The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Luke 17:5-6

I am not sure if my life would be better if I could uproot trees or move mountains literally. However, it would improve a lot if I could overcome some of the obstacles I find within my soul. My life experiences contribute to who I am but there are some things that obstruct my path of discovering more great and wonderful things about God and eventually about myself. They are intricately connected. These stumbling blocks need to be removed. Sometimes they are a huge mountain that stands in my way and I need to have the courage to move it and cast into the sea to be destroyed. These personal obstructions are more often than not pernicious and detrimental to our souls. They are our Goliath: our monsters that hide under the bed. They are the things that paralyze us from becoming more Christlike in our spiritual walk.

For no rhyme or reason, a homeless adult that was sitting in front of us turned around and said, “Praça da Sé never changes!”. This is the actual name of the place where we minister to the children. It is funny that I have never mentioned it all these years. I always say that we meet at the steps of the cathedral or the “old center”. However, the official name in English means “the Cathedral’s Square”. The man was right. When I came to this place in 1993, there were a phenomenal number of homeless children walking around wrapped in old blankets and on top of this, there were hundreds of homeless adults scattered around. Today, the scene has not changed. The children even use the same type of blankets to wrap themselves. The country has gone through diverse economic and social changes over the past twenty something years and yet nothing has changed. This place remains the same. We have been here for more than six years and things remain the same at best, or in same cases they have become even worse. The plea of the apostles resounds with us, “Please increase our faith!” Sometimes it is hard to feel hope in an apparently hopeless situation.

On our way home, we heard someone calling out after us. We turned around and it was Camila. We met her six years ago when we came back to Brazil. She was only fifteen at that time. I don’t recall having much interaction with her then. She was involved with a group of teens that dealt with drugs. Even so, she would come to us and talk to us from time to time. Our conversations were always very brief. Then she disappeared for a while. We ran into her after few months later to find out that she had been imprisoned in the juvenile detention center. Over the years, our relationship become one of casual encounters. She was always happy to see us. She attributed many things to us that we honestly cannot take credit for. Camila progressed from a lost teenager to a determined young woman who fights for the best for her life. She has grown into a beautiful woman full of life and joy. She came up to us and gave us a big hug. She wanted to walk with us. Our conversation was simple. There were victories and challenges involved. There was nothing extraordinary about these. However, Camila is an orphan and spent most of her life in the streets. She is still technically homeless. She squats in an abandoned house with her boyfriend. She is presently 8 months pregnant. They sell bottled mineral water in the streets to survive. She told us that she has everything she needs for the baby now. She told us that she is going to move on and slowly overcome the mountains in her life. Camila told us in several occasions that we always have been a source of encouragement to her. This is strange for us because we hardly did anything for her. Regardless of this, Camila found something in us that helped her. We literally did nothing for her. However, for Camila, we did a lot. Maybe we are looking for something big that we did for her life. On the other hand, God used our little mustard seed conversations with her to give Camila the strength she needed. Motherhood is going to be challenge for her. Nevertheless, this young woman is going to garner all the faith she has to face the mountains before her.

Faith is something personal and yet it is contagious. It spreads to those around us. It helps them see things that perhaps they never consider before. Camila does not expect faith to change the circumstances of her life. She is too smart to believe this. On the other hand, she needs faith to help live in harmony with what God is doing in her life. She has taught us an important lesson. Praça da Sé might always remain the same. There might always be countless homeless children and adults here. Our faith is not going to change these things. It is not about changing things. It is about helping us become more Christlike. Jesus was and is the most perfect servant of God. He showed us through his life that our faith is sufficient to teach us to be a good and faithful servant, nothing more and nothing less. We are not meant to be political messiahs nor superheroes. We don’t have enough faith for such things. We have faith to be simple servants. Even though we get dismayed with the injustice and violence that surrounds us, we need to use our faith to see that beyond these things. We need to see that there is a hopeful Presence in the midst of hopelessness. This Presence gives us the hope to move on even when things fall apart. We don’t need to be spiritual giants to see this Hope. All we need is a mustard seed faith; something that all of us have within us.

“And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” Luke 16: 9

There is a reasonable comment floating around about money. It claims that money is really neutral. Good people who have it do much good with it. On the other hand, evil people do wicked things with it. Sounds like a pleasant approach towards understanding money. No one feels uncomfortable with this idea. It sits well with most of us. Unfortunately, it is not the way Jesus would define money. He had many things to say about money but He never said that it was neutral. Christians don’t have the option of thinking that money is neutral entity. It represents something dangerous and we need to carefully heed the words of Jesus.

All in all, Jesus had an uncomfortable relationship with money. He needed money to function in the world. There were some wealthy women who supported his ministry. He healed and brought comfort to many people and some of them were wealthy. He always had access to great wealth. However, He chose a path that refused to give money any dominance in his life. He even demanded the same of those wanted to follow Him. The early Christian community sold all their belongings and lived together. Money was always regarded with disdain even though they had to use to survive in the early Christian communities. In the above gospel text, He relates a bizarre parable to drive His point to us. It is almost an uncomfortable read. Jesus appears to praise the actions of a corrupt man. It is completely inappropriate to our modern sentiments. Unfortunately, this is not the most difficult part of the parable for most people. He tells us that wealth is dishonest or unrighteous depending on the translation of the original Greek word. No matter how we look at it, He did not consider it to be something positive. Many tend to get stuck here. We like to believe that wealth can be acquired through hard and honest work. Jesus doesn’t draw an argument to explain why He termed money the way He did. He had a higher goal. He had something more important to say than to talk about the role of money in society. However, if we cannot move beyond this controversial terminology, then perhaps we need to worry about our souls. It would appear as if mammon has taken control of our senses already.

Maybe I should say something about mammon or money since it shows its ugly head around for most part of our lives. I am not sure what I think about it exactly. I need money to survive in this world. I have bills to pay, I need to buy food, I need to pay my rent. I am just like everyone else. The more money I have the easier it would be for me pay for my basic needs and some luxuries too. I am just like anyone who is reading this text. However, Jesus warns us that mammon is not happy just being our servant. He wants to be our god. This is the problem. He is not our friend and we should never forget that in reality he is our enemy. He should not have the seat of honor in our hearts and minds. He is our enemy! If we are not careful and turn our backs on him, he will strike us. Jesus tells us that he will wound our souls. This parable is about how to deal with our enemy.

