In last week’s column I wrote about the five Great Commissions which are the biblical basis for the missions movement. Today I want to share a personal “great commission” that my wife and I received from my Dad. As we were leaving for our first missions assignment in Liberia, West Africa, many family and friends had come to the airport to send us off with prayer. But the words I remember most from that occasion were my father’s: his parting thought, his “great commission” for us, was “Love the people.” That simple instruction was a summary of what the Bible told us—and still tells us—we are always to do! We might think that it would be obvious that missionaries are supposed to love the people where they live and minister, so why did my father want to emphasize this point? In retrospect, I think there were several reasons.
Perhaps it would help if I share a little of my Dad’s background. He grew up in the South during the tense times of the Civil Rights movement. As a child I saw “Whites Only” signs on water fountains and restroom doors. The church our family attended had given the ushers instructions on what to do if blacks came and tried to integrate our worship service. I was too young to understand the injustices that were happening before my eyes, but my father saw these injustices and was bothered by them. He did not want his children growing up to become segregationists, so he took a job transfer and moved the family to Nevada where his children wouldn’t be exposed to those attitudes. Perhaps, years later as we were about to leave for Africa, he instructed us to “love the people,” because he remembered those earlier times when love for blacks was not the norm.
Perhaps my Dad’s “commission” was based on the negative attitudes many people had and some still have about Africa. It was called the dark continent. Its peoples were viewed as savages or as cannibals. Recently a prominent American has shamefully described Africa as “excrement.” Having lived there, we gladly report that none of those stereotypes were true. We loved Africa and its people!
Perhaps my Dad knew that many people, even Christian people, don’t always love others. God also knew this which may be why he commanded his people to love their neighbors as themselves (Leviticus 19:18). Of course, to love one’s neighbor as much as oneself is not easy! Jesus once asked a lawyer if he knew the two great commandments. The lawyer correctly answered that we are to love God wholeheartedly and our neighbor unselfishly. Jesus agreed with his answer. But the lawyer asked a follow-up question: Who is my neighbor? (I suspect he wanted to define “neighbor” as a small group so there were fewer people he had to love.) To answer his question, Jesus did what he often did, he told a story. But the parable had an unexpected twist.
In Jesus’ story a man traveling on the road was mugged, robbed, and left beside the road. Two religious leaders passed by without stopping to help. But a Samaritan, a stranger and a foreigner with a different religion, came along and stopped to help the victim. This was the twist in Jesus’ story. The non-Jewish foreigner was the hero of the story, because he stopped to help. He treated the victim’s wounds, took him on his own donkey to an inn and paid his expenses. He made plans to check in on him later to pay any other bills. This is why we call him the Good Samaritan: he showed mercy and kindness to someone in need. The religious people in Jesus’ story did not do that.
Who is the neighbor we are to love as ourself? Jesus’ story tells that anyone, even a stranger, even a foreigner, who needs help is our neighbor. And how do we love them as ourselves? Jesus said it was by showing mercy and kindness: caring for their needs, even paying for their lodging and medical care. Then Jesus told the lawyer to go and do likewise.
I have two fathers: one on earth, one in heaven. Both of them have told me to do the same thing: “Love the people.” Our heavenly Father tells us all to do that.
Greg Giles is a published author, who, along with his wife Jean, has embraced the call to serve and teach around the globe. Their life together has included missionary work in Liberia, Bangladesh, teaching in China, and raising a family in Bemidji, Minnesota. Between global travels and local commitments, including serving as superintendent of Corn Bible Academy and their current part-time roles at Corn Heritage Village, the Gileses have found “home” in many places; yet, they now happily reside in retirement in Cordell. Please visit his website at reflections-on-wisdom.com.