“I don’t have any money for gas, and I have to take my four year old in for brain surgery tomorrow, and I just started this new job, and I don’t get paid for another week…oh, and what time are your services, I’m looking for a church…”
I notice the meth sores. I smell the cigarette smoke. I can see the glazed over look in her eyes.
I also saw them pull up into the parking lot. Nice car. There’s a dude out there, probably in his twenties, clearly strung out on something—and now making his lady go in to beg for some cash. I don’t see a car seat.
It’s that last line of her speech that kills me. I’ve heard it so many times before. She’s learned that if a pastor or church thinks they might have a potential disciple they’ll be more inclined to opening the coffers.
This lady isn’t sincere. She is trying to play us. She wants church money to buy meth.
If you have limited resources in the face of seemingly unlimited need, you have to make judgment calls like this all the time. Should you help somebody who isn’t all that serious? Should you help somebody who is “coming to Jesus” for all the wrong reasons?
I end up telling her that we don’t have the resources right now to help. She leaves in an angry huff, upset that the church doesn’t care about her daughter enough to give $20 for gas so she can get her brain surgery.
What Would Jesus Do?
What do I do with this?
I think about situations like this when I read about Jesus feeding the 5,000. They didn’t pack their own lunch. They weren’t taking responsibility. The gospel accounts, especially in John, tell us that they are fickle. They aren’t serious disciples.
But what does Jesus do? He says, “you feed them…”
I also think of these decisions when I read something like Mark 3:7-10,
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
Mark is clearly framing these would-be disciples as fickle. They only want to follow Jesus for what they think they can get from him. They are so misinformed and self-conceited that they’ll trample over Jesus just to get a potential healing touch. They aren’t interested in His person. This isn’t discipleship, this is just an excited crowd hoping to get a little touch of goodness.
But what does Jesus do? He tells the disciples to get a boat ready because things could get out of hand. But he also stays for a bit. He doesn’t immediately flee. He meets the crowd where they are.
We need to wrestle with this for a little bit. Jesus isn’t about simply gathering a crowd. He is after deeper discipleship. There is a sub-thread that runs through the gospel accounts where Jesus is constantly trying to escape the crowds. But woven into that thread is another thread—Jesus’ compassion. He still ministers to the crowd, even when they are insincere.
If Jesus were to define his relationship status with the crowds, he’d have to put “it’s complicated”. The crowds here are both a thing to be celebrated—Jesus’ ministry is thriving in spite of the religious leaders opposition. But it also serves as a potential danger.
Maybe I should have forked over that $20…
Should I Have Given the $20?
Jesus’ complicated relationship with the crowds is also seen in places like Luke 4:40-44. The people are begging for Jesus to stay—but he leaves so he can preach the gospel elsewhere. He doesn’t give the $20 it seems.
I believe the Scriptures call us to both compassion and wisdom. Jesus knew His mission. This is why at times He’d stop for a couple hours and chat with a Samaritan woman, but at other times he’d pack up bags and head elsewhere when there was still ministry to be done.
I don’t think the Scriptures call us to an easy answer on these questions. There is not a “you must always give $20” type of answer. Nor is there a “you must never give that $20” answer. We’re called to trust the Spirit and use the wisdom and compassion that God gives to us. Cold, distant, and uncaring attitudes are not permissible. But neither are irresponsible ones.
Conclusion
I think I made the right decision…kind of.
Looking back upon this now, I believe that I should have been bold and brave enough to tell the lady exactly why I wasn’t going to meet her request and invite her into a deeper conversation. Invite her into getting more profound help.
What do you think?
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