We witnessed something outlandish in the streets recently. We were in our regular place waiting for the children and as usual, we were in the company of homeless adults. A woman sat down on the steps close to us and started making loud and rude comments about society in general. No one paid any attention to her. Everyone assumed that she was one of the many mentally-ill people on the steps. However, everything changed when she opened her wallet and took out a hundred dollar bill. Everyone’s attention was on her including us. This is not a safe place to wave money around. It made us feel a little uncomfortable but the homeless had a hopeful gleam in their eyes. They knew that one of them could be the possible recipient of the luxurious hundred dollar bill. The fortunate person was the one sitting closest to her. Then the atmosphere changed. Her action brought the worst in people. They gathered around her like vultures and asked for more donations. She took out a wad of 100 dollar bills and asked everyone to queue up in front of her. The situation grew progressively inhumane. Some were fighting to get ahead of each other. We were a little worried. The whole scene seem to be prelude to a riot or something worse. Then she saw a passerby who wasn’t homeless join the queue. This annoyed her and she then got up walked away leaving the long line of homeless adults empty-handed and disappointed. Then a homeless man burst out laughing and everyone eventually decided to see the humor in it too. The woman was obviously rich. She gave her money away but she did not make any friends. In reality, her actions did not bring out the humanity in the homeless. She dehumanized them further. She gave her money away but she was still a servant of Mammon.

Felipe got another job recently. He couldn’t survive with one job so he had to find a second one to supplement his income. His new job required him to work 60 hours a week and his salary was not sufficient to pay for his groceries. On top of this, the only place where he could eat his meals was at a lunch place owned by his boss. The food was overpriced and Felipe had no choice to ask the boss to deduct from his salary. In the end, he worked longer hours than his first job and earned much less. He had no choice. There were four mouths to feed. Finally, he got sick from the long hours and the boss docked his salary for being sick. This was the last straw. He had to quit. His situation was quite desperate working for a servant of mammon who did not give him much hope. We shared with our friends about Felipe’s situation and how unjust things were for the poorest of the poor. Fortunately, our friends knew of an owner of a restaurant who gives jobs to people regardless of their experience or educational level. The salary is enough for Felipe to survive on it. My friends never met Felipe but they desired to know him. They pulled all their resources together to help Felipe. There was no vacancy yet in the restaurant but Felipe is first in line. He has to wait patiently and he still has four hungry mouths to feed. He can’t think about anything until he has food for them.
It is impossible for us to have a deeper relationship with Felipe without participating with him in anguish and frustration. Thankfully, we have an enemy in our household that needs to leave and needs to know that he is the first to go when a friend is in need. Our friends also feel the same way about mammon. Now, Felipe’s circle of friendship is growing because mammon was not allowed to take the role of being a god.

I don’t really have much to say about money. I need it but I know that it is also an enemy. Jesus taught us how to deal with it. Mammon wants to be our god but we have to remind him that he is merely a means to an end. For Christians, Jesus established that the end is building relationships that would last for eternity. Mammon is an enemy that wants to be our god but there is only room for one God in our lives. He is the only One that helps us to keep mammon in His rightful place. We are powerless to fight against him because we are too weak. We can fall prey to his seductive words. We have a High Priest who rejected mammon successfully in this existence. When we pray and ask Him to help us deal with mammon, He will send people like Felipe and many others to teach us that life is much better when we keep our enemy at bay.

Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:25-27

“So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Luke 14:33

There was a question that always bothered me when I was in seminary. It was quite a simple and almost basic question; “What is theology exactly?” I can’t think theologically if I don’t know what it means. I read theological works that were almost meaningless to me. I memorized them and accepted them as my own. I even understood them superficially. However, they never became my words because I did not really know what I was supposed to do with them. Eventually, I discovered the answer to my question. I did not find it among Christians nor the professors of my seminary. It was hiding among agnostics, former believers, and non-religious people. The discovery is still an ongoing process. It is becoming even more clear as we minister among the homeless children and teens. Now, I can’t imagine being a Christian without being a theologian.

Every time we read something from the gospel, it seems like Jesus is saying something uncomfortable and extremely difficult. Whenever He mentions about being His disciples, He throws some outrageous demands at us. It almost seems like He is making it impossible to be his followers. There are few options open to us whenever we hear His tough sayings. We can ignore these verses and go on with our lives. In this case, we will join the ranks of those who travel with Jesus in the gospel text above without any real commitment to Him. They just stood close to Jesus to reap some benefits from Him without making any firm commitment. We can just sweep everything under the rug and pretend that it is not there. In this case, we need to question ourselves whether we are really interested in Jesus at all. We can confront this text like his disciples and be completely disturbed and confused about it. When we do this, then we would truly become theologians. Theologians are not people with all the answers. In fact, the ones who claim to have all the answers are not usually theologians. They are something else. Theologians are common people who have their feet grounded in reality and cannot deny the paradoxes of life that confront them. They know that the Truth is in the words of Jesus and yet they find it hard to live according to His words. I believe that Jesus wants us all to become theologians, or in simple terms, He wants us to think about our faith, or rather, count the cost of becoming His disciples.

Jesus demands that we give up everything that we possess including our families. It sounds like Jesus is going against everything that the modern church has termed as “family values”. Jesus tells us that they are a hindrance to our salvation. No one in their right mind would think that these so-called “family values” are wrong, even the Pagans would agree with us. They are the fabric of every society. Nevertheless, Jesus always swam against the current of cultural norms. He challenged whatever our culture told us was right and good. Almost every saint in our church calendar took these words of Jesus literally and seriously. We can try to make it more amenable in order to deal with it. This attempt would only serve to dilute the intensity of the gospel. These words are what they are. Therefore, we have to do something about it. Most of us are just common people. We are not saints like those in the past. We sense a responsibility to our family. We need to have possessions in order to survive in this world. Yet, we want to follow Jesus and take His words seriously. There are no easy answers. This is why we need to be theologians. We need to think and struggle with these difficult issues. There are no easy answers. Perhaps, there are no answers at all.

I realized all homeless teens and children have done this. They have abandoned their families to be in the streets. Their families were stifling their lives, tormenting and smothering their spirit day by day. They had to abandon them to be free. There were countless times we heard from social workers who visited the homes of some of our children and reported that the streets with all its violence and dangers was better than the homes of these children. We don’t need to see it for ourselves to believe it. It is quite obvious. No child or teen from a moderately adequate home would prefer to stay in the streets. There is nothing attractive about sleeping in the streets. It has been extremely cold in the streets for the past few weeks. The children refused to go to a temporary shelter to keep warm at night. These shelters remind them too much of their homes. It is too traumatic for them to spend the night in a place looks like a home.

For these children, it was necessary for them to abandon their families to discover life. It is just lamentable that in this day and age that the streets are the only possible place of refuge for them. Our children and teens would appreciate Jesus’ words better than us. For them, his words here are the gospel. They are guaranteed that there is life and acceptance outside their oppressive family ties. However, Jesus, in the gospel, was not strictly talking to children, teens or women who come from abusive and dysfunctional homes. He was talking to regular people like us. We need to give up everything in order to be His disciples.

