But the other answered, rebuking him: 'Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!'
And He said to him, “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.'” -Luke 23:39-43, HCSB
Yesterday, we discussed the critics of Jesus that were underneath Him, laughing at Him and His position. Today, we look at the stance of two people, both condemned to death.
There were three crosses standing at Golgotha on Good Friday. One, the one in the middle, held Jesus. However, the two men flanking Him to His right and left were merely common criminals.
One guy (who I will call Rafael) was also mocking Jesus, questioning His power, but also calling on Him to save him from His predicament. Rafael almost seems to buy into the truth about Jesus, yet won't totally believe in Him until Jesus proves Himself, all for the benefit of this criminal. All in all, he won't believe that Jesus is who He says He is until something happens to help himself. Rafael wants what is best for Rafael.
The other guy (let's call him Eric), meanwhile, calls out Rafael for mocking Jesus. He even goes so far as to admit Jesus' innocence, and supports a lifestyle of fearing God. We then see Eric asking Jesus to remember him when Christ goes into His kingdom, and Jesus tells him "today you will be with me in Paradise." Eric is saved from eternal death.
As I read this story, I was also thinking about the debate over whether the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) community should be able to marry whomever they want. Some argue that religion should have no voice in the arena of government, while others claim that we should only have the Bible. Some claim that gay rights are the new civil rights, and some claim that they are not related at all.
Many of my Christian brothers and sisters have been rebuking those who support the marriage of same-sex couples. They have essentially been playing the part of the Eric, calling out the Rafaels for failing to fear God.
There is good in this. As long as rebuke is done with grace and gentleness, it is good to call people to turn from sin. A quick reading of any one of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) will show that Jesus regularly did this. It is biblical and right to call for people to repent of their sinful lifestyles.
However, Eric did something that many Christians tend to forget in this debate. He admitted his wrong past. He told Rafael that they were both guilty and deserving of death.
Christians, we are not more righteous in our lives than any other "sinner." We are not above the LGBT community. If you would like to look through the Gospels, you'll see that Jesus regularly ate and hung out with the "sinners," the people that the over-righteous Pharisees shunned for their lifestyles.
Back then, it was tax collectors and prostitutes. Now it's lesbians and transsexuals. Same story, different roles.
I am not supporting a gay/homosexual lifestyle. I believe that the Bible condemns such a lifestyle, and that all who live like that should repent and come to God. However, Christians, we are not to cast stones and beat people down and act like we have it all together. We're sinners, too. We also once (and many still act as such) were living self-centered, self-pleasing lifestyles of the flesh.
We are a broken race, we humans. Gay, jealous, lustful, hating, drunk... the list goes on. Whichever sins have defined your life have made you just as guilty before God as anyone else. That's why we all needed grace, the undeserved gift of Christ's death for us on a cross. It was on that cross that He took the wrath of God for all sin: homosexuality or judgmentalism. Let's show love and grace to all, and show everyone the nature of God in our actions and with our words.
We must point people away from themselves and their selfish, sinful desires, yes. But if we point ourselves instead of pointing to Jesus and His greatness, we're failing at our rebuke and are sinning ourselves.
Call to repent, Christians, but in doing so, don't forget that someone once had to call you to repent. Otherwise, you'd still be dead in sin, too.
For more of my thoughts on this, check out these two posts I wrote a while back from my unChristian series, which was about how Christians are often viewed, and how Christians should act instead:
unChristian, Part Three: Antihomosexual
unChristian, Part Six: Judgmental
No comments:
Post a Comment