Yes, Even Him! Luke 10:25-37
One of my favorite people in the whole world is a dear friend by the name of Mrs. Anne Rice. Anne is a member of my congregation at Calvary Baptist Church, and all of our congregation will tell you that her smile and laugh are nothing less than positively contagious. Anne is also one of the most interesting people I know; she has walked down some roads in her life that have uniquely shaped her and taught her profound lessons. Though we have much in common (as brothers and sisters in Christ), we come from very different backgrounds. You see, Anne is African American and grew up in the south during a period of great racial strife. Personally, having been born in 1962, I was both too young and too unexposed to have any understanding of the political and emotional impact that the landscape of the time might have on people like my dear friend Anne.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I have not been able to see Anne much over the last year. She is in a more high-risk population so she has been very careful with her pandemic protocols. I have so missed her laugh, her bright smile, and the beautiful hats that she always wears to church. Anne brightens any room she enters. Thankfully, however, Anne is a prolific letter writer, and during this pandemic she has written me on multiple occasions. It is always a great joy for me to open the mailbox and see a letter from her. So, I was so excited the other day when I found a letter from Anne in the mailbox. Turns out, it was a long and very emotional letter. Anne was actually writing this letter as she watched the assault on the Capitol building in Washington. In the letter, Anne explained to me how the events that she was watching on TV had stirred fears in her mind that she thought she had left far in her distant past. The letter was frantic, and I could sense the true fear that she was experiencing amid the flashbacks that the events had called to mind.
This letter was a stark reminder to me that there was a lot about her world that I never even considered. It reminded me that I had never walked a day in her shoes and that I could never understand her (or others like her) unless I listened to those stories and at least attempted to put myself in those shoes. If you want to know what kind of lady Anne is, let me share this bit of additional information with you. A few days after receiving the first letter, I also received another letter in my mailbox from Anne. This second letter was an apology for the first letter. When I called her on the phone to ask about this letter of apology, she explained it all to me. Anne explained that, when she had written the first letter, she had not thought of it as a letter to a white male, but rather as a letter to a fellow burdenbearer (for that bit of news I am so grateful). Several days later, as Anne explained it to me, she began to put herself in my shoes and began to question how this initial letter might be received by me. She wondered if the first letter might upset me (a white man),and she wanted no part of that, so she wrote the second letter of apology, just-in-case. That is the type of person she is!
I am so thankful that Anne felt like, in a time of need, she could share these old fears with me and she considered me (a white man) a “safe person” in her world. Additionally, I am thankful to have my awareness of her life and story heightened. Our exchange has deepened both the trust and depth of our relationship. Anne sees me as person she can trust, and I see her as someone I need to further understand. In this kind of interaction there is a future for us all. Yes, even Him!
An expert in the law once asked Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus turned the question around and asked the expert, “What do you think? How do you read the law?”
The expert replied correctly: “love God and love neighbor.” The expert in the law, however, was no expert in love. He knew God’s law, but he did not know His heart; so he asked a very unfortunate and exposing question. He asked the man who would soon give up His life for all people, “Who, exactly, is my neighbor”; the intended meaning of course, was “Who all am I required to love?” Jesus responded with a story that confronted the expert’s deepest prejudice and reminded him in the end that, “Yes, even HE is your neighbor.”
Towards a deeper understanding of my neighbor,