I think the children helped me understand what Jesus was trying to teach us here. The children had to abandon their families to discover something new. As long as they remained in their familiar environment, they would never discover any new possibility. It is necessary to leave the old and familiar to discover something greater and better. Our children had to leave their families. It wasn’t an easy decision for them. It took a lot of courage for them to abandon what they knew to be normal. As human beings, we always choose the familiar over the new. For our children, the living streets was a huge change. It is better than the old one they had. However, it is still not good enough. One day they will to abandon their life in the streets in order to embrace something better. Perhaps, it is going to be ongoing process for them and maybe even for us. This is perhaps the greatest challenge for them. They are comfortable where they are. They don’t want to move forward. They like to remain where everything is familiar. They are just like us.

Life is a question of abandoning the old to embrace the new. This pattern starts with our birth up to the time of our death. Those who hold on to to their past look quite sad and pathetic when it is no longer appropriate for their age. We don’t have to forget what we leave behind but we cannot hold onto it and expect to appreciate the new. Jesus’s words are tough because they are brutally honest and realistic. Jesus, through his wisdom, reveals to us the true nature of the family. It exists to prepare us to become His disciples in the world. It doesn’t exist to shelter us from the world. Unfortunately, families are made up of people of this world. They manipulate and control and exploit feelings and sentiments like any citizen of this age. Sometimes, we need to cast them away in order to discover the abundant life that the gospel ushers into our lives. Nevertheless, we have to count the cost. We have to ponder upon it carefully before we act.

These verses taught us a valuable lesson this week. Our task in the streets is to be theologians. We take the words of the gospel to the streets and struggle with the reality that confronts us there. We know that there is truth in the words of Jesus and we need to discover the Truth in the context of our reality. On the other hand, we are also confronted with the task to teach our homeless youth to become theologians, in other words, they need to learn how to count the cost. After all, it is impossible for us to be Christians without being theologians.

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Luke 14:12-14

It is wise and reasonable to be selective about who enters our household. Not all friendships are equal. Only the special ones get invited into our homes. After all, our home is a sacred place. Whenever we have a special dinner or luncheon in our home, we are concerned about impressing our guests. There is nothing good or bad about this. It is just human nature. I always want my guest to be impressed with my cooking skills. I want them to say that their time in our home was memorable. This is why we invite people over. We want them to be so amazed by our hospitality that they want to keep coming back. Jesus never said anything against this attitude because it is the right one to possess if we are a host. However, He had a few things to say about the guest list.

Those who walk through the doors of our homes reflect who we are. If we are going to change the guest list, then we also need to change ourselves. We need to change how we perceive people and their social status. If we only deem those who look and act like us to be worthy of being in our homes, then we are no different than the world. In Jesus’ words, we would be just like the Pharisees. Jesus has a higher standard for his disciples. They are to see and judge people according to the Father in Heaven. He has a preference for His guest list. More often than not, it is very different from the ones we make up.

In the area where we meet the children and teens in the city, there are always cultural events. There are always excellent musicians who fill the air with beautiful music. There are always crowds that come to watch these performance. However, one thing is very obvious when we go to these cultural events. There is hardly any homeless person around even when the event is held in the open space. This is quite incredible when you realize that there are more than a thousand homeless people living in the area. Even then, not one of them is present at these special events. No one stops them from participating. They just feel that there are not welcomed. They are not wrong. People do notice them when they are around, unfortunately, not in a positive way. No one is rude to them but it is obvious that they are outsiders. It is strange that the homeless are outsiders in the very place they call home. They are outsiders to everything that is good and edifying that happens in the streets. On the other hand, when there is a crime committed in streets and even when it has nothing to do with them, they are usually the first suspects. They are invisible to everything good and the visibility given to them by society is that of a public nuisance. These are the people Jesus wants us to invite to our homes.

I haven’t mentioned Igor for a long time. He was perhaps the first one among the older teens to become our close friend. We haven’t seen him for sometime. However, we will always remain as friends. He told us something that happened to him once that impacted his life perhaps forever. He had been in the streets since he was 8. Regrettably, from a very young age, he engaged in petty crimes to survive and eventually he graduated into robbing with a gang. He had been imprisoned in the youth reform center more than 20 times. In the peak of his crime spree, he befriended a couple who worked near where he slept in the streets. It started with a casual conversation and eventually grew into a friendship. One day, Igor needed assistance in doing something and the couple volunteered to help him. Immediately after work, they invited him to their apartment so that they could change their clothes before doing what needed to be done. Igor told us that he entered the apartment and noticed that they had many valuable items in their house. As his mindset was that of a thief then, he quickly noticed things like this. There was a moment where he was left alone in the living room while they changed. He was never tempted to steal anything there. He told us that he thought that could never do such a thing to someone who treated like a real person. It was the first time he felt like a human being. He was friend to someone who trusted him enough to open the doors of their home. Igor shared this story in the living room of our house. He was the first teen from the streets to enter our household. He always comes back for a surprise visit. Recently, his visits have been more of a troubled nature. He is struggling and he wants to do what is right. However, in our home, he felt that he could be himself and be vulnerable and not be judged for it. We felt enriched by his presence. We hope to have a visit from him soon.

When Jesus told us to invite people into house, he wasn’t telling us to randomly bring people into our house. Maybe some might read it like this way. I am not in the position to argue with them. They could be right. However, for the time being, I don’t read it this way. I believe that it is a challenge for us to expand our circle of friends. Actually, it goes beyond this. Jesus is challenging us to make it a priority that these “invisible” people become the core of friendship. This requires time and patience and wisdom. All of these can be attained through careful prayer and reflection. The “invisible people” are hidden from us by society. God knows where they are because they are His favored children. There are the ones whom Jesus sought in each place He went. He tells us that they are the source of our blessing. They are the blessing. Each person we know and love as a friend opens a world to us that is previously unknown. The “invisible people” have been rejected by society but they strive because they are remembered by God. They have something to say about God that perhaps the rest of us have taken from granted. Any fresh and new understanding of God is a blessing. Igor thought that the hospitality and trust of the couple made him regain his humanity. However, he did not realize that he was also giving the couple a chance to discover their humanity too.

Sometimes, not often, people ask us what is our objective with these children and teens. Our children and teens come from extremely poor backgrounds. They are the poorest of the poor in the streets. They have survived without us and will continue to do so in the future. The way society is organized, nothing is going to change. Our children and teens will continue to struggle with poverty for the rest of their lives. However, this does not mean that their poverty should dehumanize them. Their social state should not make them invisible as human beings. Jesus showed a concrete way to overcome this exclusion and it is through a friendship. He did not tell us to have a friendship ministry. He just told us to become friends to those who often find themselves friendless. He was friends with the disciples and laid down his life for them. This is his bar. We should start small. We pray that God sends a person who is considered “invisible” and then open our hearts to receive them when we meet them. They could be living next door to us. They could work in our grocery store. They could be anywhere. Maybe we have walked passed them everyday without noticing. Now, Jesus has made it clear that the citizens of His Kingdom need to have a different guest list than the world.

The leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” Luke13:14-16

Sabbath is a glimpse into eternity. I read this somewhere many years ago. I think it was Abraham Herschel. The Jewish people considered this sacred day as their connection to eternity. On this sacred day, all the boundaries of earthly time diminish and eternity unites the past, present and future generations of the Jewish faith. The Sabbath is the symbol of their eternal vocation as God’s children. Consequently, a religious Jewish person orientates his life around this day. The days of the week serve as a mere countdown to the Sabbath.

As Christians, we find this hard to understand. We don’t have the kind of religious commitment that sets aside a period of time to reflect on our vocation. We attend church on Sundays for two hours at best. Then we go on with “life”. This is a poor imitation of Sabbath. Perhaps, this makes it difficult for us to understand the intensity of the debate between Jesus and the Pharisees on this subject. We don’t understand why the Pharisees were scandalized by Jesus’ action. We cannot truly appreciate the disappointment of Jesus to see how the Sabbath was reduced to mere dry religious rituals. The Sabbath is essentially about time and how we use our time to take a peek into eternity.

Unfortunately, we, Christians, are very secular when it comes to time. We understand that time is precious but not for spiritual reasons. Our time is a means to an end. We feel like we need to occupy our time with things and sometimes we are indiscriminate with the things we employ to occupy them. We consider certain things as a waste of time when in actuality they are God given moments for us to savor the reality of eternity.

This last Sunday, we went to church thinking about the Sabbath. It wasn’t because of the service nor the Eucharist but because our good friend, São, passed away earlier that morning. He is not stranger to my writings. I wrote about him once. I called him a window to eternity. On my journey to church on Sunday, he continued to serve as window into eternity for me.

One of our last encounters with São happened by chance. We ran into him on our way home from the streets with the children. He told us that he walked down the same street everyday to go home from his new job. It was strange that this was the first we bumped into each other. I may not look like the type but I usually have a strict schedule on how I spend my evenings. It’s my time to replenish myself spiritually. However, on this particular day, São took priority. He had terminal cancer and he was undergoing experimental clinical treatments. They were doing wonders. He looked his healthiest. He was full of life and joy. We went out for coffee and talked until the cafe closed. In the same week, São came by our apartment one evening. Once again, he took priority. We talked about everything; his cancer, his healthy choices, his young 3 year old son, and, most importantly, how he sensed God’s presence in the most unexpected places. He ended up going home close to midnight. I had many things planned for the evening but they seemed irrelevant compared to our talk with São. He gave us an opportunity to take a walk into eternity. It replenished our souls. Besides, this was the last time we saw him alive.

Everyday after these two encounters, we would walk down the same street where we bumped into him. I was always on the lookout for São, hoping that we would run into him. Unfortunately, it never happened again and never will. Later I discovered that soon after his visit with us, he caught an infection and it aggravated his cancer. He was in intensive care since then. Now I walk down the same street without any hope of meeting him. Our time with São in this existence has ended. I know that there is the resurrection but we are here now. We miss him in our present reality. Life just seems a little more melancholic with his death.

To see São lying still in the coffin was extremely difficult especially when he was such a joyous person who filled the room with his laughter. I touched his cold hands and closed my eyes. I pictured all the eternal moments we shared together in my mind. It made me weep but São deserved my tears. In our last conversation in our home, he said that his cancer has made him more sensitive to God’s presence. He talked about walking in a soccer field and sensing God’s presence in an inexplicable manner. He talked about a conversation with a receptionist at hospital and he sensed God speaking to him through her life experience. We talked about classical literature which was our common passion. He talked about living many lives through the writings of the great authors. He knew that his life would be short and he transformed the limited time he had into the Sabbath.

In Brazil, everything happens within 24 hours. The passing, the wake and the funeral happened on the same day. Then on Monday, we went to the streets and it started out as a cold cloudy day. All of the sudden, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, the traditional time of Jesus’ death, the sky became as dark as night. No one understood what was going on. Some people went to take pictures but everyone, including ourselves, were little dazed and confused. It seemed like something ominous was in the air. Later we found out that it was due the deliberate forest fires in the Amazons and other parts of Brazil that had brought the ashes to the city. The following day, there was an unrelated and unnecessary riot where we meet the children. We had to take shelter in the Cathedral and we were locked in for half hour before we were allowed to leave. We came home obviously unsettled. We realized that we take the time that we have for granted. In reality, it never belonged to us. São knew this for a fact and he was zealous in seeking to keep the Sabbath. He opened his life up to relationships. He was never a saint. He was a simple young man who enjoyed life. He did not have much but he gave his time. He left us with memories of time we spent together.

We went back to the streets the following day. Nothing changed. Mary took the bus to the streets and she witnessed a scene of violence. I decided to walk to the place where we meet the children and saw the aftermath of a robbery. All these things reminded us that nothing is stable or certain therefore we need to stop running around and trying to fill up our time with activities. We need to allow God to transform our limited time into the Sabbath. Jesus showed the Pharisees how to truly keep the Sabbath. Unfortunately, they preferred to take the easy route and keep it as a merely religious event. São showed us that the Sabbath is about people. Having a glimpse of Eternity is about building relationships that reveal the face of God to us. This is the only thing that is real. We sat and waited for God to bring eternal moments to us. Then Wallace came the steps and gave us a big hug. He was our window to take a glimpse into eternity on this day. Tomorrow it might someone else, we never know but we need to make the time for God to give us the gift of Sabbath.

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.” Luke 12: 49-52

All wisdom comes from God. Whenever I hear wise words being spoken, they tend to find their way into the most intimate part of my being and then they linger there for a while. They wait for my response. They cannot become part of me until I allow their light to expose my vulnerability. The tough sayings of Jesus are words of wisdom. They require something on our part. Honesty is indispensable. We have to confront the difficult questions that these words pose to our souls. The first and foremost is whether I want peace in my soul. Of course, the conventional answer would be a resounding “Yes”. Who wouldn’t? However, these questions go hand in hand with the admonishment of Jesus when he advised us to count the cost before agreeing to something. This is the other problem. Many a time we say, “yes” without thinking about the consequences and then the powerful words of wisdom remain barren in our souls. They cannot bear fruit unless we are willing to pay the price. They eventually just whither away. They become dead words.

