By Steven Norris
In a previous season of ministry, I spent time each week in the local jail leading a Bible study for inmates. I remember the day that Chris walked into my study. His long dreads were swinging back and forth across his back and his wiry frame was animated by a definite swagger. My eyes were drawn to the green band clinging to his wrist, indicating that he was a minor.
Chris was new and didn’t understand the format of our meeting. He continually interrupted and wanted to debate the merits of Christianity versus other religions to which he had been introduced. I tried to redirect the conversation to the Bible study at hand, but Chris was insistent on making the group about him.
After several attempts, I looked Chris in the eye and said to him, “Silver and gold have I not, but what I have, I offer to you.” He was perplexed, not understanding the reference to Peter in Acts 3. As he entered the temple, Peter confronted a man who was begging for alms. He didn’t have any money to offer the man, but he gave him what he could. In this instance, Peter offered the man healing from his infirmity.
In my case, Chris was looking for a fight more than a discussion and I refused to engage on those terms. What I could offer him was a testimony about what Jesus had done in my life, the hope of new life in Christ, and a word of forgiveness if he was willing to accept it.
This week, I have been thinking about what the church has to offer the world and the various individuals that show up at our door.
In this moment of deep division and partisanship, the church has a chance to offer a different vision of reality — a reality shaped by the table instead of the stage. Worldly values push us to look for a bigger platform and more notoriety. Jesus makes a bigger table, where his broken body and shed blood are shared to re-member the dis-membered body of Christ.
In this moment where we see an unquenchable thirst for power, the church has a chance to offer a different vision of reality — a reality shaped by the cross instead of the sword. Jesus refused to participate in the cycle of violence. He modeled something more revolutionary than “an eye for an eye.” He absorbed the worst the world had to offer and said, “Let it end with me.”
In this moment of seemingly endless arrogance and entitlement, the church has a chance to offer a different vision of reality — a reality shaped by the towel and basin instead of the throne. Jesus gives the church a model of humility that stooped to wash the disciples’ feet, seeking to serve and not to be served. He generously gave everything he had to bring healing, protect the weak, and offer eternal life.
I don’t know what ultimately happened to Chris. When I ran into him weeks later in the community, he was still searching for truth. I pray that the Spirit led others to water the seed that was planted and that he encountered a revolutionary community who truly modeled the Jesus Way.