03/07/2025
Stan Mitchell
“Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
Jesus
Lovely is the picture of a staircase stretching from earth to heaven. At the top, dancing their way from stair to golden street, is a rag-tag group of folk. Their jubilant revelry is fueled by drunkenness, but not of drink. As it was in Acts 2, they “are not drunken, as ye suppose”…no…theirs, instead, is a bender borne of gratitude and gladness…their entrance is equal parts Mardi Gras and homecoming.
At the bottom of the picture’s staircase are the religious folk. Though they have also been invited to the heavenly city, they now find themselves loathe to accept that invitation. Their arms angrily folded, their faces full of contempt, they are protesting the entrance of the motley crew ahead of them, deigning to enter a place where “those kind of people” are welcomed.
Unmoved by their appeals for “justice,” God and angels patiently wait, their hearts and hands extended, their faces marked by understanding and compassion…they know what a surprise all of this must be for them. Eventually, though, one by one, these whose souls have long been burdened by the awful sin of self-righteousness, yield. Begrudging at the first and reluctant over the first flights, with every upward step their cold hearts melt a bit more.
Oh how lovely is the picture of their conversion…by the time they near the top, they too have joined the party…the two ‘groups’ long separated by earthly silliness have merged into one…tax collectors and Sunday School teachers, arm-in-arm, two-step and tango their way into heaven while priests and prostitutes salsa and sachet down golden streets.
And, in a final bit of lovely irony, the religious folk realize they have been the thief on the cross all along…their salvation coming finally at the end…their entrance to the beloved community long preceded by those they have lived their lives excluding.
Indeed, lovely is the picture of a Love so true that it leaves no one behind…not even those who have lived their lives leaving others behind.