Peace is not cheap although there is an imitation out there. This is the emotional sensation that gives us an illusion of relief. We don’t need God for this kind of “peace”. Drugs can do the job. The peace that Jesus offers changes who we are. Our circumstances might remain the same but our eyes are opened to see something greater and permanent in this world of instability. If I want peace, then I have to change who I am. Not just a part of me but my entire being. This is the beginning of the conflict. Normally, we are comfortable with who we are. We just want our circumstances and the people around us to change so that we can have peace of mind. However, the Prince of Peace wants to bring something genuine and eternal into my soul, requiring a radical change in how I see and understand the world and the people around me. This is where the conflict begins. We, as human beings, resist change.

In the streets, we strive to bring peace to the lives of the children and teens abandoned there. However, we cannot truly transmit peace unless we change our views and understanding of eternal peace. We live in this world that values security and stability. Jesus lived in it without any security and stability.

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Luke 9:58

He was very much like our homeless youth. We have less in common with Jesus than these children have. In the past few days, the local temperature dropped drastically and we had a hard time trying to keep warm in our apartment. Just imagine how the children and teens must have felt sleeping under the bridge? Nevertheless, they refused to go anywhere. They preferred the warmth and comfort of each other than sleeping in a “cold” shelter with complete strangers. On the other hand, we would lose our minds if we were forced into their situation. We realized that for us to have peace and comfort, we need lots of material things. Whenever we imagine a secure and peaceful life, it is one based on many material comforts. The children and teens have nothing but each other and they are satisfied with this. They also trust God to keep them safe. Our apartment building has a staff person to ensure we are safe and sound. We say God protects us but we have a complex security as a backup plan. We don’t trust God completely like the children. Of course, we can argue that we are wiser than the children. However, Jesus was more like them than us. Therefore, how do we share about God’s peace to these children? It appears like they sense His peace in a more profound manner than we do. Maybe they are God’s agents of peace for our lives.

This week we met with Felipe. He was discouraged. He has been working in a job for almost 8 months. He has never missed a day and has done everything he was told to do. He did not even skip work when he was feeling ill. Today they told him that they received an anonymous complaint that he wasn’t doing his job. They were not able to give anything specific. Most likely, it was all made up, just one of the unjust tactics used in many businesses. Felipe is reaching the one year mark which means he qualifies for some benefits. His manager told him that he would be fired if they receive another complaint. The young man did not understand. He has always sought to do everything right. However, this is the reality we live in. Mary and I are relatively safe from these harsh situations. Unfortunately, Felipe and the rest of the young teens will face this their whole life. The only advice I could give to Felipe was not to retaliate. We cannot fight fire with fire. Felipe is going to suffer injustices like these many times and he needs to be prepared for it. This world does not belong to us. It belongs to another kingdom. My words may seem like something weak and fatalistic. Nevertheless, they are the only words that I could conjure up. We told him that we will deal with what comes together. He met us with his 6 month old baby. The baby smiled throughout the whole time. He had the peace of God which passes all understanding in his smile. We sensed God’s peace too. However, unlike the little baby, we knew that something will change in our lives. We have made a commitment to Felipe. He was relieved to know that he was not going to be abandoned. He doesn’t know what we can do and we don’t know what we can do. However, God’s peace reigns supremely in our hearts and we know something eternal will come out of it.

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:13-15

There is nothing controversial about the above verses. They even come equipped with an excellent loophole for all of us who come from affluent countries. Our minds can do wonders with the phrase, “against all kinds of greed”. As long as we can convince ourselves we are free from greed, we feel comfortable with our money. Never mind the fact that we never define what constitutes greed. However, Jesus didn’t stop with these verses. He relates a parable that is more problematic. It is about rich man who was very prudent. He made some careful investments to ensure that he would have a prosperous life in the future. His goal was to enjoy his latter life relaxing, eating, drinking and being merry. I think that I heard of this investment plan many times over. By the world’s standard, he is a wise rich man. This is something that I want for myself. I have savings for the future. I have a pension plan that gives me a sense of security for my latter years. I do want to relax, eat, drink and be merry when I am older or even now. I am a lot like the rich man in Jesus’ parable even though I don’t consider myself as greedy, or rather, wanting more than necessary.

Maybe I can argue that I am not really rich. This is true when I compare myself by the American standard. I am an average middle class person except that I don’t have a car or own a house. I can also say that I come from a poor family or I don’t make too much money. All these arguments are irrelevant. When I stand among the “little ones” that Jesus called us to serve, I am a rich person. I am not speaking in the spiritual sense. We need to avoid spiritualizing wealth or poverty when we read this gospel passage. Jesus is speaking about concrete material wealth. It has already been established among the homeless children and teens that I am a rich man. Now, the question is whether I am a fool like the rich man in Jesus’ parable.

Someone asked Gigi a question in the beginning of this week. We have known her for a long time. However, we never asked her this particular question. We have our reasons. It was quite a simple and straightforward enquiry; “Where does she see herself in ten years time?” She responded without a moment’s hesitation. She said that she wants to own a house and have a steady job. More specifically, she plans to be a school teacher. The person asking the question was delighted with this answer. Unfortunately, the person disregarded the fact that Gigi is 24 and completely illiterate. She does not even know the sounds of the letters. She has lived under the bridge in a tent ever since she was 18. Before that, she lived in a shack in the slums. She spent many years in school and never learned to read or write. Her education consisted in convincing her that she is incapable of learning anything. In reality, she is very intelligent. Unfortunately, it is going to take long time before she can be convinced of this. The answer she gave was not based on her true desires. She just answered according to what she believed the person asking the question wanted to hear. In fact, if you ask any of the children or teens this same question, you will receive a similar answer. This is why we never ask this question.

Gigi is not lying but she is not telling the truth. It is just that she never thought about the question. In fact, no one living in the streets really thinks about their future. It is something people from affluent backgrounds think about and, very often, quite obsessively. The homeless adults, teens and children only think about today. The future is a luxury that their unfortunate past did not afford them. For them, tomorrow or ten years from now are not reality based. Therefore, there are no true or false answers to any questions regarding the future. It is all fantasy. According Jesus’ parable, she is closer to the truth than most middle class people like myself. Tomorrow is not something that is guaranteed. Somehow we like to think that we have control over the future. Maybe it has something do with money. It gives us an illusion that we have control over our destiny. In reality, the future never belonged to us.

Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

If having money today makes us worry about not having it tomorrow, then we are most likely obsessed with it.

It doesn’t mean that we live carelessly today without any concern for tomorrow. This would be a silly and immature conclusion. Living wisely in the present moment will prepare us for what appears tomorrow. Most importantly, Jesus’ words beckon us to reflect on the role of money in our lives. If we look to money to ensure a better future for us, then it is playing a certain role that only pertains to God. Some saints in the past including St Augustine and, of course, St Francis gave up wealth and their social status to embrace a life of poverty and simplicity. They wanted to trust God completely. Unless some angel of God appears to me in a vivid manner and tells me to do this, I am going to remain as I am. I need money to survive in this world. It opens the doors for us to be here in the streets with the children and teens. Jesus knows that this. Even He had people, especially wealthy women, financially supporting him in His ministry ( Luke 8:3). He was exposed to the dangers that money posed to his own personal life. He could have spoken these words to himself. After all, He was fully human.

