One of my favorite movies, O Brother, Where Art Thou, has a great scene where the simple-minded Delmar O’Donnell(center), when forced to choose sides between his two forceful buddies, looks at them with a cheesy grin and says, “Okay… I’m with you fellers.” He’s so nice he can’t choose between the two. I’ve been like Delmar too many times, afraid to pick a side because I might make the other side mad at me. But I wonder, do we have to choose a side? And is it possible that both sides could be a little right and a little wrong?
With all the tragedies in the world lately involving gun violence and terrorism we have been hearing many voices calling for more gun laws. “If we only got rid of guns then these things wouldn’t happen.” Then we hear the other side, “No, you idiot! We need more guns, not less. Guns don’t kill people, bad guys do!”
Regarding immigration, we might hear that we need to open our borders and our arms to everyone in need. “Let ‘em all in, we’ve got room for more. We’ll find a way to pay for it.” Then we hear the other side, “Hey, it’s not our problem. If we let them all in who’s to say the terrorists we might miss. How will we pay for it?”
With racial matters we see that #blacklivesmatter, but another side says that #alllivesmatter and focusing on one race isn’t fair. But then, if we focus on #alllivesmatter it does harm to those that say #blacklivesmatter — it lessens their struggles. But then we hear other voices that say we’re ignoring the fact that thousands of unborn are being killed everyday and they say #unbornlivesmatter.
With all the issues and voices out there I can understand Delmar’s dilemma. When faced with picking sides I want to just look at all of them and say, “Okay… I’m with you fellers.” I can see that these issues, and so many others, are complex, with many sides. To be honest, I’m kind of afraid of those that try and say they aren’t. But it can be hard to pick a side.
Ultimately though, I don’t want to be like Delmar, I would rather say, “Okay… I’m with Jesus, fellers.” I know, I know. It has to be pointed out that this statement is dependent on which Jesus you are talking about. Am I with the Jesus the Westboro Baptist church* embodies? No way! Am with the Jesus that Jerry Falwell Jr. embodied when speaking of the possibility that Muslim terrorists might show up on the campus of Liberty University said, “Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here.” Nah, that doesn’t quite sound right to me. Should I be with the Jesus that really only cares that you are a good, moral person? This is the Jesus that might say your opinions and political views only belong to you and shouldn’t be visible to others, they’re nobody else’s business. This Jesus might say that all paths lead to God as long as they don’t make anyone else feel badly. No, that Jesus doesn’t quite line up with the one I read about in the Bible.
I’m with the Jesus that stepped away from the majesty and power of his divine self and in some mysterious way I don’t understand became fully human and fully divine. But that Jesus, he loved people. He even loved those that weren’t clean, or born in the right country or in the right social situation. He loved the ones that had no power and who couldn’t offer him anything in return. This Jesus loved people, even people that lived in ways that he didn’t agree with, and he loved enough to tell them the truth. More than that, he offered them the Way, the Truth and the Life through himself.
I’m just going to say it. I’m with the Jesus that loves like this, fellers.
*I refuse to give them a capital C, though grammatically it should capitalized.
