A Permanent Place of Belonging

Gospel: John 8: 31-42

Our desire for belonging and meaning is only satisfied in a place of love and of knowing that this love is permanent.  One of the worst experiences of ancient slavery was the knowledge that one had no permanent home; that was taken away from them and lost forever.  Slaves could be bought and sold at will.  Every slave desired to be a child of the household, as children had a permanent place in a household.

But even children could lose their place in the household.  The child could choose to leave the household forever, as we saw in the Prodigal Son story, or parents could disown a child and take away the security of the household from them.  This was the case of the man born blind whom Jesus healed and who found himself without a permanent home any longer.

But in the family of God a child is never disowned.  Even the prodigal son who turned his back on his home was sought after by his father who never stopped loving him.  And the bitter older son too heard the words of his loving father: "Son, you are in my household always!" Here in the family of God we find belonging and meaning in permanent love.  It is our task as Christians to create such communities of belonging here on earth, places where no one is disowned, no one neglected, all are seen as children of God.