Worldly Holiness

Mission Fountain, originally uploaded by papalars.

I'm on the road currently speaking to churches and groups about our ministry and how to love focus people. I'm also dipping into a wonderful book entitled, "Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths." It is a very good read.

The author makes the case for looking at focus people as the new Samaritans of our day, drawing parallels to what we read in scripture about the Samaritans, who were hated cousins of the Jews. They had a particular knack for aggravating the Jews in the time of Jesus because even though they shared the same religious story, prophets, and holy places, they held their own, different interpretation. And yet we need to take note at how Christ related to them.

Jesus refused to wage war on the Samaritans. We must follow this example with focus people. Take the way Jesus related to the Samaritan woman at the well. Knowing full well who she was, an enemy in the perspective of his disciples who marched to the beat of the Jewish hatred toward Samaritans, Jesus none-the-less showed love. He responded to her thirst for God, did not condemn her, showed respect and grace, and lead her to drink living water.

Peter witnessed this entire event and the model of Christ with the Samaritan woman at the well. He must have learned the lesson because we read later in his exhortation to the scattered remnant of Christ followers in that first century. Portions of 1 Peter 3 follow: "To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing…let him seek peace and pursue it…sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence."

Remember that Christ also used the example of the "Good Samaritan" to answer the question of a certain lawyer that wanted to limit the scope of compassion. The question was, "who is my neighbor?" Remember the parable? Think about it. What would the reaction be if Christ showed up in the typical church today, using the example of the generous compassion of a focus person to rebuke the church for not showing compassion to the beaten up traveler along the side of the road. We too often limit the scope of our love. Christ would push our boundaries, challenging us to reach out even to our enemies, especially our religious enemies, showing unlimited love and compassion. Don't forget.

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