holding onto hope & handing out healing

mona was standing on a street corner, waiting to meet her sister, when I ran up to her and told her I loved her outfit. she, dressed as a suffragette, informed me that this was her voting attire, and she was just returning from the polls. she proceeded to proudly reveal to me the bright, white tennis shoes she was wearing underneath, remarking “they didn’t get to wear comfortable shoes when they fought for us, but now we get to walk in their footsteps.” as she walked away, I was struck by thoughts of Jesus, about walking in the shoes of others, and about the frustration I have been feeling in the current moment when I see the well-intentioned but somewhat dismissive nature of some sentiments among Christian community. 

I have been seeing the sentiment repeated and rephrased, something along the lines of “Jesus is on the throne no matter who wins, so it doesn’t really matter.” and while yes, He is on the throne, and yes, our hope doesn’t have to lie in the rule or regimes of Earth, I never want to use this to dismiss the very real pain, plight, and experiences that many are facing in today’s climate. 

when asked by the religious folk of the day what laws were most important, Jesus responded by telling them to love God, but then, He said something that I’ve been turning over in my head all week — “love your neighbor as yourself”. the “love your neighbor” piece feels relatively straightforward, and I think to some extent we all understand this — give to others, watch out for each other, etc. but what has stood out and been an echo in my head is the second part — “as yourself”. THIS is a very intentional command by Jesus. because He knew that to love, to care, to look out for who is separate from you is an altogether different practice than to love someone as though they  w e r e  you. 

you can feel when someone hurts you, you can feel when there is injustice against you, you can feel when you are outcast or pushed aside or fearful for your safety. so to love someone as yourself means to reach over and put on their shoes, to step into empathy, to walk in their experience. it also means to protect, defend, and care for them the same way you would for yourself. 

yes, Jesus is still on the throne, and always has been, through every period of benevolence or destruction here on Earth. however, if God did not care about what happens here, if He did not demand that we are to stop and have compassion and care for the wellbeing of those around us, if He was not concerned about justice, He would have just come to Earth, dismissed the hurting, never called out hypocrisy, and never healed. 

but that is not our God. He is one who told the story of the Good Samaritan, stopping for the man who was left for dead on the side of the road, binding up his wounds, carrying him on his own donkey, paying for his recuperation. the Samaritan didn’t ask where the man had been prior, he did not need to know if the man had any hand in creating his own trouble. his compassion was not conditional. 

if God did not care about our treatment of those on the margin, of those who are hurting, Jesus would not have stopped at the touch of His robe to heal a woman, raise men from the dead, or flip tables at the sight of injustice. He is powerful, He does have authority, but He also isn’t absent in the pain of the people. He never proclaimed without practice — and we mustn’t forget that these are linked.

He did not walk around dismissing anyone’s fear or anguish or grief. instead, our God stopped, He listened, He leaned in, He handed out healing, and He spoke of a Love greater and more powerful than any brokenness anyone could experience. 

these things go together, and we must hold them in tension - holding onto hope and handing out healing. 

we place our hope in the fact that God is good and real and just and present, and no earthly power will change that. but we don’t end there. we empathize, we listen, we serve, and we love to the best of our ability. all throughout the Bible, from Moses, to Daniel, to Esther, there is proof that God places people amidst the generation where they are needed. there is interaction with governmental authority, especially in cases where injustice was to be fought, not an abstinence from engagement with power.

part of why I think Jesus added in the “as yourself” clause is because He took on our pain, our sin on HIMself so that we could be healed. He took our pain and loved us as though we were His own flesh, and this command is really just to follow in our sweet Savior’s own footsteps. 

so, if you were your neighbor, not just next door to them, how would that inform how you treat them? how would it inform how you listen, protect, care for them? how would you feel for someone who thinks differently than you, who has had an experience completely unlike your own? people will see God not through our agreement with one another, but our love for one another.

what if our hope and trust in God was expressed through the confidence with which we love our neighbor? would Jesus on the throne be a not just a declaration of but a decision to lean in. we exist for more than just ourselves — this is true of both Kingdom and democracy.