The Gift of a First-Class Ticket
It is human nature to enjoy special treatment. When we are escorted to one of the better tables in a crowded, upscale restaurant, it feeds our ego. How wonderful when a friend gives us tickets to the big game on the fifty-yard line, tickets we never could have acquired on our own. To be set apart, to have privileges that not everyone else can afford or earn, makes us feel favored, enhancing our sense of self-importance. We relish being singled out as a cut above the rest.
Years ago my family and I were waiting in a Dallas airport for a flight to Europe when a college acquaintance spotted us. I had not seen this man for almost twenty-years and was surprised he even recognized me. He flew for an airline and was just passing through the airport on his way to another destination.
I introduced him to my wife and children, and we chatted for ten minutes or so. Before he left to catch his plane, he asked to see our tickets. He took them and mentioned he might be able to upgrade them. He walked to the ticket counter and spent several minutes speaking with one of the agents. In a few minutes he returned and handed us different tickets.
I quickly glanced at the tickets and was stunned to see “First-Class” stamped at the top! Upgrade was an understatement! My wife and I were beside ourselves with excitement. We had never flown first-class, and the privilege of flying to Europe in such style thrilled us.
Just the opportunity to travel to Europe for several weeks with my family was a dream come true, but to be pampered in first-class was a gift beyond our wildest dreams. We were not disappointed. The service was beyond anything we had ever experienced on an airplane. We felt like royalty. The flight attendants called us by name and did everything they could to enhance the enjoyment of our trip. The meals were far better than coach and were served with various high-quality wines. I could get used to this, I thought. How wonderful to receive special treatment.
There is definitely a two-tiered or maybe even a three or four-tiered structure of treatment in everyday life, isn’t there? First-class is reserved only for people on the top-tier. For a long time in our country black people were relegated to a lower rung on culture’s ladder, forced to sit in the back of the bus, required to use different restrooms, drink from separate water fountains, and even attend segregated schools. It is human nature to think of some people as inferior or less deserving than others. How we love to elevate ourselves above others!
Jesus came to change all of that. He proclaimed that no one was more deserving than another. Jesus’ message of God’s indiscriminate grace toward all peoples troubled religious leaders of the first century. It was fine that God loved the righteous, but when God showed favor toward everyone, including non-Jews and the raggedy poor, well, that was different. How could anyone feel a cut above the rest, superior to others, if everyone was equally valued by God? Jesus found himself in hot water with the elite of his day because he was handing out first-class tickets to everyone.
One of the phrases that occurs throughout both Old and New Testaments that describes God’s relationship with human beings is the term “steadfast love and compassion.” According to the New Testament, Jesus, in sync with God, viewed the crowds of people with love and compassion. The crowds, of course, were comprised of all kinds of people. Some in the crowd were good people and some were not so good, yet Jesus made no distinction and had compassion for all of them. Whether they were righteous or unrighteous, Jesus was in their corner, with no strings attached. His compassion was not limited or restricted in any way. For many of us, that’s a tough pill to swallow.
The word “compassion” in Scripture not only means to “suffer with,” but also signifies the way a mother feels about her new-born baby, an incredibly tender and loving expression. When Jesus saw the crowds, he did not see rich or poor, righteous or unrighteous, Jews or Greeks, or even believers or unbelievers, he saw human beings—cherished as the crown of God’s creation.
God embraces the lowest of the low with tender love that treats everyone as first-class. Examples are scattered throughout Scripture. In I Kings 17, the prophet Elijah shows the inclusivity of God’s love by treating a Sidonian woman, a worshipper of BaaI, as first-class. Later, in 2 Kings, Elisha heals the pagan Naaman of leprosy, revealing that fist-class tickets are given even to those who are not the so-called chosen of God. In Luke 4:28-30, Jesus announces God’s love to the people of Capernaum, an area populated by non-Jewish people. The Jews, who thought they alone had first-class tickets, were incensed that non-Jews also had favored status with God. They turned their hatred toward Jesus and would have killed him had he not fled. Anger and violence have always been the defense of those who view some people as second-class human beings or even third-class. When confronted with the truth that all human beings are special, some people become bitterly resentful.
I listened a few weeks ago to a well-known politician who said that migrants who illegally cross the border are “animals.” Certainly, the problems on the southern border are real and need to be addressed, but to lump all migrants as “animals” blinds us from seeing the suffering and deprivation that the vast majority of these people experience on a daily basis. Is it too much to ask for followers of Jesus to show love and compassion, even to the worst of these? Surely, we can treat all people with basic human dignity.
