What We Share

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  (Matthew 9:13)

Their job required education.  They calculated and raised the revenue that kept Rome running.  As agents, they had no say in the policies they enforced.  Families were squeezed to pay their taxes.  It saps one’s soul to burden the poor while wearing the governor’s face.  No wonder the taxmen kept their own company outside the glare of the righteous.  Why would a wandering holy man seek them out?   Perhaps they weren’t so worthless after all?  When Jesus invites him to join his odd band, Matthew leaps at the chance.

Only someone mired in divisions could praise the “one Body and one Spirit” as energetically as Paul.  Disputes and grudges pile up like grime by the day’s end.  This species seems bent on fragmentation.  Who will venture into combat with a message of peace?  Without God, do we scatter to the four winds?

We have different talents.  Some work the emergency room.  Others clean hotel rooms.  Some comfort those who grieve.  Others teach.  Some replace damaged roofs.  Others raise money to keep schools open.  The labor of human life is enormous.  How does fragmentation cease and unity emerge?  Whatever our job or career, we have one calling: to build up the body of Christ.  This task is shared: to live “with humility, patience, and love.”  In building up the community, the awful isolation ends.

There’s much to be done.  Work seems endless.  Some days we push and push and fall into dreamless sleep before pushing again.  What could be bigger than saving the planet, restoring communities, or ending violence?  Bigger than our workload is the goodness of the world, the beauties of the planet, and the deepness in each person.  How stunning that sinners are worthy of love.