THE REVELATORY RESPONSE

We do not get to choose how people respond to us.

We certainly have a role to play in how we treat others, and we must be sensitive to how our attitudes and actions can affect others, even unwittingly, but we do not choose their response. How people act and react—including how they respond to who we are and what we believe—often reveals more about them than it does about us.

An inordinately angry or hostile response might suggest that something about us has touched a sore point in their lives or sparked a twinge of guilt in their conscience. If they unjustly accuse us of wrongdoing, perhaps something in their accusation reveals a weakness in their own lives. As Jesus taught, when we notice the speck in another person’s eye, we might be missing the plank in our own (see Matthew 7:3–5). So when we are threatened or accused, we have the opportunity to notice the fear, pain, and grief of the other person as an invitation for empathy—as difficult as that can be. But we also have Jesus’ promise that ulterior motives and secret plots will be revealed and undermined. As such, we do not need to be afraid of how people respond to us. Whether in the final judgment or in the unraveling of people’s secret lives, Jesus was clear that who we really are will be revealed—both in our lives and in our eternal futures. If we are seeking to be faithful, we do not have to seek vengeance on those who would threaten or accuse us. Instead, we can choose to respond with kindness and generosity (see Romans 12:19–21), revealing a truly different way of living and being in the world as followers of Jesus.