Good morning and welcome. My older son recently sent me an email asking me what I thought of a certain video he had come across. The video had to do with the by now old WWJD…What Would Jesus Do…thing that was going around some years ago and is brought back to life from time to time.
The thought of the video was that many answer that question
in ways they think would be the way of Jesus, but in reality is nothing more
than a kind of a self feel-good activity…giving a homeless man a couple of
dollars…putting a dollar or two into the Salvation Army Christmas bucket, or
the proverbial helping the old lady across the street.
Yes, those things are good things to do, but hardly answer
the question of what would Jesus do in that circumstance.
In seeing the video and responding to my son, I was brought
back to a video that I had seen some time ago.
It was about a woman who befriended and eventually took in a homeless
man into her home. I did a Thursday
Thought about that woman, and am repeating it here because I believe it’s worth
considering again, especially in this age of self feel-good generosity.
Good morning, and welcome to another Thursday Thought.
Ginger Sprouse is a typical suburban woman living with her
husband in an upscale neighborhood in the Houston area. Some years ago, Steve Hartman with CBS News
interviewed Ginger and her husband for one of his “On The Road” segments that
airs each Friday at the end of the evening newscast. The reason for the interview?
Well, it seems that Ginger had always had thoughts of the
homeless that she saw regularly that were not kind at all, but rather were
condescending and critical. In the
interview, she told Steve Hartman that she often would say demeaning things to
them.
“I would say, ‘Why don’t you get a job? Or, what’s your problem?’ It made me very uncomfortable. I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.
I’ve been that way my whole life.”
Ginger had the same attitude toward the homeless as
most of us. We look on the homeless as somehow less than fully human,
less than honorable, less than worthy of the dignity and respect every human is
due.
How many of us have said the same thing as Ginger, if not
directly to a homeless person, at least we thought that line…”Why don’t you get
a job? What’s your problem?” It’s so easy for those of us
who have managed to stay in the middle class to be critical and condescending
toward those who are in poverty or are homeless. We like to think
that we’ve made life good for ourselves, and that anyone else could do the same
if they’d only put themselves to the task and work their way out of poverty and
off of the street. We believe that their issue is laziness or a lack
of desire to succeed. We point to all of the social services that
are available which our tax dollars pay for, and wonder why they don’t take
advantage of them. We notice their missing teeth, their unkempt
appearance and musty body odor and move away from them as much as we can.
So, why did Hartman interview Ginger Sprouse?
Because she had a change of heart. She repented of her superior attitude
and decided she wanted to do better. Acting on the decision she made, she
befriended a man she had regularly seen on a street corner, first stopping just
to talk. She asked him to tell his story. His mother, he says,
abandoned him when he was yet a child, and he had been in and out of
homelessness since that time. Ginger couldn’t get him out of her mind,
and began making regular trips to stop and just visit with him.
One late fall day when she visited him, she said she
decided she couldn’t just leave him there on the street in the cold. She
went home, talked with her husband, went back and invited Victor Hubbard into
their home. And that was the beginning of a new life for Victor.
They helped him get the social services he needed, medical appointments, and
all the rest. Victor now is working two jobs and is a lifelong member of
the family.
Ginger’s life, her outlook on life and her perception of
people in need changed as well. In the closing segment of the news
piece with Hartman, Ginger says this about her experience. “Life is
messy. But if you’re going to love other people, you have to be
willing to step into their mess. My whole life I’ve wanted to avoid
that, and that’s why I rolled the window up and didn’t look.”
“If you’re going to love other people, you have to be
willing to step into their mess.” Ginger Sprouse knows what it’s like to
step into someone’s mess. Ginger Sprouse knows what it’s like to get out
of her comfort zone. Ginger Sprouse knows what it’s like to love other
people.
We have known for centuries that the God who created us
expects us to love others. The Torah is explicit in the book of
Leviticus.
You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge
against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as
yourself: I am the LORD.
At least seven more times in the New Testament, Jesus,
Paul the Apostle, and James repeat this command to love others. And Jesus
expanded what it meant to love one’s neighbor by telling the story of the Good
Samaritan, who saw to the needs of a man he didn’t know and whose nationality
should have been reason enough to ignore his plight. Nevertheless, he
cared for the man as best he could and saw to his needs. The Samaritan
stepped into someone’s mess.
Are you willing to step into someone’s mess? Are
you willing to have a change of heart? Are you willing to truly love your
neighbor? You don’t have to take in a homeless person in order to love
your neighbor unless you know that is your calling. There are hundreds of
ways you can demonstrate and emulate the love of Jesus. Your neighbor is
hurting. You can help by stepping into his mess.
That was the previous
Thursday Thought. I leave you with the
old question What Would Jesus Do? Would
he have given the homeless man a few dollars or some crackers and peanut
butter? Or would he have done as Ginger
Sprouse did…take him into his care, see to his needs, and love him
unconditionally for the long haul?
Blessings.
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