“While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners (including prostitutes) came as guests to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Matthew 9:10-11)
Christians believe that Jesus was a Divine Incarnation, that is, he was fully transparent to all that is in and of God. He perfectly mirrored the nature of God for all of humanity, including you and me. The fact that Jesus was attracted to the unattractive, the so-called outcasts of his day, says something profound about God: God is not attracted to those who imagine themselves to be self-righteously perfect, but to the humble of heart, the rejected, and the broken-hearted. In our attempts to grow spiritually, to be aligned with the natural order and to live a sattvic life, we must remember that God enters the human heart most often through a wound. In an interesting historical contrast, we remember that that Nazi Germany was obsessed with physical, ethnic, and psychic purity; they were so extreme that they exterminated anyone who did not fit into their notions of perfection. While in a conversation with the self-righteous authorities of his day, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”
Beloved Jesus,
You are attracted to
The unattractive and broken
Within me.
