WATCHWORD:
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
Meditation:
The Other Side?
The last Watchword, entitled “You are a Disciple”, was about Jesus going where others feared to tread — going to the “other side”. Whether are we are aware of it, or not, we operate on a mentality, and in a culture, that speaks of Us versus Them. We on one side, they on the other.
Back in the days when I was a freshman in high school, trying out for the basketball team, we would have scrimmages; shirts versus skins. It was exactly that way. The coach would divide us into two teams, and one team was instructed to remove their shirts. We still do that, in a sense. All we need to do is look at the color chart: Reds versus Blues, Whites versus blacks, or maybe you would prefer left verses rights, or Protestants versus Catholics, and so it goes. We’re no longer shirts versus skins but it’s just as divisive and competitive.
In his book, Who is this Man?, John Ortberg tells of a study in social psychology where boys at a summer camp were randomly divided into two groups. An incentive was introduced to the mix, trying to determine what it took for children in each group to identify with their group, to the exclusion of the other. The researchers could not even get a baseline because as soon as the boys were assigned to a group, they immediately identified with it and discriminated against the other group. Once assigned, there was no “crossing to the other side”.
We do take sides, don’t we? We tend to divide the human race based on ethnicity, culture, language and religion. Ortberg says that the two most powerful words in the human race are us and them. Jesus wanted to go to the “other side of the lake” to minister to them, the disenfranchised, the fallen culture. The disciples, the followers of Jesus, didn’t want to go, but they did.
How much like us. We are told “Go and make disciples…” and we just have too much on our plate, or maybe we will go later. He tells us to “love our neighbor”, and we find all kinds of ways to redefine that word “neighbor”. He tells us to “go and do likewise” and we need someone to tell us what “likewise” means. We are told if we have two shirts, give one to someone in need, and we look in our closet and try to determine what we no longer need or want, before even thinking about giving.
We should examine ourselves. Crossing to the other side is what we are asked to do, and yet…too often we don’t, we won’t, we can’t. We don’t even notice how pathetic we are in our response to our Lord and Savior. Me, you, we…all of us. We ignore His promise to us, And, surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
Precious Heavenly Father, please forgive us, and help us to trust and to cross to the other side and work to eliminate that divide. Amen.
Closing Prayer:
Lord, Jesus Christ, who reached across the ethnic boundaries between Samaritan, Roman and Jew,
who offered fresh sight to the blind and freedom to captives, help us to break down the barriers in our nation, enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry, and free us to challenge and uproot it
from ourselves, our society and our world. I want to be a person who stands firm and trusts You wholeheartedly. I want to be unshakable and resilient, but that can only happen by depending on You and trusting You. Develop that deeper trust in me, God I desperately need it and want to trust you more. Amen.
