When one examines the ministry of Christ, we always find Him focused on the redemption of all He encounters. Christ does not center his conversations on what is wrong with His listener, only how His listener could escape the pain they carry. Mary Magdalene was guilty of far more than adultery when she was cast at the Savior’s feet. Christ could have enumerated all the sins He knew she had committed over her lifetime. He did not. Nor did He call attention to each of the sins in the lives of those who were picking up the stones to end her life. With a simple but piercing gaze into the eyes of the angry mob, He gently reminded them that they too were equally guilty and deserving of death, or more importantly of the mercy He was extending to Mary. Christ was not trying to excuse Mary, or proclaim her innocence. He was trying to free her from the pain she had chosen to embrace. This is the very nature of redemption, not provide an excuse for evil, but an escape from evil. And in this work, Christ was decidedly NOT a critic. Instead He uses the power of positive reinforcement, blessing her, freeing her, and saying … “go, and sin no more.” Forget what you have done and embrace the freedom from pain He offers to her. Do not focus on your sins or your past or the hundred other things she had done wrong – instead be free, and focus on the freedom only Christ could bring.
Criticism does not bring reform. But the hope and love Christ offered brought about change. When Christ encounters the Samaritan woman at the well, he again gets her excited about what He has to offer her – a living water, a freedom she has never known. He does not focus on all the woman’s sins or faults. He mentions her social history only to reveal to her that He knows her as a person, cares about her as a person, is interested in freeing this particular woman from the pain she has known in her own life. She becomes so excited she is compelled to go back to her town, and bring with her everyone who knows her to hear “this prophet who revealed the secrets of her life”. She is not content to hear His message of freedom alone, but rather wants the entire town to come to Him. Had Christ been a critic with divine knowledge about her life and sins and focused only on her faults, she would have wanted to hide herself from Him, and never let Him speak of her long list of evils in front of the entire village. Instead, Christ does not center His encounter with her on what she may have done wrong, but on how she can be freed from the pain of evil. This freedom, this hope, this love is what she is compelled to share with everyone she knew. Christ brings reform, criticism accomplishes nothing.
Yet somehow over the years “Christian” has become synonymous more with “critic” than with “Christ”. Too often Christians focus on what is wrong with the world around them, and more specifically with the people they encounter, than on the hope the Christ brings to escape the pain of evil that plagues our souls. When an outsider looks at a Christian for the first time, they mark whether they see a person who loves them unconditionally, much like our Lord – or someone who seems to think their sole mission is to point out every flaw, every shortcoming, every sin that might be preventing them from “finding God”.
As when Christ encountered Mary, there was no question that the crowd was right, she was guilty. But the lesson is not about judging the guilty, it is about reforming a life from guilty to one that is not slave to the pain that evil brings. So too, when we encounter the sinners that surround us in the world, it is not our mission to focus and call attention to the obvious evils they commit – but to point them to a God who loves them SO much He was willing to die to heal them. People avoid criticism, but are drawn to love. If we are to represent Christ, we must be a picture of unconditional love. Proving that we actually do love the sinner, despite his sin; for our Lord loves us despite the evil we continue to cling to. Our mission is not to “fix” people, we are incapable of that. Our mission is to point people to the source of all love and let Him “fix” them, as He does with us.
Christ does not discriminate against “some” of His children, choosing not to love them because of a particular evil they commit. Instead He loves ALL of His children, despite the condition they find themselves in, despite the sin and pain they have chosen to embrace. He longs to free ALL of those He loves from the pain in their lives. He wants ALL to come to Him; age is no barrier, sex is no barrier, race is no barrier, even our sin is no barrier to come to the Lord of Lords. He did not ask anyone He encountered to go become blameless and give up certain vices before they could be with Him. He knows that is not something humans can do. Instead He bids us all to come to Him. He knows when we do we find rest. Only when we come to Him can we find the peace, the hope, and the change we ALL so desperately need. In this He presents an infallible picture of unconditional love. How can Christians then, those who bear His name, love others any less? How can we claim the name of Christ and then totally reverse His ministry from one of hope, to one of condemnation and fear.
