One of my “claims to fame” in life is that I once saw Mother Teresa in person.
I had recently graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, and read on a church bulletin board that Mother Teresa was to be the featured speaker that very afternoon at a pro-life convention being held in downtown St. Louis.
I jumped in my car and drove to the convention site. I arrived late, so I didn’t hear Mother Teresa’s entire speech. However, when I saw and heard her, I was startled by two things. First, Mother Teresa was an extremely small woman. She was very, very short. Second, she spoke very gently and very deliberately. She had a notable, though a pleasant accent. What amazed me was that her message, spoken so humbly and so slowly, was so powerful. Her simple words and demeanor overpowered the crowded convention center. We were reminded again of a truth. The only Christian thing to do, the only human thing to do, was to welcome and to treasure the weakest and most dependent lives among us, the unborn.
Recently, an atheist group at one of America’s prestigious Ivy League schools, Dartmouth College, hosted a public debate. The group announced that it would consider why “one of the most beloved people of the century, Mother Teresa, is [in the words of the famed atheist, Christopher Hitchens] ‘a lying, thieving Albanian dwarf.’”
The atheist students asserted that the public has been “conned into thinking this woman was good,” and stated that she “was not a friend of the poor,” but “was a friend of poverty.”
These students’ provocative statements could be cited as yet more evidence that our society is pursuing a trend of mocking anything that has traditionally been held in respect, especially if it is a person or an idea that has any connection to Christianity. (Imagine, for a moment, how likely the atheist group would have been to suggest, or what the public reaction likely would have been had the group stated publicly, that the prophet Mohammed was “a lying, thieving Arab.”)
But I digress. My primary point in sharing the actions of that student group is not to point out that Christians and the things we hold dear are considered fair game in today’s public square. My point is to remind you that there is no Christian man or woman that can escape others’ ability to doubt or to denounce them.
Because of that, this is the challenge I would lay in front of you today. Forget the Christians you have known. Some of those Christians (like a Mother Teresa) you may hold in very high regard. If that is the case, I am grateful. There may be others who claim to be Christian whom you hold in utter disdain, as idiots, scoundrels, or hypocrites. If that is the case, let me offer my regrets. (There are many, I can tell you, who believe those words describe me.)
But forget the Christians you’ve known. Forget the laity, forget the pastors who have served you poorly or who have served you well. Forget me. Instead, consider Jesus. Don’t consider Him on the basis of those who confess Him, even if they are like Mother Teresa. Like her, they can be doubted or dismissed. Consider Jesus on the basis of His own claims about Himself.
Consider Jesus on the basis of His promises. Regarding His exclusive nature to be the access to heaven, consider Jesus’ claim, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; No one comes to the Father, but by me.” Consider Jesus’ claim to be and to do what no man can possibly be or do: “I am the Good Shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep. I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish. And no one shall snatch them out of my hand.” Consider Jesus on the basis of His promise to you: “Lo, I am with you always.” Consider Jesus on the basis of what He said on the cross about the guilt that separates you from God: “Father, forgive them,” and “It is finished.”
Take your eyes off the Christians you know. Even if you respect them, others will find reasons to denounce them. If there are Christians whom you don’t respect, who have turned you away from the Christian faith, don’t let their error or weakness keep you from getting in the ring and wrestling with the One who claimed to fulfill all of God’s promises for you, Jesus.
But be warned. When you take your eyes off of Christians and place them on Jesus, when you wrestle with the claims and promises that Jesus makes, those claims and promises may just break you. If they do, as was the case for Mother Teresa, nothing will ever again be the same.
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