Faith is not a wish and there is really no such thing as blind faith in the Christian perspective. Faith is not a theoretical or intellectual ascent. It is confidence that God is king.
"There are things in this world that are not the way they are supposed to be, and they are not how God would want them to be, and genuine faith in God, according to James, compels those who have such genuine faith to do something about the brokenness that is in the world...
"Now, God can make crushed gravel into orange chicken if he wants to. He can turn grass clippings into clothing if he wants to. But his preference, his plan, is to meet needs through faith-filled people who act on their faith. See, faith that offers little more than sanctified slogans, faith that sits quietly and benignly in our heads, faith that does not inspire the hands and feet to do something in response, is what James calls, "dead faith.""
"Mercy doesn't replace judgment. It reframes judgment. Mercy says—while hanging on a cross—forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing. See, this is the way of the Kingdom. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy doesn't replace judgment, mercy reframes judgment. We model Jesus and His Way when we're agents of mercy in an increasingly judgmental world where the people judging are certain their judgments are correct. Mercy reframes judgment, and God help us, the world needs a huge dose of mercy that reframes our judgment."
There are plenty of vulnerable and hurting people who not only do not believe in God or follow him, they make choices that go against him and his ways. I'm asking if you believe that there are vulnerable people crossing our paths whose vulnerability is because of their choices. What do we do then?
The Christian narrative provides a grand and sustaining vision through the difficulties that we face in life. It's not that we pretend to be joyful and then minimize the heartache as though it is irrelevant, but rather to walk with God through the difficulty and ask him to redeem the heartache by reframing it in a kingdom perspective.
In every single one of us, whether we realize it or not, there is a desire for something higher, wider, and deeper than anything this life offers. And every now and then if we listen, if we tune in, we might notice it rumbling. We might notice it rustling somewhere deep within us.
It's really hard to look at the world without wanting God to handle certain things in a certain way. We want God to make it easier for us to believe in him. We want him to help the hurting. We want him to eradicate evil. I mean, who wouldn't want to do that? We want him to protect children. What sort of God would not want to protect children 110% of the time? We want him to do away with homelessness. We want him to eliminate suffering. We want him to answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered. We want to be happy. What's wrong with that? And God disappoints because ultimately his ways are not our ways.
Another significant chapter in Israel's history occurred when the Babylonians conquered Israel in 586 BC. After that happened, thousands of Jewish people were deported from Israel to what is today Iraq. And there they lived for 70 years as exiles. Exile is a description of God's people throughout history. I am an exile. Living in a context where God's kingdom and ways were not being upheld by the government or empire that was in charge.
Jesus was born a Jew, and he spent his entire life surrounded by signs and symbols reminding him that the empire of Rome was in charge. That's why his message that the kingdom of God had come near was so politically charged and problematic because it directly challenged the empire.
While the anonymous woman in our story, perhaps part by personality, but certainly influenced by her life circumstances, had learned to live in the way of passivity, to avoid, to hide. Don't make any noise, just blend in.…
This is how othering happens. See them, hear them, think about them, label them, see it, hear it, and an inner dialogue starts to grow in the soil of our minds that is watered and fertilized by our favorite media source. And as we process and sift and sort, often with only ourselves or with those who happen to share our perspective, we draw conclusions without ever having to engage with the person or persons about whom we're drawing the conclusions. We just write out the label, slap it on them, and go on our way. The lazy sin of labeling.