“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father… for I needed clothes and you clothed me. I needed my teeth filled and you filled them for me…’ Then they will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you needing clothes and clothed you or needing your teeth filled and filled them for you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:31-40 paraphrased)
I know… I know… I’m taking some liberties with the Holy Scriptures. Some may be offended but, in my opinion, the paraphrase is true to the original intent of the speaker; who, by the way, was Jesus. And, in my opinion, he is delighted; not so much with my loose translation, but with what is happening outside my office right now… right now as I’m writing.
Once a year our church sponsors a dental clinic. The Baptist State Convention provides a bus that houses two dental offices. Along with lots of other volunteers, dentists and dental hygienists from our community give their time and talent so that people can receive dental care free of charge. The clinic is going on right now. Over the course of the next two days, around 100 patients will receive dental care!
While they are here, the patients can also walk through our clothing room and pick out what they need, also free of charge. The people who come here to receive this service are treated with respect and dignity. They have the opportunity to talk to people who will listen to them and pray with them – really listen and really pray!
It may sound like I’m bragging on our people a little bit… Okay, I am bragging on our people a little bit. But, in my defense, I think I have a good reason.
I know that the Christian community gets a lot of bad press these days. (A couple weeks ago I wrote about "Bad Press for Preachers .”) I know that some of that bad press is deserved. Some people who claim the name of Jesus can be crude and cruel, rude and ruthless. Some vent their hatred and call it “standing up for the truth.” Some attack others and call it “righteous indignation.”
I want to say as clearly as I can that those people do not represent Jesus Christ! Let me say it again. Those who hurt others in the name of Jesus are not speaking for Jesus, they are speaking against him! They are not representing the Jesus we read about in the gospels. They represent some kind of misguided and distorted religious expression but it is not Christianity. It is not the movement that Jesus launched 2000 years ago.
So if you are outside of the Christian community maybe you have a good reason. Maybe you have been burned by a form of religion that claims the name of Jesus but does not reflect his heart. If so, I hope you can see the other side of the coin. I hope you can see followers of Jesus actually following Jesus. I hope you can see that there are many people who not only claim that Jesus is the Way, they actually follow the Way of Jesus!
