What does it mean to affirm someone’s dignity as a person? This question has been circling around in my head for months now. It seems like everywhere I turn I am hearing about it or reading about it and it’s caused me to look deeper into what it means. How is our dignity inherent to us as creations of the most high God? What does it mean to treat someone as the imago Dei she is?
I can almost certainly tell you what it doesn’t look like – the rhetoric of many of the debates on social media lately. The political campaigns coming out of most camps. The jabs from people in leadership positions and people on the streets or in the would-be pews. All of these instances are unlike Jesus’ response to people. He took every opportunity available to show individuals their belovedness. He affirmed people’s dignity every chance He got, especially when He saw others sought to tear it down.
In this episode, I recount a personal story from my family where we chose to live this very truth and a couple of instances from the Gospel of John where Jesus did what the people around Him couldn’t or didn’t want to see deep enough to do – see through actions and behaviors to the actual people He created and affirmed their humanity, their uniqueness, their dignity.
Other episodes and articles you might like:
Episode 036 – Andrew Franklin, Counseling Pastor at Antioch Church
Episode 043 – Malcolm Foley, Department of Religion at Baylor University