Let every word you speak be drenched with grace and tempered with truth and clarity. For then you will be prepared to give a respectful answer to anyone who asks about your faith. Colossians 4:6
One would think that being the Emperor of the most powerful nation in the ancient world would be enough. Well, for Nero it wasn’t. It seems along with being Emperor, he also wanted to be a singer. He took lessons and practiced, then he arranged for his first recital in Naples. The place was packed, the crowd had assembled with great expectation, the concert began, then there was an earth tremor. Although the people fled it wasn’t in fear, it was in sheer joy! Nero was an awful singer! And in spite of the mass exodus with the tremor as an excuse, he kept on singing! He also held other concerts, at which by the way the gates were locked and guarded to deter anyone from leaving.
It worked too, one woman delivered a baby. Desperation had some concert goers jump over the walls! It seemed the only legitimate reason to leave was death, as one man pretended to be dead and had his two friends carry him out through the gates to freedom. This story is comical and true and it made me think. I thought about the last couple months with sheltering in place, which at first wasn’t so bad, but then we began to feel like captives in our own homes.
It also made me think about how sometimes people must feel the same way when someone wants to talk about the fear they’re feeling of the unkown, or the anxiety they’re dealing with because they feel trapped, or perhaps the fear they will get or give the virus itself. Instead of listening and giving them words of encouragement and hope and taking the opportunity to be Jesus to them, we make them a captive audience. We quote Scripture and telling them they need to be saved, then they wouldn’t have all these thoughts (even though many times we do) and they need to watch the sermon streams on You Tube and Facebook. Like the people at Nero’s concerts, they really weren’t listening, they were looking for a way out. When God opens an opportunity for us to tell people about why we have hope, we need to tell them about how Jesus changed our lives and helps us on a daily basis. Now that will be beautiful music to their ears and they will see a beautiful Savior they will want to get to know.
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