Monday Meditation

welcome the vulnerable

The Eastern Box Turtle is vulnerable, with numbers continuing to decline from habitat loss, roadkill and pet trade. I found this one in the woods. The other day, there was one in the middle of the road moving very slowly, as cars whizzed by. My friend pulled his car over and carried the turtle across the road. It was an act of kindness that may have saved a life. A living metaphor for how I might assist the vulnerable just trying to survive.

In the Sunday’s gospel story, when Jesus discovers his disciples, walking along the way to Capernaum, were arguing over who was the greatest, he invites them to sit down with him for some conversation. 

There is no scolding. In fact, Jesus doesn’t squash the pursuit of greatness. Many of us know that desire, not as perfectionism, but in an honest desire to be a great person. Jesus changes the script on greatness. If you want to be the greatest, that’s fine. Be the one who finds a way to the bottom where least, the lost and the lonely abide. Be the one who raises a hand whenever you can help a poor, wayfaring stranger. Be the one who offers a prayer, sits by the side of the sick, be the one who says to the wayfaring stranger, the immigrant in your midst - welcome! Jesus is in a learning circle telling us, greatness is measure not by: crowds, wealth, fame and likes. He is always pointing us to a different measure of greatness.

Just to make it clear, he finds a child to put in the circle with us. Can you imagine? 

We don’t have to romanticize children to get Jesus’ advice. We know they have tantrums, meltdowns, and all the rest. That’s not the point, is it? What’s Jesus up to here? All this talk about greatness, and he places a child in our midst. Consider this child. Fix your heart’s eye here. How astonishing is this moment? Who among us is more vulnerable than a child? Who is most threatened in this world? Who has the least about power, status and fame? Who is the most curious, forms friendships with abandon, laughs the loudest and longest, with the heart most tender? Fix your attention on the most vulnerable, whoever they are, wherever they are. 

I think we know what Jesus has in mind when he places a child in the center of the circle. Right? He says: my disciples: welcome the vulnerable.