Three More -- thoughts this Holy Tuesday

Matthew 23:12-15:  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. 
     “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

     These words of Jesus in his last week in Jerusalem echo through this Holy Week centuries later.
     Last Sunday, a man opened fire at a Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas. The suspect was well known for his participation in racist, anti-Semitic hate groups. And last Sunday that hate apparently boiled over and left 3 dead – not the Jews he was aiming for, but 3 Christians – all apparently devoted to their families, to their churches and to serving their communities.

     The were trying to help. They were living out their faith. A family doctor taking his teenage grandson to try out for a play – who had prepared to sing the song “You’re Goning to Miss Me When I’m Gone” for his audition. He sang it to his motion just before he left in his grandfather’s truck.
     A occupational therapist for children with visual impairments visiting her mother in the assisted living facility there -- a place called "Village Shalom" -- Village of Peace. They were living their lives in ways that made people’s lives a little better. In the words of their faith, they were making the kingdom of heaven visible on earth – each in their own way.
      Then a man filled with hate shot them down, shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in their faces. Was it revenge, was it a statement, did he think this act would persuade others to convert to his cause, did he think he had something to prove to others like him who live in a hell of hate, not a kingdom of love? Did he think he was doing it in the name of God? We may never know.
      But whatever his motivation, the effect was likely much different – not because it was Christians, not Jews, who were killed – but because his actions served not to divide (one of the goals of hate), not to show that “they” were to blame, that “they” were not as worthy as “us.”  Instead, all it showed was that we are all connected. That there is no “us” and “them.”  We are all connected. Aim the hate, shoot the gun, at one of us and we all bleed.
      The lives and deaths of William “Popeye” Corporon, Reat Corporon, and Terri LaManno touched their communities, and our nation. Three more. Three more who must not be forgotten. This has got to stop. And are we not the hypocrites Jesus flails with tongue, if we do nothing to keep it from happening again?
      Three more. Think of them when you see the three crosses of Calvary this week.

For more on these three victims, here is a link to a New York Times article on them:  here