Strap on your sandals

Walking with Jesus

“The most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection—and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth.”

Fr. Richard Rohr (The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See)

I have been reading articles about the “alien caravan” heading toward our southern border. Our government is scrambling to decide how to handle it—rather, how to prevent it. I have some thoughts about this—one is that these are human beings, and just as in our world wars, if we reduce them to euphemisms such as “illegals” it's easier to act inhumanely toward them. I can remember from my childhood all the names given to those who opposed us during the second world war, because my father used all of them. It's hard to shoot someone if you recognize them as a human being, not unlike yourself. Furthermore, as long as the disparity in wealth that I wrote about yesterday exists, there will be desperate people seeking survival, not to mention, the possibility of a decent life. I've been to some of the Central American countries these folks come from, and I can tell you, there's not much chance of finding a better life there. Not even much hope of feeding yourself and your children on a day-to-day basis. I can see why they are willing to risk everything to come here.

The other thing is, I truly believe that if Jesus were here, he'd be walking with them. He walked with other poor and distressed people—people trying to survive in an occupied, corrupt, and dangerous country. Great crowds of people looking for encouragement and healing, and maybe even a little bit of food, trudged along behind him because he offered them the only possible hope they had. And, of course, because he told them, “You are the salt of the earth.” and “You are the light of the world.” (Matt 5:13-14) No one had ever told them such things before. What would happen if we spoke of the people in that caravan coming from Central America using such words? What if we were to act like the “Christian nation” we claim to be?

Fr. Richard Rohr wrote in his book, Breathing Underwater, “Christians are usually sincere and well-intentioned people until you get to any real issues of ego, control, power, money, pleasure, and security. Then they tend to be like everybody else...'Christian' countries...tend to be as consumer-oriented, proud, warlike, racist, class conscious, and addictive as everybody else—and often more so, I'm afraid.” We can't have it both ways. Jesus was a champion of the poor, the displaced, and the disheartened. Do we stand with him, or not?

                                                                 In the Spirit,

                                                                    Jane