I hung out with some radicals last week: Rob, Perry, Shane, Nick, and Joe. Rob is a young man with a contagious smile and a twinkle in his eye. He finished college with majors in Communication and Spanish, but his passion is to love his fellow man. He lived in Bolivia a year, working with the youth of a different culture. He’s saving up money to go back, but while he’s in the States he’s hanging out with the people few do… the homeless, the poor, the ones society rejects. Rob kind of reminds me of Jesus.
Perry bought us all a meal last week. He doesn’t always have a pocket full of money, but on this particular night he did, so he generously said, “Dinner’s on me.” Perry is my age and is a youth minister. He is one of those courageous guys who will tackle any task. If he says he will do something, he’ll do it even if it means working day and night until the job is complete. If a friend says, “Man, I think it would be fun to build a house,” without really knowing what he was talking about, Perry just might say, “Let’s do it!” We’re still living in the house he built twenty-one years ago. Perry kind of reminds me of Jesus.
Shane may be a modern-day prophet. He looks quite different from the regular church-goer, but I guess John the Baptist looked different from the regular Jew when he did his preaching. A young man with a Tennessee accent, Shane humbly preaches a radical message: “Jesus meant what He said.” What gives his message power is that he lives it out. Shane lives simply, giving away things that are given him. When visiting a strange city, he stays with any willing family that offers him a bed. While in his home city, he lives with the poor. “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.” Such bold living has landed this radical in jail a few times. Shane kind of reminds me of Jesus.
Nick is a college student who loves music and people. If you’ve ever seen a picture of the Confederate General, James Longstreet, Nick has his beard. Nick is the kind of guy that would jump in his car and drive five hours to pick up friends in a distant city and turn around and drive five hours back home. (Young people do these kinds of things…) Nick delayed his education for a season to go live with the homeless in Camden, New Jersey. Now that he’s back in school in a different city, he continues to serve the poor along side fellow college students from different universities. Nick kind of reminds me of Jesus.
Joe is the oldest of these radicals and a reminder that the call of Jesus transcends age. As a young man Joe abandoned all for the Gospel, his home has always been a refuge for the broken, and for decades he’s shared God’s love all over the world. He’s not intrigued with the temptation of retirement. He sees much of the ‘American Dream’ as being in opposition to the life Jesus calls us to live. I think I witnessed God’s desire for the generations last week. Young radicals blessed the older with energy, courage, and zeal while an older radical blessed the younger with wisdom, experience, and an example of what it means to ‘go the distance.’ Joe kind of reminds me of Jesus.
In a time when religious radicals are bringing tension, hate, and death into this world, Jesus is producing radicals that are promoting peace, love, and life. Though misunderstood and persecuted, Jesus brought the Father’s plan of peace to the world. Though hated and eventually killed, Jesus was the epitome of love. “Love your enemies.” How radical is that? And though Satan’s great weapon of death has held mankind hostage for ages, Jesus came to bring abundant Life – one not defined by material wealth or worldly standards. Oh to be a radical like Jesus.
“In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.” John 1:4-7