Recently a man made an aggressive advance on me while sitting, what I thought was harmlessly, at the laundromat. I was definitely startled at first and shaken for a time after this abuse. I was alone and a target. In the after shock my thoughts turned to my business and how my livelihood is affected because I am seemingly a lowly part of the surrounding culture. How am I to thrive? Am I safe? Yet in reading Matthew I am reminded that there is a light within the darkness that is more powerful. Jesus repeatedly defied cultural expectations and invited the lowly, the outcast, the alone, the rejected to have a relationship with him and his community. He shared meals with them. I would not have thought I was any of those things yet I can see that there are moments we embody all of those. In those moments of fear and isolation I can see the three other men who suddenly appeared and shooed the screaming aggressor in my defense. They blessed me with their humanity so I can see it is not the one who attempts to break my spirit as the one to define me, but the three souls who appeared as protectors for my empowered reassurance.
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