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Saturday, March 28
Readings: Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 7, John 7:40-53
Redneck! Trailer trash! Rabble! The poor are an object of special scorn from the Beautiful
People in today's Gospel. How can poor people know anything about the Messiah? Galilee?
How can anything good come out of Galilee -- or Appalachia -- or the dysfunctional inner city
-- or from that part of town where all of those kind of people live. How can they know
anything? They are poor. They aren't white spiffy-dressing upper class executive types. They
don't play golf. They don't belong to the right clubs or go to the right schools. They certainly do
not belong to our political party. They are ignorant rubes from the bad parts of town. Away
with them, they hurt our eyes, somebody should do us all a favor and quickly kill them to put
them out of our misery. If Jesus was the Messiah, We the Smart and Beautiful Upper Class
People would know this. And furthermore, he'd be from our side of town, not from Galilee.
Jesus is obviously a sensation among the poor and working classes of Jerusalem in 33 AD. Even
the guards whose paycheck comes from the ruling elites are impressed. How can we arrest him?
Haven't you heard him talk? What's the conventional wisdom answer to this? None of the
Smart and Beautiful Upper Class People believe in Jesus, so how could he really be the Messiah?
Duuuh, isn't this obvious? How could we miss this eternal truth? Jesus can't be the Messiah
because he's not rich, nor even very middle class. And furthermore, he comes from the bad part
of town.
Perhaps we should read today's Gospel and do an internal inventory regarding our own class and
racial prejudices. Sure, our speech may be politically correct, but when was the last time
someone from a different race -- or economic class -- was welcomed as a visitor in our home?
When were we welcomed as a visitor in the home of someone from a different race or economic
class? If we visit the poor, do we complain afterwards about their housekeeping? Or their
personal manners? Or the smell of their neighborhood or living room? Or the hair we found on
the sink in the bathroom?
Do we judge the poor by a higher standard than we apply to ourselves? Everybody in Congress,
and a lot of voters, seems to somehow "know" that poor people are poor because of their inherent
character defects, such as sexual promiscuity. But when the President of the United States turns
out to be a shameless adulterer and sexual predator, do we close our eyes, turn our gaze
elsewhere, and murmur wise thoughts such as "boys will be boys" and "well, the economy is
going good", or "at least he's not a Republican".
Do we really listen to the Church of the Poor? Exactly how many hours last month did we spend
listening to poor people? If the answer is zero, what does that say about our deep-seated racial
and economic class prejudices? What is wrong with us that we are not seeking out poor people
that will talk to us? Why do we warn each other -- "Don't go there, it's a bad neighborhood."
My God, we might meet a poor person and actually have to talk to him or her. And we can't be
having this, can we? Let us remember that Lent is not about Denial, and Denial is not a river in
Africa. Don't Even kNow I Am Lying, as they say, is a big problem when the rich and affluent
and comfortable are brought face to face with their hidden racial and economic class prejudices.
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