Today's Scripture Reading (April 7, 2024): 1 Corinthians 15
A friend of mine was in a Subway Restaurant, and if you go to
Subway, there is a process involved in getting your food. You get to tell them
what you want on your sub, what kind of bread you want, and whether you want
the sub heated. I must admit that I like going to Subway to place a personal
order, but taking a list of what you want at Subway is just too much pressure
for me. I am afraid that I will choose the wrong things. So, if I am picking up
lunch for a group, let me go somewhere with fewer choices.
My friend went to Subway to get a sandwich, and there was a line
of people ordering their food. He was in the process of choosing his toppings
when the lady in front of him was finishing up her order, and she was trying to
make a substitution. What she ordered came with a bag of chips, but what she
wanted was a cookie. Complicating this process was that the person taking the
order was an "English is my second language" person, so the English
was a little broken. The woman in front of my friend was being very condescending
to her server. And she is starting to make a scene. She wants a cookie instead
of chips, but the poor girl waiting on her gives her the chips. The response
was immediate. "I said I wanted cookies instead of chips. Are you dumb or
something? What is wrong with you people?"
Then she looked over at my friend and kind of rolled her eyes,
giving the other customers a "do you see what they are trying to do to me"
attitude. My friend said that in that moment, something snapped inside of him. Usually,
he probably would have just stood there quietly, but this time, he decided to
speak up. So, he told the customer in front of him, "Ma'am, it is just a
cookie." And she did this double take: what did you say to me? "I
know that it is just a cookie, but it is so frustrating because these kind of
people just don't know what they are doing." My friend repeated himself, "Ma'am,
it's just a cookie." My friend is from the Southern States, so sometimes he
has a bit of an accent, although you can't hear it most of the time. But occasionally,
it comes out, and this lady picked up on the accent.
Now she has turned on him, and she says, "And who are you? I
guess you're not from around here either, but here we like to do things right,
and this," at this point she actually points to her food and then the girl
serving her, "this is not right." And my friend, filled with the Holy
Spirit and the love of Christ, said. "Lady, it's a cookie." Then he
looked at the girl and said, "You never have to let people talk to you
like that. You are worth much more than this." With an exaggerated huff,
the lady picks up her food and looks at the next person in line, trying to find
someone who will support her. He looks at her and says, "Lady, it's a
cookie – drop it." The lady huffs and puffs and leaves. And then the guy serving
my friend slides his sandwich over to him and says, "Don't worry about it
– this one's on the house."
It is the message that we hear about bullying, which is not an
activity that is limited to our children and youth. It is also the message
behind our struggle with abuse. They lose all their power when they are brought
into the light and confronted.
Paul says that the presence of Jesus destroys the
fabric of death. For that moment in time, when Jesus was bodily present, death
had lost all of its power. Just as bullying and abuse cannot stand up in the
presence of one who has understanding and compassion, neither can death stand
up in the bodily presence of Jesus. As Jesus dies on the cross in our stead,
death is defeated. And when he returns, when his absence is replaced with his
presence, the current order of things will forever change. Then, death will
once again be swallowed up by victory.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: 1 Corinthians 16
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