Monday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 257

I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

During this COVID-19 crisis I suppose you may be feeling like a prisoner in confinement, like one who lives in a darkened dungeon. The feeling is universal, spanning the globe. We have experienced worldwide events like the several wars, the Internet and climate change. We appreciate the economic impact of events in distant parts of the globe. But nothing has sharpened our sense of One People on One Planet like this novel coronavirus -- with the possible exception of our faith in Jesus Christ. He has been set as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations.

Since the day Adam distanced himself from his beloved Eve, blaming her for what he had done, human beings have drawn boundaries and erected barriers to separate themselves from one another. We sort ourselves into innumerable categories of gender, race, religion, language, and class. Approaching strangers, we immediately try to determine, “What kind of person is this?” and “How shall I deal with this (categorized) person?”

Inevitably these efforts fail as real events dissolve our man made distinctions. Diseases, especially, leap across barriers. Germs just don’t care which god you worship. No race, religion, language, or class is exempt from physical, psychological, or spiritual illness. Mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse, and domestic violence appear as readily among the privileged as among the poor and despised. 

Trying to grasp that reality, people sometimes say, "They're just like us!" 

That doesn't help. The statement only projects my assumptions and presumptions on the stranger. Having said it, I know nothing more about the other; in fact I have inoculated myself against meeting the other. Although I stand face to face with the other, I see only myself.

Grace teaches us to invite the other. Rather than "You're like me!" we say, "Tell me about yourself." I very often ask the Veterans in the VA hospital, "Tell me a story!" I want to know how it feels to be a woman, a Protestant, an immigrant, a lapsed Catholic, divorced, or dying. I might imagine it but if I am honest I will admit, "I cannot imagine it!" 

And then, as I listen, I might begin to understand. First I'll realize how wrong I have been, and then I might see through other eyes and hear with different ears. 

The Lord has come to open thy eyes of the blind and to bring prisoners out of confinement. Grace frees me from the prison of myself; from my opinions, fears, preoccupations, and presuppositions. It frees me to discover I am not alone. 
Sometimes pandemics can do that too.