There is a sad saying that goes something like this "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you". In today's scripture passages from Wisdom and from John, it seems they really are out to get someone. Certainly Jesus but the passages alludes to an outsider, a speaker of truth perhaps or someone who upsets the status quo.
We all have our little cliques, our favored group. Even if there isn't malicious intent, we usually 'hang' with people we are comfortable with. Why on earth would you hang with people that make you feel uncomfortable??
It is an interesting phenomenon that we tend to get so comfy and myopic though that we strongly resist efforts to go beyond the comfortable or even expand our knowledge level to actual truth. We can even be more comfortable with accepted lies. Heaven forbid someone should come along and upset our little party. Jesus was the quintessential rebel in this regard for his time and he still is.
If we want to live by his most excellent example, we are called to shake things up a bit. Certainly not for the sake of just doing it, that's nonsense. One of the most fundamental truths of the Gods universe is change / growth and change we must! We need to expand our horizons if only to understand, appreciate and love "the other". The other is the outsider, the one with the fresh perspective, the one who invaded our pristine group of comfort. It is the prophet and the pauper, it is our sister and brother from another mother.
Perhaps today I will try looking at everyone a bit differently and see what wisdom, love and knowledge they are offering me. Perhaps I will be so brave as to love that brother from another mother, reach out to a stranger instead of shunning them.
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