13th
In Simple Spirituality, Chris Heuertz tells a story of his encounter with Tutella Dhas, a young man Chris and his friends found dying on the streets of Calcutta. After trying to speak and cleaning him as well as they could, they were able to find a taxi to go Mother Theresa’s House for the Dying. It wasn’t until after Tutella left with two of Chris’s friends that Chris noticed a sign less than five feet away. It stated “All are welcome here” and was posted in front of a church. Chris asks the obvious question:
If all were truly welcome, then why was a man dying at the threshold of the church? Why didn’t anyone come out to help him?
Chris goes on to bring the lesson closer to home - the closed church gate is not merely an institutional issue, but reflects our own closed hearts and isolated Christians communities. How often have I eaten a free meal at a church and looked around to see only the same middle and upper-middle class people that fill the church every Sunday? Jesus explicitly commanded: “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:14), so where are they? I can count on one hand the number of homeless and poor people I treated to lunch/dinner last year, while I sat down with rich friends on a monthly basis.
This lack of hospitality does not just hold for meals. How many of our church buildings sit empty every night while people sleep out in the elements on the city streets outside? Why did I go two entire years with an empty room in my house when its so difficult for so many people to afford rent in Los Angeles? These aren’t imagined needs - I spent two years in a position where I was trying to help people find temporary shelter and affordable rents in L.A., and I was unsuccessful more often than not. So why haven’t we done more when we have the chance?
I’m not aiming to lead us all down a guilt-trip road that will inspire us to work harder on one aspect of Christian living for a season. I think it goes deeper than that. We can’t talk about this lack of priority that the needy have in our lives as if its one more commandment that we just have to spend a little more time on. Loving our neighbors, especially those who are most in need, is at the center of what Christ taught us that it means to be followers of Him. Read Matthew 11:2-6, Matthew 25:31-46, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 10:25-37, Luke 14:7-24, Luke 16:19-31, John 13:1-20, John 13:31-35, Acts 2:42-47, Acts 4:32-37, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Galatians 2:7-10, James 1:27-2:26, and 1 John 3:11-18. These passages make it clear that a deep concern for the daily welfare of our neighbors isn’t just a bit of advice - it’s central to Christ’s message. There are a hundred more passages across nearly every book of the Bible that can be used to augment this priority. So what are we so fearful of that forces us to keep our church buildings sitting empty at night, our meals limited to those friends well-off enough to return the favor later, and our money expended on things that most of the world would consider a luxury? What are we missing in who Christ was, what He said, and how He acted in this world that leads us to make this point an afterthought rather than giving it the central focus in our lives that it deserves?
LORD, may I be able to look into Tutella Dhas’s eyes with love instead of shame. May I continue to learn from You how I may live more simply so that others may gain the bare essentials they need to live. May I trust in You for everything, that I can both believe the message You have given and may obey it without fear. And may all of us in the Church gain a deeper knowledge of Your love for us, that we may be able to turn around and act towards the most vulnerable around us with that same love.
