Misguided Effort? 9 (second to last!)

I think I can safely get back to my original point in this series. The push back I tend to get on this topic usually relates to discomfort with being too critical about the good works of others. It smacks of judging. Fair enough. I think I have sufficiently reexamined and qualified my thoughts on good works. I will now split hairs on the good end of the good-evil continuum. I think I am sufficiently on record that it is all good. To the degree that I have chosen sides and want to be associated with goodness, my critique is more of a self-reflection and of one speaking from within the family, so to speak.


The self-orientation seems to be our default, thus our expressions of love and mercy are often ordinary. To this, Jesus seems to say: “Your ordinary love is good, but big whoop. Follow me and I will show you something better.” This is hard, though; because what seems best to us is… well, by definition, about us. Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and other important people do provide us with examples of exceptional love and mercy, and there undoubtedly are other, less public, quieter examples around if we look. However, if we are honest, the church is not exactly blowing us over with this stuff. If Jesus’s exceptional love and mercy is more than a hope, it is incumbent on his followers (at least the ones that have figured it out) to demonstrate it and show us how to attain it.

I think there are some qualitative differences between good works where the primary focus is to help the other and those good works where helping is a secondary purpose, even if a close second. If helping the other were the primary purpose, the help would be better and more. If egos and organizational promotion were secondary, help would be better and more. As one who has been hanging out with good people for a long time and has had a career in the helping profession, when push comes to shove, I don’t often see the exceptional.  I did not say I never do; I revel when I do and occassionally report on them here.  I need to see more.

To frame it more specifically, imagine what would happen if we went under the bridge with the primary purpose to help someone? For one, we wouldn’t be tripping over ourselves feeling good about serving meals to people who just ate an hour earlier; we would take the time to find out how to actually help and do it. What would happen to the gaps and redundancies that pervade homeless services if we kept helping the other primary? How much better and far reaching would be the help? Unfortunately, I can only imagine. Until then, I will rejoice in the ordinary and search out and hold up the exceptional.