By Charles Mills
Disclaimer: The following is a guest post. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of this blog or its editorial contributors.
What Would Jesus Do?
Two men walk into a Brooklyn carpenter’s shop and eagerly look around. They examine a carefully crafted dining room table and sturdy rocking chair sitting by the front door. They admire a solidly built headboard and matching dresser resting nearby. It’s obvious that the proprietor is both deeply creative and highly skilled—just the type of person for whom they’re searching.
“May I help you?” the artisan owner calls from the back of the store, switching off his lathe and brushing wood shavings from his leather apron as he walks toward his potential customers. “Excuse the mess. Things have been busy around here.”
“We can see that,” one of the visitors agrees with a smile. “That’s a good sign.”
The carpenter nods. “Everyone deserves the best,” he says. “I didn’t get into this business to cut corners or make inferior products. I learned that from my father. Now, what can I do for you gentlemen?”
“We’re getting married in a month and are looking for someone to build our guest book stand,” one says.
“It’s the first thing people will see when they attend the ceremony,” the other joins in. “We want it to reflect the feelings we have for each other. Money is no object. Will you build it for us?”
There could be a lot of debate these days about what the carpenter would say in response to this heartfelt request if that carpenter happened to be Jesus. In our fictional account, let’s say he is.
What would Jesus Do?
The aim of every serious Christian is to be Christlike. We are to share His mind:
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5);
To say His words:
“For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12:12);
And to be His hands and feet throughout this hurting world:
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
But, gay people are sinners, right? They’ve got a lot of work to do before God—or any of His earthly “hands and feet”—will have much to do with them, like build them a guest book stand for their upcoming nuptials. Or, as recent history demonstrates, bake them a wedding cake, create a photo album of the ceremony, or even issue a marriage certificate.
Today, not only do many of us Christians feel we’re off the hook when it comes to dirtying our hands, feet, words, or thoughts with such wicked matters, we’re confident we’ve got the civil authorities of this great land guarding our backs, right?
Not long ago, Michael Peabody, a friend and attorney, posted a set of questions on his website: www.religiousliberty.tv. The responses he received provide an insight into just how divided we are as a society. How we believe Jesus the Carpenter would answer such a request as illustrated above unearths more than our personal bias. It shines a bright light on our concept of God’s character and reveals the far-reaching religious tentacles that have spread throughout every aspect of our relationships with our fellow human beings.
This is what Michael wrote:
Should it be illegal to practice your faith if it prohibits you from participating in any way in something your potential customer has the absolute right to do under the law? Does free exercise of religion go beyond going to church or praying? Does freedom of speech also mean being able to say, “The government can’t make me say [or do] that?”
With an almost audible scratch, you could hear a line being drawn in the sand by the responses pouring in. Some said that putting in place state-ordained protections for Christians to withhold public services would simply be a form of legalized discrimination. Others insisted that we Americans have the absolute right to withhold public services to someone if his or her beliefs run contrary to ours.
A more recent action seems to support the latter. The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive sites that speak messages with which the designer disagrees (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis).
The unspoken question in all of this can be summed up in five words: Do my rights eclipse yours?
The R Word
And, there it is: The “R” word. We’re a nation of soldiers wielding our rights like weapons. I have the right to own a gun. I have the right to be racist and talk openly about it. I have the right to withhold services if I don’t agree with someone’s sexual preferences or lifestyle. I have the right to an abortion. I have the right to marry someone regardless of gender and still enjoy all my civil liberties. I have the right to use the bathroom of my choice. I have the right to worship and obey God as my conscience dictates. I have the right to reject you even if you’re following your conscience.
In our headlong rush to protect our rights, we tend to overlook the fact that our neighbor, co-worker, friend, customer, or stranger within our gates enjoy the very same rights as we.
I find it interesting that Jesus the Carpenter (the real one in the Bible) didn’t seem to deal directly with these particular issues as He went about His ministry. Yes, it was a different time and place, but I have a feeling that people were still people. The human heart has been evil and self-serving ever since Adam and Eve chose their own path to follow—a path that led them straight out of Eden.
Issues such as homosexuality, moral backsliding, dishonesty in both personal and corporate relationships, as well as a blatant lack of faith in God flowed just as swiftly in the current of humanity two thousand years ago as they do now. Yet we don’t see Christ addressing them individually. I believe that, after observing humankind’s earthly struggles during the four thousand years leading up to His birth in Bethlehem, He’d already come to the rather obvious conclusion that:
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
His ministry encompassed the sin problem in its entirety, not just a few elements of it.
That’s why we see Him happily dining with dishonest tax collectors, engaging in heart-to-heart conversations with harlots, reaching out to thieves and murderers, feeding multitudes of people regardless of their individual sexual preferences or rap sheets, and performing miracles of healing and resurrections based on other people’s faith in His abilities—people who, in their own right, were sinners just as much as the victims of illness or death.
