Setting examples

When you tell someone that you are a Christian, how do they react? In a perfect world, their face would light up and they would be excited to hear this wonderful news. The reality is that the reaction is often a rolling of the eyes, a stiffening of the back, a step backwards, or a nonchalant "who cares". Once we have established that we are followers of Christ, people will be watching us. Some cynically hope we will show that we are just ordinary or even bad people. Some will be curious to see what it is we have. As any parent will tell you, we may not know they are watching, but they are watching.

Some people equate a Christian with someone who is harsh, critical and judgmental instead of someone who is loving, kind and compassionate. As Christians we have a lot of bad history and baggage to overcome. And, as ambassadors for Christ, we have an obligation to do our best to do just that.

The story of Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-52) is very convicting for me. The crowd passes by the blind man, ignoring him and chastising him for calling to Jesus. Jesus stops, talks to Bartimaeus and heals him. A couple of years ago, Marilyn the girls and I went to New York City for a short sightseeing trip and to see a couple of Broadway plays. As we were walking along 5th Avenue in the morning on the way to Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, we passed by a young man who was obviously cold. I thought, “Dear God, if this guy is still out here when we pass this way again, I’m going to give him my gloves.” Talk is cheap. Strike one. Not only that, but by the time Mass was over, I had already forgotten to look for him on the way back. Strike two. Later on in the day, we were walking back to the hotel for the evening after a long day of sightseeing, and I saw a woman bundled up against the cold, looking almost dead lying on the sidewalk. Many people were walking by very quickly, appearing not to notice her. It was like she was just part of the landscape. But did I do anything? For a fleeting moment, I thought I should see if she was all right and maybe buy her a cup of soup or something. But did I? No, I picked up my pace to try to catch up to the girls, who were crossing the street about 50 feet in front of me. Strike three. From this point on in the trip, I really felt bad about my obvious lack of compassion. For all of my noble thoughts of loving my neighbor as myself, I showed a complete disdain for what Christ called the Greatest Commandment. I think that both of these unfortunate people were placed in my path for me to recognize as Jesus, and to my shame, I did not. However, God has given me a lesson with this and the opportunity will not slip by again. This episode emphasized to me how imperfect I am. And that imperfect people have been introducing other imperfect people to the perfect person of Christ for 2000 years. And so I will continue to try and evangelize through this humble little medium.