Defeating Intolerance Series

The Apostles Paul and Peter, as well as members of the early church, debated many issues. Jesus also attempted to clear up all the confusion over “trivial” matters of the law. In Luke 10:27, he said, “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.”

You cannot get much simpler than that, yet humans have a tendency to complicate the simplest concepts. I wonder if we have lost sight of Jesus’s teaching.

Rick Warren, an author and pastor of the well-known Saddleback Church, has written, “Did you know that Gandhi considered the claims of Christianity? In fact, he read the New Testament through several times and thought about making a decision. But around that same time, he made a trip to the United States in the area of the Bible belt. And the same thing happened at every town he went to. People wouldn't allow him in the restaurants because of the color of his skin. In his personal journals, Gandhi later wrote that he rejected Christianity, not because of Christ, but because of Christians.” (2)

“The Church is still fighting battles with labels: literalists or liberals, evangelicals or social activists, traditionalists or modernists. A few years ago, a Leadership magazine cartoon showed a pastor sitting with two obviously exasperated parishioners at a table in his office. The caption read like this: “Would anyone object to my praying with my eyes open?”

Jesus saw the walls of his day and wanted them down. Walls between Jews and Samaritans. Walls between the super-righteous and sinners. Walls between fallen humanity and God himself. Jesus gave his life to tear every wall down. Several years ago in Israel the family of a Jewish man with a fatal heart disease was praying for a heart transplant. They pleaded with a family of a comatose man who had been shot in the head by Israeli soldiers to donate the dying Palestinian's heart for the transplant.

The family refused, and both men died. A year later, another Arab and Jew lay dying in a hospital ward. This time, the man that needed the heart was a Palestinian. The Israeli family, unaware of the identity of the recipient, gave consent, and the transplant took place in a Jerusalem hospital. When the news broke, there was a storm of protest.

Israelis were enraged that the heart of their soldier should be in the body of an enemy. Most ironic was the fact that the recipient went into hiding to escape Palestinian rage. But the widow of the dead Israeli soldier knew her Hebrew Scripture. She knew the words of Jesus, and she was satisfied. She said, “If a person can be saved I feel it is a blessing.”

“That story could just as easily pertain to a Jew and Gentile or Christian and militant Muslim. The point is that intolerance is not a respecter of people or religions. It easily applies to us today. We, in the American church, may not be shooting at one another, but we have towering walls that keep us from communicating effectively.