Even to...
During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” – Mark 8:1-3, NIV
“There is a lesson here for the people of God in every age, that its enemies are neither forsaken by God nor beyond the compassion of Jesus.” – James R. Edwards (on Mark 8:1-10)
“Radically ordinary hospitality is this: using your Christian home in a daily way that seeks to make strangers neighbors, and neighbors family of God.” -Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
As we look at the interactions of Jesus with Gentiles, we struggle to ‘get’ all the cultural baggage that is a part of what is going on. Most of us are not very well versed on the Jew/Gentile divide in the first century. Even so, there are some current experiences that give us a window into what was going on and help us as we think about what it means. Tribalism is rampant in our culture right now. Merriam-Webster’s definition of tribalism is, “tribal consciousness and loyalty especially : exaltation of the tribe above other groups”. We can see this reflected in all kinds of ways in the world around us: political, socio-economic, religious, racial. There are the Trump devotees. There are the cultural elites. There are the conservative evangelicals. These tribes can be extremely loyal within themselves and extremely combative to those who disagree or don’t belong. Much of the ‘culture war’ and the vitriol on social media sites is driven by tribalism. Often, we tend to lament tribalism as a modern phenomenon which has no parallel. Of course, a simple glimpse back historically will unsettle our chronological snobbery. What is alarming is not so much this reality, after all, its very name belies its deep roots in human history, rather it is the way that the church falls into its trap.
When Jesus came, He came to rescue humanity. His ministry and message were for all: Jews. Gentiles. Men. Women. Educated. Uneducated. Poor. Wealthy. Religious. Zealots. Romans. And this was so far beyond what anyone had anticipated. We have to excuse the disciples’ slowness in getting it because never before had it been like this. Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people. A choice God made which excluded others. And, that isn’t an altogether wrong reading of the Old Testament. The calls for God’s people to be different from the other nations are replete. The difficulty, then and now, comes in being different, without treating the ‘others’ as less than or even worse still, enemies. Here is where many an Israelite went wrong. Jonah is maybe the most prominent example. His reluctance (even initial rejection) of God’s mission to a nation of ‘others’ sheds light on the disciples’ reaction to Gentiles being a part of Jesus’ mission and work. And while we are quick to see the error of the people of God from yesteryear, I wonder how good we are at spotting this same attitude in ourselves, in our time. As cultural tribalism grows and is emphasized more and more, one of the dangers is a growing sense of being ‘at war’ with opposing groups. This is problematic because, we are not in fact at war with people (see Eph. 6:12). No matter how different or even anti-Christ or anti-Christian a person is, our quarrel is with spiritual darkness and not the person themselves. Eventually, the earliest followers of Jesus came to understand and live out of this reality. Might we be those who also live out the radical nature of Jesus’ rescue for all. Might we refuse to become the loveless, bigoted, caricature that is so often portrayed of Jesus’ followers. By God’s grace, let’s put aside tribalism and embrace instead a kingdom mentality which refuses to do less than love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us and welcome those not like us. Let us be the head-scratching exception to a culture that seeks hyper-individualism while constantly trying to sort each person into a tribe. Let us love people not based on group or ideological tribe but on the basis that they are made in the image of God and precious to Him. Let us value people as ones for whom Jesus has compassion. Might our compassion be His as His love fuels our love for His family and those who are not yet a part of it.