Living Easter in Love and Equality
By Rev. David Wilson Rogers | April 11, 2015
Jesus Christ cares a lot about children and poverty. For three years he modeled the ministry of compassion and grace toward “the least of these” and the political consequences of showing compassion for those society had pushed to the margins ultimately resulted in the cross. What he taught and lived is every bit as important now as it was then.
Now one week past the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, it is important that we truly embrace the power and blessing of Christ’s triumphant victory over death. It is significant that Jesus reminds us that every time we give a cup of cold water to one who is thirsty, we are actually giving to Christ. Truly, charity and compassionate concern for those who lack basic means is a vital form of Christian witness. It must be, however, done in the grace and love of the Christ in whose name we give.
In writing to the church of Galatia, Paul pens powerful words about our shared humanity in Jesus Christ. Because of our Lord and Savior, Paul boldly tells the church in Galatians 27-29 that the earthly distinctions we so commonly draw have been erased. We all equal in God’s eyes and deserving of equal treatment.
In giving, Christians often mean well, but our actions are actually subtly destructive to the human family. So often well-intended charity drives, efforts to render much needed help, and mission projects are conducted in a patronizing, or even degrading manner. We speak in terms of helping out the poor as if being poor was a reason to be ashamed and disgraced. We talk of the “needy” or “less fortunate” in language and tones that communicates our own sense of pride and selfish aggrandizement for the fact that we do not need such help. We reach out to the “lost” with a certain degree of contempt in the knowledge that we, ourselves, are not so horribly lost as them. Although we may truly have the best intents at heart, we often frequently simply just make ourselves feel better that we lowered ourselves to help “them” as if such aid were beneath us.
Christ abhorrers such attitudes. In calling the children to come to him and not be restricted in their faithful relationship with God’s Son, Jesus was empowering them in full equality. In defending the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and saving her from the punitive shame of stoning, he was validating her full humanity as a child of God rather than a disgraceful sinner. Every time he ate with the sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and impoverished masses, he was truly endowing them in love rather than simply pandering to their difficult situations in life.
All people have needs, not just the poor. All people have strengths and an ability to give out of their strengths. All people have weaknesses and depend on the strengths of others to help. All people have sin in their life, not just the ones we do not like or whose life we find disgraceful. Most importantly, all people need other people in order to be fully human.
The challenge is seeing past the unintentional subtleties in our language and truly embrace the full equality of humanity regardless of need, ability to reach out, or sinfulness. The powerful miracle and blessing of the Resurrection we celebrated at the first of this week compel us to triumph in our own lives over the deadly and discriminating attitudes of our own hearts. Christ calls us to live as he lived, validating the full humanity of all, embracing the genuine goodness in every person, and recognizing that God loves those whom we may find it difficult to love. To fully celebrate Easter is to love others as Christ loves you.