I was talking with a friend on the beach yesterday. We watched a drunken belligerent individual buy a meal and drinks for another man who was very thankful. My friend turned to me and asked how Christian acts of kindness are supposed to set themselves apart from the day to day acts of kindness that are done by nearly every human being. I began to wonder about Jesus’ exhortation in Luke 6:30 and how it went above and beyond what was required. Give to everyone who asks. Is Jesus really asking us to give to everyone who asks? Or is he laying out a new ethical blueprint that exceeds any law of giving? Why not both? Christians can often get discouraged at the fact that their miniscule donation will have no real impact on the world of poverty.
Our materialistically western mind-set tells us that giving is money, food, and shelter. Was this all Jesus was referring to? If we took Jesus’ words as materialistic and walked through many of the poorest towns in the world we would quickly find that we ran out of resources to give. In my Western mind-set, I have taken these words of Jesus to mean little more than advice on how to treat a passer-by in my mundane life. The truth is---Jesus was not talking to a built up Western society when he made this speech, he was speaking to the oppressed. They did not have much to give. But what they had, they gave: time, dignity, a listening ear, love, attention, and care. These are what separate us. It seems as though love is not fulfilling the law to carry a man’s pack one mile, but it is going above and beyond. If you are expected to go two miles, go three. By giving a nearly impossible task (giving to all who ask) Jesus points to the inconsistency of following a strict law of ethics as opposed to a simple lifestyle of love; a lifestyle; not some miniscule acts of kindness in our mundane lives; that is what separates us.
Slavoj Zizek, a Slovenian philosopher writes:
“When we are shown scenes of starving children the underlying ideological message is: Don’t think, don’t politicize, forget about the true causes of their poverty, just act, contribute money, so that you will not have to think!”
It’s time we realize that (living in our western society) we are the oppressors to the people that Jesus is speaking to. Not directly out of hate, but indirectly through our lifestyles. It is our lifestyle that separates our mundane acts of kindness from truly displaying the love of God. It’s how we spend our time, the clothes we buy, the investments we make, the cars we drive and the possessions we pursue. Let’s not reduce Jesus’ words to inane politeness, every decision has a consequence.
"Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss." -Doug Horton
0 comments:
Post a Comment