Slideshow image

Dear Beautiful Savior,

There is a rabbinic story that came to me this week. A student once asked his Rabbi, "How do we know when night has ended and day has begun?" One student answered, "When you can look into the distance and tell the difference between a sheep and a dog." Another answered, "When you can distinguish a fig tree from an olive tree." "No,” he said. "Day begins when you can look into the face of another human being and recognize your sister or your brother. Until then, it is still night."

This week’s Gospel lesson is from St. Matthew. Jesus calls a tax collector and is seen eating with him and other sinners who the Pharisees didn't like. Jesus reminds us that he desires mercy, not sacrifice. Jesus has come to call sinners not the righteous. Our world continues to love the night, not being able to discern the face of another human being.

The poem, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, on the Statue of Liberty gives us another take on mercy.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

God is showing us when night has ended and day has begun. 
With you in the journey of following the master.

Pastor Jeff