Is a dangerous one. Yet it’s one of the most enticing for religious folk. It’s dangerous because our criteria for who is in and who is out can be easily based more on our own values than on God’s values. Whether it’s out of superiority or fear or anxiety or whatever, we can quickly push out those who have every right to be in as we do.
Those who are thrown out, Jesus seeks and finds.
Those who are rejected, Jesus welcomes and accepts.
Those who are denigrated, Jesus honors.
Those who are not listened to, Jesus converses with.
Those who are scorned as sinful, Jesus invites to believe in himself.
Those who are looked away from in disdain, Jesus looks toward in love.
The in / out game is dangerous because eventually we make our circles so tight and close that they will only include ourselves. And we may very well find ourselves treating others quite unlike the way that Jesus treated us. After all, the good news is that while all of us ought to be out, Jesus welcomes us in. May we learn to be like Jesus: slow to throw out and quick to seek and find.
