A couple days before we left Peru we got the opportunity to go to a men’s prison. It took us a while to get into the prison and as my team and I were talking back and forth we realized we had no idea what to expect. I then started to just ask God to show me something that I needed. Show me something in this time that made me have a passion to be there and feel that what we were doing was purposeful. Because I will be honest sometimes when you don’t speak the same language and you’re thrown into a ministry opportunity like this it is hard to see your point in it.
We entered into the prison and set up on a basketball court. I sat there and watched as the men on the other side of the gate looked at us with intriguing faces knowing that they would love to talk to us. I was hoping that this was not going to be what it was like. There’s nothing more obvious to show the difference between you and someone else when they are looking at you through a chain-linked fence. Thankfully about twenty minutes after we got there a group of about 100 men began to walk through the doors of the basketball courts.
It was an honor to shake hands with these men and see the them as renewed and redeemed without knowing why they were in prison. I wasn’t fearful, I wasn’t nervous, I was ready to show grace and forgiveness for these men, because the Lord has that for all of us. We ended up performing one of our skits for comedic relief and then had a mime perform. They seemed to enjoy both of our skits even though we spoke no words to them.
After the skit by the mime he began to go down the line of men and give then all a hug. In his skit he showed through his actions that God loves us all and this hug was a symbol of that love. He then encouraged the men to start hugging each other. It turned out that everyone (besides the girls) got up and began to hug each other and embrace that love.
After, the men all joined hands and formed a circle. They began to skip and jump around the circle their faces filled with pure joy and laughter. As I was sitting and reflecting on my thoughts, it seemed that the music had faded and that everyone was dancing in slow motion. As I witnessed this, I gave thanks to the Lord for allowing me to witness such a beautiful thing.
I began to think about the situation that these men were in. I began to put myself in the position of them. Here is a chance for them to sing and dance for a God who has forgiven them for what they have done. A God that even if they don’t fully believe in has allowed them to be freed from what they have done, even if it is just till the music fades. What I saw was redemption in the eyes of these men. I saw Jesus in them telling even me that I was loved and I was never beyond redemption.
Wouldn’t it be something else if we began to try and sit in spot of Jesus and see every human being as valued and loved like he does? I am talking about the men in prison for ending someone else’s life and even the righteous ones that turn their faces to injustices because they think they can’t do anything about it. Even the person who committed a crime and has gotten away with because of money or corruption. Even the pimp who sells women as sex slaves because of the misconstrued ideas he has of his own world. Because Jesus didn’t come to save the righteous he came to save the sick. The ones that were so wicked and messy, yet he called them beautiful and lovely.
I realized something in that prison that is a game changer in my life now and will continue to be when I get home. The only way I can truly care for others and truly see them as valued is if I began to see them through the eyes that Jesus sees them through. If I sit in that seat that Jesus sits in daily when the murders, adulterers, self-righteous, deceivers, robbers or religious nuts come to him and seek forgiveness, that is when transformation happens. Because we are all wicked, yet Jesus calls us a beautiful and He wants that freedom for us to have.
If there is one thing I want to devote my life to it is just that. Allowing myself and others to know that they are beautiful, valued, loved and cherished. No matter what they have done or what they will do they are not beyond redemption. No matter if they do not believe it themselves or they see themselves in this wicked view that the Lord doesn’t want that for them. We as humans classify the ones in prison or the ones who sell human beings as worse off than us but that is where we are wrong. No one is beyond redemption, not one, the Lord doesn’t see it that way and either should we. May we began to take off the blinders that allow us to see people in this negative light and begin to know and live out truly the love that Jesus bestows for us daily. May we sit in the perspective of another and see a different side to their struggles.
