Indifference
- innerweavings
- Nov 8, 2019
- 2 min read
"But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith?" (Luke 18:8b NLT)
Today we share the thought-provoking poem When Jesus Came to Birmingham. It was written by decorated WWI Chaplain Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy who became disillusioned in his Faith after experiencing the horrors of war. In it, the author imagines the reaction Christ would receive in the modern day world. The poem was later used to great effect by the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen.
Jesus forewarned us, "“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." (John 15:1-19). The world hated Christ so much they crucified Him. The world has hated Christ's followers so much they have persecuted and martyred them throughout the centuries.
We do not face the threat of martyrdom in most of the world today, but that is not because the world has grown to love and accept us. The opposite of Love is not Hate. It is Indifference. Most of the world seems to just ignore us at best or mock us at worse. This is because, like the Church of Laodicea, we are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm in our relationship with Christ and in our representation of Him to the world around us.
We have become lukewarm - and therefore, the world has grown indifferent. Ironically, Indifference was the original title of this poem. What a need there is for us to Shine the Light!
When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree, They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary; They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep, For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by. They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die; For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain, They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do,’ And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through; The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see, And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.
Comments