January 26 Krum Star Article
"Doctor, Cure Yourself"
I wonder sometimes what would
happen if a really, truly good person were to show up
and start interacting with the community. I’m not
sure we’d receive that person terribly well. I don’t
think we know what to do with true goodness, one who chooses
to love altruistically and sacrificially, without regard
to personal gain. The truly good person also invites others
into that goodness and sacrificial love. Opposition is
almost inevitable—that’s just way, way too
threatening.
The other night, I was having
a rare quiet evening and since my husband wasn’t
home, I decided I’d be the rapid channel clicker
for a while. Somehow I landed on a channel that said it
was “Religious” programming, but was actually
showing a movie. I have no idea yet of the name of the
movie, but its premise simply captivated me. It was the
story of a newly elected Pope who accidentally escapes
from the “Popedom” and wanders unrecognized
into a community that was in much, much travail. The unelected
leaders were determined to keep their power, even though
it meant holding everyone else essentially hostage. Here
this unrecognized pope turns up and quietly offers his
goodness and a willingness to work for the freedom of
this community.
Of course, few responded. In
this movie, as is true in many of the accounts found in
the Bible, it is the children and women, always the underclass
and first to be oppressed, who also first decid to trust
this man and begin to offer what they could to his endeavors.
Of course, opposition soon arose, for those who are entrenched
in power will not quickly give it over. The opposition
in the movie, as it often does in real life, turned violent
with beatings and destruction to follow. Ultimately, the
life of a young boy was lost. And in the movie, that became
the catalyst for the good to finally rise with their own
power and expel the evil.
Jesus had much the same reception
when he began his ministry. People did not receive him
well—even from the very beginning, there were those
who were determined to silence this man by death. Attack
comes at many levels, all looking for a way to poke holes
in his credibility. Why do we do this? I think it is because
we have all been deceived so many times by those who have
promised goodness, and delivered more oppression. In other
words, the hypocrites keep winning. And our willingness
to believe that someone could be truly good decreases
with each passing year. That is why children respond much
more quickly to Jesus than adults. They have not yet lost
faith that God really is good.
We’ll talk about it more
on Sunday, 8:15 and 11:00 a.m. services.
