If you have not yet viewed the film, Hotel Rwanda, get it this weekend and view it. If you have children who are older than 12, have them watch it with you. The film recounts the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who works for a Belgian firm in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. It tells us of his heroic and ultimately futile attempts to save lives during that nation’s 1994 civil war and large-scale massacre. Without being overly sensational or splashing blood in your face, the film's producers manage to disturb you and if you have a conscience, they compel you ask - "who is my neighbor?" If you're looking for easy answers, this is not the film to watch!
As the world looked on, the Hutu people of that nation slaughtered about 1 million Tutsis, another ethnic group. In one of the film's most compelling moments, Paul urges a reporter to put some graphic footage of the killing on air to rally support for military intervention. He is told by the Western reporter, "People will be eating their dinner in the West when this footage airs. They will pause for a moment and say, 'isn't that awful?' and then go back to their meal." And that is exactly what happened. What makes the war even more tragic is that the divisions in that African nation were exacerbated, if not caused, by European colonialism, yet neither Europe nor the U.S. felt any need to try to stop the massacre! This TFTD does not intend to suggest that the United States, Britain, France, and/or Germany should be the developing world's policeman. Those are global issues that demand a great deal of information that I am not privileged to know.
What I am trying to do today is to cause you to think about how you are connected to other people - whether they live across the street or on the other side of the world. Jesus told a story, compelling in its simplicity. When you start to read it, I'm sure it will be familiar. Read it anyway, slowly, like you're discovering it for the first time....
The man said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied with an illustration: “A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. By chance a Jewish priest came along; but when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two pieces of silver and told him to take care of the man. ‘If his bill runs higher than that,’ he said, ‘I’ll pay the difference the next time I am here.’
'Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?' Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”" (Luke 10:27-37, NLT)
We separate ourselves - by political party, by religion, by economics, by ethnic distinction, by race, even by sex. Somehow we convince ourselves that the 'others' - however we are divided- do not demand the same compassionate concern as those who are inside of our circle. Unless we have a compelling self-interest we shrug off the needs of those who are left bleeding by the road as being of no personal concern. "Let someone else care for them." Even worse, we invent reasons not to become involved, saying things like- "they deserve their plight, just look at the decisions they made." Or, "it's always been that way, I can't change anything." Or, "I've got my own problems and nobody's helping me!"
When you read those lines in print, they don't stand up as well as when we think them, do they? Jesus Christ taught that the world is our neighbor. If we have experienced His love, we have an obligation to actively love others. How we do that is beyond the scope of this short TFTD, but a good way to start the dialogue is to watch Hotel Rwanda with some friends and spend some time talking it over.
"If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?" (1 John 4:20, The Message)
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