I was watching Dirty Jobs the other day. The host, Mike, was talking to a guy who cleaned old train engines. It looked like a pretty lonely job, and in response to a comment Mike made to that effect, the guy said, "I learned a long time ago that I don't like people." Ouch! Brutal honesty, but if I'm equally as honest, I have to admit that there's a piece of that sentiment that resonates with me.
Consider these points: 1) I really don't like getting hurt. 2) I am easily hurt. 3) People hurt each other. Conclusion: If I mix it up with people, I am going to get hurt, and I'm not going to like it. My response: withdraw. Not terribly different from the lonely railroad guy.
Only as a Christian, I am faced with this clear commandment: Love your neighbor. Misanthropy is not an option for the follower of Christ.
Consider these words of Paul that read like a love letter to the Romans:
"I thank God through Jesus for every one of you. That's first. People everywhere keep telling me about your lives of faith, and every time I hear them, I thank him. And God, whom I so love to worship and serve by spreading the good news of his Son -- the Message -- knows that every time I think of you in my prayers, which is practically all the time, I ask him to clear the way for me to come and see you. The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache," Romans 1:8-11, The Message.
Lest I think that these were just extraordinarily mature Christians -- i.e. easy to love -- Paul adds this in verse 14 (Oswald's text for today's reading): "Everyone I meet -- it matters little whether they're mannered or rude, smart or simple -- deepens my sense of interdependence and obligation."
I cannot cut off the people who hurt me. I cannot withdraw into my safe corner. I cannot profess to love Christ and hate my brother.
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