It happened years ago, but I can still see it like it happened last night.
In the dream I was in a corporate building in Heaven. God was sitting at a large opening in a wall with all His heavenly creatures around Him. He had boxes full and piled around Him that He was taking one by one and throwing out the opening down to the Middle Eastern countries.. you know, all those "taboo" places where everyone would rather not go because of the wars and fighting and such. I looked at another pile of boxes and grabbed one labeled "death and famine" and thought I could help and threw it out the opening down to them. I stood looking out the opening, proud of myself for helping, and then turned to God and all the creatures. They were all staring at me, and not in a good way.
Then I noticed the boxes God have been throwing down.
They were marked "food and blessings".
That's when I woke up.
What's the point of me telling you this? That it's quite possible the people of God are making the same mistake all over again.
Jesus told a parable of the good Samaritan. He spoke this parable in response to a man who was an expert in religious law. The man asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.
We find this story in Luke 10:25-37(nlt)
The Most Important Commandment
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”c
“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Parable of the Good Samaritan
Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
What I take from this is that we need to consider everyone around us our neighbor. In this story Jesus told even the Priest and Temple assistant walked away from someone who should be considered their neighbor.. they chose to ignore the needs. But a man who was a stranger to the hurt man stopped and helped. We do not know who this man was, whether a Jew or Gentile, but we do know that it didn't matter to this man.
The Jews had a major issue caring about anyone outside of their "People". Don't hear me wrong. I'm not saying they should be chastised or punished for this. What I'm saying is don't make the same mistake.
Over and over God gave His people a chance to be a light to the world. Telling them to shine His glory. To show of His greatness, His love, and His faithfulness. FOR ALL. But all throughout the history of the Israelite's you see the same thing.. they seem to think that God only had room for them in His love.
God became fed up with this. He didn't want it to continue, so He sent Jesus. Jesus came to seek and save Jew AND Gentile. All who wanted Grace got it. All who sought Mercy found it. All who needed healing received it. Jesus didn't ever deny someone based on whether they were a Jew or not.
Today we live in a world so divided. There are lines drawn everywhere of who to help and who to ignore. This person is lazy, this person believes crazy things, this person has too much.
The same things that applied then should apply today. I believe God gave me this dream because we are making war with a people that God wants to know that He loves too. He EXEMPTS NO ONE. He does not base His love on anything other than the heart of the believer. People base their kindness on who the receiver is and whether they deserve it. But what I think is that no one really deserves kindness. We all mess up and make horrible decisions and terrible mistakes.
We think awful things, we do awful things.
And sometimes I wonder, do we exclude people for the same reason Jonah didn't want God to show compassion and mercy to Nineveh?
Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Mercy
This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the LORD about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”
The LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. And the LORD God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.
Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”
“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”
Then the LORD said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”
What a miserable man Jonah was. He was so angry God loved all people, instead of just his people. And why? No good reason I can think of. People need to take from this one thing.. NO ONE is above another. We all belong to the same God, and He loves us all. He's there to show His mercy and compassion to ALL. Not just Jews. Not just Christians. ALL.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. -2 Peter 3:9(niv)
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