The best way to free ourselves from the dangerous hold that money could have on us is to serve those who don’t have any of it. This is not saying that we become their financial contributors. If we do this, then we just contaminating others with money. Our money can help us build a spiritual bridge to connect with them. Money is not something neutral. Jesus never considered it to be neutral. It is, in fact, very dangerous. It is a wild animal that always wants to be our master. Therefore, we should never be comfortable with it. We can control its influence in our lives. We use our money to acquire true eternal treasures. We can use it to help us to be in places which are usually closed to us. We can use money to build stronger relationships with those who have no one in this world. Each of us have to figure out how to use our money to discover eternal treasures. However, money in itself is never a blessing. It is only a blessing when we use it to foster long-lasting relationships. It is not an easy task. It is something as Christians we need to consider with fear and trembling.

Gigi does not worry about the future. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have a great life either. Her daily life is a struggle. Everyday, she needs to figure out a way to get her food. There is nothing to ensure her safety when she sleeps alone under the bridge. Her meager possessions are sometimes confiscated by government authorities just because they want to discourage the homeless in a certain area. Unfortunately, they don’t provide any shelter for them as an alternative. She has too much to worry about today so she cannot overburden herself about the future. On the other hand, I don’t have to worry about these basic things. My personal wealth frees me from all the things that Gigi and the other children and teens are concerned about. I am free in this sense. It would be a pity if I wasted this freedom by being occupied with tomorrow’s possible situations. Besides, the future does not belong to me. My wealth and my freedom are not necessarily a blessing. However, if I am wise with what I possess, maybe together with Gigi and the other homeless teens and adults we can discover how to live a meaningful life in the present. Perhaps, we can even discover what it means to be have abundant life in God.

Jesus continued, “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:9-13

I have mentioned that we wait at the steps of the Cathedral. It is one of the biggest churches in the city. The steps spread over a large area but we usually sit in the middle. There is no apparent reason for our choice. Perhaps, it is because of the view. We can see everyone from where we sit. We are never alone at steps. The homeless adults accompany us in our wait. There are the tourists too. However, these don’t spend too much time on the steps. They go into the church, they might say a short prayer, then snap a few photos and they are on their way. They have places to go, sites to visit, restaurants to eat at and finally a home to rest their heads. The homeless adults just sit there. This is their “home”. They have no where else to go. They have exhausted all their prayers and now they are in the streets. No one chooses to sleep on the streets. They are there because of unanswered prayers.

Wallace always carries a backpack. It contains his life possessions. He doesn’t have much but everything he has is neatly organized in his city bag. He has a simple desire. He wants a place to call his home. It doesn’t have to anything fancy. He would be happy if it was just a small one-room shack made out of plywood. He just wants a place where he can feel safe and lead a quiet life. Something he never experienced in his twenty three years, more than half of which was spent sleeping in the streets. Jesus said, “ask and it will be given to you.” Wallace asked for a simple home but he never received it.

There is a recent arrival to the streets. She is a young adult with mental problems. She spends most of her time warning people who enter the Cathedral that Jesus is coming back soon. She is also convinced that there is going to death and destruction. She claims that God told her. Yesterday, she was in tears. She kept saying that someone said that she wasn’t pretty. It really triggered something in her and she was crying for hours over it. Her conversations vacillate between rejection and punishment. She shouldn’t be in the streets. She needs to be in a group home where she can be treated for her mental illness. It is not her fault that she has a hard time holding onto reality. Unfortunately, no doors were opened for her. The only place left is the streets and here she is in a very vulnerable situation.

Felipe had been homeless since he was 10. Now, he has a job. He thought life would change for the better. It hasn’t happened yet. To the contrary, his life has gotten complicated. He decided to be responsible and be a father to his wife’s three children. He earns a salary that is only pays a week or so of groceries. He doesn’t ask for much. All he just wants a tiny place for his family. He wants it to be clean and disease free. Instead, he can only afford to stay in a place infested with scorpions and cockroaches. The water is polluted and causes his infant child break out in rashes. There is nothing Felipe can do to change the situation. Thankfully, he does not consider going back to the streets as an option. Nevertheless, it is not easy for him. He suffers for his child. Felipe prayed for an “egg” but instead he got scorpions.

These young people do not ask or need anything extravagant. They are asking for something very basic and simple. So far, they have only heard the answer, “no”. Reading the gospel passage above among these young people makes me ask some serious and tough questions. Mary and I come from privileged circumstances. We are not from wealthy families but we have received much compared to these young people. We feel a little awkward to tell them pray and ask and you shall receive. They have spent their lives praying and the answer has been homelessness and desperate struggle to have the basics. We sit in the midst of them. We have to do something different. We need to ask the tough question that they might not have to courage to ask. Therefore, I will ask it on their behalf; “Where are you, God?”

Every Sunday, we pray the Lord’s prayer. Jesus taught us to address God as our Father. Not my Father but the father of every single homeless person that sits on the steps and even the tourists who visit the Cathedral. The young woman with a mental problem, she is my sister in God’s eyes. Wallace is my little brother. Felipe’s family is our family. All those who pray the Lord’s prayer are connected with each other intimately. There are no cousins in God’s family, only brothers and sisters. The prayer is God’s gift to the world. It reveals God’s plan for the world. God has inundated it with His children to bring comfort and peace to their siblings who need it.

The Lord’s prayer tells us three basic things: God is the Father of all peoples, all we need are our basic needs, and we are to forgive as we are forgiven (Luke 11:2-4). In the world, we find the opposite to be true. There is exaggerated individualism, excessive materialism and cancerous resentment. Yet this prayer is prayed by a large part of the world’s population. It is as if people who pray this powerful prayer do it without any concern for its basic premises. Maybe the problem is not God abandoning people. People have abandoned the Father and do what they think is right in their own eyes.

Wallace believes that one day he will have a tiny space to call his home. He is willing to share it with his friends in order to achieve this dream. He is genuinely happy with the little things he has. I asked him if anyone has ever insulted him whenever he begs for his food. He said without resentment that some people are mean but most people are kind to him. He only remembers these ones. He is free from resentment. Not just Wallace but Felipe as well, he has shown himself not to be angry with the situation in which he finds himself. He just does feel sad when his infant child suffers from the rashes. Despite the unhealthy living conditions, this child who is also our godchild has the most amazing smile. He is a happy baby and like most babies, loves to be the center of attention in this tiny dark space they call home. The young girl with mental illness is adopted by a group of homeless young people. They make sure that no harm ever comes to her. She is fed and given a warm and secure spot to sleep in the streets at night.

