>Have we made distinctions?

Janet Panning

A "madman"* entered an Anglican church service a few years ago, barely covered in rags, smelly and muttering threats, disrupting the service. The pastor had the chance to throw him out. Instead, he gently led him to the chair on the platform reserved for bishops and church leaders. He gave him the seat of honour.

The pastor chose the "madman". In an act of courage and humility, he risked offending his members and stuck his neck out for someone who perhaps didn't even realize what he was doing, someone who was embarrassing and who could possibly turn on the people in the church.

The pastor did for the "madman" what Jesus did for us. Compared to what we could be, we are potentially dangerous, smelly and dirty distractions from the beautiful intentions of God's plan. And yet Jesus walks down the aisle to meet us and gently guides us to the seat of honour.

Do we dare do the same with those around us who are dirty, disturbed or perhaps "beneath us"? Do we risk offending the brothers and sisters who do not want to be disturbed? Do we risk getting the chair dirty? Do we risk taking the places of the powerful and giving them to the poor and needy? Do we risk losing the esteem of our church brothers and sisters who may prefer we not have any dealings with the truly needy?

Ironic, isn't it, that some of Jesus' last words were to a guilty, convicted, unbaptized criminal? Jesus' message to that man, who was enduring the same inhumane punishment as Jesus, was a message of hope and comfort. He didn't take the time to go over the man's sins, or put him in his place. He gave of His dying self to share words of hope with a suffering individual.

*"Madman" is a term Jamaicans use to refer to people with untreated mental disorders.

Janet Panning of Lansdale, Pa. is MCC Jamaica country co-representative.

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