The Balancing Act of Jesus’ Way
This week, I'm joining the Five Minute Friday write up. This is a community of writers who write for five minutes on a one-word prompt. This week the prompt is "the way".
When Thomas asked, Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus responded, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
And while those words are comforting when we are discussing comments about eschatology, they leave me dumbfounded through most of life.
I love the gospels. I love reading how Jesus loved people extravagantly. And yet, knowing that does not help me when I am staring injustice in the face.
If Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, then I have to radically love all people, even those who are determined to destroy me.
And even if I could get my feeble mind around radically loving people, that would ignore the fact that Jesus didn’t love people by staying silent. He not only turned the other cheek, he also overturned temples. He loved the poor, he called for people to care for the marginalized. To follow God – especially today – is confounding.
How do I love the very people who are creating systems of injustice, while calling out those very systems of injustice? How do I care for the poor, the oppressed and the brokenhearted, when so often the church is a willing partner with the unjust systems that are killing our poor?
If Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, then I must walk a tightrope. Balancing between loving others and calling justice. I want to bury my head in the hate of twitter. I want to ignore God’s call to love.
But when I look long enough on Jesus, I see that I cannot hate, because he never hated me.
When I was far from him, he loved me. When I hated his people, he adored me. When I was racist, he pursued me.
Today, I will try to follow Jesus. I will probably stumble. I will likely struggle to love. But I will try to really know Jesus so that I may really know my father.
