Attack Ideas, Not People
Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010
by Aaron Taylor
Aaron Taylor
The other day I wrote a scathing rebuke to a right wing organization that sent me an e-mail that I felt reeked with hypocrisy. After careful consideration, and perhaps a gentle rebuke by the Holy Spirit, I've decided not to publish it. I realized that, though Jesus was constantly rebuking the religious leaders of His day, He never attacked people directly. Sure he had some harsh words like " brood of vipers " and " white washed wall " , but it struck me that He never said " Caiaphas is a snake! " Though He used bombastic language, He never made it personal.
Who are the Zaccheus's today in American society? Who are the people that you despise? I'm not talking about people that you know. I'm talking about people that you don't know, but make judgments on them because of their occupation or status in life. Is your Zacchaeus an ACLU lawyer? A rich CEO? A conservative or liberal politician? In the Zacchaeus story, Jesus shows us that sometimes the idea of a person is worse than the actual person.
The crowd was upset because Jesus went to be in the home of a sinner. When we constantly define ourselves against the " other " that we don't like, we fail to recognize that we ourselves are sinners and are in desperate need of the grace of God. Out of all the people in the crowd that day, only one person that we know of received salvation, and it wasn't the ones that thought they had it all together. It was the rich crook that realized his need for a Savior. I've learned that if I attack people, and not ideas, I'm not any better than the crowd that tried to exclude Zacchaeus from the love of God. Sobering, but true.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Hi Aaron,Thank you very much for this wonderful article. All that you do is very much appreciated.God bless you,Mark
good word
Very good article - much needed too - thanks.
I'm reminded of the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus wasn't just a wee-little man, as the popular childrens' song says; Zacchaeus was a wee-little rich man that was working with the Roman government to fleece his people for personal profit. The Jews had every reason to hate him, but how did Jesus treat Zacchaeus? He didn't rebuke him, or even talk down to him. He showed His unconditional love and acceptance to him by inviting Himself into Zacchaeus's home--no questions asked.*** That's the beautiful of fiction. The script plays out exactly as intended by the writer.
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