America first!
Oklahoma first! Tulsa first! Me first!
Self-interest seems to be the rule of the day. I find this deeply troubling. Of course, this attitude is nothing new. Humans have always had a propensity for
putting their own interests above those of others. Call it survival instinct. It has rarely ended well. But, altruism has never held a majority
position among humankind. It seems so unwise. Counter-productive. Pointless.
The position of losers and fools.
And yet, Jesus went to a cross… and invited us to deny
ourselves, pick up our crosses and follow.
(Mark 8:34)
The Apostle Paul writes, “Let each of you look not to your
own interests, but to the interests of others” to a community suffering
persecution from without and division within.
He tells them that this is the mind of Christ who humbled himself and
took on the form of a servant. (Philippians
2)
It is clear, I think, that putting ourselves first above all
others is not a New Testament teaching.
It certainly was not the way Jesus did business.
The Beatitudes (“Blesseds”) from Matthew 5 are a litany of
those the world calls losers and fools,
and of those who willingly put their self-interest aside to walk in the way of
Christ-like servanthood. The poor in
spirit, the bereaved, the meek, those who yearn for what is right and just have
been stripped down by the world. The
merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers live for the sake of others; building bridges of reconciliation, compassion
and healing in a broken world.
People of faith! We
must work together on behalf of those who have been crushed by hatred, violence
and cruelty, those who have lost much and suffered more, those who the world
considers weak and worthless, and the millions of people around the world who are
crying out for help and healing.
We must stand for mercy, not rejection.
We must overcome hate with love, not judgement.
We must work for peace with justice, not further bloodshed
and violence.
We need to give sanctuary to those wandering homeless upon
the earth.
We must embrace all those made in the image of a God who
revels in diversity.
We must love our enemies and do everything we can to make
them our friends.
We may be called fools for trying but, would our Lord Jesus encourage
us to do any less?
Jesus declares those “blessed” who the people of his day
called “cursed.” We must do the same.
We cannot slam doors in people’s faces. We simply cannot. Instead, we need to see Christ in their eyes,
and serve them in Jesus’ name any way we can.
It cannot be “me first.”
God calls us to so much more.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
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