Show up
With humility
Representing truth
These sticky notes of mine keep building, huh? But I have one caveat on the third one.
Representing truth.
Yes, 100%.
But not my truth.
God’s.
Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners. He called them into his inner circle. St. Matthew, whom we honor today, was both a tax collector and a sinner.
And he was also an apostle.
An apostle whose heart was open to the truth.
So what’s the truth?
We can be redeemed.⠀
We can be reconciled.
But even more, we are loved anyway.
We don’t have to be redeemed or reconciled to be loved. God loves us even in our sinfulness, in our laziness.
God loves us when we look towards justice and even when we look away.
But here’s the truth – when we realize this unconditional love held just for us, when we finally feel the truth of it… looking away from whom we are called to be becomes… impossible.
That’s why Matthew couldn’t look away when he was called to be at Jesus’s side. He finally felt the truth – he felt loved just as he was. And as his heart accepted that truth, he could no longer live a life that didn’t emulate the One who could love him like that.
It was impossible for him to know that kind of love and not try to live in contrast to it.
There are a lot of tough choices ahead for all of us. My prayer this morning is that we begin to feel the truth of the immense love God has for us. May we feel it deep in our bones. And may the realization of it make us not look away.
May the love God has for us turn our eyes towards justice. And may our feet start walking towards it, not stopping our stride until true justice (the kind that accepts everyone at the table) is realized once and for all.
For once you know the truth.⠀
You can’t look away.
So know it now.
God loves you no matter what.
And get started saying yes.
