Before Christians can carry out the Great Commission, they need to carry out the Great Commandment — to love your neighbor as yourself, evangelist Tony Campolo told Virginia Baptists last week.
Interpreting the theme “Who Is My Neighbor?” in three addresses at the annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, Campolo said Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan changed “the whole concept of neighbor.”
Because many Christians have strong affection for the parable of the Good Samaritan, “We do not pay sufficient attention to what we all know here — that when Jesus told that story it was controversial,” said Campolo. “Because the Samaritans were those who were considered spiritually unclean, abominations in the eyes of God, to be spat upon, to be cursed. The religious establishment said categorically have nothing to do with these people. And Jesus tells this story of the Good Samaritan and suddenly the whole concept of neighbor is changed.”
Photo by Alice Rusher
‘Jesus tells this story of the Good Samaritan and suddenly the whole concept of neighbor is changed,' said Tony Campolo as last week's annual BGAV meeting.
Some of today's “Samaritans,” he maintained, are the poor, Muslims, illegal immigrants and gays.
The poor
Campolo said he likely would get little argument from Christians that they are to love the poor and oppressed.
“I mean, how could you?,” he asked. “There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that call on us to reach out to the poor and the oppressed. You're not going to argue on this one, especially in light of the 25th chapter of Matthew where the only description that's given of Judgment Day is how we respond to the needs of the poor and oppressed. If the Holy Spirit is in you, you will respond to the poor and oppressed.”
That statement, he said, might lead some to ask if he believes salvation comes only from a personal transforming relationship with Jesus.
“Yes, I do!” he said. “But Jesus said you can't have a personal transforming relationship with me unless you have a personal relationship with the poor and oppressed. If any person says he loves God and doesn't love that poor guy over there, or that poor woman over there that person is a liar. That's strong language.”
Though he wished it were otherwise, Campolo said the questions Jesus will ask on Judgment Day won't be theological ones.
“I wish he would ask, Campolo — Virgin Birth: strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree? Check one.
“But they're not the questions,” he said. Instead, Jesus asks, “I was hungry, did you feed me? Naked, did you clothe me? Sick, did you care for me? I was a stranger, did you make room for me? For whatever you did or failed to do to the least of these you failed to do to me.”
Muslims
“The God that we find in Jesus Christ is a loving God who reaches across the line and makes neighbors of people — even people of other religions,” said Campolo. “That's what the story of the Good Samaritan is all about. That's what this man was — he was a member of the opposite religion, and Jesus is reaching across the line and saying this man is a neighbor.”
It's not enough only to express love to Muslims, he added — it's also necessary to express justice. “Because justice is nothing more than love translated into social policy.”
Campolo said he supports secure borders and well being for Jews living in Israel. “But I also want the Palestinians to have secure borders and a land of their own,” he said. “The God revealed in Jesus Christ loves the Palestinians just as much as he loves the Jews. He is no respecter of persons.”
Evangelicals have been widely regarded as pro-Israel, “and that's good,” he said. “But we should be just as pro-Palestinian. We should want justice for both people.”
Campolo said he often hears evangelicals claim that Palestinians don't belong in the Holy Land, citing Genesis 15, which promises the land to the seed of Abraham.
“Does it say that. Yes, it does. But face it folks, the Arabs are just as much the seed of Abraham as the Jews are. And God is calling us to stop participating in the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
Campolo missiologists frequently refer to the “10/40 window,” that part of the world between 40 degrees north of the equator and 10 degrees below it, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. “It's the most unevangelized section of the world, where the name of Jesus is not common at all,” he said. “We want to win these people to Christ.
“But hear me — over 90 percent of the people who live in the 10/40 window are Muslim. How are we going to communicate to them the love of Jesus when we do not stand up for their people when they are oppressed?”
Illegal immigrants
Politicians have polarized the country on this issue, said Campolo. “It's about time the church stands up and says we have an answer. We need our own agenda of justice.”
Christians must be neigbors to illegal immigrants, because Scripture says “we must welcome the alien,” Campolo said.
In seeking justice for them, Christians should insist on a “high wall,” he said. Background checks should be made on “every person that comes into this country.” But the “gate should be very wide,” he said. “We should be welcoming all people who are properly credentialed.”
America needs immigrants because they can “help make the country greater than it has ever been before.”
Justice for illegal immigrants will mean reducing financial and legal restrictions, he added. “Do we ever ask the obvious question? Why do they come here illegally instead of legally.”
The reason, he said, is that immigrants must have a green card to work legally, and that can take up to two years to procure. “That means they have to have a huge amount of money to sustain themselves for two years. And then they have to hire a lawyer.
“When you realize you have to have a bundle of money to get in legally, is it any wonder they come in illegally?”
“We can't let the politicians define us on this issue,” Campolo said. “We as a Christian community need to get together and say we're not Democrats and we're not Republicans. … We need to find answers that bring justice all around.”
Gays
Campolo said that, while he is “a conservative on the issue” of homosexuality, he opposed California's recently adopted Proposition 8, which restricts marriage to a man and a woman.
“I believe that same gender erotic behavior is contrary to the teaching of God,” he said. “You might ask, if you believe that way, didn't people like you and me win [with Proposition 8]? What did we win? … I'll tell you what we won. We won tens of thousands of gays and lesbians parading up and down the streets of San Francisco and New York and L.A. screaming against the church, seeing the church as enemy.”
“I don't know how we're going to reach these brothers and sisters,” he said, “but I'm an evangelical and I'm going to win them to Christ …. And we're not going to win them to Christ if we keep sending them bad messages, and we've sent them a bad message. I think the decision in California was in agreement with how I believe, but sometimes you've got to consider the person before you bang them over the head with your principles.”
Campolo said many of his friends are dismayed by the frequently with which he raises this issue. “They say, ‘You have a monkey on your back, you always bring this up. You'd have had a great career as an evangelist if you just didn't bring this up. Why do you keep talking about it?'
“The answer is because very few of my brothers and sisters who are speakers are talking about this,” he said. “They're afraid to because they know it turns off half the audience — at least. And I know I'll turn a lot of you off. Except there's this — they are our neighbors. These gays and lesbians are our neighbors. And Christ calls us to relate to them in love and you love people without calling them people who deserve justice.”
Campolo decried the hypocrisy he sees in much of the debate over homosexuality. “I know people are saying you have to be biblical,” he said. “Well, Jesus doesn't say anything about homosexuality. Paul does. Jesus doesn't. But Jesus does say a great deal about divorce and remarriage. If you're going to be biblical, who don't you ask people who are divorced and remarried to leave the church?
“You say you have to show some grace and understanding [to divorced and remarried people]. And, yes, they do deserve grace and understanding. But if you're going to give it to people who are divorced and remarried — who are in a relationship that is specifically disallowed in Scripture — then why are we so mean to people who are gay or lesbian?”