**Why We Must Stop Judging People - Part 10 **
James wrote that “judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; but [to the one who has shown mercy] mercy triumphs [victoriously] over judgment” (James 2:13 AMP).
One of the best stories I’ve ever heard about love and mercy triumphing victoriously over judgment and condemnation came from Tony Campolo.
Birthday Party for Agnes
Tony arrived in Honolulu for a speaking engagement, checked into his hotel, and went to sleep.
Since his body had not adjusted to the time difference, he woke up at 3:00 in the morning and decided to try to find a place to get something to eat. He was able to find a greasy diner that was open. It wasn’t the cleanest place he’d ever been to, but it was open. There was no one else in the diner when he walked in. He sat down on one of the stools at the front counter. He described the diner as being so dirty that he didn’t even touch the menu. The menu was covered with grease, and he thought that if he opened it, something might crawl out!
A big man wearing a grease-stained apron came out of the kitchen. This was Harry. Harry was smoking a cigar and looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. He put down his cigar and asked,
“What do you want?”
“A cup of coffee and a donut,” Tony responded.
As Tony ate his donut, the door opened, and ten or eleven prostitutes walked into the diner.
It was a small place, so the women sat at the counter on either side of Tony making him wish that he could disappear.
The woman next to Tony was especially boisterous. She loudly announced to her friend beside her that, “Tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to be thirty-nine.”
Her friend shot back, “So what do you want me to do? Sing happy birthday? So you’re going to be 39. You want a cake? You want a party?”
The first woman said, “Look, I don’t want anything. I’m just telling you it’s my birthday. Why do you have to hurt my feelings?” And then she added, “I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life. I don’t expect to have one now.”
That grabbed Tony by the heart.
Tony waited until the women left. Then he asked Harry, “Do they come in here every night?”
“Yes,” Harry answered.
“The one right next to me …,” Tony began.
“Agnes,” Harry said.
Tony continued, “It’s her birthday tomorrow. Harry, what do you say we decorate this place, and when she comes in tomorrow night, we have a little party for her? She’s never had party in her whole life.”
Harry grabbed Tony’s hand and squeezed it.
“Mister, that’s beautiful … beautiful!” Then Harry called out, “Jan come out here! This guy wants to throw a birthday party for Agnes. It’s her birthday tomorrow.”
Jan came out from the kitchen and said, “Oh, Mister! That’s brilliant! Nobody ever does anything for Agnes, and she’s one of the good people in this town. I know what she does to make money, but she’s a good person.”
Tony asked, “Can I decorate the place?”
Jan said, “To your heart’s content!”
Tony said, “I’m going to bring a big birthday cake!”
Harry jumped in saying, “Oh, no! The cake’s my thing!”
Early the next morning, Tony arrived at the diner around 2:30. He had bought a long roll of paper at Kmart and strung it across the mirror behind the counter, making a big sign that read, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” The three of them pitched in to get the diner ready for the party.
Jan had gotten the word out on the street, and by 3:15, it looked like every single prostitute in Honolulu was squeezed into this diner. It was wall-to-wall prostitutes and Tony in the diner that night.
Then, at 3:30 in the morning, the door opened and Agnes walked in with her friends.
As Agnes came through the door, everyone yelled, “Happy birthday, Agnes!” Then they all let out a big cheer.
Tony said that he had never seen anyone so stunned in his life as Agnes looked in that moment. Her knees started shaking, and her friends had to steady her. They walked Agnes to one of the stools at the counter. The whole crowd started singing Happy Birthday to Agnes. Then they brought out the cake with the candles.
That was when Agnes lost it. The tears came, and she started to cry.
Harry just stood holding the cake with all the candles. Finally, he said, “Knock it off. Come on, Agnes. Knock it off, and blow out the candles. Come on, blow out the candles.”
She tried, but Agnes couldn’t do it, so Harry blew out the candles.
He gave her a knife, and said, “Now cut the cake… . Come on now. Cut the cake, Agnes. Cut the cake.”
She sat for a long moment, and then Agnes turned to Tony and said, “Mister, I really don’t want to cut the cake. Is it okay if I don’t cut the cake?”
Tony said, “It’s your cake. You can do with it what you want.”
She said, “I want to take it home. I want to show it to my mother. Is that okay?”
Tony said, “Sure.”
Agnes stood up.
Tony said, “Do you have to do it now?”
She said, “I live two doors down. Let me take the cake to her, and I promise, I’ll bring it right back. I promise.”
Tony said that Agnes picked up the cake like it was the Holy Grail. She made her way through the crowd and out the door. As the door swung slowly shut, there was dead silence in the diner.
Everyone just stood there feeling the impact of what this unexpected act of kindness had meant to Agnes.
Tony didn’t know what to do. He finally said “um, What do you say we pray?”
Looking back on that moment, Tony said that it may seem weird—a sociologist leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes at a diner at 3:30 in the morning—but it was the right thing to do.
Tony prayed that God would deliver Agnes from what filthy men had done to her, probably starting when she was she was too young to even know what was going on. He prayed that God would make her new because no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, Jesus can make you new.
When Tony finished his prayer, Harry leaned across the counter and said, “Hey Campolo, You told us you were a sociologist. You’re a preacher! What kind of church do you preach in?”
Tony said that in that moment, the perfect words came to him.
He said, “I preach in a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.”
Tony said that he’ll never forget Harry’s response.
Harry said, “No you don’t. No you don’t. I would join a church like that!”
Tony ends this story by saying, “Wouldn’t we all! Wouldn’t we all love to belong to a church that threw birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning!”
“I’ve got news for you. That is the kind of church that Jesus came to create! I don’t know where we got this other one that’s half Country Club, but Jesus came to create a people that would bring parties to those who have no parties; celebration into the lives of people who have nothing to celebrate.”
“If all you’ve got to offer is a bowl of soup and some clothes it’s not enough. Jesus came and said, ‘I have come that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be full.’ We’ve got to do more than just give them bread and clothes. We’ve got to bring love and joy into their lives.”
We can all begin to do that by laying aside judgment and criticism, and treating everyone we meet with unconditional love and acceptance.
Reference:
Campolo, T. (n.d.). Tony Campolo - Birthday Party. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWlMV-UmueM
