Four scriptures in the first blog proved Salome a pastor of God’s people. The question we face is how to translate her nature into everyday discipleship?
First, by looking at individuals, not crowds. We can’t help everybody; we can help someone in particular. A lot of people came to the Cross to see a spectacle. More than a few came to identify with a Person. The difference between spectacle and person being CARE shown. The crowd had the energy to beat their breasts—perhaps in anguish and grief—that someone so good had been crucified. While those who loved that Man, who believed in him as God’s Son, felt obliterated, no energy left, no more tears to cry, no hope available to cheer them. What they witnessed only bent their shoulders beneath a burden too heavy to carry and hung their heads in a despair they never expected to have lifted. In 1998 an Army Major drove into Washington D.C. during morning rush from Alexandria, Virginia. He saw an overturned van and a crumpled, bloody body, partly on the highway. He stood by her side 45 minutes before help arrived, while traffic whizzed by, windows down, insults and obscenities hurled for creating a traffic jam. He forgot the crowd by thinking of the person. San Diego U-T, 4/23/98 Disaster can harden people: like those hurrying to get to their jobs in D.C. while an unfortunate woman lay at roadside critically injured. As we experienced Sunday, August 5, 2018, when Hwy. 78 was closed 14 hours due to a three-car accident. We figured our inconvenience didn’t equal the loss the family of the deceased 33 year old woman suffered. The sight of problems can become so commonplace we lose concern for the person involved. Teddy Roosevelt had high blood pressure that led to easy bleeding. His family grew calloused to it. One day he cut his scalp on a farm windmill and hurried into the house to have it dressed. His less-than-caring wife scolded him, wanting him to do his bleeding in the bathroom, not on her rugs. Sounds just like an exasperated wife to an erring husband. American Heritage, October 1964, 83 Two, by remembering the difference between being a preacher and a writer. People instinctively fear trying to comfort the stricken because they can’t think of the right words. They needn’t worry. Writers consider words as precious gems they string together into beautiful necklaces. Pastors know that words are sometimes unnecessary and irrelevant. They’re clumsy, not clever. –End Part II-
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