Since this is Wednesday, February 13, he has, of course.
But for the last two weeks Senator John McCain called my house 11 times, and his wife Cindy called twice. The first time he called I was really honored. John McCain was a great hero in my home, growing up. This was long before Ronald Reagan had hand picked him for legislative office. But my dad had served on the USS Forestall just before John McCain came on board as an aviator, and so I knew his story well. In 1967 he was on his 23rd sortie when he was shot down over North Viet Nam, and taken as prisoner of war. Since he was the son (and Grandson) of an Admiral, he was offered release, but refused to leave his comrades behind. He was held and tortured by the North Vietnamese until the Peace of Paris ended the war in 1973. I remember the grainy black-and-white footage of him on the news, as he spoke to reporters from prison. I remember the 60 Minutes profile of him when he came home. He was one of the heroes of my youth.
So when the recorded message clicked on and the familiar voice over the phone said: “This is John McCain, and I’m a conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan….” I was a little excited. Usually some party hack makes the irritating call, but this time the Senator himself called my house! And called…and called……
The excitement wore off at about call four, and the irritation set in at about call seven. Every time I came home there was a flashing light telling me I had a message. In my line of work messages can’t wait, so I’d rush to get it and invariably a familiar voice would say, “This is John McCain…” It got to be so predictable that when I’d answer the phone the kids would say, “Is it John McCain – AGAIN!” Monday my answer to that question was “No, it’s Cindy McCain.” I must say that the luster of his legend has lost a bit if its glow. I’ve also noticed that his telephone voice has a little of the quiet menace you hear in the voice of Dick Cheney and Grand Moff Tarkin.
When Jesus first sent the Apostles out to preach the Gospel he told them:
If anyone does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house, or that city, shake the dust off your feet.
Jesus says that people have a choice to make, and if they choose to refuse the Gospel, move on. Of course some of the people we try to reach with the gospel are part of our daily lives. Perhaps they even live in our own house. We can’t just move on. Peter encourages Christian wives of unbelieving husbands to win them “without a word,” by their “behavior” (I Peter 3.1—2).
My point is not that we become cavalier about the lost, or take lightly someone’s rejection of the message. I am not asking us to become quitters, to stop caring, to stop praying, to stop trying. I am saying that we should avoid becoming the automated voice of John McCain. I am saying that our best intentions, and our best example can be undercut if we become pests. I am saying that it is so easy, especially when you care, to make accepting the gospel not a test of faith, but a test of wills.
And then – even if our efforts prevail, will the truth have triumphed? If we pester someone into submission, if we blur the lines between obedience to God and submission to ourselves, if we convince not because of the force of the truth, but the force of our own personal will – have we converted anyone?
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter and the other Apostles presented their listeners with a choice. 3,000 responded and were baptized. Others were not. That personal choice, that response of faith is what brings us salvation. Let us not, in out urgency, and concern, rob those we love of the very choice that will save them.
