Tuesday: A Difference of Lordship
WEEK 40
TUESDAY
A DIFFERENCE OF LORDSHIP
2 Corinthians 5:11-15
We are studying the mastery of non-caring. In 391 CE, a monk named Telemachus leaped into the arena among the human gladiators in Rome and was stoned to death by the spectators; however, his martyrdom stopped the inhuman gladiatorial shows. He was a Christian, and he cared.
Writer Basil Mathews (1879–1951) tells of a young medical missionary in Mesopotamia who was attending to a young Arab whose life was at stake. He could be saved only by a blood transfusion from a healthy man. The family was informed; but the father, brothers, cousins, all refused to be lanced to give their blood, even to their own kin. The doctor saw only one way to save that life, and he took it. He lanced his own body and gave his own blood. A window was opened in the spirit of those watching Arabs. New light poured in. They were amazed. This was something that had never come into their lives before. From that day that doctor was able to do what he would with those Arabs, and no man dared harm a hair of his head.* The difference was not a difference of race. It was a difference of lordship. It was the difference between Mohammed and Jesus Christ. Christ cared, and those who follow him care. And the closer they follow him, the more they care.
A college student in India felt the plight of the rickshaw pullers in a hill station. He became a rickshaw puller himself and stayed with them in their miserable huts. Their lot became his. No wonder the government chose him to be labor commissioner in the new government. He was a Christian, and he cared.
An American pilot had to bail out of his burning plane; as he floated down, a German fighter circled around him. He thought his hour had come and folded his hands in prayer. The German saw this, folded his hands in the same way, waved to him, and flew off. They were both Christians, and they cared. At the end of the war this pilot sent a thousand dollars to help the Germans. The caring begot caring. One loving heart sets other hearts aflame. Christians care.
O Jesus, let my heart catch the passion of your heart. May I begin to care and care for everybody, everywhere. For if this spirit of caring dies, we sink and become animals. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If I care for those who care for me, what do I do more than others?
*No published version of this story was located.