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7th Sunday of Easter
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In our Gospel today we read the prayer of
Jesus the night before he died. It is the longest prayer in the Bible.
He says, “Father, most Holy, protect them which You have given Me. I
gave them Your word and the world has hated them for it. They do not
belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask
You to take them out of the world, but to guard them from the evil one.
As You have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
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This prayer tells us something very
important about Jesus. It tells us He was a misfit This may sound
strange, even sacrilegious. We think of misfits as people who are
emotionally unstable or socially retarded. They are suspicious of almost
everybody, in their minds the world is out to get them.
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Jesus was not like that: He had a healthy
mind. His feelings were not easily hurt, He gave people the benefit of
the doubt, and His social skills were without parallel. Yet the fact
remains that He did not get along with everybody He met. He was not full
of sweetness and light all of the time. If that was the case, how did
He mange to get Himself crucified? Many people saw Him as strange, even
dangerous.
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Jesus firmly believed in the inherent value
and worth of every person. This sounds innocent and harmless, but
translated in His day and age, this could and did cause trouble.
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Jesus lived at a time when the Land of
Israel was controlled by Rome. They were occupied by an alien army and
as you might guess, Romans were hated, as was anyone who cooperated with
them. What does Jesus do? He heals the sick servant of a Roman Officer.
And His instruction about loving enemies included, without question,
these foreign invaders.
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Tax collectors were even more hated than
Romans. They were held in utter contempt, the lowest of the low. What
does Jesus do? He befriended them, and made one of them His apostle, St.
Matthew. The Law said you were not to get near a leper, rather stand at
a distance. They were the living dead. They were to live outside the
camp. What does Jesus do? He reaches out and touches a leper, and cures
him.
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Adultery was the worst sin a woman could
commit, thought to undermine the whole social structure. We all know the
story: a crowd drags a woman, throws her at the feet of Jesus and
accuses her. They have an airtight case: whatever Jesus says, He will be
in trouble. What does Jesus do? He writes in the sand. Then He looks up
and says, “If you are without sin, cast the first stone. Does no one
condemn you? Then I will not condemn You.”
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There was another group that the people at
the time of Jesus stayed away from, the Samaritans. The animosity was so
bad that people would travel miles out of their way to avoid going
through a Samaritan town. What does Jesus do? He walks through a
Samaritan village; He speaks to a Samaritan woman at a well, and then
goes back to their village to spend time with them. And He even tells a
story called “The Good Samaritan.”
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Jesus was a misfit because He never learned
whom and how to hate. There are still people who are outsiders, those
who are unacceptable in our culture and time. In some communities it is
race against race. In others, religion against religion, or the haves
against the have-nots.
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This prayer of Jesus is relevant for us
today. He wants us to live in the world, but not to live like the world.
We are to affirm the inherent worth and value of every person. Perhaps
we need to ask ourselves if there is any person, any group that I force
to live outside of my camp. And if there is, what would Jesus do?
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| Yours in Christ, |
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| Fr. Bob Warren, SA |
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