It’s all about making good choices.
Personal responsibility, right? You and I are responsible for our choices and their consequences. Have you ever thought about the sense of privilege embedded in that so-called truth?
I think a lot about the kids at the HOME OF HOPE. They, and their mothers, weren’t enslaved and abused because they made poor decisions. They didn’t choose to be uneducated or to live in desperate, grinding poverty. They didn’t choose to be bought and sold, treated like property, tossed aside, as social outcasts with no hope, when they’re no longer useful.
Their circumstances didn’t afford them any of the options I take for granted.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus specifically directed us to care for victims of injustice. Perhaps that’s why He didn’t scold them about personal responsibility. Perhaps that’s why “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” isn’t in the red letters, or any other letters, of the bible.
Perhaps He wanted us to understand that “the least of these” don’t always have lots of choices. Perhaps He wanted us to consider the possibility that they’re doing their best, making the best choices possible given their circumstances.
Jesus WAS concerned about the potentially destructive impact of wealth and power, how they can twist our thoughts and actions. Since I’m something of a leader (power), and I have far more financial resources than most people in the world (wealth), perhaps I ought to take His concern seriously.
I’m asking myself – and maybe you – some questions.
Do I judge those whose circumstances I may not understand, rather than listening with empathy?
Do I assume, from my privileged perch, that others have the same choices with which I’m blessed?
Do I minimize the many times I’ve benefitted from God’s grace and forgiveness by claiming credit for my decisions?
Am I like the Pharisee, congratulating myself for my own great choices and thanking God that I’m not one of “those people?”
I hope not. I pray for the humility of the tax collector.
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”