Recently I visited Houston and was engaged in conversation about how communities reacted to needs created by the August 2017 Hurricane Harvey. As reported, tough guys who historically had little tolerance for people of various ethnicities or sexual orientation became extremely compassionate in helping the very people they previously avoided. “They have children, too” said one cowboy type about an Indian family who lived in an adjacent neighborhood. The community ignored classes, races, and other distinguishing factors and focused on the needs. To be sure, there are probably few people who would want such a catastrophic event to hit their neighborhood. This post is not an attempt to portray a truly horrible situation as some sort of blessing in disguise. Everyone in Houston knows someone in Houston who lost everything in that flood.
What did occur to me, though, is that Jesus always saw the needs within people he encountered. He did so without the prompting of a catastrophe. He simply sat by the well in a Samarian town and interacted with a woman who had a need. There was no earthquake, fire or flood preceding his conversation with her. He just saw in her the emptiness of a searching soul who was turning over all the wrong rocks. Jesus didn’t need Harvey to prod him into action. He constantly listened and gave aid. He didn’t pre-qualify every person with whom he interacted based on their social class, sex or religion.
We are called to be Christ-like. We are not called to prequalify the people we encounter. We are not called to screen the people we engage in conversation. We are called to listen as Christ listened and ask the right questions like Christ asked.
My friend explained later in the conversation that an atheist friend of his from work caught wind of a local church that had organized aid for a devastated community. She had assumed the church was providing aid to its members. When she learned that the church had actually provided aid to some of her non-believing friends from her neighborhood bar, she reported to work the next day… as a volunteer at that church. We must remember in all of our encounters that people have biases against the church that are as unfair as the biases some within the church have. We must be patient and calm when showing our love and concern to all people. Not just when Harvey is around.
Bene-action: think of a person you have been avoiding, whether you know him or not. Consider how you would respond if that person just lost everything and only you could help. Then, have a conversation with that person under the influence of the same heart with which you would approach him if his worst-case scenario occurred. That night, reflect on the conversation and how you feel about it internally.
Common Sensitivity 