Changing Perspective

Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims

22 Then came the Festival of Dedication[Hanukkah] at Jerusalem. It was winter,23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

In March, a Major League Baseball player walked away from the game he loved.  It wasn’t due to injury.  It wasn’t over a contract dispute.  If you aren’t familiar with the story, it wasn’t for any other reasons you may come up with either.  Adam LaRoche walked away from baseball and a 13 million dollar contract because the team he played for would no longer allow his son, Drake, to spend as much time in the clubhouse in the upcoming season.  A legitimate request since the rest of us do not get to take our kids to work with us everyday.  Many of his teammates and other players stood up for LaRoche and many in the public heavily criticized LaRoche.  Some wondered how he could walk away from 13 million dollars and said that he was so far removed from reality that the money didn’t mean anything to him like it would to you and I (a point that I kind of agreed with).  People were critical of the fact that Drake wasn’t in class (again, I agreed).  For any number of reasons, people took to social media and blogs to hammer LaRoche and how he was choosing family time over (more) money and fame.  For many us looking on from the outside, it was easy to be critical and blame LaRoche’s wealth for pulling the blinders of his eyes.  It was apparent to us that he was wrong but he couldn’t see it.  We were right and he was wrong.  Plain and simple.     

Personally, I came to the conclusion that both LaRoche and the White Sox did the right thing if they couldn’t work out these differences.  I had pretty well forgotten about this story until Thursday when it was brought up again on the sports talk radio show I was listening to and immediately my impressions changed.  What could cause such a dramatic shift in what I thought about LaRoche and his situation?  There is an article coming out on April 25th in ESPN the Magazine detailing the mission that LaRoche and Blaine Boyer took part in.  A preview of the articles says that the two of them spent 10 days in Southeast Asian brothels, wearing a hidden camera and trying to rescue underage sex slaves.  Here is a quote from the preview:

… Working through a nonprofit called the Exodus Road, LaRoche and Boyer conducted surveillance in brothels and tried to determine the age of the girls — known only by numbers pinned to bikinis — and identify their bosses.

“Something huge happened there for us,” Boyer says. “You can’t explain it. Can’t put your finger on it. If you make a wrong move, you’re getting tossed off a building. We were in deep, man, but that’s the way it needed to be done. Adam and I truly believe God brought us there and said, ‘This is what I have for you boys.'”

Yes, that is correct.  The man many people, myself included, believed to be blinded by his wealth and appeared to be totally incoherent of his surroundings is more grounded and aware than we would ever give him credit for.  Oh and by the way, he is a strongly convicted Christian who is willing to do something about those convictions. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  Through his mission with Exodus Road, LaRoche is listening to God’s voice.  And it is easier to now see why LaRoche was willing to walk away from the money to spend time with his son.  LaRoche has a much better understanding of how precious life is and why spending time with his son is so important.  We were so quick to be critical and wrong... I just hope the story of his convictions and faith gets as much air time as the story of him walking away from baseball.  There will be detractors, there will be those that are critical of LaRoche and this organization but he is doing his best to make the world a better place and he is doing that by spreading the good news of God’s grace and love.

I want to read to you the three verses before our scripture picked up, “The Jews who heard these words were again divided.  Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”  But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?””  Perspective and understanding matter.  In John chapter 9 Jesus heals a blind man who eventually sees Jesus for who he is and begins to worship him but the Pharisees only see that Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, making him a sinner in their minds.  Their perspective told them that Jesus was a sinner and their lack of understanding wouldn’t allow them to see past the day of the week for a miracle to take place.  One commentator put it wonderfully when she said, “There is a tension between God’s initiative and human responsibility that is not resolved in John’s Gospel.  It is only with the eyes of faith that one can see the truth concerning Jesus.”

Jesus could have promised anything: wealth, food, exquisite living conditions, an earthly ruler.  Instead, Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  And the book of Romans tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  But we only get to this understanding when God becomes a part of our perspective.  There will forever and always be tension between God’s initiative and our responsibility.  God wants more from us than we could possibly give and loves us despite us never getting there.  There will be many voices that will try to tell us that we can reach that “ultimate Godliness” either through education, morality or wealth.  Not true.  The only way to achieve this abundant life is through Christ’s voice that liberates instead of oppresses.  A voice that searches for understanding rather than condemnation.  A voice that will never perish.  I didn’t fully understand how Adam LaRoche would walk away from 13 million dollars and I judged him accordingly.  I couldn’t have known this side of his life if it weren’t for this magazine article.  He went from an arrogant, egotistical, overly-wealthy know it all to a strongly convicted, great humanitarian fighting for those who have no voice all because my perspective changed.  If you don’t like how the world looks, change your perspective, change the way you view the world and let Jesus change you.  Amen.