At the heart of the Gospel the negative is not eliminated, but instead is used, learned from, and thus incorporated. Jesus went to the edge and the bottom of society, he kissed the leper, he loved the poor, and he wore patches on the outside of his habit so that everybody knew that this is what he is like on the inside.
So much of religion has taught us to deny or hide our shadow, which forces us into a fatal split from foundational reality. By distinguishing between the “holy” and the “unholy,” we end up with what we have now, an exclusionary religion. We do not have a strong passion for what we are for, we just know what we are against, what is wrong, what we must not do, and who is sinful.
Our spirituality needs to be behind Jesus’ words, “The last will be first and the first will be last,” (Matthew 20:16, Luke 13:30) and Paul’s, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). We need to look deeper and broadly at things and recognize God’s self-giving where most of us cannot see God, such as other religions, outsiders or sinners, and even those enemies who fight and oppose us.
As we grow by ultimately accepting and forgiving our own failures, we are able to say about others, like Jesus and recently Pope Francis, “Who am I to judge?” (Luke 12:14). We must remember Jesus saying that we are punished by our sins rather than for our sins. Human sin, failure, and imperfection are something to be wept over and pitied, not something to be abhorred or hated.
Matthew 7:1-4 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye, when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?”
