Taking the Time to Make a Difference

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Did Jesus ever have to wait for anybody? That thought came to me as I sat in the waiting room outside a doctor’s office for over an hour past the scheduled time of my appointment, trying not to get angry about the medical salesman who was allowed immediate access. The salesman went in. The salesman came out. I looked for another magazine. What would Jesus do at this point, I wondered. Later that afternoon, on my way to another appointment, I sat in my car behind another car minute after minute as the driver passed up one opportunity after another to enter the flow of traffic. What would Jesus do in this situation? My thoughts that day were influenced, I am sure, by a book I started reading. It is The Year of Living Like Jesus, written by Ed Dobson. It is subtitled, “My Journey of Discovering What Jesus Would Really Do.” Dobson is an Irish-born evangelical minister, ordained as a Baptist, now pastor emeritus of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Mich. He was inspired by a New York Times best-seller, “The Year of Living Biblically,” by A. J. Jacobs. I haven’t finished Dobson’s book, so I don’t know how it will turn out, but so far, I am enjoying it. It is a thoughtful journey. Living like Jesus does not mean wearing a robe and sandals, but trying to do today what Jesus would do in the circumstances of today. In his preface, Dobson says he doesn’t know where his journey will take him. I am drawn to his day by day account, in the form of a journal, and I, too, as a reader, wonder where the year will take him. Dobson knows that Jesus as a practicing Jew would have read the Scriptures. So Dobson reads the Scriptures, and also listens to recordings of the Gospels on his iPod. That’s an easy adaptation. Jesus also probably wore tassels on the four corners of his garment. Dobson finds it more difficult to adapt to that observance. Dobson learns to say the Rosary, an unexpected practice for an ordained Baptist minister, but he comes to realize that the words of the Hail Mary come straight from the Scriptures, and Jesus prayed the Scriptures, so that seems acceptable. The book includes good days and some not-so-good days, along with some days when nothing is written at all.

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Here are my reflections for this day. At the doctor’s office, I had to wait for my turn, and I wonder what would be my attitude – anger, patience, long-suffering, or what. In traffic and in a hurry, what could I do to accept an irritating reality? And in a much more serious situation, what should I do when I see injustice? When is right to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s? And when is it right to throw over the tables of the money-changers? I have a car to sit in. There are people in my community who can’t get to available jobs because the city transportation system doesn’t go there. Maybe that’s when Jesus might be angry. Sitting for an hour in a waiting room might be a pleasant experience for someone who has no home at all, or no access to health care except in emergencies.

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Here is a challenge. Take some time to read the Gospels. It doesn’t even seem possible to wonder what Jesus would do without knowing more about the Scriptural accounts of his life and ministry. Take some time to think about the social conditions then and now, the poor then and now, the outcasts then and now, the establishment then and now, the anger then and now, the frustration and the fear — and where hope might be found. Then do something about it, and make a difference.

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