Our world imposes horizons that are hard to contest.  As children we learn what is real and what is foolish.  We are taught to trust what can be calculated or spelled out by contracts.  “What’s in it for me?” sounds reasonable while altruism is deemed impossible.  As depicted by Walker Percy, modern earth dwellers are more familiar with distant galaxies than with persons: creatures hungry for meaning, destructive, bored, in trouble, and unwilling to seek help.  We are the dark matter not accessed in the usual ways.  Our existence has become inscrutable to our finest minds.  Whether we find our way home will decide our fate.

Jesus was an affront to his world.  A man who welcomed sinners, healed on the Sabbath, spoke with God directly, challenged authority, and skipped meals must be out of his mind.  His teaching upended the usual order and his followers were transformed to the bone.  The humanity of the leper, the prostitute, and the criminal was lifted up. At his most scandalous, he showed how the least among us reveals the face of God.  Every person matters.  Encountering the mystery of even one human life brings us back from the dead.