Celebrating Diversity

On one occasion during the ministry of Jesus, the disciples of John the Baptist reported to John some of the things that Jesus was doing. The result was that John sent them to ask Jesus the very interesting question, “Are you the one who was to come or should we expect someone else?” (Luke 7:18) 

For a long time I wondered why John had this question asked. It appears that there was some doubt in the mind of John about the validity of the ministry of Jesus but that seems strange, especially when you remember that not too long before John himself had proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) What happened that caused John to doubt? What had occurred that raised question in John’s mind about Jesus being the Messiah?

Basically the answer for me came when I saw that John and Jesus had two very different approaches to ministry. From the very beginning there was a difference between John and Jesus. John was a loner. Jesus was a people person. John waited for people to come to him in the wilderness while Jesus went to people in the market places. John preached repentance. Jesus preached forgiveness. Any time someone does things differently than you do, or wants to use another approach, the natural tendency is to question. Whenever someone does or wants to do things differently it seems that their authenticity and sincerity is always challenged.

The differences between John and Jesus were clear and obvious but does that mean that one approach to ministry was inferior to the other? Now the messages were different but so was the approach to getting the message out. And I believe that this contributed to John’s question. His struggle was not so much about the message, but rather his question was about the approach and methods Jesus was using. 


The answer that Jesus gave to the messengers from John was, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor." (Luke 7:22)  In other words Jesus was basically saying, “Look at the results. Go tell John about that. Lives are being changed.” And what is so intriguing about that is this was the same result that John was seeking in his approach to ministry.

In all of this I believe that the message, is a reminder of the great need there is to celebrate diversity, especially in our approach to ministering to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of people. Whenever you have a group of people working closely together, like we do in the church there is a constant challenge to remain unified and at peace with one another. And what will always make this a constant challenge is because the approach that some use or want to use will always be different from what others use.

Does this mean that one approach is better? Does this mean that it is more effective? Maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t but that really isn’t the point. The point is to remind ourselves, as Jesus reminded John, that we are striving and working towards the same results, even if our approach is different. As a result may we learn better how to celebrate our diversity while always allowing God’s Spirit to mold and direct our approach.

"We are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. (Romans 12:4-6 The Message)