In a way, God has answered my question. He is present but according His way. He is God and He will manifest Himself, His grace, and His compassion in the way He sees fit. However, He always uses people to comfort those who suffer and are in need. Perhaps, He has a question for all those who pray this Prayer that Jesus taught us. “Where are my children when their brothers and sisters suffer?” It is a good question to ponder. We should not feel guilty when we are asking ourselves this question. It is something we need reflect on in order for us to pray the Lord’s prayer in a genuine manner.

But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: 40-42

We just missed our bus. The next one could come in few minutes or half hour. We were the perfect target for a random conversation. An older man approached us and blurted a completely unrelated comment. It seemed like the conversation had started its course in his head before he brought us into it. He told us that he counted the number of homeless adults yesterday and there were at least 320 in one particular neighborhood. Then, he made a dramatic pause waiting for our reaction. He was a little disappointed when there was none. We live in the center of the city. The homeless are part and parcel of our geography. We have also noticed the increase of the homeless population in the past few months. The old man decided to proceed nevertheless. Thankfully, he was succinct. He wanted to share his diagnosis of the situation. “Life is too easy and comfortable for the homeless here. Too many people feed them and give them clothes and blankets. They don’t feel the need to work and be motivated to leave the street.” Basically, according to this man, these people suffer cold, rejection and humiliation on a daily basis because they are lazy.

Unfortunately, it is not based on his observation but he is merely repeating a popular opinion. I even heard preachers say these almost identical words. Our conversation did not progress much after this statement. It is hard to advance a reasonable dialogue with anyone who thinks that living and sleeping in the streets easy and comfortable. It is obvious that this man came to his conclusion based on his life experiences. He worked and maintained his family. He was not from the poor class although he might consider himself poor. The definition of poor, according to many, is not being rich. By default, most of us are poor. However, most of the homeless do not come from the same background as many of us. Besides there is no simplistic theory to explain their presence in the streets. Each person has their story and being homeless is never their first choice. It is the bottom of the pit.

I did not add anything to the conversation. The man mistook my silence as agreement. However, I did not feel compelled to justify myself. It wasn’t necessary. I was hoping for the bus to come soon. It did and we were able to excuse ourselves politely. I was ready to forget the whole incident but here I am writing about it. It is because of Martha and Mary. These two women kept this encounter alive in my thoughts.

The whole week I was mulling over this gospel passage. I was trying to listen to God’s voice. There was total silence. I was looking for something special, a conversation or event. Something that would spark some deep insight into the characters of Martha and Mary. It turned out to be a normal and uneventful week. At least, I thought it was uninteresting. I was beginning to get frustrated. I realized that I was being a Martha. She was trying to make Jesus’ visit special. She was trying to create an ideal environment for His time with them. She did not realize that she was missing the whole point. Too busy trying to make His visit memorable, she forgot the most memorable event is the presence of Jesus Himself.

I decided that I was going to adopt Mary’s approach. I am talking about Martha’s Mary here. I decided not to look for anything special or spectacular to write about. I was just going to see if I could see Jesus clearly like Mary did when she sat at His feet. I was gently reminded of the encounter with the old man. Jesus was present there. However, He was ignored. The man saw the homeless but he did not see Jesus. He was also present in our conversation with him but I was not able to see Him. I was too busy hoping for the bus to come so that I could be freed from the conversation. No doubt I considered myself to be better than this man. In reality, we are the same. We reacted to the situations presented before us in the same way. Both of us had attitudes of self-righteousness. We acted just like anyone else in the world. Jesus was present there but He was allocated to the role of a spectator. Even though the homeless are His children, we never considered what He thought about them. Jesus was present in Martha’s household and He was a mere guest, albeit a very highly honored one. Jesus did not alter Martha’s behavior or outlook but Mary listened to Jesus. She knew that it was more important to listen to this man than try to impress Him with all kinds of hospitality. We forget sometimes, listening to our guest is usually the best form of hospitality. Mary was truly the most hospital person in the Martha’s household.

Early in the week, we had another brief encounter with a young man. This time it was in the streets with the children and teens. His name is Willian. He is not exactly a homeless youth. We have known him since his late teens. Now he is in early twenties. Unfortunately, he had just spent his early part of his adult years in prison. He used to play games with me and liked talking with us. He is a highly intelligent man with a great sense of humor. We knew that he was involved in criminal activities but we never pried. It was not our business. Willian came up to us to greet us. He told us that he just got our prison a few days ago. I asked him if he planned to stay out of prison. He sighed and said no. He looked a little resigned. He told us that he is part of the “movement” and there was no way out. He thinks that his life is going to be spent in and out of prison. The “movement” is the street name for gangs in Brazil. In São Paulo, there is only one street gang. Consequently, there are no gang wars and it has reduced the number of gang related homicides and violence. They are solely into drug trafficking. It was the first time a gang member openly admitted to us that he was part of the “movement”. Mary tried to tell him that change is always an option. He wasn’t convinced. I said that maybe he was lacking the one thing that he needs to inspire to drop everything and change the course of his life. He nodded his head. He hasn’t found it yet. There was nothing to say. I told him that when he finds this one thing, we will be here ready to help him. He shook our hands and went to “work”.

We both felt that in our interaction with Willian, it was easier to listen to Jesus’ voice. We did not offer a ready made solution to him. We did not feel the need to lecture him. We knew that he was struggling to do what is right. We wanted to convey this to him. This is how we knew that we were listening to the Spirit. Jesus confronts real life with all its complexities. He does not offer pat answers to difficult situation. Willian chose this life because he thought that this was the best option available to him. Going in and out of prison for the rest of your life is not something anyone would choose as their first choice. We don’t know much about Willian but we know that Life wasn’t fair to him. Now, he feels like he is stuck, at the same time, we believe that he wants to hear that there is still hope. Perhaps, this is why God has placed him in our lives. Our interactions with him might be minimum but if we listen to Jesus, we might be able to transmit to him something that might have eternal effects. This is all we can do, transmit what we receive from Jesus.

