Jesus’ Ministry
February 19, 2019
Scripture Reading: Genesis 45:3-22
So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. –Genesis 45:8-9
Criminal justice is a big issue in Oklahoma. My state holds the ominous distinction of having the largest incarceration rate among states in the United States. There are lots of sides to the complexities of criminal justice. I would not attempt to explain how my state attained such notoriety. I do understand the vital value that will lead our way out of such darkness. We must first recognize that all people are people of worth. We are struggling to find the answer and a large part of the answer is in restorative justice.
Many years ago, when I was a child welfare worker, I approached the juvenile judge to request an order to remove a thirteen-year-old girl from her family where we had discovered she was being sexually abused. The elderly judge lifted his head and raised one eyebrow looking at me with a bit of mirth in his eyes. “I’ve known that family for over fifty years, they have never been any good. There is nothing you or anybody else can do for them.” I was probably 22 or 23 at the time fresh out of college, had little if any idea that children could be neglected or abused much less sexually abused. So, he was half right in assuming my lack of ability to make a difference in the situation, but in my heart of hearts I knew he was wrong about anyone being un-salvable. When I said, “I would like to try.” He signed the order and handed it back to me shaking his head.
I heard on a news report a few years ago that prisoners, some very hard-core criminals, were finding new life in training service dogs for all types of situations. If I remember correctly these prisoners were all serving life sentences. They may have been considered too dangerous to be let free. Yet they were experiencing the healing power of helping someone else while receiving the unconditional love of the dogs they were training. Perhaps that was the first unconditional love they had ever known.
Jesus invested much of his time restoring people to wholeness. All kinds of people. He was setting an example that we are to follow today, including restoring wholeness to those caught in the criminal justice system.
Prayer: Lord, cleanse us of the stereotypes that keep us from viewing our fellow humans as your children. Help us to see the potential in everyone. Amen.