One of the biggest obstacles to unity between any groups (be
they ethnic, racial, political or religious) is the tendency to de-humanize “the other.” We have this ugly tendency to consider
the outsider, the stranger, the foreigner or the unfamiliar to be somehow less human. This allows us, in an evil twist of logic, to justify our
slander or mistreatment of those who are different from us. The unthinkable argument used to
justify slavery was the claim that people of color were not really people at
all, that they were somehow sub-human. The roots of sexism, even within the
Christian tradition, date back to a time when women were considered second-class
citizens and even “misbegotten men” who do not possess the image of God.
While these errors seem so obvious and absurd to us, the
Christian family is not exempt from this appalling penchant for
dehumanization. For
centuries, Protestants and Catholics have been hurling insults and abuses back
in forth in the name of “truth” and “righteousness.” We trot out the worst and most sensational stories of the
other as if to say, “See! Look at
how bad they are. Can you believe they did that?! What
monsters!”
In his twenty-five year stint as pope, John Paul II made
over 100 official apologies for the wrongs committed by the Catholic Church or
individual Catholics. He
apologized to Jews, to women, to the indigenous people of the Americas, to
Muslims, to Galileo and to victims of the Inquisition. Even before he was pope, John Paul II
(then Karol Wojtyla) helped craft an extraordinary letter of reconciliation
between Polish and German bishops following the atrocities of World War
II. After being brutally
persecuted by the invading German army, the letter declared: “We forgive and
ask for forgiveness.”[1]
In May of 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot four times in a
failed assassination attempt. The
gunman, Mehmet Ali Ağca,
was apprehended and sentenced to life in prison. Moved by the spirit of Jesus, Pope John Paul II visited
Mehmet in his cell, embracing him with grace and forgiveness. They would develop a friendship over
the years and the pontiff would frequently ask people to “pray for my brother
Ağca whom I have sincerely forgiven.”
John Paul II even visited personally with Ağca’s mother and brother and
in 2005 when the pope was on his deathbed, his would-be assassin sent him a
letter of well being. It would
seem that relationship with “the other” carries glorious power to overcome any and every divide.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be
called sons [and daughters] of God”(Mt 5:9). The beautiful scandal of Jesus’ message was to call us
beyond our “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” mentalities and to embrace
the perfection of our heavenly Father who “causes his sun to rise on the evil
and the good” alike (Mt 5:45b). In
language plain and simple, Jesus exhorts his followers to do the unimaginable:
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”(Mt 5:44). Such are the unmistakable marks of a
Christian.
Michael: I see a link between this post and your prior one (approaching the Kingdom as if a child). Isn't a child's natural curiosity, and tendency, to see how they are like one another? My kids are older now, but I remember their attitudes on the playground. Most of the time, they sought likenesses upon which to start a relationship, even if that relationship was 15 minutes of taking turns on a merry-go-round.
ReplyDeleteI now see my children (and myself) too often looking at how we differ, and using that as a basis to make a snap, and often negative, judgement.
Thank you for pointing out how we can always do better in trying to see His image in all of His children.
Thanks David for your beautiful insight about children and their natural tendency for common ground and relationship. My son, Jackson, is 4 and he gets SOOO EXCITED about every new relationship. When we take walks and he sees someone up ahead, no matter who they are or what they look like, he will RUN up to them with overflowing enthusiasm and say, "HI, I'M JACKSON!" and proceed to start a conversation that always ends up with John Deere tractors. Ha!
ReplyDeleteBut your point is confirmed. He doesn't look at their age, their gender, their size, their skin color. With the eyes of a child, it seems that he is able to see the HUMAN in them, these amazing creatures who were created in the image of a triune God of being-in-relationship - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If only we could be more like these little ones.