It is peculiar that the two encounters we had this week, I was both a Martha and a Mary. In the streets, I find it easy to be a Mary. Maybe because the situation in itself is so overwhelming that it is easier to admit that we need to listen Jesus for wisdom. There is not much use trying to run around doing things that amount to nothing. Although, it hasn’t stopped the “Marthas of this world.” We have seen them come and go. They feel like they need to do something positive and they do tons of good but eventually they get frustrated. We can get frustrated too. This is why we need to listen to the One who is able fill our hearts with love and compassion. The question is not necessarily how to be a Mary. I think that all of us have a place where we find it easy to be like Mary. I find it easy to listen to Jesus among the homeless but not with people who pontificate how to solve the problems of the world. This is why we are still here. Being among the homeless brings us closer to Jesus. There are different places for different people. The challenge is for us to discover the best place that helps us see Jesus clearly. When I was serving as a parish priest, I was trying to be a Martha most of the time. However, to be fair, there were many moments where I learned to be a Mary. The truth is that we vacillate between Mary and Martha in our lives. We can’t be one nor the other all the time. We just have to find the perfect place where we can sense God’s peace to just sit and listen to Jesus and then share His love to those around us.

Just then a teacher of the Law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:25-29

The question was about eternal life. This is a complex idea for our children and teens. It sounds alien to them. However, eternal means timelessness. A life that is not restricted to time and space, in other words, a meaningful life. Perhaps, this might perk up the interest among the homeless children. They want to live a meaningful life despite their desperate situation.

The question is a prelude to a famous parable. We have given it a name that perhaps diminishes something essential and important that Jesus was conveying. Jesus certainly did not call it the “parable of the Good Samaritan”. We do. It is curious. Whenever people say so and so is “good”, they are saying that the person is an exception to the rule. Inadvertently, we create a barrier between us and the so-called “good person”. It is a two-edged sword. It is a compliment and at the same time it implies that we are not going to be like the good person. The good person is a cut above the rest. Many are just happy being like the rest. Jesus was not telling a story about a good person. He was talking about a neighborly person. I am not sure if anyone of us is truly good, even Jesus refused to be acknowledged as good. The parable is about being neighborly. Our children and teens don’t see themselves as good people but they do want to be neighborly especially to those around them.

Everyone has heard about this parable. The plot is quite simple. A man is violently robbed and left for death. A priest sees him and then goes on his way. The levite, or in other words, a religious teacher or theologian in the modern context, does exactly the same. Then a samaritan comes and does something completely different. He sees another person in a desperate state and attends to his needs. It would be wrong to conclude that the priest and levite are evil people. Jesus never passed judgement on them. In fact, they were extremely religious people. It was their ritualistic observance that stopped them from helping the man. They would be considered ceremonially unclean if the blood of the injured or dead man touched them (Lev. 2:1-3). They would rather not risk being contaminated. Their liturgical priorities hindered them from acting compassionately. They understood the intricacies of religious practice but they misunderstood the purpose of it. On the other hand, Samaritans were considered a little worse than Pagans for the Jewish community at that time. They tolerated the Pagans but despised the Samaritans. These were neither here nor there religiously. They followed a distorted version of the Jewish religion, at least, according to the religious authorities of that time. Despite this, the Samaritan in the parable knew exactly what was required of him to act like a neighbor to a dying man.

The parable does not imply that Jesus was against ritualistic observance of the Law. Several times, He encouraged people whom He healed to seek a priest to fulfill the ritualistic cleansing. He was, however, against anything religious that hinders people from showing love and compassion to a neighbor, especially when they are in dire need of help and attention. This is a consistent attitude of Jesus in the gospels especially in his debates with the religious authorities. In today’s world, we don’t follow rigorous rituals or liturgy that holds us back from loving our neighbor. However, we might value doctrines, ideologies, philosophies, theologies, and prejudices above showing compassion to those God puts in our path. More often than not, our religious or intellectual arrogance blinds us from seeing and hearing those who need to be heard and seen.

I assume that Jesus had His personal prejudices too. After all, He was fully human. Part of being human is having negative preconceived ideas of people that we don’t even know. All cultures are sinful and consequently, they have their favorite people to hate and dehumanize. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Jesus was brought up not to think highly of Samaritans. Nevertheless, it did not stop him from paying attention to their faith. It did not stop Him from seeing their faith in action even though they did not understand all the right doctrines or rituals. All references Jesus made of the Samaritans in the gospel are very positive. Not just in the case of the Samaritans, He had the same attitude towards the Syrophoenician woman, the women of ill-repute, people struck with contagious diseases, widows, and the list goes on. Throughout the gospels, we read how Jesus sat and observed people that His society tended to overlook. He was constantly allowing His love for God to look into the hearts and souls of these women and men and see God’s presence in them.

Being a neighbor does not imply being free from prejudices and misconceived ideas about the neighbors. It is hard to shed our biases especially the ones we may not realize that we possess. We need to be careful that we don’t use religion and politics to promote these sinful notions especially when they hinder us from seeing our neighbor as a human being. However, our love for God should amount to something. It should help us see beyond our own personal limitations. It should help us to listen and see God’s presence in the person whom we think that has nothing concrete to offer us.

I used to hear our children talk about God as their only and true Friend in the streets. To be honest, I never took it seriously. I just thought that it was a pat answer and they did not really think too much about God. I don’t even know why I thought this way. Maybe I believed that I had a sophisticated idea of God and therefore, our children and teens were not able to understand the true nature of God like myself. However, for me, at that time, God was a theory or a theology. For these children and teens, when they say God is their Friend, it is something they experience one a day to day basis. They listen to Him and recognize His voice. He is their only moral guide, and of course, not all listen attentively to Him. Nonetheless, there are those who are always sensitive to His voice. My problem was with my lofty ideas of God I forgot to pay attention to the reality of God present in the lives of the abandoned children and teens.

They may not have the religious language but they have the faith of the samaritan. They know how to be neighbors. We have seen a homeless adult run after an elderly woman to return her wallet which she dropped unknowingly. He refused her offer of money as gratitude. Instead he wanted her to know that he did it because he thought that it was the right thing to do. We saw Danyel in tears because someone accused him of doing something bad. His only argument was that God dwells in his heart and He guides him to do the right things. He wasn’t crying because they thought badly of him. He was upset because their accusation meant that they thought that God was no longer His guide.

Danyel was missing for weeks because he spent a few months in a reform center for a crime he never committed. The other children and teens vouch for him. They don’t lie about these matters to us. Now, he is out, he wants to spend extra time with us. Perhaps to make up for the lost time. We went to a museum. He wanted to do something with us outside of his environment. We spent the time at the museum just conversing. Throughout the time, he was listening and asking questions about becoming a better human being. He wanted to be someone who he is already in many ways. He is a genuine neighbor to those around him especially us. Each time we spent time with this young man, we go home a little richer than before. He helps us appreciate the beauty and depth of God’s love. Perhaps, this is what being a neighbor is all about. It is not about being present physically next to someone but it helping the people around us to take one more step to understanding God is always here and present.

The parables are not fairy tales. They are lessons rooted in practical life. Jesus observed how people who were excluded in His society and revealed the presence of the divine in them. Loving God with all out heart, mind and soul always means being able to see God’s presence in the lives of others.