You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 

                                                                                        Matthew 23:24

Have you ever tasted camel? Something tells me that it's not like chicken. I am not going to ask you whether or not you have tried to swallow one. We have all done that.

Several years ago, a good friend from California was volunteering here in Siguatepeque. He was on an extremely tight budget, Peace Corps range of money.  So, he was obliged to rent a small living space downtown.  Actually, it was a shared bedroom in the back of the house.  Calling it an apartment would be Santa Claus type generosity.  He shared the bedroom with a young Honduran man who showed no shame in borrowing his underwear and deodorant, without asking of course.

As the story unfolds, my friend spent his days teaching in a two room public school and his evenings playing with a passel of children that somehow belonged to the household as well.  As my friend practiced his developing Spanish, he learned that this was not the only home that was occupied by his way-passed-middle-aged landlord.  As the children explained, he had two other households, each with their own mother and accompanying set of numerous children. Even more startling was the fact that everyone seemed to know and no-one seemed to care. "Let me get this straight", I said to my friend, "all three women know about each other? The kids know? The whole community knows?" "Yeah", he said, "and nobody gives a flip. He splits his time up between the three houses and all three women play the role of the adoring wives and everybody pretends that everything is okay and normal. He is kind of seen as being the benevolent provider."

A few months later, I learned that one of the "wives" was actually a faithful attendee of our church. That would explain the terrified look on her face every time that we tried to serve her the Lord's Supper. Her superstitious understanding probably made her believe that the communion Welch’s grape juice was going to mysteriously turn to poison because she had participated "in a manner unworthy".  

It’s a sad commentary on what the church has inadvertently yet emphatically taught.  Somehow, we have taken a straightforward passage of scripture, I Corinthians 11, which is a warning about excluding people from the fellowship of eating the communion meals together, mainly the poor, and we have used it as an excuse to exclude people from communion, in my context, usually the poor.

Whether it was superstition or religiosity, she knew that she could not afford to be sick over a ceremony. Many church goers do not participate in the beautiful reminder of our Lord’s sacrifice because they are simply afraid.

So, she chose to remain at the underprivileged church status.   She would never be able to be baptized because she would never be able to marry so she would never participate in this celebration.  What a mess we have made! 

Meanwhile, my friend is counting his underwear every day and wondering if that ominous hair on the deodorant is his.  One day, as he is walking through the center of town, just past the Catholic Church, he notices the handmade sign at the movie theatre that announces the one and only movie option and it is amazingly something Disney.  This is a rare occurrence.  The film option is usually something about demon vampires dragging villagers back to Hades.

He knows that the sound system in that theatre is horrible and cartoons are dubbed directly to Spanish. Both details assure my friend that he will understand none of the film, but he has grander plans.

Since there are lots of little bitty kids running around his "apartment", he figures that this is the perfect time to generously invite all of them to the movies, a place none of them have ever been.

The kids were ecstatic with the news, but there was one little catch. They would need to secure permission from their benevolent father or grandfather or uncle, whatever he was. That's when it all got tricky and illuminating.

There is great freedom and boldness in innocence or naiveté. This allowed my young friend to stride right up to the patriarch and state his proposal. "Hey, there is a great little cartoon playing at the cine and I am taking all of the little kids. It will be my treat at no cost to anyone else." His silly grin turned to dismay as he listened to the angered and determined response. "We are a Christian family and we don't go to the movies, ever."

So, let's get this straight.  Mister "I'm shackled up with three different women" is giving us a morality lesson. So, even though he has never married any of these women and he continues his life of blatant sexual immorality, he has somehow gained some moral high ground by excluding the cinema from his personal list of acceptable places. How easily can selective legalism whitewash the putrid rotting interior?

My heart continues to ache with the deceptive nature of the human heart. Hyperbole helps us to see the hypocrisy of this particular case, but how sensitive am I to my own camel swallowing? What are the moral trivialities swimming around in my heart and mind that dominate my behavior? Is it possible that I have replaced following Jesus with the legalistic adherence to the norms of my tiny subculture?

For most of my public ministry, I have been concerned about the working of the local church.   As a missionary here in Honduras, I can see that the current evangelical church environment is dominated by the importance of church attendance. Did you show up or not? That’s the most important thing.  Present a pretty façade. Get a haircut. Press your shirt. Dress the girls in pretty dresses and pretend to pay attention as the preacher rambles on about the importance of showing up.

How many church leaders are secretly beating their children and their wives while presenting a united front?  How many cheat in their business or refuse to pay the sales tax? 

As I examine my own heart, I wonder why I have shown little compassion for the people around me.  What about alleviating poverty and the complexities of justice?  Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Don’t cuss. Don’t go to movies. Close your eyes to the neighbor who is starving to death. Swallow a camel.