Mark 10:35-35
The
front-page story in "Street Pulse" grabbed my attention and kept it.
The writer
eloquently described what she learned by living on the street for
a weekend, voluntarily sharing the experience of homeless people in Madison.
Her saddest discovery was the cruelty that more fortunate people tend to show
toward those who are homeless. It's not just a matter of avoiding eye contact
with folks who look poor and homeless and enforcing ordinances against them
(though she experienced plenty of those reactions too), but that some of us
more fortunate Madisonians deliberately abuse them. Here's part of her account:
"I was told to sleep on my shoes and my backpack because people like to
steal them and throw them in the lake or a dumpster to 'mess' with homeless
people. . . . As the night went on, I heard it: the snickers, jeering, the loud
[hostile comments]. Then one man threw a full beer can at us, another
threatened to 'piss' on us. The next night another guy said to his buddies
while he was walking by, 'Hey, let's beat up some homeless people!'"
I think this writer for "Street Pulse" at least came
close to what Jesus meant by becoming a servant of others rather than a
status-seeker. She didn't permanently give up her own home and social status–
and would it have benefited anyone if she had?
But she did take the risk of getting to know some of her poorest
and most marginalized neighbors, recognized their humanity and vulnerability,
and used her own gifts to raise awareness of the injustices they suffer.
Couldn't you and I do something like that too?
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