Notice that Christ never once threatened any of His listeners with eternal Hellfire and damnation if they did not choose to believe in Him. His ministry was not one based on … “you better or else”. The Beatitudes are not followed by ten curses to those who refuse to embrace Him. Yes, on occasion Christ warned His listeners about the dangers of disobedience (mostly to those who thought themselves the religious leaders of the day); but even then it was always couched in an appeal of love. Christ’s evangelism was not based on the soon coming end of the world, the last plagues, persecution, torment, and the evils of going to hell for our sins. He did not preach long sermons designed to scare people into submission to an all-powerful vengeful God. That is not who He was. That is not who His Father is. Instead, He presents the perfect picture of love, acceptance, and freedom from the pain of evil. The Bible is not written to show the justice of God in condemning the evil ones, it is written to show the mercy of God to those who do not deserve it. We are the beneficiaries of His love, His mercy, and His sacrifice. We receive it as a gift, unearned. He needs no fear to motivate us. He has something considerably better to offer than merely an escape from fear. He has a real alternative to the pain of slavery in serving only one’s self.
Christ does not need fear to transform His listeners. He does not criticize to reform. He loves. He genuinely loves, each person, each encounter is one designed to redeem. Christ knew the mind of Judas. He knew that Judas was skimming from the collection plates. He knew that Judas would betray Him. He knew what would become of Judas. So why not reveal him? Wouldn’t you? Why tolerate a known traitor in your midst? But Christ did. Not just to fulfill some prophecy written centuries earlier, or not because He intended to provide Judas with false intel to give the Pharisees. He allowed Judas to be one of the twelve, because He desperately wanted to save Judas from himself. He hoped that close-up, constant exposure to love might reach into the heart of Judas and reform him.
But to do this, Judas must be willing. Judas thought he knew better what the mission of Christ should be, and while he believed in the divinity of Christ, he never imagined that one who had such power would not use it to free himself from certain death. Judas never accepted the freedom Christ offered, yet that did not ever give Christ an occasion to criticize Judas, and point out his every fault. Christ did not try to frighten Judas into reform. He did not tell Judas that what he was doing, and how he was thinking, might lead him to the very gates of hell. Instead, He was patient and loving with Judas. He accepted Judas as one of His own. Judas was a member of the 12. He could have had his name written on one of the gates of Heaven itself. He could have been a mighty leader of the early Christian church. But Judas would not have it. And Christ never changed his approach with Judas, no matter what Judas did or said. Christ only ever showed him love and acceptance.
If criticism is to end within the Christian church it must first end inside of me. I must look in the mirror and confess to my Lord that my heart is one full of critique and empty of love. I must ask the Lord to change how I speak, how I love, and how I communicate with others. I must find a way to focus on what is good, and allow Christ to fix what is not. I must become an encourager of the faith, and an unfailing reflection of His love through me to those I encounter. I must love those who are hard to love. I must remember not to respond to criticism with barbs of my own. Instead I must return love for insults, love for hate, love for dislike, love for apathy, love for greed. Whatever is thrown at me by those I meet, whether inside or outside the church walls, I must only ever return love.
This is what my Savior did. This is how Christ ministered. He was not obsessed with a list of woes. He was laser focused on how to redeem people with love. He wanted to reconcile ALL of us to His Father, not just the ones struggling with “certain pre-approved sins”, but everyone, no matter what their particular sin was. He did not care about the belief systems a person held to be valid, He knew He would have to help them see truth. But we can only see truth AFTER we come to Christ, not before it. He knew it might take years to help us believers find the truth we ignore thinking we know better – like Judas. But He does not give up on us. Therefore let us not give up on each other, and let us find His strength in our hearts, to destroy any shred of criticism that might remain. And perhaps then redefine “Christian” to be synonymous with “unconditional acceptance” rather than “critic”.
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