Give Like You Are Robert McCall
Those of you who are old enough will remember the television series aired in the 80s called The Equalizer. It starred Edward Woodward who played Robert McCall, a retired intelligence agent who uses the skills he acquired from this former work to help ordinary people. He does so free of charge.
In 2014, Denzel Washington resurrected Robert McCall on the big screen.
In all The Equalizer movies, you often see Robert reading a book. Our protagonist was encouraged by his wife to go through a list of 100 must-read books.
In Equalizer 2, Robert gets his books from Commonwealth Books, a local mom-and-pop bookstore. He learned that his favorite store will be closing because of a tragic event — the owner’s daughter was kidnapped by her dad and taken to Turkey.
The Equalizer is then seen on a train taking on several bad guys with nothing but ordinary items. After he rescues the little girl, he anonymously drops her off at the law office her mother was using.
I love the scene where Robert, a few days after the daring rescue, stopped by the bookstore to pick up book number 100 on his list. The little girl was sitting behind the counter and waves at him, recognizing him as her rescuer. He smiles and waves back at her. But when he saw that the girl’s mother was coming, he put his index finger to his lips. He did not want her mother to know that he was the one who rescued her.
This is what the Equalizer does — he takes great risks to help out ordinary people but does so anonymously.
In Equalizer 3, Robert McCall, who spends his free time being a Lyft driver, learns that Greg Dyer, one of his riders, lost $366,400. Greg worked as a bricklayer for 43 years. His union’s pension fund was hacked and Greg lost everything he worked his entire life for. So Mr. McCall tracked down the cyber thief who stole the money. Robert then snipes his way into a fortified room filled with millions of dollars, bearer bonds, and account codes. But all he takes is $366,400. The Equalizer almost gets killed a few times in the movie. But at the end of it all, he was not even the one that delivered the money to Greg Dyer. He tasked a CIA agent to do this so that he himself can remain anonymous.
When he told the CIA agent the whole story, she replied “I don’t get it.” I can empathize with her. Why would anyone risk his life and limb for a stranger and not even want credit for it?
You would forgive me if I thought that Robert McCall is actually a Christian.
In the movies, Robert never expressed any religiosity at all. He is never seen praying. Not once did he mention God in any of his conversations.
However, he certainly practiced what Jesus commanded in Matthew 6 to not let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
Jesus asks us to do many hard things but I feel that this one is harder than most.
When we spend a lot of time and effort helping someone out, it seems just natural to want some credit for our effort. And yet whenever I’ve given anonymously, I often find myself filled with a sense of deep joy. After giving anonymously, I visualize Jesus gently smiling at me and then putting his index finger to his lips followed by a playful wink.
Next time you give, try to go out of your way to hide your identity as the benefactor, whether your gift is big or small.
Give like you are Robert McCall.
