Lent Journey Day 35 - Tuesday - One with others “You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.” Eph 4:4-6 (MSG) In Matthew 25 we read of the final judgement of God. The remarkable image is painted where we all will appear in front of the Judge, and our eternal fate will be decided based on how we handled others. Whether we observed the Sabbath, or obeyed other laws is not of consequence in this passage. What IS measured, is how we practically & visibly lived out love for others: Through food, drink, hospitality, clothing… It is interesting how a direct parallel between God and man is drawn- what we did for others, we did for God- whether we were aware of it or not. It is also clear that the Judge, God, or in this case Jesus, totally relates to, and identifies with the people. What we do to the least of them, we do to Him. To follow Jesus, therefore means to relate to, and identify with others. It requires an awareness that we are united with all others. Jesus didn’t say “it is as if you did this to Me” but rather “you did this to Me”. Theologically speaking, we are all one family. Mankind in its entirety is of one blood (Acts 17:26). We are one species- Homo Sapiens. Descendants of one man and one woman, Adam & Eve. We are one flesh. As a mother feels “you touch me when you touch my child”, so too can we grow to an awareness of relating deeply with others, where others’ lives become ‘real’, just as our own lives are real to us. Deep compassion is a natural product of this sense of oneness. It becomes harder to see others as shallow, foolish or neurotic. We can feel for those who are broken, have problems or are challenged- we are all members of the same family then. This is why Jesus’ voice sounds so broad. We are invited to broaden our connections, our horizons. Not just limiting ourselves to family and friends, but expanding to our neighbors, to strangers, and eventually, even our enemies. Lord, please open my heart to others. “In Louisville, on the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the sense that I love all of these people. They were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. it was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness… My happiness could have taken form in the words: “Thank God, thank God that I am like other men, that I am only a man among others.” - Thomas Merton.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 07:04:18 +0000
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