Misunderstanding began early in His life. It began with His parents chiding Him for His supposed neglect when, in fact, they had neglected their duty toward Him. After He returned home His brother joined His playmates in taunting the Youngster for being too "goodie-goodie" to enter into their mischief. This kind of misunderstanding continued right through the years of His ministry.
The rulers and priests attempted to shame Him with the mystery surrounding His birth. His home town church bitterly attacked Him for claiming to be the Messiah when they knew Him to be the carpenter Son of Mary, One who had so faith fully worked to meet their needs in the little shop year after year. Then there was the cruel rejection by His own followers when He refused to give in to their wishes to make Him king of a temporal political entity.
We note also the rulers' frantic demand that His followers stop pro claiming Him King during the triumphal entry. This misunderstanding continued right through the last moments of Jesus' life.
Jesus' experience is the classic demonstration of how even today those whose lives and actions are rebuked by the example of one who stands true to principle counter such testimony by heaping abuse, shame, and insult on those they cannot otherwise fault.
Jesus not only informed His fol lowers that those who misunderstood them would "say all manner of evil against you falsely" (Matthew 5:11) but indicated that they must expect to be treated as He was since "the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord" (Matthew 10:24). He even made it clear that "a man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matthew 10:36).
Unfortunately this is true not only of the Christian's relationship with those in the world about him but too often of his relationships with members of his own church family.
Quite often, of course, we bring such trouble on ourselves by taking self-righteous, "holier than thou" stances. But there are those times when we are bitterly criticized for attempting "to stand for the truth though the heavens fall." Since ours is an age when church authority is being strongly attacked and is thus put on the defensive, it is easy to be misunderstood if we in any way ex press dissent toward policies that are emotionally tied to positions taken by those in authority. This is true even when such positions clearly violate instruction given to the church by the pen of inspiration.
But perhaps even more difficult is the position of those in leadership who seek to maintain church standards at a time when such a stand is thought to be intolerant. They are attacked as lacking perspicuity in sensing "how times have changed." Thus, those who attempt to stand for right as God describes the right find themselves being ground between the millstones of expediency and liberalism.
Isn't this the same tactic Satan used against Jesus? On one hand, He was abused and persecuted by the religious leaders—jealous for their authority—and on the other, by His own followers whose selfish ambitions were threatened by His integrity. Satan's tactic, then, was the "shaming of the true," and he is still using it effectively. He causes those who attempt to take their stand on what God says is right to be the butt of misunderstanding, criticism, and abuse.
Those doing their best to follow the clear teaching of the Lord can, of course, find some comfort in Jesus' words: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Matthew 5:11, 12).
Yet, if the church is to achieve the goal Christ sets before it of uniting in brotherly love and presenting a clear, uniform witness before the world that we have been with Jesus, none of us can any longer continue to practice "the shaming of the true." It's all too easy to ridicule someone who conscientiously takes a position that differs from ours, but certainly it is time for all who love the Lord and long for the finishing of His work to unite decidedly on those principles out lined by inspiration and allow room for differences of opinion in those areas where there is room for such. We need to clearly differentiate between the two. By doing so we can avoid self-serving arguments on those questions God answered long ago as well as on those He saw best not to answer for us.
L.R.V.D.
