Bring up any subject today and you will find people on
both sides of the issue. Each side claiming they are right and each side
declaring the other side is wrong. I
have never in the 57 years of my life seen so many lines drawn in the sand
daring people to cross over them to escalate a fight. It reminds me of the
Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960’s when the United States was faced off with
the Soviet Union over putting Nuclear weapons in Cuba. It was only resolved as
Defense Secretary McNamara put it, they just blinked. It caused the Soviets to
back down and they took their missiles home. Today both sides are afraid to
blink because we feel any sign of compromise means we will lose. So we dig in
our heels and refuse to bend even an inch.
I am reminded by the words of my church history professor
Dr. Walter Shurden when he was talking about polity in the Southern Baptist
Church. He said, “Remember this class, in the Baptist church the majority
rules, but the minority may be right.” In other words just because you have
more people on your side on any given day does not mean you are correct in your
stand, there is a chance you may be wrong. Today’s view diminishes Dr. Shurden’s
words to nothing more than wishful thinking because we cannot afford to be
wrong because if we are wrong it means we are weak and we lose.
There is another approach, one of respect and dignity in
the midst of disagreement. When Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount in which
he turned the world upside down with basic teaching like treat everyone like
you want to be treated and love your enemies as well as your friends. He
encountered a leper, a person seen as unclean and untouchable by the law. Jesus
in putting the sermon he just preached into practice did the unthinkable: he
touched an untouchable person. Not only did he touch him but he did so right in
front of all the people who just heard the sermon. The man was healed right
then and there.
I wonder what kind of difference it made in the lives of
those who saw it happen right before their eyes? The next time they were in a
crowd and heard someone shouting out the words: Unclean, unclean would they
respond any differently having seen the miracle.
The true miracle then becomes mine to experience when I
change my behavior because of experiencing the sermon Jesus preached and later
acted upon. Rather than just screaming out I’m right and you are wrong it may
make a difference to reach out and touch those with whom we disagree. Dialogue,
walk in their shoes and begin to understand where they are coming from. Jesus
touched people thought to be untouchable now it is our turn.
