Stephen
Terry, Director
Controversies
Commentary
for the July 20, 2024, Sabbath School Lesson
"While Jesus was having dinner at
Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his
disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law
who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they
asked his disciples: 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?'"
"On
hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but
the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" Mark 2:15-17
As I look back at fifty-five
years as a Seventh-day Adventist in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, I
would like to say that I experienced fellowship with a remnant people who got
it right and reflected the character of Jesus, a people of compassion and
empathy. However, what I often saw was a perfectionist enforcement of dogma.
The high point of that may have been the defrocking of Desmond Ford at Glacier
View Ranch, an event that shocked the denomination that was pushed through by
the father of our current General Conference President. But this was only one
incident. Countless others have played out more quietly in local churches.
People are kicked to the curb as though this action would fix the church with
the remaining saints rejoicing at their newfound status of being that much
closer to perfection.
Jesus never enjoined this
attitude toward others by his followers. In the "Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds"
the laborers wanted to go into the fields and root out all the weeds, but they
were told not to lest they pull up some of the wheat
as well. (Matthew
13:24-29 & 36-39) Instead, dealing with the weeds is reserved for the
harvest and those who gather the weeds and the wheat will be the angels, not
you nor I. Speaking even more directly, Jesus stated all those who come to him he
will not drive away. (John
6:37) I do not see Jesus sitting in synagogue tittering about everyone who
happens to come inside and expressing shock that they would dare to show their
face in the congregation. I do not see Jesus confronting someone and telling
them they are not dressed appropriately to come into his presence. Jesus was in
the business of changing hearts of stone into ones that would become soft
enough to welcome the Holy Spirit. (Ezekiel
36:26) Condemnation is reserved for after the Day of Judgment, not before.
Those who feel their work is
purging sin from the church are misguided. What standard will they use? Of
course, the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted in what are currently enumerated
as the "28 Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." The intent
of that is to separate the sheep from the goats based on such esoterica as
belief in a literal, six-day creation, belief in the special inspiration of
Ellen White, and belief in an Investigative Judgment that began in 1844. Belief
in these things may be pleasing to those running the Adventist show, but none
of these are criteria that Jesus established for such separation. He differentiated
those who are sheep and those who are goats based on their intentional acts of
compassion and empathy. (Matthew
25:31-46) From their response to Jesus, the sheep did not see what they had
done as related to their salvation. They simply saw compassion as a normal
expression of humanity and sought out avenues to express it. But the goats, who
also did not equate compassion with salvation felt that a relationship with the
synagogue would override any need for compassion, and while they might help
someone they could not avoid, they would not intentionally seek out opportunities
to do so.
If we look more closely at Jesus'
example, we will see that he lived out this principle in his dealings with
others. Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot was going to betray him, bringing about
his death upon the cross, but he never drove Judas from him. Despite the other disciples'
misgivings about Judas, he was not only allowed to remain, but he was also
endowed with special healing abilities along with the other eleven disciples. (Matthew
10:1-8) Would we have driven Judas away with no qualms if we had influence
with the church board to do so? The disciples may have wished Jesus would send
Judas away as they suspected him of embezzling funds from their group. (John
12:4-6) If the disciples knew of his character, Jesus surely did as well.
Yet, he never drove Judas away. With divine logic, he shared that his mission
was to save the lost. This begs the question of how you can save the lost if
you have nothing to do with them. Not only was he faulted by the religious
leaders of his day for fellowshipping with such people, but he also went
further than that. He would seek out that single lost sheep to save them. (Luke
15:1-7)
We do not do such seeking
anymore. Yes, we send out mass mailings of books written by Ellen White, most
of which end up in the trash receptacles in the post offices, but we would be
amiss to call that personal contact such as Jesus and his disciples had with
the people. Even the religious leaders of our day, despite the example of
Christ, have never been in the homes of those who have little power or
influence in the church. This is often not the fault of the local pastor. If they
do not defer to the wealthy and powerful members, those members will go above the
pastor's head and threaten withdrawal of financial support if the prelate does
not toe the line. Pastors think they are going to work for God and the church,
but they do not understand what the church is. It is an organization endowed
with multi-generational wealth and is committed to sustaining that wealth by
remaining on the good side of those who have it and demand favors as a result. They
may be head elder or not, but either way they influence who serves on the church
board and the pastor's ability to remain at that church.
It is easy to spot the movers
and shakers. At potluck, they are not the ones who sit, eat, and fellowship
with the poor and humble. Instead, they gather at their own tables where like
attracts like. They have no more knowledge of the plight of the poorer parishioners
than an elephant does of an ant. Like the pastor, they have never even driven
by where the poorer members live, let alone socialize with them. Social
functions presented by the church to somehow ameliorate this divide are also
prone to the same cliquishness as the potlucks. When they are over, the rich
go to their million-dollar homes and the poor to their tiny studio apartments
in the bad part of town. I have gone door-to-door in the neighborhood around
one of our churches in Spokane. It was a bad neighborhood, and I would never go
alone. The amount of alcoholism, drug abuse, and mental illness was astonishing.
We entered an apartment complex where a woman still dressed nicely for work had
returned home and passed out in the hallway from drinking. The other residents
just stepped around her as they passed, indicating this was normal behavior. I
also engaged with a mentally ill man screaming into the air at one of the
street corners. I was advised by neighbors to avoid a
particular house as it was an illegal drug manufacturing house and that was why
there were several Pit Bulls in the yard.
It was not always easy to find
someone to go with me. One woman who was inspired by Jesus' example had never
encountered this level of society and became afraid and wanted to go home after
the first house we visited. Others like her are modern John Marks who flee toward
home when the going gets challenging. (Acts
15:36-38) But like Mark, some of those eventually grow to understand that
the gospel has little to do with church socials, jockeying for positions of power
and influence within the denomination or proving one's steadfastness by
occupying the same uncomfortable pew week after week, month after month, and
year after year. Another woman I knew from that same church understood this.
She never had to be asked to reach out to people. She
was always busy doing exactly that. She never sat on the church board. She
never held any important office in the church. She simply lived out her faith
daily and did not limit her compassion only to church members.
Here is the point. Jesus never
sought out wealth, power, or influence. He knew his Father would direct his
ministry and bring to him those he healed. He was not afraid to enter the
houses of the poorer folk. He told those who would hear that it is impossible for
a rich person to enter heaven unless they repented and changed the direction
and focus of their lives so God could work in their hearts. (Mark
10:24-27) Wealthy Zacchaeus, when
Jesus reached out to him declared he would give half of all he owned, not to
the church, but to the poor. Jesus declared that this tax collector, despised
by the religious folk, had found the path to salvation. (Luke
19:7-9) Instead of vying for power and control, we can do the same.