I was thinking about a scene from the TV show The Office the other day. Michael, the inept boss, is trying to think of ways to spice up the environment of the office with the entire staff of Dunder Mifflin Scranton. Some of the staff offers sincere responses, while others play along for their own amusement. However, when Michael endeavors to get Stanley to look up from his crossword puzzle to participate, Stanley responds with various forms of the word, "No."
Michael continues to press him until finally Stanley erupts with, "Did I stutter?!?!", shocking the entire office, including Michael.
In our endeavor to see Jesus more clearly this year, I find myself wondering if Jesus feels a little bit like Stanley during that scene.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?" Matthew 5:43-47
Jesus' call to the people listening to His sermon here is simple. They were to love people - regardless of what they did to them. Those they perceived as their enemies were worthy of love, those who cursed them were worthy of blessing, and those who attacked them were to be prayed for, not retaliated against. Jesus is showing us that the difference between the world and us is not supposed to be found only in the God we worship, but also in how we relate to the world around us. "Our vertical piety is shown by our horizontal love." Pastor Michael T. Smith
Jesus didn't give us excuses or reasons that made it ok for us to fire back and attack those we perceive as against us or those on the other side of the aisle, politically.
Jesus told us that our job was simple - to love those around us. To do good to those who hate us. To take up for those who attack us, not defend what we perceive to be our rights.
I'm reminded of Jesus' words in John 13:35, where He tells us that, "Everyone will know you're with Me by how well you love the world around you." (My paraphrase)
Unfortunately, we have twisted this around, and in our effort to see Jesus on a clearer level this year we must untangle this.
We have wasted (and yes, I do mean wasted) our time by attacking people of the LGBTQ community, those of different faiths, and those who disagree with us, instead of showing them the radical love that we've been given.
There's an old axiom that is worth repeating here: People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
So let's remember the words of Jesus - to love those around us, even if we perceive them to be the enemy or the other side. We can't go wrong as long as we stay on the side of Love Himself.
We are called to love those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who persecute us.
Like the song says, they won't know we're Christians by what we're against, "They'll know we are Christians by our love."
By Grace,
Dave