At a community group I was at a few weeks ago we happened to be discussing the topic of ‘community’ (go figure). It was a really interesting conversation, and I’m looking forward to building relationships with the many people from our neighborhood that attend. At one point in the conversation an interesting topic came up.
Basically, someone had shared a story about opening their home to a stranger and that person had then taken advantage of the opportunity and stolen some things. The attitude of the community group was really encouraging to me for a number of reasons. First, though it seems pretty clear in scripture we are to share with those in need, it’s seems so rare that I hear about a person from church opening their home, so the story itself was encouraging to me. Secondly, the response from others seemed to encourage the decision and acknowledge that sometimes those things will happen, rather then say things that might discourage people from taking similar actions of opening their home.
All this made me think about the example of Jesus, who became close friends with a person he knew would betray him. There has to be some insight we can gain from that example. I don’t even think the person betraying Jesus being one of his disciples was prophesied previously (not that it really matters, but some people use that as an explanation of why it wasn’t a ‘choice’ and thus not something we should then follow as an example for ourselves).
The relationship of Jesus and Judas adds a whole new dimension to Jesus’ commands to “Love our Enemies.” It challenges in many ways the notion of ‘safety‘ that often taints our ability to follow Christ’s teachings to the full.
If your interested in investigating Jesus and Judas’ relationship with this particular idea in mind, here are all the verses in Matthew referencing Judas. Let me know what you discover.
Very interesting article and great thought process. Helped open up and really understand a little bit more on the topic. “Loving our Enemies” is probably one of the hardest challenges we face in our day to day lives. The focus of understanding the meaning and reasoning behind it all is very much worth investigating.
Yeah, it’s something we forget, but just hours before Judas betrayed Jesus, and Jesus knowing full well what he was going to do, Jesus washed Judas’ feet along with the other disciples.
That kind of love is hard to come by.
Here’s another aspect to the Judas Puzzle. The twelve were chosen from a large group of disciples by Jesus. Judas didn’t just show up, but at some point in the journey Jesus selected him to be part of the inner circle.
This implies to me that at some point in the journey Judas was a good man, a worthy follower, and not the one-dimensional villain he is often painted as.
Ugh.. thats one of my greatest internal struggles at this point. I don’t know where the balance point between my God given responsibilities as a parent and my responsibility to help those in need in a practical way.
Does anyone have any experience in this b/c I’d really like to hear it.
Well I most certainly am not a parent but I would have to say that no matter what you do I would first ask God, then I would probably look at the standpoint of God as a Father onto us as his children. Really when in doubt the old WWJD works out quite well. God will give you the answers when you need them, and he is always going to be there for you. God Bless Jason and I hope this helped.
Jason and Josh,
Here are some of my thoughts on that topic:
http://blog.iamnotashamed.net/2007/09/26/safe-is-an-interesting-word/
Ariah,
thanks for posting that.. We lived in downtown Baltimore for 4 years before we moved out to the suburbs (mainly to take care of my wife’s mother who was very ill), so I’m very familiar with urban life and its good and bad sides.
We’ve missed it there ever since moving out and we’ve decided to take action on that. We are definitely in that place where Shane Claiborne described where we are definitely more scared of the suburbs than the city.
That all being said, in our short time there our house and our car were broken into, one of my best friends was threatened with a knife, and a few months after we moved out, 4 random thugs broke into our neighbors house 2 doors down and shot the guy for absolutely no reason.
We didn’t live in that bad of a neighborhood, but those elements were still prevalent. Just to give you an idea of where we lived, they would sometimes film scenes for “The Wire” in our neighborhood. I guess that meant that we were dingy enough to look bad but safe enough that they wouldn’t risk the actor’s lives.
However, its our conviction from the Jesus that is making us want to move back there.. As a side note, I looked up real estate in our old neighborhood and my old house was listed at $60K less than we sold it for 20 months ago.. I bet they would be mad if we showed up at settlement and bought it back at a discount 🙂
Keep up the good posts though, they’re encouraging to those who are following just a few steps behind.
Jason,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, there is definitely a lot to discuss on that topic.
I’ve never seen the wire, but I can pick up on what your saying.
I have some friends who live in Baltimore, not in the city exactly, though I’m not really sure of the area at all.
Anyways, be encouraged and keep us posted. I’m gonna subscribe to your blog to stay up to date.
Hey Ariah,
Just wanted to let you know I am finally back online again (yep- after 7 long months)…. and I am so glad to see you’re still here, shaking things up and keeping us all *thinking*. I’ve really missed your posts. Looking forward to catching up!
Peace,
Jamie