There were many widows in Israel,
yet Elijah was sent to none of them
except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
There were also many lepers in Israel
and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
—Luke 4.25-27
Even our religion is selfish:
we expect it to favor us above all others.
But Jesus opens our eyes to the last who are first,
while we who think ourselves first, get in line.
This is not mere comeuppance,
it’s his insistence that “we” are all of us,
not just some of us.
There are no outsiders, except by our selfishness.
The gospel is most of all for those farthest from God,
and for that part of you most distant.
When God visits the foreign widow in you,
you love the one who lives elsewhere.
When the Beloved blesses what is alien in you
you are merciful toward all who are alienated.
You are saved: not lifted from among the masses,
but returned to them.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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