Behind the Beard

In James 2, there is a stirring and convicting passage that illustrates for us that we are not to look at outward appearance or even socioeconomic factors, when we consider those whom we encounter,
even those who wish to worship with us. We read:
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality.
2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,
3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool,"
4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Isn't it great that we serve a God who does not determine whether or not to save us based on our appearance, our level of income, our cultural background, or even how much money we have?  Christ died for all, and He desires for all to come into a saving knowledge of Himself.  None of us deserve to have that right relationship with God, but Jesus gave His life for us, undeserving as we were.  And, He calls us to not view other people with a sense of partiality; rather, to be sensitive to sharing the compassion of Christ with all.

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In Luke 10, Jesus is asked, "who is my neighbor?" after He taught that we were to love God and love
our neighbor as ourselves. So, He taught this:
30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

Several campuses of Harvest Bible Chapel, based in the Chicagoland area, had a unique visitor not long ago.  He was a man who was apparently homeless, described by the Faithwire website as having a "gray, mangy beard," who "leaned against a TJ Maxx shopping cart overstuffed with his life’s belongings."

How would congregation members respond to this unkempt individual? Would they stop and stare, walk on by, or perhaps demonstrate the compassion of Christ? What occurred was that, according to the article, the appearance resulted in "a number of congregants praying with him, bringing him food, handing him cash and inviting him inside the sanctuary."

Ultimately, the man did go inside the sanctuary, and straight toward the pulpit - uh, oh; this could be awkward!  But, as he approached, he removed the coat and then took off what turned out to be a fake beard, only to reveal that it was the church's teaching pastor, James MacDonald!

Faithwire states:

MacDonald, who founded and leads the megachurch in the Chicagoland area, posted a video of the experiment to his Facebook page Monday. He told his congregation he was blown away by the treatment he received as he crouched next to the door of the church campuses...

The story said that the response of his congregation members resulted in his "crying inside that beard."  He is quoted as saying, “I dressed up as a homeless man and sat outside our church,” adding, “What I witnessed blew me away.”

MacDonald explains:

“Do you know that your father in Heaven is giving the same graces to the person that is hardest for you to love? He is giving it. He doesn’t play favorites. He is giving the grace to everyone,” he said. “If we are going to love like our father in Heaven loves, we don’t get to play favorites. By favorites, I mean, so often we love the people when there is some benefit in it for us.”

The crux of MacDonald’s message — and the intention behind his brief social experiment — was to show his congregation that it’s “hardest to love when the problem is most common and the people are least known.”

So, the takeaways for us today:

First of all, don't take human suffering for granted; it is certainly all around us.  We can be motivated to not just walk by, but to exercise sensitivity.  Remember, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, two of the three people who encountered the wounded man walked by; this can serve as a stirring example to us.

We can also fine-tune how we look at those who are down and out.  Do we regard them with the compassion of Christ, or with conceit, placing a higher view on ourselves than we ought?   We are called to place the needs of others above our own - God sent His Son, who regarded our need for salvation as the highest priority.  He came to earth to redeem fallen humanity - that's the love He gives us the capacity to exhibit.

We also remember that Christ died for all - an elevated socioeconomic background doesn't give someone an advantage at the foot of the cross.  He comes to repair the broken, those who are willing to admit our need for a Savior so we can experience a relationship with God through Him.  And, everyone is called to enter in through the same door, the same method.  His invitation is for all, as He desires for all to be saved.