I had been entrusted with the Gospel for the uncircumcised just as Peter had been entrusted with the Gospel for the circumcised.
- Galatians 2: 7
There is so much in that short verse that St. Paul writes about in his letter to the Galatians (in present-day Turkey). The early church faced a huge problem. Should it direct the love of Christ only to the people Jesus knew, the people who raised him (known for their rite of circumcision), or to “the others,” everyone else (known by the Jews as the “uncircumcised”)?
Paul devoted his life to bringing the Gospel (the love of Christ) to everyone. In this, Paul has been one of my great teachers. His openness to everyone has helped me appreciate what my mother drilled into me in my growing-up years: “William, always look for the good in other people, and William, remember it is never too late to do the right thing.” I think Paul would have liked that. To make sure I got it, Mother would quote a jingle by Edward Hoch drilled into her as a girl: “There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us that it hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest of us.” In other words, we are all worthy of redemption. Little did my mother know that I would take her wisdom into 45 years of prison ministry, working for prison reform, seeking the “good” in the so-called “worst of us.”
Wouldn’t it be great if the voting public in our increasingly polarized society would take Mother’s wisdom, Hoch’s jingle, and St. Paul’s openness to seek the good in those we disagree with so strongly, and at the same time be a little less smug, a little less self-righteous, ourselves.
Musical Meditation Just A Closer Walk with Thee
Help us Lord to understand the nature of evil that is let loose in others and in ourselves. And help us to confront that evil but to always love those who carry it, knowing that sometimes it is us. Amen.
