There was recently much made about an incident in DeKalb involving a man that few know, was believed to be homeless but is not, and who can act a tad out of the ordinary.
First, let me say that I know the young couple that was involved directly in the incident. I know them to be good folks who are hard working, upstanding members of the community. They are not people to overreact or rush to judgement. But I will be honest when I say that if it had been one of my children in that same situation, things likely would have gone the same way.
That said, time and reflection often renders a different outcome.
I have been reminded of the widely circulated story about a new pastor who disguised himself as a man of meager means, shabbily dressed and dirty. This pastor stood outside his church as his unknowing congregation passed, and observed their reactions. You can imagine how a lot of churches today would respond. The pastor walked to the pulpit and revealed the truth, much to the dismay of his flock. The old adage is not to judge a book by its cover and too many people choose to do just that.
In the case of this man in DeKalb, a man often seen carrying a piece of pipe around in one hand, I believe it was the unknown that caused such a stir. And maybe if more people took the time to know him, things would be better for everyone, including him. Now let me reiterate, if a stranger holding a pipe in his hand had approached one of my children, or anyone I cared about, as he did that day, it is likely that my initial reaction would have been very similar. But then, I would like to believe that I would have also taken the time to talk to the man at some point and get some answers.
The whole thing for me boils down to a very simple thought, derived from Scriptures. (shocking, right?)
In Matthew 25, Jesus Himself notes that He was seen as a stranger. He then goes on to say that how we as Christians treat strangers and the seemingly poor and downtrodden is a direct reflection of how we treat Him. That is a thought that most of us need to consider.
Another instance we might learn from is Jesus and His interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. First off, we know from the story that the woman was perhaps not of the highest standing. The mere fact that she was a Samaritan made it a questionable act for Jesus to even speak to her. Yet we know He did.
And how about this one: How many of us would be walking down a good ol’ East Texas back road and see a crazy guy up in a tree, and not only take the time to talk to him, but get him down out of the tree and then go to their house and have a sandwich with him. Oh ya, Zacchaeus was also a tax collector. Not many folks cared for those guys back in Jesus’ day, or even now for that matter.
You are probably getting my point by now, but let me add one more.
There was the time Jesus happened upon a group of lepers, ten of them, and His response was to heal them, not look the other way in disgust.
That story conjures the thought of how many times we today might meet up with one of today’s society “lepers” and take great pains to not interract with them in any way.
The thought process we are trying to get to here is that we all might want to take a minute and think about how we would have treated that pastor in disguise, or maybe how we treat people in general as we go through our day to day walks through life.
Don’t judge books by their covers, don’t look the other way when a scruffy person walks by...etc.
But if I may, let me add this.
Sometimes we look down or shy away from people that are not shabby, poor, homeless, downtrodden or any other negative label. Often we ignore those of higher standing simply because they are of a higher standing.
An example of my own is that I despise the very thought of the Kardashians. It is said we know people by their fruit, but is it not the people whose fruit may be a little rotten that need to see Jesus? Jesus thought so. He hung out and dined with people the Pharisees despised.
So perhaps the question for us out of all of this is... do we wanna be more like the Pharisees, or more like Jesus?
The answer to that one is pretty simple.
