Suffering Mistreatment
If you have never been mistreated, you haven’t lived very long, or you’ve not done much of anything. Just existing among and interacting with your fellow humans will lead to someone unjustly accusing you, disliking you for nothing, or assuming you are someone you’re not. I can say with confidence that if you haven’t experienced this phenomenon of being unfairly dealt with, you haven’t been a pastor! For some reason, people are fond of pastors, or they may dislike them, in both cases, for merely being pastors. You don’t have to be a member of the clergy to experience this.
So how do you respond when you’re mistreated? One natural response is to be defensive. While you may have that luxury, we pastors don’t. I learned early on that defensiveness is not an option. I remember a time toward the end of my nine years as a youth pastor. The kids developed a perspective of me that was inaccurate, unkind, and unfounded. The more I attempted to defend myself, the deeper I dug myself into the hole they created. Worse yet, their parents were glad to shovel in the dirt. Their children could not be wrong! Being defensive didn’t help. The results temporarily caused me to walk out on my call to ministry. Whether you have the luxury or not, defensiveness is not a Christlike response.
Another natural response to being mistreated is to retaliate. I love watching those shows where the bullies and bad guys get their comeuppance. We generally have a sense of justice that includes us never being wronged. When wronged, ideally, the perpetrator receives what they deserve and then some. That may work for the protagonist in your favorite TV show or movie, but it doesn’t work for those seeking to live biblically.
There are nuances and varying legal recourses depending upon situations. But the fact is that in this world, you will be wronged. The majority of the time, you have a decision concerning your response. Will you take your example from Christ or the world? If you have an unreasonable, rude, crude boss, who is no fan of Christians, treating you differently than his favored employees, what do you do? Sue for discrimination? Or, take no legal action but skewer him behind his back? The Bible has advice for that:
Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.… For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:18-19, 21).
Notice this passage’s context addresses “servants” or, in some translations, “slaves.” However, the larger context is responding to those in authority. Have you felt mistreated by your superiors for your faith? Be sure it’s actually for your faith. Some believers receive poor treatment because they are just annoying, and their behavior has nothing to do with Jesus. But don’t be surprised if you are on your best behavior and someone making decisions that affect your life wrongs you simply because they resent the Lord. You’re in good company. Their ilk not only did the same to the prophets but to Jesus. It’s why He came physically.
Christ needed to come in a human body. He didn’t come only to do spiritual things. He wasn’t here just to talk about peace, love, and social justice. Many are perfectly comfortable with that kind of Jesus. It’s when we start talking about sacrifice and suffering that the message becomes unpalatable to them. They’ll accept a historical character named Jesus, who is sanitized and free of the uncomfortable aspects of the Gospel.
When Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” hit theaters in Italy, USA Today interviewed Italian author Riccardo Zucconi. He said he “refused to allow his children to see the movie, in his words, ‘because I want them to have this idea of the spirituality of Christ, not this idea of debauchery. The soul of Jesus is important, not his body.’” His statement had more to do with his theology than his parenting. The author went on to say that he would see the movie but, “I think sometimes I will shut my eyes to preserve myself from all this blood.”
The thought of a bloody Savior is gross. The bad news about unending torment for unforgiven sin is repulsive. Letting people slide for being rude to you because of your faith may feel disgusting. No surprise that this kind of a message is “to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23). It should be no surprise that the world responds in a certain way. Surprise them and respond as Christ would.
“For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” —2 Timothy 1:12