Eat it

I like to read the comments that people leave in response to online news articles and editorials because they help me to feel like I’m in touch with real, uncensored opinions on these subjects. Lately, I’ve been sensing an attitude of real hostility towards Christians that I find alarming. I wonder what the Christian response to such negative attitudes ought to be. I know that we’re viewed as intolerant, ignorant, irrational, and archaic. The Bible does teach us to expect persecution and to rejoice in it. Peter wrote to early Christians, “do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed” (I Peter 4:12-14a, NIV). However, I wonder if the suffering that American Christians have to face is what Peter had in mind. If we’re persecuted because we are spreading hatred, are greedy, are careless about the environment, or fail to advocate for the poor, is that the kind of suffering that we should rejoice in?

In Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder (2003) wrote about a friend of Dr. Paul Farmer—a priest named Father Jack—who preached an untraditional gospel message that focused mostly on social action and less on the rigid moral guidelines that American evangelicals are so fond of touting. Father Jack ended up moving to Peru to work with the poor and dying because he contracted a multi-drug resistant form of tuberculosis (MDR). However, Father Jack’s death was certainly not in vain, since it alerted Farmer to the presence of MDR in that Peruvian community. This not only led to Farmer’s organization launching a successful campaign against MDR in Peru, but also to global action as Farmer and Jim Kim campaigned successfully for more awareness and better treatment worldwide. Father Jack’s death saved many lives in Peru and is continuing to save lives all of over the world. Father Jack was living out the gospel by giving his life over to the poor and the sick. He was killed by disease, an enemy of human life. I think this makes him a martyr, and his kind of suffering is a kind in which Christians ought to rejoice.

When Jim Kim faced frustrations working in Peru, Farmer told him “remember, serving the poor in Carabayllo is more important than soothing your own ego. It’s called eating shit for the poor” (p.131). All Christians are called to eat shit for the poor, but the irony is that many Christians would get too hung up on the offensiveness of the word “shit” to even stop and think about what this phrase should mean for them. I think this attitude represents a lot of what is wrong with American Christianity; we have become so focused getting people to agree with our version of morality and salvation that we ignore the bigger picture of caring for others. This skewed focus is at least one of the reasons that we are faced with hostility in America. James wrote “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27, NIV). American Evangelicals have been very focused on the last half of this verse, but what about the first half? What about the millions of African children who have been orphaned by AIDS? Moral guidelines are important, but so is practical action.

People like Paul Farmer and Jim Kim are living out Jesus’ example of unselfishly caring for the poor and the sick. They may have faith of sorts, but they certainly aren’t professing evangelical Christians. The irony, of course, is that many people who are professing evangelical Christians will look at these two men and will not be able to get past the fact that they are not living by “Christian” lifestyle norms. Jesus said “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40, NIV), which implies that in serving others, people may be serving Jesus even if they do not know or acknowledge his name. Of course, for those of us who do acknowledge his name, the responsibility is even greater because we represent Jesus to the world, and we have no excuse for ignoring his commands. We may have to take secular criticism of the church seriously, and look to the Paul Farmers and Father Jacks of the world as examples. Christians can continue to avoid being polluted by the world, but they should also avoid unnecessarily polluting the environment. And we can continue to avoid saying the word “shit,” but we should also be willing to throw down our egos, take Farmer’s advice, and eat it for the poor.