Three: Redemption

There’s just no way to get around it. I have to talk about Dog the Bounty Hunter.

Now Dog is not always what you would call a sympathetic character. He dresses oddly. He makes baffling hairstyle choices. He and his entire family are arguably three fries short of a happy meal. He vacuums for fun. He has been recorded using racial epithets (an item near the top of the list of  “public persona unforgivable sins” – a list that does not seem include cheating on your wife or driving while drunk. But I digress).

There are a million things I could say to mock Dog. Most of them are far too obvious to make it worth the time. And for the record, I am not a hard-core Dog-fan, Dog-defender, Dog-catcher, Dog-pound member, whatever you want to call it. I couldn’t tell you when the show is on or what channel. But since confession is good for the soul, I have to admit that on at least four occasions, I have been flipping by that channel and been drawn into an hour of Dog-watching. And he always makes me want to cry.

Let the mocking begin.

 

 

The Weird Arm of the Law

Let me give you an example of what gets me every time. Dog and the family chase down some criminal. The entire show they’re cussing him out, angry that he keeps evading them. This particular guy is a smackhead who is selling smack, so they really want to get him. And they finally do. When the bring him out, a number of people from the apartment complex he has been holing up in gather around and start chanting to have him thrown out. Like Dog, they think this guy is scum and they want him out of their neighborhood.

But things have changed for Dog. As soon as he gets the cuffs on whoever he is bounty-hunting, his heart kicks in – it’s amazing to watch – like someone else is suddenly inhabiting his body. And this someone understands redemption. Dog walks over to the crowd and gathers them in a circle. He says (I will paraphrase – I don’t own the DVD box set), “He’s a bad guy and he’s going to jail. I know you want him out of your neighborhood and I agree, but I know you don’t want him dead. So I’m going to bring him over here so you can tell him you forgive him.”

Come again?

If you’ve ever seen the show, you know Dog’s ride to jail after catching a perp is epic. He lets them have a smoke. He lets them call whoever they want and let them know they’re okay. He prays with them. He promises to get them help. He basically gives them dignity and respect and grace and talks non-stop about redemption.

On this day, he brings smackhead scumbag over and lets the people of the neighborhood talk to him. And something amazing happens. They start to show mercy and compassion and talk about redemption.

“I lost my dad to drugs, and I don’t want to see that happen to you.”

“I’m raising my kids alone ’cause their mom had to go to jail.”

“We’re glad you got caught but we hope you get some help.”

And the guy starts to cry and tells everyone he’s sorry. And then Dog has them join hands and he leads in prayer.

 

Grace is Only for the Truly Sorry. And People With Good Jobs.

That’s not how we do redemption in church. In the first place, only people who have it all together have the right to tell other people to stop doing wrong.  Dog doesn’t qualify. And those be-suited better-than-thous know one thing – you can’t just forgive people and hope they’ll reform. You tell them what they did wrong, tell them how to get things straight, then wait for them to do so. If they change their life, you can embrace them as part of your community.

Dog says “we hate what he did, but we don’t want him dead.” Later that night after catching “Patty”, he goes home to his 7 year old, who is excited that we “got Patty.” Dog pulls her aside and says “Patty is really sad tonight cause she had to go to jail. So when you pray before bed you need to pray for Patty.”

The work of Jesus on the cross was to purchase our redemption. Redemption in its simplest sense is exchanging the valuable for the worthless, and in so doing making the worthless valuable again.

Galatians 4:4-6 (New International Version)   
4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

1 Peter 1:18-19 (New International Version)
18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Dog understands that that kind of redemption doesn’t begin with people on the right path. It starts with all of us as fugitives, running form God, running from truth.Until someone chases us down and throws us into the SUV and asks if we want to call our Mom before we head to jail. The story of Scripture is the story of a God who pursues us, chases after us, gives His Son to die for us – whatever it takes to win us back (if you want to see a gut-wrenching glimpse into the heart of God, read Hosea, which begins with God telling Hosea to “take an adulterous wife”).

He also understands that it begins with the redeemer, not he redeemee (that second one is not a word, I know). It starts with loving the unworthy, pursuing the evil, and giving dignity to the undignified.

Now lest you think that I think Dog is the perfect example we should all try to emulate, I don’t. But truth can be found in the strangest of places,  and every time he sits a crackhead down and makes them cry with his kindness, I see Jesus in that mulleted whack-job, and it reminds me that redemption is messy work, and not a black and white encounter. We are accepted long before we do anything remotely worthy of it. While we were still God’s enemies (fugitives from Dog for the dyslexic), Jesus died for us.

And He invites us to participate in the work of redeeming the world – not just to receive redemption, but to help redeem others. He asks us to understand and strive to have His heart, the heart that relentlessly pursues then relentlessly loves the most wretched among us. Jesus even tells us countless parables to help us understand He feels this way about every human being on the planet – The pearl of great price, the treasure in the field, the lost sheep, the lost son, and so on, and so on.

He also teaches us that receiving grace and giving grace are tightly linked. Remember the unmerciful servant? Sure, Jesus didn’t save me from my life as a street pimp. But there’s evil in my heart, just under my middle-class clothes. And the God who redeemed me wants me to assist in redeeming others. Which means I have to forgive and love and pray for the worst of the worst. Cause I’m one of them.

Thanks, Dog.