Equal Footing
I think it would be safe to say that those who strolled into His carpenter shop in Nazareth or walked beside Him along the dusty roads that crisscrossed the highlands and valleys of Judea enjoyed equal footing before him. He rendered service based on their humanity, not on their sexual preferences or adherence to a law—civil or divine.
Driving home His unique perspective on people in general, He brushed aside any doubt concerning where His affections lay. Speaking of God the Father—His role model for everything He did—Christ reminded His hearers that:
“[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).
No discrimination. No rights eclipsing rights. No judgments. No legal backup required.
Anyone who came into contact with Jesus—or His father—could expect just one response: Love.
He even made this often overlooked desire of the human heart an “amendment” of sorts to the Ten Commandments:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).
Where love doesn’t rule the day—such as in our sinful world—humankind needed to find a substitute in order for any society to survive. In most countries, we have just such an alternate to love. It’s called the law.
That’s why, in the United States, the Supreme Court and lower jurisdictions throughout the nation strain under the heavy load of jammed dockets being addressed by teams of overworked prosecutors and defenders. Since Eden, we’ve chosen law over love. The tap of the judge’s gavel is heard far more frequently than a friendly slap on the back in most of our communities.
The Third Option
That said, even in this toxic environment, the same God who commands us to love, commands us to live our lives in obedience to the law of the land. Jesus told His followers:
“Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:17).
Yet, in spite of what we know—and what God has told us—many of us still want our special brand of morality wrapped in civil laws so we can decide just how Christlike we want to be… or not be. We want the law of the land to perfectly reflect our own brand of divine love.
What’s ignored by many of us, yet would prove extremely helpful in bypassing all the giving backs, tapping gavels, and discrimination battles, is a third option for dealing with our legal and moral ambiguities.
As in our story, it doesn’t always have to be about the business man or woman having to make the tough choices in order to defend his or her faith. Sometimes, it needs to be about the customer.
The friend I mentioned earlier who posted his questions on the web suggested it may do us well to put Christ in the role of not the carpenter, baker, photographer, or county clerk, but the customer.
Would Jesus walk into a shop owned and operated by someone whose beliefs and/or lifestyle were the polar opposite of His and demand support of what He wanted to do?
Would He require that a Muslim artisan fashion a stylized cross for His den wall or take an atheist to court if he or she refused to paint a nativity mural celebrating His birth? Would Jesus demand that a homosexual photographer photograph an anti-gay, straight friend’s wedding?
Probably not—if doing so would make anyone uncomfortable.
But, here’s where things get a little strange. Most Muslim artisans I know would gladly take on the project of fashioning a stylized cross for someone’s den. Most atheists I’ve met would happily get to work on the nativity mural. Homosexuals don’t seem to have a problem supporting alternatives to their sexual preferences and would be more than happy to photograph, bake a cake, or issue a marriage certificate for a straight person’s upcoming nuptials.
Why? Because most don’t look upon Christians as “sinners”—which, in fact, we all are! They support us simply because we’re human beings.
Shouldn’t we be willing to return the favor just as long as doing so doesn’t violate the laws of the land?
Middle Ground
There’s also the matter of responsibility. Our task as Christians isn’t to judge people. Remember, we’re instructed by God to love all people and lead them gently to Jesus. That’s where our job description ends.
It will be in His presence that they discover what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s in line with His standards for living and what isn’t, and what they, like us, need to do to inherit eternal life. It’s pretty difficult to lead someone to Jesus if we’ve shamed them, rejected them, or hauled them into court.
So, I’m thinking there may be a middle ground in all of this. Love has the uncanny ability to smooth over rough patches in society, to build relationships instead of destroying them, to bring people—even those with differing worldviews—together instead of forcing them apart.
When we love, everything ceases to be about us and becomes more about the other person.
Bottom Line
How we answer the question “What would Jesus do?” when defending our rights not only reveals our personal image of God, but makes plain what we can expect when we enter His carpenter shop with requests of our own; when we stand before Him bending under our own unique burden of sin.
“For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2).
Love or law?
Regardless of the loopholes offered by the state, we have a divine responsibility to serve our fellow human beings because we’ve all come short of the glory of God.
Even if a customer is not like me, he or she is still part of God’s family and should be treated with respect, and his or her rights honored. Serving is not sanctioning.
I think it’s safe to say that God would be on board and would bless our efforts whenever we demonstrate with our words and actions what heaven-ordained love actually looks, sounds, and tastes like.
Charles Mills
Charles Mills is the author of more than 50 published books and hundreds of magazine articles. His writing has appeared in many Seventh-day Adventist publications as well as computer, aviation, and photography trade journals. The son of missionary parents, Mills has traveled the world, living within a rich blend of cultures in both the Far and Middle East. Mills says his goal is to paint new and vibrant portraits of Jesus, revealing the Savior’s love through fresh, relevant words, images, and sounds. Besides writing, producing videos, creating and hosting radio programs, and guest lecturing at communications seminars, Mills enjoys music, bird watching, and spending time with his wife Dorinda.
Well-done, my neighbor and friend from Beirut, Lebanon days.