Out of the Spotlight

The Cast List

Folks that know me know that I have been in a passionate relationship with theater since I was ten years old. Come to think of it just now, that is a long, long time! My father took me to a production of “Charlie’s Aunt” produced in the old Second Baptist Church building by the fledgling theater department of Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri. The play was high-energy, very funny, and obviously entertaining to the near sellout crowd in attendance evidenced by their enthusiastic reception of the cast during the curtain call. I did not make it through the first act before I realized that this was something I believed I could do and something I wanted to do…soon, if possible. I started as a ninth grader four years later, continued in college and summer theater, made my way into community theaters, some regional professional work, and helped “blaze a trail” bringing Broadway style music-theater into the church.

Over the years, I have been an actor, producer, director, writer, conductor, and teacher of all things technical to eager neophytes to the discipline. One valuable lesson I learned over those years necessitated team building over all my other skills. Faithful attenders of live theater, wherever it is done, will attest to this: the most important characteristic of a successful run is that it takes an all-surpassing number of people who will willingly labor in anonymity more than those who will share the spotlight and the glory of the applause. All one needs to do is read the program. The list of hidden figures is extraordinarily longer than the display of actors and their headshots. And there is not one name listed we can spare if we are to flourish in our endeavor.

Significance Does Not Require Visibility

When we do what comes naturally, and we humans tend to do that often, it is easy to confuse significance with visibility. It is a critical error to assume that for something to matter, it must be visible enough for someone to notice and to notice the one doing it. History teaches us that actions by unknown individuals can affect mighty changes in circumstances though done out of the spotlight, with no applause, lacking recompense or recognition.

· In 1940, the Japanese consul in Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, against explicit orders from Tokyo, hand-wrote thousands of transit visas for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. He continued even as the consulate was closing. Estimates suggest tens of thousands of descendants of those he saved are alive today.

· When our nation faced the uncommonly strained events of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a Soviet submarine was depth-charged by U.S. forces and cut off from communication. The captain and political officer moved to launch a nuclear torpedo, but protocol required agreement from three officers. Executive Officer Vasili Arkhipov alone refused to employ the weapon, averting certain nuclear world war.

· During World War II, Italian cycling champion Gino Bartali used long training rides as cover to transport forged identity documents and other materials for a network that helped Jews escape deportation risking his own execution. Bartali almost never spoke of it during his lifetime. “Good is something you do, not something you talk about,” was his comment. The full extent of his role emerged only after his death in 2000.

· Hercules Mulligan was an Irish-born tailor and spy in British-occupied New York during the American Revolution. He gathered intelligence from British officers who frequented his shop and is credited with twice saving George Washington’s life by warning of assassination plots.

· In 2 Samuel 17, a character named Barzillai appears unannounced in the narrative. King David and his followers were running for their lives from the treachery of David’s son Absolom. They were hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. With no fanfare and with no reward to follow, Barzillai provided from his considerable means exactly what the weary company needed: food, drink, and a safe place to rest. His only motivation for helping was that his help was needed.

People can change history and never become famous.

The Need to be Known

There is nothing inherently spiritual about anonymity, but if we continue to do what people naturally do, we can never be free from the need to be acknowledged in a tangible way. After three years of dedicated following, observing, and learning from Jesus, the disciples were still captured by such a craving. They witnessed the unprecedented and unusual accomplishments of the Lord, and they listened as He deflected any “credit” for these remarkable deeds from Himself to the Father. They heard Him testify repeatedly:

“My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”

“I can of Myself do nothing.”

“I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me.”

“But that the world may know that I love the Father, as the Father commanded Me, even so I do.”

The disciples could not fully grasp this concept. The felt need of these men for importance, to be remembered, and to leave a legacy could not comprehend the words.

James and John decided not to leave things to chance. We are told of their boldness in Mark 10 as they asked for the seats closest to Jesus, the best seats in the house, when He would come into His kingdom. The desire to be close to Jesus is admirable, but their intent was to be on a plane high enough to be seen. The other disciples were offended probably because they did not think of asking first or were too timid to do so.

Their natural tendencies may appear reasonable on the surface, but those tendencies are bereft of the substance and reality of the Kingdom of God and are extremely dangerous. Why? Because the natural and the spiritual are not only different, but they are also opposites, adversaries, and enemies that war within us! This is precisely what Jesus declares after He affirms the waywardness of the world to them. In verse forty-two, Jesus utters these four crucial, timeless words:

“NOT SO AMONG YOU.”

His Mission: Our Mission

Listen closely to His words as Jesus describes His earthly mission in the most resolute of terms:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Observe His actions carefully and intently as He freely gives His time, attention, and vitality to people who cannot improve His reputation, most likely causing damage. Nor could they advance His cause in any significant way.

Jesus was the only person who ever lived who was worthy to claim the privilege of expecting people to serve Him. He had the right to the best seat in the house. His station and prestige should have accorded Him attention, honor, and recognition. And yet, when He knew His final hours on earth had come,

He washed feet.

Today, as we are tempted to clamor for our “rights” and spend our vigor looking for the limelight, let us remember,

Jesus picked up a towel.

Shall we seek the places we believe we deserve risking the unenviable possibility of hearing the dreaded words: “I never knew you”? Or shall we instead choose to despise the spotlight that never shines on the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the prisoner, the aged, or the unborn children of the world?

This is your choice but choose carefully.

When you decide to clothe yourself in His mission and seek to meaningfully touch the “least of these,” you shall be renowned in eternity. You shall be blessed by your Father in Heaven, and heir of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!