Ah, good ol’ Ruby Turpin. Today’s gospel parable always brings to mind for me the character from Flannery O’Connor’s short story Revelation. In fact, Flannery wrote this story these words of Jesus in mind: “For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
In the story, Ruby considers herself a respectable Christian just awaiting her crown of righteousness at judgment day. Then one day she, in a vision, is given this revelation:
“. . . a vast horse of souls were rumbling toward heaven. There were whole companies of white-trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black n—s in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people whom [Ruby] recognized at once as those who, like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything and the God-given wit to use it right. She leaned forward to observe them closer. They were marching behind the others with great dignity, accountable as they had always been for good order and common sense and respectable behavior. They alone were on key. Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away…”
There it is: the great reversal. The last are first and those who considered themselves to be “first” (those of “respectable behavior,” those who “ate and drank in [the Lord’s] company”) are last. It is one that we follow well at Saint Miriam because we follow Jesus!
So, what is Jesus saying? He is shocking us into understanding that salvation is not earned; it is a free gift! And God desires it for all. Salvation, after all, is health—complete health and well-being of mind, heart, body and soul in right relationship with self and with all others and all of creation. And that is what God created each of us for.
Jesus wants us to break down barriers that humanity puts up: who is in/out; who is right/wrong; who is worth our time/energy/resources and who isn’t. Even more, he wants us to recognize him present in those people and places often considered hopeless, worthless, of little use: the white trash, the blacks, the battalions of freaks and lunatics. After all, they are the ones shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs because they get it: they are loved not because they have “earned” it or “merited” it—that horrible and heretical word used over and over again in the Roman Missal (And one we refuse to use and change it to ‘all’!). They are loved because they are God’s children. They are loved and know it and feel it and sense it and cast aside all respectability just to rejoice and celebrate and take it all in.
As I write this I think of Saint Francis of Assisi. He got the message! He grasped the gospel, the Good News. And so, he cast aside everything, lived like a “fool” and cast his lot with the lepers and the least—to the chagrin of the respectable, well-behaved citizens of Assisi and beyond. He understood that Salvation—complete health and wholeness—is God’s gift for all and meant to be shared with all.
I leave for Assisi on August 27, I’ll be until October 5, leading weekly silent retreats to the holy places in the lives of Saint Francis and Saint Clare. I’ll keep you posted throughout my time there and share insights from our retreat days.
In the meantime, be sure to keep your eyes open for those who are shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. Join in with them. They’re your brothers and sisters dancing their way into salvation, glory, complete joy and the unmerited gift of Everlasting Life.
Peace and every good,
Father Liam