Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son,” which I had the deeply spiritual pleasure of seeing in The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Dutch master’s painting is every bit as powerful as its reputation.
A dear Baptist friend who is a retired minister and former boss of mine had a long and fruitful career as a hospital chaplain.
Early in that career he spent almost a full year of his life living with hardcore drug addicts in a hospital’s lockdown rehab facility.
It was quite a sacrifice for a man who was a young husband and father at the time. But he wanted to learn about the dynamics of addiction and addictive behavior in an up-close and personal way.
My friend told the story of a young addict whose life was about as messed up as one young life can possibly get. One day when my pastor friend was introducing himself to a group of addicts, he mentioned that he was an ordained Baptist preacher. The messed-up young addict thought he saw an opportunity to shock the socks off the Baptist preacher.
“I’m a devil worshiper!” the kid said gleefully.
My friend didn’t miss a beat. “Wow!” he said, feigning envy. “A devil worshiper. That’s really interesting!
“How’s it working out for you?”
So here’s your Lenten thought for the day:
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So what would your response be to someone so hostile to God and faith?
Like any good pastor providing good pastoral care and counsel, my friend was smart enough not to get on any Christian high-horse.
He didn’t get defensive about Christianity.
He didn’t freak out and evoke Jesus by shouting, “Get behind me, Satan!”
He didn’t get into a spitting match trying to get the young man’s mind right by telling him what he needed to do and not do in order to straighten out his life.
The pastor was smart enough to make him stop and think real hard about the destructive path he was on. That was the one way to make him start thinking about a more constructive path.
So again? What would your first reaction have been — and how effective might your response have been in helping one so lost?
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