“…but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” – Romans 5:20
How could he possibly say that? George just saved his life!
That was my reaction to a dramatic moment from the popular sitcom, The Jeffersons, in the early 80s. I was only a kid, but just one line from that show has stayed with me ever since.
In the episode called “Sorry, Wrong Meeting,” George Jefferson (played by Sherman Hemsley) and his fellow Manhattan high-rise friends attend a tenants meeting that they thought was going to address a crime wave. Instead, they discovered it was actually a KKK recruitment meeting. The Klan leader and George soon had to be separated. The studio audience was roaring with laughter.
Then the comedy took an unexpected turn. The Klan leader (played by James Karen), begins having a heart attack. His son yells out to the room, “Does anyone know what to do? Please!” The audience slowly begins laughing again because George has this look on his face that says, “Yes I know what to do, but no, I don’t want to do it.”
That’s one thing I liked about this scene. It was real. George knew the Klan leader needed CPR, but he hated the man for hating him. How difficult is it to help our enemies? Very difficult. Would you help a bad person change a flat tire in a snowstorm? Jesus would want us to, but we don’t always pull over. This ethical struggle of George’s, however, was about life and death. He was reluctant for a few seconds, but George eventually jumped in and gave the man mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It worked.
In the next scene, as the Klan leader was being moved on a stretcher by paramedics, his son tells him that it was ‘Mr. Jefferson’ who saved his life. The man slowly looks over at George.
“He saved my life?” the Klan leader asks incredulously. “You should have let me die.”
I was in shock. I knew they were all actors, but I had never been exposed to the idea that someone could be so full of hate, they wouldn’t be grateful to a person who saved their life. George’s act of love, however, caused the other men in the room to leave the meeting. The Klan leader’s son left as well. Their eyes had been opened to the hopelessness of racism.
Only love will defeat hate. Only love will lead to a better world. Let’s never forget that Jesus asked God to forgive the men who were crucifying Him. So when Christ tells us to love our neighbor, it may be tough at times, but there can’t be any exceptions.
Ed Doney, Staff Writer
