Good morning, my dear friends!
Why would a king summon a disabled man whose grandfather had spent years trying to kill him?
For Mephibosheth, a message from King David could hardly have sounded reassuring. He belonged to the family of the former king. David now occupied that throne. Whatever the messenger had come to say, Mephibosheth had reason to listen carefully.
That is where we begin today’s episode of Message From the Margins. Get comfortable. We have some extraordinary people to meet.
Watch Episode III above, and stay through Queries From the Margins and the final blessing.
I have been looking forward to sharing this one with you. We are following five people through Sacred Scripture whose lives reveal what God can do with someone the people around them have already dismissed.
We begin with Mephibosheth and the place King David gives him in his household. Then we travel to Jericho, where Rahab hides two spies while the king’s men come looking for them. The future of people far beyond her own household will turn upon the courage of a woman respectable society might have preferred to ignore.
We meet the woman Christian tradition calls St. Veronica, who has endured twelve years of bleeding before reaching through a crowd toward Jesus. At the Cross, we hear the condemned man remembered as St. Dismas ask Jesus to remember him. And on a wilderness road, the Ethiopian eunuch sees water and asks a question that still challenges the Church: what is to prevent him from being baptized?
You may recognize some of these names. Others may be people you have passed on the way to a more familiar Bible story. Today, we are going to spend some time with them.
Their circumstances shape what they face, what they risk, and what their lives reveal about the Kingdom of God. Scripture gives us good reason to pay attention to the very details we might otherwise hurry past.
The stone the builders rejected becomes the cornerstone. Think about the force of that promise. The builders must reconsider the whole building in light of the stone they thought they could discard.
In Jesus Christ, the rejected and risen Lord, that promise comes fully into view. And following Him requires us to examine our own judgments about the people He gathers.
That brings these ancient stories uncomfortably close to home. We can speak very confidently about defending Christianity while making it terribly difficult for another person to encounter the mercy of Christ. We can become so certain about who belongs that we stop looking for what God is doing through someone we have excluded.
I hope this episode gives us the courage to look again. If you have ever been made to feel that some part of your life placed you beyond God’s interest, I especially hope you will join me.
Your questions, and a final blessing
This week’s Queries From the Margins takes us from a Catholic nursing school’s treatment of left-handedness to one of the largest questions a person can ask: how do we decide which religion is the right one?
We also consider why Jesus speaks of division when His way is peace, and when defending doctrine becomes participation in injustice. Apparently, we have decided to take the easy questions this week.
Afterward, I have a final blessing for you. Please stay for it.
When you have watched, tell me in the comments which person’s story stayed with you, and why. I would love to hear what you noticed.
And if someone came to mind while you were watching, send the episode to them. You know people I will never meet who might need to hear it.
And Now It’s Your Turn…
Which person’s story stayed with you, and why? Perhaps you noticed something you had never heard before, or recognized an experience from your own life. Share whatever you feel comfortable sharing. I am looking forward to hearing what you found in these stories.
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And Let Us Pray…
Lord Jesus Christ,
You know the wounds we carry from being turned away. Help us to trust Your love when another person’s judgment is the voice we keep hearing. Give us courage to use the gifts You have given us, and help us recognize those gifts in people we have been too quick to dismiss.
Guide Your Church in the work of mercy. Teach us to listen to those who have been hurt, to make room for their presence, and to receive what You are bringing to us through their lives. May our homes and communities become places where people can encounter Your compassion and find meaningful work to do in Your Kingdom. Amen.
May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
With gratitude,
