Can we be reconcilled?

Posted by: Simon on 13 December 2019.

Can we be reconciled?

What does that mean in reality, today, after the conclusion of the election and the massive swing to the Tories? I read and see endless articles on TV with people expressing fear and disappointment on one side and elation and excitement on the other. Division seems to be the order of the day. People wounded and fearful, digging in and hunkering down. Will that subside and become mellowed by time or will it continue to be a running sore for our nation. How can healing and restoration be brought about? Is that even a possibility? Is it simply, ‘To the victors the spoils’ to the losers, capitulation and subservience?

As a Christian I wonder what my reaction should be to the winners and losers. Where do I stand? Do I have a camp that I’m in? What can I offer at this time?

I’m reminded about the story that Jesus told a devout Jewish leader. This man wanted to know what he should do to be even closer to God than he already was. With all the obvious boxes ticked, Jesus does what he so often did, he tells a story and as he does he draws this man into it and then puts a twist that no one sees coming. I think we could learn something from that story today.

It’s the story that we call, The Good Samaritan. However it’s not really about the Samaritan at all. I’m grateful to have heard Conrad Kempf unpack it so eloquently and it aided my thinking on this classic story to see it in a new way.

This Jew wanted to know who his neighbour was so he could do just enough to fulfil the requirement and tick it off his list. He listens to Jesus intently with a desire to identify himself with one of the characters in the story. His deep question is how can I get closer to God, what must I do, how can achieve that? I suspect there would have been relief as he heard that the heroes were not the Priest or Levite but then a Samaritan appears on the scene and he doesn’t really identify with him. So who is he in this story? He already lives his life in a way that carries out the required amount of support for those in need so he’s done, and will continue to do, the Samaritan bit. There’s nothing new for him there. Who could Jesus be wanting him to identify with? Then the penny drops. He is the man who has been beaten up and left to die. He is the one who needs help. He is the one that, to move forward, must first realise he is in need of help, not the one in control and in a position of power. Spiritually, the answer to his question of how to get closer to God is to realise his hopeless situation and need for God to reach out to him. There’s nothing he can do it’s all of God.

Reconciliation doesn’t come when one side holds all the cards and you simply have to accept what is offered, but when both parties reach out hands to the other. When those in power seek to raise up those in weakness and when those who feel left out can allow those who are different to them to lift them up.

Today, if you find yourself on the winning side of the political debate then hold out a hand to those who are hurting and frightened, who don’t hold your views, who are angry and feel dispossessed, but not in a way of superiority but in a way that seeks to raise them up in their time of devastation. In contrast, if you find yourself on the losing side of the political debate reach out your hand to those who you might despise and abhor, not in an act of capitulation but in an act of seeking to move forward together from this place of disappointment and pain to a new place of healing and reconciliation.