Be Nice

One of the mantras with which I grew up was “be nice.” I was taught to be nice by folks that I loved and who loved me. Since I wanted to please them, I wanted to be nice. They wanted what was best for me which included being thought of as a nice person. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be nice. However, as I study the gospels, I learn that Jesus was not always a nice person. Jesus was not nice to his mother and brothers who came to talk with him (Matthew 12:46-50). He implied that a woman from Canaan was like a ‘dog.’ She was “nice enough”, however. to challenge him and therefore received healing (Matthew 15:21-28). He said to one of his most faithful followers, Peter, that his thoughts were Satanic (Matthew 16: 21-23). That was not nice. Jesus did not even act nice at Church (Matthew 21:12-13). He called the religious leaders of his day by some names that were not nice (Matthew 23:1-36). I am not suggesting that we need to be intentionally mean-spirited, but sometimes telling the truth is not “nice.” I have a picture of a rag doll being put through an old fashion washing machine ringer and the wording says, “The truth will set you free but first it will make you miserable.” One of my concerns is that it seems the goal of too many Jesus followers as well as churches is--“be nice.”