What a guy! One of the more overlooked attributes of the King of Kings is that fact that he was and remains a true gentleman. I suppose I'll have to capitalize that "G" and I don't have a problem with that, seeing as gentlemen are in notoriously short supply. I speak primarily of myself, as I have lived the majority of my life under the guise and guile of a gentleman while usually acting a true Baalam's ass. What good does it do to say "please" and "thank you" and then cut someone down with scathing sarcasm? Or to hold the door open for a lady walking into a building for the overriding reason of taking a long, lingering look at her hinder parts? And, again for my own part, most of the times I've used the term "sir" it came off phoney even to me. So gentlemanly behavior is perhaps a tad deeper than just pleasantries or outward appearances, and as with all things of value there just might be a Kingdom value and application here worth looking at.
Firstly, and I stole this from the movie "Dances with Wolves", no man can tell another what to do. Of course, you can but the results are often quite predictable. Put simply, there is umbrage and this is not unexpected. People, sons of Adam and daughters of Eve all, are made in the image of their Creator and are in their own right creative beings themselves. Whether straddling a wheelchair or perched in the highest tower of glass and steel (or ivory), we are immensely powerful beings. No matter your political affiliation, if you came across Obama throwing down on a ham, pork and bacon sandwich with some of his friends in Washington D.C. would you say to the man, "Hey boy, fetch me a napkin."? Almost certainly not, mostly because it would be the sworn duty of several Secret Service agents (there's the "gent" word again) to pound you into oblivion if you did so. But why not? Maybe you really needed a napkin, maybe he was already getting one and preparing to return to his seat right next to you? Maybe, as has been the case far too often with myself, you thought you were a really funny guy and couched your "request" in such a way and such a tone as to come off with an innocent humor and not sounding like an order at all? The answer is that you are still telling someone else what to do, giving an order where there is no cause to do so. I'm sure that every employer in America may take exception with me on this point, and I'd hate to make my argument before a military tribunal during a major conflict, but the fact is that to my knowledge Christ never told anyone to do anyone...and he made the world, as well as ourselves.
Take this concept to its appropriate level. You're walking down the street and come to a city park, perhaps at night. Some thugs or perhaps some Quakers drunk on power and apple wine are getting ready to beat an AIDS-ridden transvestite prostitute to death. Remember, we're still talking about sons of Adam and daughters of Eve here, creative beings of terrific power and potential. The first blow lands, what is the Kingdom response? "Stop it, you funny-hat wearing, hate-filled, overcoat sporting crazy people! Don't hit that poor woman...guy...whatever!" Now, you're doing a good deed, a real mitzvah, standing up for a brother/sister who cannot defend themselves, and you're about to wade in like a rescuing hero resembling Harrison Ford in "Witness" when he thumped that yokel who stopped his pickup truck in front of the Amish wagon and wiped ice cream on that one guy's nose. Who could gainsay or debate the rightness of your actions?
I could, and here's why. I'm going to almost certainly quote you now, as I am without utmost certainty quoting myself: "It's not what you did, it's how you did it." How often have we judged, correctly in many an instance, the motives and methods of someone who was quite sure, correctly in again many an instance, that they were doing right? Was it their tone, their inflection? Maybe it was the look on their face or that sharp gleam in their eye. I concede here and now that you're right, because no man has cause or justification to be barking orders at another. It's just not cricket, mate...or Kingdom-like in this context. And if you are right and just in your cause, wouldn't you want to go the extra mile in staying right, in staying firmly in the area of justness in both appearance and approach? And think of the results, or possible results. How would a thug react as he (or she) is about to commit violence on a helpless human being and you quietly walk up and ask them to stop? Ask them.
"Well, Mr. Writer," perhaps retorts my dear reader, "They'd probably stop what they were doing and beat the living tar out of ME!" Yep, they might very well do that, and guess what? You just succeeded in your goal, because they are no longer affronting the innocent and the helpless. You just lived a Kingdom principle, and good things are always the result of this, whether in this world or the next. It's possible that as soon as they're done turning you into a red mist they'll resume their original intent and go back to pummeling our poor prostitute, but I think it unlikely. They'll probably be too tired, or perhaps too bemused with confusion or too wracked with laughter. In any event, you have done your part and God can now take over. I've found in every instance that he does a better job of everything than I do, so that's a good thing.
But it's also equally possible that, having approached a situation such as this in a Kingdom manner then Kingdom power will then be applied and perhaps in generous doses. Maybe the assailant will, in a state of disbelief that a hero such as yourself approached in such an uncharacteristic heroic fashion that, after a little good-natured ribbing and mockery (something we Christians should be used to or at least willing to acquaint ourselves with) they'll seek better sport elsewhere. Then you can lovingly pick your prostitute up off the ground, brush him or her off, get him or her cleaned up and live happily ever after just like in "Pretty Woman".
A point is that Kingdom living is infectious. What would be the result of such excellent testimony in the life of the prostitute, or the assailant, or some passerby? The possibilities are limitless and unpredictable by the humble mind of man, especially mine. All this just by asking instead of telling, and this is an extreme scenario. Apply the same principle in line at the DMV or when dealing with an employee who is used to having orders barked at them. Better yet, apply it with your wife or children, whom are now being treated as equals and peers, people whom you want to grow with the kind of self-esteem your treatment of them inculcates. Christ came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. And that sounds like pretty good life to me, being asked instead of told. And not all smarmy either, something of the order of "Would you puhhhh-LEASE give me a cheeseburger and fries, if it's not too much trouble?" That hardly merits the question mark at the end of that sentence, and again I'm utterly guilty of this kind of self- and public deception, couching an angry, unhappy spirit behind formalities that, in all honesty, don't mean squat.
Getting back to our beloved daughter-of-Eve (or Adam) prostitute, that actually happened. Christ came upon a woman caught in the act of adultery, about to be stoned to death for her infraction. He didn't tell anyone to do or not do anything. In fact, he just sat on the ground and played with his heavenly Etch-O-Sketch for a bit until people pondered the question he asked. Granted, it was a really killer question but his approach was as Kingdomly as it gets. This has a lot to do with his motive: he wanted to spread the Good News, the love of God and the coming of his Kingdom...and keep the blood off the rocks, I might add. I don't know exactly what happened to those "gents" so quick to judge and kill, or even the woman whether she went on to join his ministry and lead a women's group at the local Baptist potluck, but it's a good guess that Christ's approach had some effect. The nature of that effect, just like with you or I, depends greatly if not entirely upon our own position of receptiveness. We might get fastly furious, we might even pick a new target for our rock-chucking...or our lives might be changed forever and the Kingdom again enhanced and enlarged. Pretty sweet, eh? That's the power of asking and the power of Kingdom living, and it never fails. Christ was and is a true Gentleman, THE faithful and true Gentleman.
