The Call to Kindness January 21
Last week we talked about “vocation” being called to a specific activity.
We read that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and that he was one of the first two disciples called. Andrew then introduces his brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus.
This morning, we hear a little different story. Mark tells us that Jesus started his ministry after John the Baptist had been arrested. This is different that John’s Gospel who tell us John the Baptist is still alive at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
They are fisherman- who are dependent on lake to provide their livelihood. Their only claim to fame is that they believe God is doing something new and amazing in the world and they want to be a part of it.
Jesus doesn’t stop with Andrew and Peter, he then invites James and John. And later he invites Matthew, a tax collector and the other disciples.
Later still, Jesus encouraged Martha’s sister Mary to sit at his feet while he teaches. This is provocative because symbolically to sit at the feet of a rabbi was to become a student or a disciple of that rabbi, and it was a role reserved only for men.
But Jesus often invited those who we would least expect to be a part of God’s plan for the world: fisherman, tax collectors and women.
This isn’t new.
Throughout scripture, God calls ordinary, regular people to serve, people like you and me.
Gideon, the smallest man, in the smallest family, in the smallest clan in the smallest tribe;
David, the youngest child, destined to be a shepherd for life with few other prospects.
and Deborah, a judge, in a place and a time when women had few options or rights.
God has work to do in the world, and this work is not reserved for the specific genders, those with the highest education or those who are built like Goliath.
God invites each of us to be a part of the salvation of the world.
We are each called—like Andrew and John, James and Peter.
And fortunately, this doesn’t mean we all have to go to seminary or suddenly pack up our belonging and move to a foreign land to preach the Gospel. In fact, we are called to do something very simple, and yet extraordinarily difficult.
Listen to the word from the prophet Micah:
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?
God calls us to “Kindness.”
Kindness can change the world and on August 20, 2013, kindness averted a tragedy.
Antoinette Tuff worked in the front office at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy when a 20-year-old gunman stormed in with an AK-47 assault rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition.
While on the phone with the police, Tuff calmed the gunman down. More than 800 students and 100 employees were at the school that day; not one was injured.[1]
Instead of treating this young man like a monster, she recognized the image of God in him. She saw a young man who was hurting, confused, angry and unable to ask for the help he needed.
She didn’t scream, instead, she spoke softly.
She didn’t curse him, instead she called him “baby.”
“baby, you don’t need to do this.”
Antoinette shared that she had been suicidal the year before and that he didn’t need to do this. This was not the answer.
And then she told him she loved him.
Antionette Tuffs told the young man with the AK-47 standing in her office that she loved him and even volunteered to walk out of the school beside him so that the police wouldn’t shoot him.
Kindness in a moment of terror prevented a tragedy.
And the world was astonished.
But…
But maybe we shouldn’t be so astonished.
Antionette loved her neighbor as Jesus first loved us.
And her reaction reminds me of how Jesus taught us to respond in the face of violence.
Matthew 5:38-42
38 You know you have been taught, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” 39 But I tell you not to try to get even with a person who has done something to you. When someone slaps your right cheek,[i] turn and let that person slap your other cheek. 40 If someone sues you for your shirt, give up your coat as well. 41 If a soldier forces you to carry his pack one kilometer, carry it two kilometers.[j] 42 When people ask you for something, give it to them. When they want to borrow money, lend it to them.
All around us, we hear different groups of people claiming they know how to make the world better.
The election season has begun and all around us politicians are claiming that they know how to solve the world’s problems, and some even quote scripture.
They cry for justice, and eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But we rarely hear people talk about what Jesus calls us…
To love one another as Jesus first loved us.
It is so simple, right…
And yet, I know how easy it is to lose our temper, to get frustrated or angry. Perhaps we are overtired, overstimulated, overwhelmed.. or we are hungry, or not feeling good and we snap, we complain, we forget to be kind.
But because of God’s unconditional love, because of the dying and resurrecting love of Jesus, our lapses in kindness are forgiven.
And we can start each day new, ready to try again to be the love of Jesus in the world, to show the world true kindness, unconditional love, no strings attached.
This is what we are all called to,
no matter if we are 6, 36, 76 or 106.
True kindness can change the world.. and it can save lives.
And if you don’t believe that, ask Antionette Tuff,
Ask the young adults who were children at the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy that day in 2013.
They will tell you, a little kindness can go a long way. Amen.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2014/01/31/268417580/how-one-womans-faith-stopped-a-school-shooting