I judged her!

She got on my train, suddenly appearing in the aisle.

“Good evening,” she said, “I hope you have all had a good day.”

People glanced up, and looked away, buried themselves in their phones. She claimed to be homeless and needing some money for a bed for the night. She was ignored, except by one man, who gave her some change and tried to engage her in conversation.

Turned out she and her partner were working the trains, and her partner was angry that she was more successful than he was.

I looked at her. Ordinary clothes, nice bag – well a girl has to look good. Homeless? Really? It was hard to know. I had come out at night with my door key and travel card, so there was nothing I could do to help her. But I had still made a judgement.

Later I was convicted by the idea that by making a judgement I had wronged her and, worse still, I was unfaithful to God. (Numbers 5.6-7) I may not have openly wronged her, but in my heart, I had. I was not seeing her as God sees her. What about the next beggar I meet? That’s the challenge for me. Will I have a right attitude and show them God’s love?

Photo by Adelin Preda on Unsplash

Everyone one needs compassion

Photo by Rémi Walle on Unsplash

Ever looked round your neighbourhood? Who really lives in the homes? Who walks the streets? Who visits the library, coffee shops and pub? Just as Jesus saw the crowds, “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”, we can view the people we meet – even in our neighbourhood – as needing scooping up and loving. We are the labourers going out into the harvest. 

Some people might be wandering around in a dry place, not yet having found a place that will give them sustenance. Some will be in a dark place, having rebelled against God – needing someone to help lift them out. Others have just made poor decisions in life and are reaping the consequences – needing someone to point the way. Some appear to have it all: always after the latest thing – tossed by the waves of the latest fad. 

God’s people, the Church are primarily a group of people coming together – all in need of God’s grace. God has sent those who follow his son, Jesus, to the people in their neighbourhoods. To those who are looking for more – more of God. As well as looking for the millennials; they look for older people who have lost their way, distracted by the world around them, who need to comeback to their first love or even to find God for themselves for the first time. 

We wrong the harassed and helpless if we fail to speak up; if we fail to make room for them in our daily lives; if we fail to love, or to provide sustenance and guidance. When we fail, “we are unfaithful to the Lord” because our lives no longer show who God is. We are after all called  “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”

As Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan put it:

”Everyone needs compassion

A love that’s never failing

Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness

The kindness of a saviour

The hope of nations”

 

References

Matthew 9.36, Psalm 107, Numbers 5.6-7

Everyone needs compassion, Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan, 2007?