Come and See"  by Liz Lemon Swindle

 (image from lizlemonswindle)

 

When reading about the calling of the dicisples in the gospel of John, I noticed that John's account was different from the other gospel writers.

 

Which is not unusual for our boy John. He certainly had his own perspective.

 

 Anyways it led me off on a chase through the other Gospels to see how the same subject was presented there, and to ask myself what we can learn from this.

First, let's read: John 1: 35-50

 

The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples.

³⁶ As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared,

“Look! There is the Lamb of God!”

³⁷ When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.

 ³⁸ Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?”

He asked them. They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”),

“where are you staying?” ³⁹ “Come and see,” He said.

It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went

with Him to the place where He was staying, a

nd they remained with Him the rest of the day.

 ⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men

who heard what John said and then followed Jesus.

⁴¹ Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “

We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).

 ⁴² Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon,

Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas”

(which means “Peter”). ⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.”

⁴⁴ Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.

 ⁴⁵ Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him,

“We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about!

His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

 ⁴⁶ “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.

 ⁴⁷ As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—

a man of complete integrity.” ⁴⁸ “How do You know about me?”

 Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “I could see you

under the fig tree before Philip found you.” ⁴⁹ Then Nathanael exclaimed,

“Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

 ⁵⁰ Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because

I told you I had seen you under the fig tree?

You will see greater things than this.”

Okay, two things: First of all, even though it was a big tangent to research all the disciples and what order they were called in, I think it is important. The three synoptic gospels list the two sets of brothers as called at the same time, from their boats. But John tells it a little differently, and he’s the one who was there, after all!

It’s a seemingly unimportant distinction, who was first and who brought whom, but to the people involved it is incredibly important. So…

If Andrew and John had not been hanging around listening to John the Baptist (I’m assuming the “other disciple” referred to is John himself, as that’s the way he usually tells things) they would not have gone after Jesus and then subsequently brought their brothers Peter and James respectively.

I think the application here is to share Jesus with those closet to you, and indeed with everyone. You never know who could be really crucial to the Kingdom, as we know Simon Peter was.

The second thing: Both Andrew and Nathaniel (sometimes called Bartholomew) confess Jesus as the Christ immediately.

Indeed, everyone who meets Him either embraces and follows, or else turns and rejects. Jesus inspires action!

But these same men who believed so readily and followed so quickly were not able to sustain that faith at the same level throughout the Gospels.

After all, there are many accounts of Jesus shaking his head over “ye of little faith.” And at the foot of the cross, how many of the twelve were there with the women? Only one.

The fact is, they believed and doubted by turns, just as we do. This is part of being human, I think.

Jesus accepted both their faith and their moments of unbelief, and He redeemed their works, good and bad. We do not have to have perfect faith to follow Christ; we only need wiling hearts.

We trust Him to do the rest.

Hagar

"Hagar and Ishmael" by Enrico Fanfani

image from www.1st-art-gallery.com

God is recorded to have spoken to a relative few people in the Bible.

And let's be honest. Most of them were men. But there have been times when He revealed Himself to a woman. This was usually a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

In the book of Genesis, God spoke to a woman three times. (One was Rebekah.) Two of those times were to the same woman: Hagar.

Who was Hagar? She was an Egyptian, a foreign slave of Abraham's. In short, she was nobody.

But God spoke to her in Genesis chapter 16, and in chapter 21.

Why?

Both times He came to her in a time of great distress and reassured her of His presence with her. In fact, Hagar herself said, "God sees me," in Genesis 16:13.

He saw her, Hagar, an obscure slave woman who wasn't even one of His chosen people.

This is just a reminder to me that He sees us all, even the seemingly unimportant.

Also that He chooses whom He chooses for His own reasons. Any person I meet could be someone God has chosen for great and mighty things. Or someone He's chosen for little-bitty things that will someday have great importance.

No one can fathom His plan or understand their own part in it.