Lovers in a needy world

 

Many years ago, I was in Canada visiting family. As part of the trip, I spent two days at the Toronto Film Festival.

 

It was fascinating as we saw film stars and famous producers everywhere – on the streets, in coffee shops and, of course, in cinemas and theatres. I wandered around drinking in the atmosphere and was probably a little bit star struck, which surprised me.

 

One particular day, I was desperate for a drink and went into a coffee shop. As I pulled open the door, I was aware there was someone else on the other side, so I gave it an almighty yank and opened it to find a very surprised George Clooney lying on the floor.

 

He had been on the other side and when I’d given the door a yank, he’d lost his balance and fallen over. His two minders jumped on me, but George was very gracious and told them to leave me alone and with a smile and a wink went on his way.

 

Many of our famous personalities today feed off adulation. They may be politicians, pop stars, film personalities or sports champions. They are mobbed when they appear in public and people remain glued to their television screens as they perform.

 

During his life, Jesus had some of the star quality that we recognise in people who capture the public’s imagination. In a world that was much simpler than ours, Jesus must have been a sensation in otherwise drab, dreary and poverty stricken lives. Stories must have spread like wildfire about the healings he had performed and happenings like the feeding of the five thousand. Of all the Gospels, Luke’s presents the following of Jesus in the most radical terms. In following Jesus, we must go the whole way and accept totally His way of seeing life, and then put that into practice in the way we live. There cannot be, as is the case with practically all of us, a kind of wishy-washy compromise, trying to have our cake and eat it.

 

I suppose the majority of us follow a lifestyle largely dictated by the surrounding culture. Our goals may be the goals of that culture and, somewhere on the side, we try to fit in some aspects of Christianity. It is quite obvious from the overall context of Luke’s Gospel that following Jesus means we’re called to have love and compassion for every single person, and that’s the radical nature of following Jesus.

 

The immigrant, the homeless, the prostitute, the gay person, the waiter in the café: these are my brother or sister, and I owe it to them to love and care for them. And maybe even more than my own family needs.

 

As true followers of Jesus, we enter a new family where we recognise every person as a brother or sister. Dare we have the courage to be lovers in a needy world?