This weekend’s readings challenge us to understand “the other” as “ourselves”. The concept of “otherness” is a reality that allows for discrimination, persecution, racial and ethnic profiling …for hatred of “others”! When we fail to see our common humanity then we are able to believe that we are “different” from one another and then we see them as “other”. This concept of “other” often creates a situation where the one who is “other” is dehumanized and degraded. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream…a dream where everyone was equal…where there were no “others”…only “us”! This dream of MLK’s was a “Kingdom dream”…the Kingdom of God…and he saw this dream because he had “Kingdom vision”…Martin Luther King lived as if “the Kingdom of God” was here and now!
In the Gospel we hear this weekend Jesus tells us to be very careful about who we believe is on the inside and who is outside…because we might be the ones who end up on the outside! It is a “cautionary tale” of “otherness”! Jesus is seeking to tell us that there is no “other”…we are all the children of God…including all the migrants and immigrants around the world, counting those at our southern border! We are all “sisters and brothers”! Each and every one of us is connected…as Martin Luther King proclaimed whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us! Imagine if we lived like that…that is what Jesus did for us on the cross! What am I willing to do to break down the barriers that separate me from “the other”? Do I really believe that “we” are all God’s children and loved equally by God? What does that mean for me? How might that challenge how I live my life? Who do I see as “other”?
Blessings,
Fr Tim
In the Gospel we hear this weekend Jesus tells us to be very careful about who we believe is on the inside and who is outside…because we might be the ones who end up on the outside! It is a “cautionary tale” of “otherness”! Jesus is seeking to tell us that there is no “other”…we are all the children of God…including all the migrants and immigrants around the world, counting those at our southern border! We are all “sisters and brothers”! Each and every one of us is connected…as Martin Luther King proclaimed whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us! Imagine if we lived like that…that is what Jesus did for us on the cross! What am I willing to do to break down the barriers that separate me from “the other”? Do I really believe that “we” are all God’s children and loved equally by God? What does that mean for me? How might that challenge how I live my life? Who do I see as “other”?
Blessings,
Fr Tim
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