radical love

My goal in writing this blog was to look for true, selfless, Christ-inspired love while in Uganda. Here's a pretty powerful love story for you:

Today I was able to go to the FOCUS: Uganda headquarters with the Nortons again for some additional meetings regarding The Street Child Project. At 8am every morning, the FOCUS staff begins their work with a communal Bible study. The new American intern from Wheaton College led the devotion and chose the topic of how suffering is related to the Christian life. He began our conversation with the following question:

Is suffering a necessary part of the Christian faith, why or why not?

I kept quiet while I listened to the group discuss why they believe suffering is integral to the Christian faith and the danger of living a sheltered, safe, privileged life. It was incredible to hear the leaders of FOCUS discussing the topic, admitting their struggles and spouting Bible verses from what felt like nearly every book of the New Testament from memory. I was continuously flipping the pages of my Bible trying to keep up. Their combined passion, energy and intellect was so refreshing to witness.

Sam, the current General Secretary of FOCUS:Uganda, a wise man and a dear friend, mentioned that he believed enduring suffering was a component of the Christian faith, primarily because God calls us to act selflessly, surrender everything and love radically. He continued with a story to illustrate.

A few nights ago Sam was in his house working on the computer when he heard a child crying somewhere outside. The crying continued and finally progressed to screaming, at which point Sam went to look outside his window. There he saw his neighbor, a grown man, pushing a small child up against the fence with all his might. Sam, unsure of what to do, sat back down at his desk and tried to reason through the situation. Confronting the man could endanger Sam's own life or the life of his wife and young son. Before long he heard the neighbor shout to the boy to get a rope. Confused, Sam got up and looked out the window again. The man had stripped the boy naked, tied his hands and feet, pushed him to the ground and was beating him with a cable. Though Sam did not have the physical strength to go and force the man to leave the boy alone, he walked out of his house and confronted the man.

Sam mentioned to as that as he approached the man, he was entirely unsure of himself--what to do or what to say. From his actions, I believe he would say that the only thing of which he was sure was that there was evil in front of him that desperately needed to be thwarted with the kind of selfless love that flows only from God. He approached the man.

"Good day sir," Sam said.

"Good day," the neighbor replied.

Sam looked at the boy, and again at the man. "Sir, are you willing to kill your own child?"

The neighbor attempted to protest. "This is my son," the man replied, implying Sam had no business in the matter.

Sam remained silent and stared at the man. He didn't use any physical force. He didn't even raise his voice. The man put down his whip. Finally, his wife came outside and the horrific scene between the father and son ended.

The interaction reminds me so much of the account in the book of John chapter 8, where a group of Jewish leaders drag a woman guilty of adultery in front of Jesus to be stoned for her crime. The Pharisees are happy to put Jesus in such a dilemma, as they are convinced that either they will force Jesus to allow the killing of the woman or they will witness him disregarding the established law of Moses. Both of these, killing the woman and disregarding the law, would could have ended Jesus' life immediately--either his crowds would have been displeased with him or he would have been accused of heresy. However Jesus is devoted to both the law and to justice and so surprises all of the men by saying:

Let he who is sinless, cast the first stone.

Jesus doesn't disregard the law, for he permits the stones to be thrown, however he redefines the standard for throwing the stones in such a way that no one can kill the woman. Her life is spared and the love of Christ demonstrated to her.

He doesn't yell at the Jewish leaders. He doesn't attack them violently. Instead, he looks them in the eye with love and honesty, regardless of whether or not their actions called for such humanity.

He seems to ask them, do you really want to kill this woman?

Sam strives to model Christ, but as he mentioned this morning during our discussion on suffering, following Christ is a daily struggle. It takes immense courage at times and massive faith in God. It does not come naturally. We are inclined to act in our own interests, but following Christ takes us out of ourselves and calls us to the only thing that will ever save the world: radical love.