Last night we had an interesting "encounter" with two strangers. We should have known better than to go to Walmart, but Travis needed a knee brace for this morning, and it was almost 11pm. We found a knee brace, and were just getting into the car when I heard a woman yell at us. Travis rolled down the window, and she told us she was stranded there- bus service had just stopped for the night, and she only had $3 to her name, and she didn't know how she was going to get home. We let her in, and were just about to pull out of the parking lot when she told us we had to go find her husband- we would be giving him a ride home too. We picked him up, then stayed pretty quiet for the drive to their home. The woman, meanwhile, yammered away in the back, reciting poetry she had written about Jesus and telling us how ugly her husband's freckles were (it took her a few minutes to realize that I had freckles too. I really wanted to laugh, but the whole thing was so uncomfortable). They made us stop at a gas station so the man could grab a "soda" (he came back with a beer), then begged us to take them grocery shopping because the man had just gotten out of jail and didn't have a job. We took them home instead, but Travis gave them his number at the church.
On the way home, I could tell that Travis was frustrated. We both were. The whole thing was a little scary, to be honest.
So I'm wondering: how does a follower of Christ reconcile the command to give "your tunic as well" with the desire to not get taken advantage of? I have to keep reminding myself that Jesus didn't qualify that command with "if it looks like the person really needs the tunic and isn't going to sell it for drug money." Next he even says
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you
(All from the NIV, Matthew chapter 5)
I love radical grace when I'm receiving something I don't deserve, but I guess I don't understand how to live it. Or, maybe, I understand how to live it, but I don't want to get eaten alive by people that will be happy to take me for anything I've got.
I should have just offered them Wheat Thins. That ought to have taken care of things.
1 comment:
I know what you mean! It is so very difficult to understand what to do. I have talked with social workers who have directly told me that when you give people on the streets food, you are not helping, but only enabling them. Gah! What do we do? How do we help in a tangible way? What would Jesus really do if he walked up to that person? Tough stuff!
Post a Comment