September 27

Sep 27 - Today from Proverbs 27 we look at verse 10
"Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you - better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away."

Even today the bond of community in the Mid East is of one of the highest of values of culture. Before Saddam Hussein was captured, I was amazed as I watched a one-time personal physician of Saddam being interviewed on a news channel. He was Saddam's personal physician for years, and then made one minor error that made Saddam angry or perhaps suspicious. In any case the man was thrown into prison where he was tortured and isolated for over a dozen years until the regime fell. The interviewer was curious as to why Iraqis were hiding Saddam at the time, and not turning him in. The Doctor explained that once under your roof, you are obligated to serve and protect your guest at any cost. "If Saddam were to come into your home today, would you turn him in?" asked the interviewer.
"No," replied the Doctor.
"Not even after he threw you in prison, tortured you, and took away a dozen good years of your life!?!"
"As long as he is under my roof, my first priority is to protect him," said the Doctor with sincere conviction.
The Western mind cannot conceive of such a notion. We are rugged individualists. We deal with community, but when it comes to comfort and safety, our homes become fortresses unto ourselves. "Let our neighbor fend for himself! Let our enemy perish!" (sic) Perhaps we have lost something of greater value than personal comfort and safety in our Western culture. We have lost the incredible bond of community.
In the Mid East the father is clearly the patriarch. The friends he makes are a part of the family assets. You can readily understand this when you understand the depth of commitment between friends and neighbors. We gasp as Lot offers his daughters to the Sodomites in order to protect his two guests (Genesis 19). A person of that culture does not question Lot's offer. Protecting a guest is of higher value than is protecting a family member. It may not be right or noble in our sight (or God's), but it reveals the incredible value the Orientals place on honoring their guests. Whoever the father honors must be honored by the entire family. Whoever are friends of the father are friends of the family. The bond is as strong as iron - until one member betrays that bond. If a son betrays a father's friend, that friend has the cultural option of removing his pledge of assistance and protection. The son has risked a valuable asset to the family. He dishonors the friend, he dishonors the father, and he dishonors the entire village in which he lives.
The loss of this value in our culture has had great consequences in the attitude of the church. We have often developed a 'fortress attitude' toward outsiders. We deal with the community, but our churches become fortresses unto themselves. "Let our neighbor fend for himself! Let our enemy perish!" We do not always accept those who the Father accepts. We tend to pick and choose our own friends and even those who we are willing to minister to. We value our 'family' significantly above any guests who may come into our home. The evidence is not in our 'core values' or our 'mission statements’. The evidence is in our behavior. It is revealed by observing where we place the majority of our finances and efforts.
I often wonder how many of the people 'out there' see the church as a 'neighbor nearby' where they can depend on finding comfort and protection. I wonder how can we change that perception.
Don't you?