True confession: I’ve got a bit of a weird sense of humor. I’ll own that. That’s why I was genuinely tickled by a recent news story I read online. The reason I found it humorous is because it involved an embarrassing problem that could potentially happen to any one of us, an innocent airline passenger, and a sequence of events that played-out vividly in the theater of the mind – mine!
Apparently, en route from Ashville, North Carolina to LaGuardia Airport in New York, the captain of a Chatauqua Airlines plane needed to take an unanticipated bathroom break. Fellow human beings, these things happen, right? However, what was not anticipated was that he would get stuck in the lavatory! The door jammed, leaving the embarrassed and frustrated aviator in the crammed space, while the plane was in a holding pattern high above the destination airport. Desperately he began beating his fist on the lav door. That’s when our innocent passenger entered the scene. Hearing the loud thumping, the kind-hearted passenger got up and went to the sky john to somehow help. Through the door, he was instructed by the panic-stricken captain to alert the other crew members, which he promptly did. Did I mention that this traveling ‘good Samaritan’, according to the news source, had a heavy foreign accent?! So, when he tried physically and verbally to gain entrance into the cockpit to tell the other crew members what was happening, well, let’s just say, that’s when ‘in-flight entertainment’ went to a whole new level.
Now, like you, I live in a post 9-11 world. Unauthorized cockpit entrance stories are not even remotely humorous. But, you’ve got to admit, an esteemed decorated captain accidently stuck in the john because he just had a bad ‘Field Hand Special’ at the Ashville Regional Airport is funny! Then to add to it, the guy that tries to help him needs stinkin sub-titles! Again, admittedly, I’ve got a weird sense of humor.
Have you ever tried to help someone out and it didn’t turn out so well?
I’ll never forget. In the summer of 1974 while on vacation with my grandparents in Germany, I had such an experience. Being a dopey eleven-year-old kid from suburban Tampa, Florida, I had no idea that some people on the planet were actually employed to operate elevators. See where this is going? While in a downtown high rise Karlsruhe department store, I entered the elevator to go up several stories to rejoin my family. As I entered, so did an elderly woman. Growing up in the south, manners were well-engrained into my cranium by eleven. So, I asked her what floor. She looked at me a bit confused, said the floor number in broken English and I pressed the number obediently. Mom and Dad back in the states would have been supremely proud. Did I mention that there was another elderly fellow already in the elevator, sitting on a stool, right by the floors panel? The split second I pressed the number he was on me like a hobo on a ham sandwich! He lambasted me for vier (English translation: four) floors! Although I wasn’t fluent in German, some words I clearly recognized – and let’s say, they weren’t encouraging. He screamed at me like a rabid drill sergeant with jock itch for what seemed like an eternity. When the elevator doors finally opened, I ran out as fast as I could. In that moment, I didn’t care what floor I was on! I ran and jumped into my Oma’s hug while still hearing Helmut Von Nastyschmidtt screaming in the distance.
Sometimes, even our kindest, most well-intentioned efforts can go bad, can’t they?
The gospel narratives tell us repeatedly that Jesus was always being confronted and assaulted by the unyielding self-righteous of His day for the good things He did for others. The hyper-religious leaders of His day simply didn’t get Him. They longed for a Messiah who would be a blue-blood, an iconic regal, a military strategist who would break their chains of cruel Roman oppression and look really great on a coin! Instead, Isaiah tells us that Jesus had a very ‘average guy’ appearance. He was a good old boy construction worker from ‘one stop-light’ Nazareth. He had a very scandalous family tree, and his birth account would have been sealed information. Instead of glad-handing the movers and shakers of society for personal gain, Jesus chose to hang-out with drunks, food junkies, hookers and marginalized people with highly checkered pasts – and presents! In other words, Jesus put the needs of people over protocol.
As mentioned, though some recognized His Lordship, many with great religious influence rejected Him and His consistent heart of selflessness. He was a square peg in a round space, and for folks like that, we rarely have much use. Openly mocked, despised and rejected, Jesus refused to acquiesce to shallow self-absorbed expectations. He just kept on doing good – even when it got Him in trouble.
Why?
Because people matter most. Jesus died for people – not rules.
He was simply more interested and invested in pleasing His Father, than bending to religiosity – the kind that elevates rules and religious facades above the needs of real everyday people created in God’s image.
Friends in Solano County, not every attempt to help others, no matter how heartfelt, will turn out the way you want it to. If you step out and reach out to do good, it’s only a matter of time before you’re misunderstood. Even some you’re attempting to assist will bite your hand. If you’re doing benevolent and selfless things for gratitude; ticker tape parades are few and far between. However, Jesus commands and modeled that despite potential misunderstanding, rejection and ingratitude along the way – help anyway!
Lastly, the above story reminds us that if you live long enough, sometimes you’re the alert rescuer, and sometimes just when you think you’re the captain, you get caught with your pants down! Let both experiences and extremes soften your heart and humble you to the plights of many in our beloved community. God will honor your desire and endeavors to help. Keep trying. Keep reaching. People matter most!
As a closing note (no extra charge), if you’re ever in a high-rise downtown department store in Karlsruhe, Germany, and you need to move between floors – use the escalator.
