When I was a young boy, my father taught me how to mow the yard.  I started out on a human propelled push mower and later graduated to a riding lawn mower.  I mowed my parent’s yard, my grandparent’s yard, and my great grandparent’s.  One summer when my son Jordan was visiting, I asked him if he wanted to try mowing our yard – he had never been behind a mower before.  So I gave him a couple of quick instructions and let him have at it.  When he finished, I went out and told him how good a job he did.  Later, I got the mower out and went back over all the patches that he missed.  I think that was his only experience mowing a yard.  I give him credit though – he was willing to try and learn something new.

Jeremy Clarkson was not a farmer or as one of his neighbors put it, “a proper farmer.”  Many of the things he does makes him look like a buffoon.  One of the best examples was his purchase of a tractor.  His first tractor was a Lamborghini R8 270 DCR.  It’s the Lamborghinis of tractors – literally!  The problem was, it was too big for the narrow roads and too wide at the rear to get through his gates.  In one scene on his show, he tries to force it through a gate and tears out the gate post and part of the rock boundary wall.  But that is not half of his story.  He then tries to disc his field and has no clue what he is doing.  The filming crew did an aerial fly over with a drone and the image is rather humorous.  You quickly get the impression that a drunk monkey could have gone in straighter lines than Mr. Clarkson.  However, this did not dissuade him – he continued to take instructions from his neighbor Caleb, and he eventually learned how to properly disc a field. 

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gets invited to dinner at the homes of a leader not once, but four times which is kind of interesting because Jesus was not a friendly guest.  In Luke 11 he shows up smelling because he had not had a bath.  Then he takes it upon himself to insult his hosts.  He tells the Pharisees that they are a bunch of hypocrites and the lawyers, he accuses of being the murderers of the prophets.  One author put it this way – Jesus was the kind of dinner guest who shows up, steals the TV remote to change the channel, and then turns up the thermostat to their desired temperature.  Commentator Richard Vinson said this, “Jesus clearly skipped the courses in pastoral care and cultural sensitivity in seminary.”  Jesus’ point was this, the Pharisees and the lawyers stopped being open to growth and learning.  They were set in their ways and their ways continued to hurt and marginalize the most vulnerable of their times. 

It is easy to criticize characters in the Bible, without consideration of other words of Jesus, namely these words.  “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”  One of the things that the modern church and its members need to learn is humility.  Any time we take the opportunity to condemn someone else’s words or actions, we should first start with our own.  I know that I am trying to be more cognizant of the need to do this.

March 1^st of 2003 Congress combined Immigration and Naturalization Services and United States Customs Service creating a new agency called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)  Then they assigned oversight to the newly created Department of Homeland Security.  Their duties and functions were not new, the organization of them was.  And under the administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, immigration enforcement continued to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to them by Congress.  You may have a strong opinion on how these duties are conducted under the guidance of varying political ideologies, but I have reverted to this as my starting point.  I have no idea what it must be like to be an undocumented immigrant.  Likewise, I have no idea what it must be like to be an agent assigned to conduct final removal orders of a single person, a mom or dad, an elderly person, or a known criminal.  It is inconceivable to me to judge individuals simply trying to enforce the law because I have no idea how to “drive their tractor” or “mow their yard.”  But what I can do is learn and from learning and being informed by multiple sources (both left and right) I can stand up for the rights of citizens of our great land and the rights of those seeking a better life.  However, choosing to stay uninformed or ill-informed would make me no better than Jesus’ hosts.  I believe the call to discipleship demands openness and learning that leads to informed compassion.

I invite you to take time and read each of the scriptures above followed by reflection on the questions below.  Assess your stand on current issues and how well your compassion is informed or uninformed, especially for those responsible for law enforcement.  Lastly, I pray that God bless the reading of God’s Word and the meditations of your heart.

Questions to Consider this week:

• Monday:  What is your main source of information regarding current ICE enforcement?
• Tuesday:  Does the information you consume reinforce your biases or challenge them?
• Wednesday:  If Jesus came to your home for dinner, would he be a nice guest or a demanding guest?
• Thursday:  What lesson can you learn from Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees and lawyers?
• Friday:  What is the beam in your own eye needing attention, especially considering current immigration practices?
• Saturday:  Do you think Jesus’ words were directed to larger society, current leaders of his religious tradition, or a combination of both?  Why?

Actions for the Week:

• Head:  Consider what information you consume and its impact on your biases.
• Heart:  Ask God to reveal your heart in a way that informs compassion for all involved in tough situations
• Hand:  Seek ways to broaden your understanding of current issues and all involved in them.