Jesus
Mingled With People
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the August 6, 2016 Sabbath School Lesson
“When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they
were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Mark
6:34, NIV
Today we live in an urbanized society and over seven
billion people cover the face of the earth. It isn’t hard therefore to find a
crowd. In many places one need only walk outside their front door. In New York
City, with its tall skyscrapers, only a few blocks may hold as many people as
my entire county of Spokane, Washington. Although I have not traveled there, I
understand there are so many people in some parts of Africa that no matter what
hour of the day or night, you can look out of your home and find lots of people
walking to and fro. We no longer live in the time of the pioneers in the United
States where the nearest neighbor may have been miles away. Even for those in
remote places like Alaska, it is becoming harder for the self-styled hermit to
find seclusion as even out in the tundra, someone
might show up at your front door on an All-Terrain Vehicle as they “explore”
the wilderness.
Mingling has become less something intentional and more
a fact of life, inescapable and frequent. It may include brief chats with
cashiers or other customers waiting in line at the cash register in the
supermarket. People may come to our door, selling a product or a service. When
we visit the hairstylist or barber, conversation is usually part of the
experience. Many times, every week, we mingle, but how does our understanding
of the life of Jesus inform our mingling? There are several ways we can respond
to this frequent socializing, but perhaps not all are Christ-like.
IF we see the presence of others as a threat, we may
respond negatively to the interaction. Every day in much of the world, we are
bombarded with a never ending feed from news media about how terrible the world
is. From suicidal terrorists blowing themselves up among crowds of innocents to
insane cultists who behead those who do not agree with their religious
perversion, the media seems to delight in presenting tales with rivers of blood
flowing. Reporting of horrible and
vicious assaults, apparently with racial motivation, also spread fear among
entire races and cultures. Memories of these events are long. The Crusades,
which began almost a thousand years ago, still bring a strong reaction from
Islamic countries. From the opposite religious perspective, the Armenian and
Greek genocides committed by Turkey make it very difficult for those groups to
look past their history. But how do we fulfil the Gospel Commission[i] if walls of hatred and
fear separate us?
Our natural response to all of this manufactured fear is
to become isolationist, to keep the threats at a distance. Feeling safe behind
the buffers of two large oceans, Americans were relatively unaffected by the
fear of the atrocities committed foreign soil. However the destruction of the Twin
Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 revealed that those oceanic walls
were penetrable. Suddenly we did not feel so safe, and further attacks on
Western civilization have continued to fan those flames of terror. As a result,
we have become involved in what is shaping up to be never-ending war in the
Levant, something the Israelis are far too familiar with. Some of this may find
its roots in the Quran and the Hadith which teach the idea of total war to spread
the dogmas of Islam. Other causes may be related to the betrayal and arbitrary
borders that were all rooted in the geopolitics of World War One. And as
previously stated some causes may even be found in the Crusades that began in
the eleventh century.
But fear is not only limited to international threats. Some also fear the
spiritual threats at home. These are characterized in myriad ways. Although we
all are sinners,[ii]
we appear to find it easier to tolerate our own sins than those of others. Our
fear may cause us to hide behind the walls of the institutional church,
convincing ourselves that the “rotten apples” in our barrel are somehow better
and safer than those “out there.” When we discover the truth of universal sin
and how it not only affects the person in the pew next to us but also all the
way up to the very pinnacle of power, the resulting shock can shake us to the
very foundations of our faith. At the very least, it may demonstrate the error
of Citadel Theology which views the church as a safe haven from the ways of the
world. This is not only dangerous because we tend to let our guard down when we
feel safe, but it also may prevent us from engaging in personal evangelism. We
may choose instead to encourage others such as clergy or professional evangelists
to assume the entire burden. Donating to these individual’s causes can become a
way of establishing a safety buffer between ourselves and the threatening
world. However, it greatly diminishes the numbers of those making contact and
mingling with the lost souls that surround us. Perhaps this fear of contact
with the world is a root cause of single digit growth rate percentages for most
denominations, including our own.
A second way we can respond to social interaction is to do
all we can to promote it. Whatever our neighbors might be doing, we jump right in
the middle and make sure we are doing it twice as much to ensure our acceptance
socially. We may tell ourselves this will make it easier to introduce our
friends and neighbors to Jesus. After all, the more social interaction the more
opportunities, right? Numerically this may make sense, but if we are bending
over backwards to find acceptance by being like everyone else, how might it
affect our witness? What will we say if the conversation goes something like
this?
“Have you ever thought of giving your heart to Jesus?”
“What does that mean?”
“It means an about face, a change in lifestyle for the
better.”
“Your lifestyle is no different from mine. Have you given
you heart to Jesus?”
“No we ARE different. Haven’t you noticed that I don’t
smoke cigarettes?”
“So you are saying that the difference between following
Jesus and not following him is whether or not I smoke cigarettes? Do you think
everyone that smokes is going to hell?”
“Well, no, not exactly.”
“Well then, if I can avoid hell in spite of smoking, and
you are doing everything else I am doing, then it seems to simply be a matter
of saying I’m a Christian and I will be just like you.”
At this point, both individuals may be confused. The
Christian may be confused about how lifestyle can conflict with witness, but
the non-Christian may be confused about why his friend is making a big deal
about it after all this time that they have been living pretty much the same
lives. Perhaps attempting to be a chameleon, blending in everywhere,
complicates rather than enhances our ability to bring Jesus to others. After
all, if we are indistinguishable from everyone else except for a few quirks
like smoking or diet, what are we then bringing to the witnessing table?
Perhaps the third way demonstrated by Jesus is the
better path. Jesus never lost sight of who He was or what His purpose was when
He mingled with those around Him. He did not shun social contact for fear of
contamination, even though that was the popular approach of the religious leaders
of the day. They ostracized tax collectors, prostitutes, and thieves, but Jesus
had all three in His retinue. However, even though Jesus demonstrated His love
for them, He did not try to become like them. Instead He invited them to follow
His example. Recognizing that Jesus was NOT like them, they were nonetheless
drawn to the difference from their lives that He represented. The trappings of
their lives had become burdensome, and He offered them rest from those burdens.[iii] Because we all are
sinners, our lives are filled with poor choices, and we often have many resulting
character flaws. We carry a load of guilt over these failings. We hide the
guilt in many ways. We may keep ourselves so exhaustingly busy that we do not
have time to think about our lives and what we have done. Others may
self-medicate those thoughts of guilt away with drugs or alcohol. Some may open
themselves up to manipulation by others by trying to find approval in others
that they cannot give themselves because of damage to their self-esteem. When
we recognize these things in ourselves, we can perhaps understand the great
need for answers to these painful feelings, answers that Jesus can provide. If they
do not see the difference that the peace and grace of Christ has made in our
lives, but instead see only a mirror image of themselves, we may not only have
deceived ourselves about mingling, but failed them as well. We may become like
salt that has lost its saltiness.[iv]
