Mistaken Identity
I heard this story a while back and it really got my thinking. It was at the peak of the rioting and looting that erupted in the wake of the killing of George Floyd a black man at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. They had blockaded the 35 W bridge for protesters who were holding up traffic farther up the freeway.
Unfortunately, the highway officials didn’t see an 18-wheel semi that innocently slipped through not realizing there was trouble ahead. By the time he saw the crowd on the freeway it was almost too late. He screeched on his brakes and finally came to a stop barely missing a woman on a bike who skid under one of the truck’s tirers. It was a miracle she wasn’t crushed.
Seeing this the angry crowd assumed the trucker was intentionally trying to kill people. So, they swarmed the truck. Pulled the driver out. Threw him to the ground and were beating him to a pulp when others in the crowd fought their way to the man. A black man was the one who finally pulled him to safety. Had he not the angry crowd probably would have killed the man.
Pretty intense, huh? What just happened there? Based on what they saw the angry crowd had judged the man guilty, deserving of death, not by lynching but a modern-day beating to death execution. Making judgments on people based on the information we have and the conclusions we come to based on that information, that’s what the angry crowd did. And without wanting to, it’s what we sometimes do.
I’ll give you an example. I hear the story of the young man who runs up to Jesus all excited. He assumes that Jesus will be impressed with him because he’s done everything right. But Jesus challenges him to do something that’s he’s not ready to do. So, he walks away sad.
I don’t know about you but when I hear that story in my mind I’m thinking, “What a whip. That guy didn’t have the guts to leave his safe little world to follow Jesus.”
In thinking that way what have I just done? If the angry crowd judge the innocent truck driver guilty, deserving of death, I’ve judged the young man guilty, not deserving of being a disciple of Jesus because he’s too weak to be a disciple of Jesus. And all that based on the information I have and the conclusions I come to based on that information.
But the fact is, I don’t have all the information. It’s not recorded in scripture but who knows? Maybe that young man’s humbling encounter with Jesus caused him to rethink his priorities and his conversion came later.
With God’s grace anything is possible, right?
So, what’s all this have to do with the way things are today? It’s easy to have an opinion. But when we don’t take time to listen to the whole story we can get into trouble. In this election year maybe that’s our first call, instead of making judgments about people, take time to listen to people.
And the second order of business, the next time you’re ready to make a quick judgment about someone see that person the way Jesus saw that young man. He gazed at him with love even though he hadn’t changed the way Jesus was hoping he’d change. And so, for us gaze with love on everyone, even those who haven’t changed the way we were hoping they’d change.
And for those we have a hard time with or who have hurt us, instead of glaring at them soften your gaze and see in them what Jesus sees in all of us, the inner goodness that is there. If we could learn to do that, how different things might be in our world. And how different things might be in the world we have created for ourselves with the thoughts and opinions we cling to.
