Jesus and the Lazy Moochers

Jesus does not see his task as gathering an elite of the “saved” but founding a general hospital for the throwaways… in the Gospels, wherever you read “sinners” it simply refers to the people who can’t do it right (adhere to ritual purity – follow the rules of the religion) – very often because they can’t afford the Temple fees.  I might drive the point home for modern Americans to read these passages replacing “sinners” with “people on welfare” or unemployed, uneducated, homeless, in jail – the effect is the same.

                                                                                Richard Rohr

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the world is full of litter

as we walk the streets

and drive the road

there it is

empty cups

bags with golden arches

water bottles

paper

glass

plastic

it is everywhere

discarded

worthless

ah, and people too

our world has decided there are throw away people

people who are too poor

too disabled

too ill

with depression, or mania

people who are too oppressed

too downtrodden

to do it right

to follow the rules

rules we have set

rules we have made more important than people

when the rules got in the way of helping people

Jesus broke the rules

for Jesus there were no throw away people

just people

to be loved

and accepted

forgiven and healed

Jesus did not see people as lazy

as moochers

as bad

as losers

as garbage

he saw people

all people

as sons and daughters

so when he gathered guests at the table

the table of grace

the feast of the Kingdom

the chairs were filled

with all sorts

clean and unclean

rich and poor

the powerful and the weak

and they all had two things in common

the need to be loved

and the need to be fed

all

nothing has changed