When Jesus gives “marching orders” to the Twelve he tells them: “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That makes sense. You want to bring help and hope to those you consider your own. But during the public ministry of Jesus at one point he encountered a Samaritan woman at the well; at another he met a pagan woman in Lebanon. Those encounters changed his perception of his mission so that at the end of the Gospel he tells the Eleven to go into the whole world. What Jesus learned, and what he wants us to learn as well, is that everyone out there should be considered as part of our own. We’re all in this together as children of God, part of the divine family.
JULY122023
By Church Staff
