Would Jesus Wash Hillary Clinton’s Feet?
I saw a picture on the internet today of Jesus kneeling before Osama Bin Laden, Hillary Clinton and others who are or perceived to be by some groups enemies of Christianity. Jesus was washing their feet while the caption asked if we could handle having a Savior who would serve others in that manner.
“To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”” – Romans 12:20 (ESV)
As a Christian, we have no choice but to believe our Savior would do that exact thing because He commands us to do it. The problem is that way too many Christians equate showing compassion on your “enemy” with giving into someone else’s beliefs or not standing up for Christ because you’re afraid of offending them.
Let me be clear…if someone’s in need you help them. It doesn’t matter if they’re Billy Graham or the biggest, drug-infested, AIDS-infected prostitute to ever work the south side of Chicago. If someone is in need of the love of Christ through our hands and feet then we go. If someone is cursing the name of God to your face but they fall to the ground in need of medical help then you help them. As a Christian, we have no other choice in the matter.
Jesus never said that being a Christian was easy. He just said the yoke would be light. Serving someone in need is very light. Serving our enemies in need is just as light.
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Fantastic words, brother. Our yoke is light… our PRIDE is heavy! Thanks so much for these thoughts.
SDG,
Matty
mattythestranger.wordpress.com
Matthew - October 10, 2007 at 8:36 pm
[...] my Enemies? The Bible Blogger wrote a piece today about an image that is making it’s way around the internet. The image [...]
Serve my Enemies? « Stranger in a Strange Land - October 10, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Just to clarify, the woman in the picture is Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, not Hillary Clinton. All of the people in the picture are world leaders. I saw this explanation for the picture on another website: In a room of powerful people, the one with ultimately all the power – God! – washes dirty feet. What a God!
Jutta - October 14, 2007 at 6:55 pm
[...] Boyd’s post shows that he has a clue, as does The Bible Blogger and Ochuk. Emily McGowin’s post deserves the blogger’s hat-tip here, and her response [...]
How many Christians understand Jesus’ teachings? | The Blog of Lon - December 12, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I think you’re right, but I think there’s also a difference hating your enemies and defending yourself from said enemies. I should turn the other cheek, certainly, but I should also defend myself from those who seek to destroy my life, liberty, and property.
mgroves - December 12, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I have 25-years in prison ministry, and I often receive the same flack that this painting received, so this reaction comes as no surprise. So, I composed “four questions” to show people their lack of mercy. Their total disdain for it, but Micah 6:8 reads, “He has shown thee O man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee? But to do, justly; and to LOVE, MERCY; and to walk, humbly with thy God.” Grace (mercy), easy to receive, hard to pass along…
The Four Questions…
1.) What if I told you that your youngest child was murdered? Would you want mercy or justice for the perpetrator?
2.) What if I told you that the murderer was your oldest child? Would you want mercy or justice for the perpetrator?
3.) What if I told you that you are guilty of the murder of the only begotten Son of God? Would you want mercy or justice as the perpetrator?
4.) What if I told you that you had a daughter, your only daughter, the apple of your eye, who has never given you a moment’s grief. Tonight, you have your tux hanging in the closet, because tomorrow you are scheduled to walk your daughter down the aisle and give her away to someone whom you approve? If you’re the mother, you have your new dress hanging next to the gown that you have been planning and preparing for since the first time she held her in her arms. But tonight, your daughter is at a bachelorette party with her peers and they talk her into having “one-for-the-road,” the first ever in her life. Two, three, four, five, six, seven (drinks) later, while on her way home, she wipes out a school bus full of little children on their way to camp. Everybody aboard the bus dies in a fiery inferno, but you daughter survives. Do you want mercy or justice for your daughter (?) and what do those that are related to those who were on bus want? (Justice? No, REVENGE in a Madison Avenue Package.)
The moral of the story is…
The carnal heart has an ingrained sense of justice as long as it doesn’t apply to them or theirs. That is self-righteousness and hypocrisy! Furthermore, Satan knows that God will only forgive us according to our willingness to forgive others. The irony of the whole thing is – “we’re all family.”
As we have received God’s mercy – so are we to bestow the same mercy towards others. “Freely you have received, freely give.” We can hate the sin, but we must love the sinner for “we war not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in high places.”
(Should I die, like Stephen, I would still die with my life, liberty and property in tact, because where one’s treasure is, there heart will be also. I learned a long time ago, in Chicago, that I may die, but I will die FREE, because I will NEVER surrender my ‘will’ to force, fear, intimidation or manipulation. Those who are afraid to die, will cave in to force, fear, intimidation and manipulation while surrendering love and integrity.)
Keith A. Johnson - December 19, 2007 at 1:54 pm