Soft Hearts, Hard Words

One of my favorite worship songs from childhood went like this:

Soften my heart, soften my heart
From all indifference set me apart
To feel your compassion,
To weep with your tears,
Soften my heart, Oh Lord, soften my heart.
(Graham Kendrick, 1988)

Usually, I am a very soft-hearted person, but it can be difficult to remain so towards those who are tearing down so much that is of fundamental value to the Western way of life. I want to strike a balance between remaining merciful and challenging those who support oppression in the name of our Lord.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus

Jesus is our perfect example in all things, so those of us who believe the current US administration is profoundly unjust must surely get our steer from Jesus. How did he respond to injustice? Specifically:

• How did he respond to those who perpetuated injustice against others?
• How did he respond to injustice against himself?

Injustice against others

Wherever a person was willing to listen, Jesus’ response was compassion. Take the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a corrupt tax collector who worked for the Roman oppressors and stole from the Jewish citizens of Jerusalem. He extorted his own people, inflating their taxes, and got rich off the backs of others.

When Jesus met him, he didn’t begin with a rebuke, but instead gave Zacchaeus his company, going with him to his house to dine with him. There was no harshness in his words, no doubt because he could sense Zacchaeus was ready to turn his life around, which indeed he did.

This has to be our first port of call – giving people our time, love, and company, and letting compassion perform its transformative work.

That said, Jesus was willing to directly confront those whose hearts were hard, presumably in the hope of getting through rather than to condemn. When speaking to the Pharisees, he said:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." (Matthew 23:23)

Jesus passionately stood up for the needs of the vulnerable, challenging religious hypocrisy directly.

How did Jesus respond to injustice against himself?

We need to distinguish between how we act on behalf of others and how we act on behalf of ourselves. Here, the example of Christ is challenging in the extreme.

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also." (Matthew 5:38-42)

Jesus practiced what he preached. When the soldiers arrived to arrest him and Peter cut off the High Priest’s servant’s ear, Jesus’ response was to tell Peter to stand down and even healed the injured man.

Jesus was unjustly tortured, but even in the throes of an agonising death, his heart remained soft towards those who were baying for his blood. Luke 23:34:

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

How should we approach Christian Trump supporters?

Believers are called to stand up for the oppressed, marginalized, and vulnerable. This was the pattern laid down for us by Jesus.

We cannot remain silent

If we are representatives of Christ, we have no choice but to call out injustice, especially when it is done in the name of our Lord. First of all, we can continue to offer compassion and company, as Jesus did to Zaccheus, but if hearts are hard, the Christlike thing to do is to challenge directly, even when it is costly to ourselves.

My prayer is that we can do this with soft hearts, being ready to guide and support as people turn their hearts back to God.

We can forgive and be merciful while also speaking out against injustice. The two are fully compatible, as demonstrated by Jesus himself. At the end of the day, we must refuse to condemn the oppressors while also standing up for the oppressed. It’s a difficult task but it’s the one we’ve been given.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)