The boisterous crowds with their gritty palm branches stumbled alongside Him, shoving and shouting. But His gaze was riveted ahead. There in the distance, stones blinding white under merciless sun, lay the cityāthe city He loved with a fury, the city that had broken His heart.
It was both symbol and sample of all He had lived for, all He would soon suffer and die for. Within its ancient walls lived the Pharisee with his phylactery; the widow with her mite; the jeweled harlot; the cutthroat Zealot; the little girl newly back from the dead, gathering lilies for her still-dumbfounded papa. A market full of beggars, a temple full of thieves, a city full of all things human, crying out for all things divine.
And Jesus wept.
Do you want to see the heart of God? Then look, here, upon the face of God: tear-streaked, pain-creased, terrifying in its holy jealousy.
Do you want to see the heart of God? Then look, there, upon the faces of Godās children: tear-streaked, pain-creased, terrifying in their holy need. Behold how He loves them: fragile little creatures, weak and poor, sick and dying, hungry and thirsty, naked and alone. He suffers with them; He cries through them.
Your Jerusalem
In Miami or Moscow, New York or Nairobi, in the 1st century or the 21st, whatever may change, some things remain the same: spiritual need, material need; empty hearts, empty hands.Could Godās heart be any clearer? Could His call be any louder? Think of it: Our Lord weeps for our community, for those who surround us every day. The waitress we snub, the boss we complain about, the driver we cut off in traffic, the child next door whom we scold for playing in our pansies
He weeps as well for those who surround us at a distance, invisible to us but all too visible to Him. The crack addict, the patient and the prisoner, the child awaiting a foster home, the forgotten great-grandmother alone in her room.
Can we afford to turn away from His tears?
āBut, God …ā
I canāt possibly be the one God is sending to the lost and needy of my community. Surely Heās sending someone else.ā As the Father has sent me,ā Jesus says, āI am sending youā (John 20:21). If He was sent to the lost and needy of your community, then so are you.
But I have so few resources to share. āIf anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple,ā Jesus says, āI tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his rewardā (Matthew 10:42). Do you have a cup of cold water? Find someone who needs it.
But what can one person do? I feel as small as a grain of sand on the seashore. Not a grain of sand, the Lord says, but a grain of salt: āYou are the salt of the earthā (Matthew 5:13). Just a dash of savor can make all the difference.
But I find their way of life offensive. Remember the words of the apostle Paul: āYou see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly ⦠God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for usā (Romans 5:6,8). Was God pleased with your way of life before you gave yourself to Him?
But my family comes first. God calls your whole family to reach out to your community. Let them join you in serving. What better way to teach them how to follow Jesus?
Pilgrimsā Progress
But arenāt we just pilgrims in the worldāa world that God will soon judge and destroy?
Yes, weāre exiles in this world, and we look for another. Sometimes the world itself seems a stranger, a Babylon. Why should we care about this city of our exile?
Hear Godās message of long ago to His chosen people, carried off in chains to ancient Babylon. Jeremiah prophesied, āSeek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosperā (Jeremiah 29:7).
The welfare of the community is our welfare. The good of the homeless family, the immigrant, the pimp, and the prostitute is our good. If we would be healed ourselves, we must seek the healing of our community.
But how can I know where to start? The answer echoes throughout the Old Testament law, the Gospel calls of Jesus, the apostolic commands: āLove your neighbor as yourselfā (Leviticus 19:18, Luke 10:27, James 2:8). āNeighborā means literally ānear-dweller.ā You must love those far away as well as you can, of course; but you must love at the very least, love without fail, those who are nearby. If they are close enough to see, to hear, to touch, they are your neighbors. Start with them.
A Divine Command
Are we called, then, to serve only those nearby? Might anyone else be our āneighborā? This question was posed to Jesus long ago, and the answer came swiftly in a story (see Luke 10:29-37).
The familiar āGood Samaritanā was a foreigner from a faraway home, with strange clothes and an odd accent. He was not like the othersānot like the man whose life he saved, not like the priest and Levite who passed by merely near at hand and not near at heart. But like the Savior, the Samaritan brought himself near, made himself a neighbor, opening the door to bring inside the stranger in need.
The moral of the story thunders:
āGo and do likewise!ā (Luke 10:37). Every day that we delay, more hungry souls slip off to eternity, more hungry bodies crumble to dustāthe empty souls and empty bodies of our neighbors.
And Jesus weeps.
Bring it Home
Who are you serving, praying for, and weeping with in your circle of influence?
Dr. Paul Thigpen is an internationally known speaker, best-selling author, and award-winning journalist.
D! Excerpted from Discipleship Journal, Issue 113, September 1999. Used by permission of NavPress.
A Word in due season. Thank you.
This is such a powerful writing. We will be sending it along to our team of inner-city workers, and our Board members: http://www.challengehouse.org
If you know of anyone who might be interested in knowing more about our Houses, please have him or her call me. Wally Bryan, Kentucky: 270 889 3395
Our team continues to be strengthened and “challenged” by Nav work! Thank you ALL!
Wow! Thank you for the encouragement.
This was very encouraging. Itās good to be reminded of what the kingdom should look like and Who we are to emulate. I hope you are also receiving quality encouragement like this regularly to sustain you in this beautiful journey and privilege that God allows us to partake in.