Cindy posted something on her facebook status earlier this week that started some interesting conversations. It went something like this:
God's greatest command to us is to love Him first and love others as we love ourselves. At what point are we allowed not to love others because of the sin in their lives? As followers of Jesus, at what point can we plaster a scarlet letter on someone and write them off?
This wasn't just a hypothetical question. Instead, this is the reality that we find ourselves living in. Let me tell you a story about a guy named John. John is a homeless guy who lives here in DeKalb. He has been coming around the church for the past few years and God has done some amazing things in his life.
When I first met John he was the town drunk. He would wander around downtown most of the day and sleep either on a park bench, bus stop or in a porta-pottie at night. Every now and then I would find him behind the church reading an old bible. He always had questions about scripture and he always wanted to better understand it. I usually struggled to figure out if he was being genuine or if he was trying to play me (I would also be trying to guess if he was drunk or not). Either way, I figured it didn't matter - John would keep showing up - and I would keep praying the God would do something with him.
Late in 2009, John got drunk and passed out in front of the Subway restaurant here in DeKalb. The police showed up and tried to wake him. Being drunk, he took a swing at one of them and ended up in the county jail for a few months. Part of his probation was that he needed to be a enrolled in a treatment program. He went up to Freeport for about four months and got into a program called Sojourn House. During that time he got cleaned up and sober. He also got plugged into a church and got baptized. He found an apartment and a job. His life seemed to be getting cleaned up.
He came back to DeKalb about three weeks ago to check in with the court on his probation. He mentioned to his Probation Officer that he wasn't feeling well and she suggested he go to the hospital and get check out. The hospital found cancer. Lots of cancer. In his lungs, in his liver, in his skull, in his jaw, in his ribs and up and down his spine. It was in stage four - and it was in the fourth stage of stage four. It was bad and there was nothing that they could do about it. Realistically, he was looking at weeks. The job went away, the apartment went away. Most people would hear this story and their hearts would go out to John. Something must be done. The problem is that there is one more part to this story. John is a registered sex offender.
The story goes something like this. Ten years ago, John was at a party and his was drunk. There was some kind of deal going on that went bad. The people whose house he was at demanded money from him that he refused to pay. They threatened to call the cops on him and he left. Somewhere in the midst of all this, he hit a little girl who was running around at the party. The cops came, picked him up, and threw him in the county jail. The public defended told him the charges were weak and he should fight them in court. In typical DeKalb County fashion, it was going to take 120 before it would go to trial. The prosecutor told him time served and four year probation. He took the deal.
Since then the laws have changed and the sex offenders registry was created. Four years has turned into life. The laws keep changing, prohibiting where he can live, where he can be and where he can not be. If an agency gets money from the state, he is disqualified. It has gotten so bad that there is not even a nursing home will take him. He has no place to go and die.
What has been most interesting is the reaction of those around us. First of all I must say this - I am so proud of my church. They know the truth and yet they still want to help him. But the reaction of those around us is mind boggling. John wears a scarlet letter - and for some reason it makes him less human to people - almost disposable. I've been yelled at by people, told he had it coming to him, told that we need to wipe our hands of him because he is a danger to society and to us. I've actually had someone question me as a pastor because I am "putting my congregation in so much risk by letting him come to church." People actually questioned if he could legally come to church.
Jesus spent his time with the lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors. The Pharisees would continually question him: "Why do you spend time with sinners?" It was almost like there were afraid that they would catch something from them. But wasn't that the point? I think that Jesus was hoping that he would rub off on them.
"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." My gut is that Jesus would be hanging out with John, but what about us?
I have had a song running through my head all night tonight. Bob Dylan once said:
"How many roads must a man walk down before they can call him a man?" How many roads must a man walk down before he is no longer a man?
"How many years can some people exist before they are allowed to be free?" In John's case, freedom won't come in this life.
"Yes, how many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn't see?" Do you see? It is for the least of these.
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.
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