My mother shared a nice story with me while we were having a
visit this past week. Maybe you’ve experienced something like this: In a big-box
store parking lot she was approached by a man with a hard luck story. He was
asking for cash for gas, to take his wife to a doctor. The doctor’s office was
40 miles up the road, and their car was sitting on empty. I’ve
certainly had this experience myself, and at least for me, I think there’s a
natural instinct is to be suspicious. I wonder why this is so. Are we naturally wary of strangers? Maybe it’s an ancient mechanism implanted in
our DNA , from back when a stranger
approaching from the horizon usually was an ominous thing. Our instinct hears echoes of: He’s not with us. What tribe does he come
from? Are there others with him? What does this mean? But even in our contemporary times, once
we’ve discounted any real bodily threat, my mind goes to: Am I being suckered here by some con artist?
So then, it becomes a matter of judging this person by their
outward appearance, and putting them in a group based on some assumptions and
preconceived notions. We can’t possibly
know the story of how anyone gets put out on the streets, unless we get to know
them. If we do have a defense mechanism
written in our DNA , we also have a brain to
overcome the initial instinct, and stop to listen to that person’s story. And hopefully, we have a heart also, to deal
with this person with compassion.
This story brought to my mind the story of Abraham’s debate
with God over the fate of the city of Sodom
and Gomorrah . God shared with Abraham his intent on
destroying the city because of its great sin.
But, Abraham sees a great unfairness in destroying an entire city, if
there are innocent people there as well, so he begins to discuss this with God:
Then Abraham drew near and said: “Will you really sweep away
the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous people in the
city: would you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty
righteous people within it?”
Genesis 18:
23-24
And so begins
Abraham’s debate with the angels of God.
It’s incredibly presumptuous of Abraham to barter with God in this
exchange. He speaks up for the innocent
of Sodom and Gomorrah
no less than six times, getting God to agree not to destroy the city if but 10
righteous people can be found.
Unfortunately for Sodom and Gomorrah ,
even this tiny fragment of their city could not be identified, and so the city
and all her residents were destroyed.
But the point here is, God was willing to spare the city of thousands of
people, if but 10 good folks could be found.
What a generous and loving God we have. He was willing to overlook
a massive group of the guilty, so as not to inflict death and destruction on
the tiny fraction of innocent people.
Maybe that’s a mindset that can help us when we think of the poor and
the homeless.
I loved my mom’s response to the man who approached her for
help in the parking lot. She gave him
some cash, with this thought: if you are
truly needy, I do hope this helps. If you are just scamming me, well…that’s
something you’ll have to live with –that’s on you. In other words, either way, I’m not judging
you, or your situation. I offer my
assistance with no strings attached, and I wish you well. Her gift became a gift from her heart. With her final words, she cut loose the
strings, and left the matter between the man and God. There was no need to
judge at that point; she placed the matter, the cash, and her good will, in
God’s hands. Thanks mom, for continuing
to teach us lessons, as the loving mother you are.
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