|
A disciple went to his Master. The disciple said, “Master, I thought you were a lover of God.” The Master replied, “Do you doubt that?” “Yes,” said the disciple. The Master asked, “Why?” “Because you are not very nice,” said the disciple. The Master replied, “My friend, Jesus never told us to be nice, he told us to love.”
Oddly, here is the etymology of “nice”:
ME, strange, lazy, foolish < OFr nice, nisce, stupid, foolish < L nescius, ignorant, not knowing < nescire, to be ignorant < ne-, not ... + scire, to know ... (Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesarus, 2005)
The last two years, I have sensed myself growing up as a Pastor and man. I have had to do that with some harsh opposition and reevaluating what it means to be a Pastor. Most of my career, this year thirty years long, I thought that being real nice is what persons needed most from me. Now, I know that is what they sometimes least need from me. One person that taught me this was my last District Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Geraldine W. McClellan, a United Methodist Elder. I found her to be one of the most loving persons I had met, and I grew to love her dearly and respect her much, but also there where times she was anything but nice to her Pastors. In fact, at times I found myself fearful of her. That ceased, however, after several years, for I came to see her sternness and bluntness was saturated with her deep love for all her Pastors. She helped teach me, as well as life experience, that what persons most need from me is love, and I have found that, as Jesus exemplifies, true love is often what persons resists most and to give true love can create both enemies and friends.
|
|
"What comes through in the Gospels is that Jesus was someone to reckon with. There was a no-nonsense, straight-from-the-shoulder truthfulness about the way he related to others. He was not always necessarily nice. Jesus never said, 'Blessed are the nice.' But Jesus was always loving to the core, …"
(James Finley, Christian Meditation, 193)
A daughter approached her mother. “Mother,” she asked, “why have you not been nicer to me lately?” The mother replied, “Dear, for I have learned that I love you too much now to be as nice as I was to you then.”
Once a church died out. When one of the members went to Heaven, he asked, “Dear Lord, why did our beloved church die out?” The Lord replied, “Friend, for your church was a nice group to be part of, but not a loving fellowship to belong to.”
Reflections
Have you had times when your not being nice was the more loving way? Has anyone ever been un-nice to you and, thereby, later you realized was being loving toward you? Does being un-nice mean being mean and harsh? Explain.
Prayer
Teach me, like Jesus, to be a person both meek and strong, patient and assertive, kind and loving, and all these in the balance that will reflect the wholeness that is Christ. Amen.
|
