Tuesday, September 6, 2011
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A long time ago my friend, Art, got stopped for speeding, although he was a little baffled when the police officer didn't get out of his car for a couple of moments. So, he thought, "Well, I'll be obliging." Art got out of his car. Oh boy! Immediately he heard the policeman yelling at him, "Get in that car and stay there, and don't move!" as the policeman reached for his gun. Poor Art! I mean, the poor guy was only doing 37 in the 30. That's not really that bad an offense most of the time.
Well, the policeman finally came up to his window. And as Art reached in his back pocket for his license, the policeman said, "Freeze where you are! Eyes straight ahead! Put your hands on the steering wheel! Don't move!" Well, of course, Art's first reaction was, "Am I going to die?" And then his second reaction was, "What is this guy's problem?" Well, if you'd stopped right there you'd have said, "Boy, this officer's really got an attitude, man. What's going on here?"
Well, you see, the officer went on to explain why he was so jumpy that day. He had just had a friend, a fellow officer, gunned down by a man that had been stopped for a minor traffic violation. All of a sudden, it's kind of understandable, isn't it? You see, when someone is over-reacting or just acting strangely, there's usually more to it than meets the eye.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Rest of The Story."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in John 4, and you may recognize this as an incident where Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well. She's an obnoxious woman, and she comes across in this passage as being hard and prejudiced. Jesus is trying to offer her living water to satisfy the deepest needs of her heart, and she throws up racial barriers, and religious differences. She's sarcastic toward Jesus. And if I were Jesus, I would have found it tempting just to say, "What's your problem, Lady? I don't need this." But Jesus looks for the "why" behind her actions; the need behind the deed.
And so, in John 4:16, He says, "'Go call your husband and come back.' 'Oh, I have no husband,' she replied. Jesus said to her, 'You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.' 'Sir,' the woman said, 'I can see that you are a prophet.'"
As the conversation moves on, Jesus obviously has touched the real need in her life, her restless search for love, for lasting love, as expressed in the men that she's gone through. She finally knows He's a prophet, and she eventually trusts Him as Savior.
Jesus is basically saying to her, "I understand why you're acting like you're acting. Now let's deal with the real issue." Now, look, we all know people who are hard to take, or maybe people who just suddenly explode over you for no reason. You've got two choices. You can attack them or you can treat their wound.
Like that police officer I told you about at the beginning, there is often—if you'll just try to understand—something about that person that tells you how hurt they are and why they're acting as they are. Christ-like people try to understand the well the bitterness is coming from: someone in your family, or at work, someone who has been hurt, maybe they've been rejected, maybe they've been hurt by their family. Try to understand that. See the "need behind the deed." Then your response is love and compassion, instead of giving an eye for an eye or returning evil for evil.
Think about that person you care about, or that person who's hard to care about. You can focus on what they're putting you through, or what they're going through. And if you'll get the rest of the story, you'll be just like Jesus.