When Jesus comes knocking
There is a wonderful picture out there in the general domain,
Whatever your thoughts about somebody whom people are calling the peoples saint, he definitely stood up for the marginalised, for those who had nothing, and for those with no expectations of moving forward in life.
He and all those we call Liberation Theologians (such as St Oscar Romero, Gustavo Gutierrez) preached against those who wanted to lord it over them, those who wanted authoritarian states and those who wanted to make sure their way was the only way ahead.
This week, we have had the local elections, wherever we are throughout the country. Hopefully, we have each played our part in making our churches, our communities, our towns and cities better places, where Christian values are central to all we do and are. This is very relevant to those of us who live and minister in rural areas, where we feel the loss of livelihoods, communication, and ways to move around. We only need to see how many rural bus routes, how many promises, have been broken by those in power.
We know St Matthew quotes Jesus Christ in the sermon on the mount, in what we call the Beatitudes, saying
“ Blessed are the poor in heart, they will be …..”
This is how Pope Francis lived, something that we need to model in our own lives, he gave without ceasing, without any form of wanting anything in return.
To end this blog, among my favourite stories about Pope Francis is this: that during the conclave that would elect him, Cardinal Bergoglio offered a reflection upon the familiar image of Jesus standing and knocking at the door. The traditional and pious reading, he noted, is that Jesus is knocking to be admitted, to come into our hearts, to enter our lives. But what if, he said, Jesus is knocking for us to come out instead, to join him in the world outside? (The story I heard was that it was that little homily that caused one of the other cardinals immediately to lean over to his neighbour and declare Bergoglio the man that the church needed.)
Jesus' insistent knocking not to come in but for us to come out into the world: what a wonderful way to hear it. A way we should perhaps live our lives today. Amen.
