Acknowledging Jesus

Gospel: Matthew 10: 26-33

We have been conditioned to believe that acknowledging Jesus before others has to do with making a public confession or profession of faith.  But this is false, as in another place Jesus tells us that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven.  In fact, acknowledging Jesus before others has very little to do with what we have created in these creeds and screeds that have become so popular in modern Christianity where words have little if any meaning.  

To acknowledge Jesus is to affirm the dignity and worth of every human being as another Christ.  To acknowledge Jesus before others is to see Christ present in other people - in all people: the stranger and foreigner, the poor and marginalized, the prisoner, the enemy.  In seeing Christ in others and in affirming that dignity in others, we then come to treat others with love and compassion, mercy and kindness -for that alone is the criteria for judgment before God.

Many today make these public confessions and creedal statements, claiming to believe in Jesus.  Yet, these same folks wage endless wars on countless people, creating poverty and migration that they themselves will then deny help or care.  They demean the poor, the immigrant, the prisoner, and the foreigner.  They justify violence and degradation directed toward these others.  Such is not acknowledging Jesus.  Such is choosing for Barabbas.