“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matthew 23:15).
A few years ago, it was popular to pose the question, “What would Jesus do?” Just for fun, let's put a little twist on the game. Instead of dressing Jesus in jeans and bringing him to us, let's take the internet to first century Nazareth. Granted, Jesus would have been too poor to own a computer. Perhaps he could have used the computers at the Nazareth public library.
Can you imagine the forwarded emails? “Good Jews should not have to pay taxes to Rome. If you don't agree, delete this message. If you agree, forward it to 20 people.” If we can learn anything at all from Jesus, surely we have learned that important questions can't be sliced and diced so easily.
Do you think that Jesus would sit at a computer forwarding email after email, ranting and raving about having to press one for Aramaic? How would he respond to such forwards?
I wish that every person who rants and raves that everyone who comes to America should speak English would hush and enroll in a course in a foreign language. It is not that I disagree with their basic idea. Actually, I agree! I disagree with the careless herd mentality that usually accompanies these sentiments.
I teach private music lessons. One of my great joys is starting adults and older teenagers as absolute beginning piano students. They are motivated, grateful and, above all, easy to impress. I'm no virtuoso, but any time I play something spontaneously and easily their mouths drop open. They realize that music skills don't come easily.
Language skills don't come easily, either. People need to be reminded of that. Then they might have more empathy and patience for people who struggle with English. By contrast, pressing one for English takes almost no effort. And if you don't press one, the system defaults to English anyway.
I wonder: Of all the American Christians who visit foreign countries on mission trips, what percentage actually go to the trouble of taking a crash course in the language? I have no statistics, but I would guess that it would be less than 50 percent.
The world has come to us, as well. You can practice foreign languages without going anywhere.
Maybe language is not your thing. I can respect that, but in that case, you of all people should not complain about pressing one for English. Doing so is lazy, hypocritical and mean-spirited. Jesus wouldn't do it.
Hospitality is a Christian virtue. Beware, lest Christ say, “Woe unto you, North American Christians. You travel over land and sea, depending on the hospitality of strangers. Then you return home and throw away your welcome mats.”
Mark Buckner, Ruckersville