It is important, even necessary, for us to feel valued. Feeling worthless is a terrible burden, it can be a crippling disability. One of the antidotes to such feelings is identifying with a group. Our value comes not from our individual worth but from the group. I’m valued because I’m a …
That identity might be defined in many ways – by place of origin, how or where I was educated, the job I do, the music I follow, my political views, my gender, my position in a family, some combination of all the above. Faced with the question “who am I” we almost certainly will answer in terms of some version of these categories.
In the history of the Israelites, “the people of God”, identifying with that group was fundamental. The stories they told were focused around how they were different, called, recognized, and indeed loved. Many of their great spiritual leaders, prophets, called them to reexamine that identity, to recommit to it, to be worthy of the relationship they had with their God.
Then came Isaiah. Yes he asked them to be aware of that relationship, but rather than emphasize their difference from others who didn’t have that relationship he spoke of how God was seeking that relationship with everyone. That relationship wasn’t a mark of distinction, a source of value, an antidote to feeling worthless, for the few – it was available to everyone (Isaiah 66:18-21).
Jesus made the point even more strongly (Luke 13:22-30). Claiming that relationship means nothing, it creates no value, you can just as well find yourself on the outside – the group that you thought gave you your identity, your value, is a distraction, a mirage. “He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.'” Others who you thought were on the outside are in fact on the inside: “people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.”
The same dynamic that affected the Israelites, people of God, has also infected those that claim to be Christian, or Catholic, or loyal Catholics, or true Catholics, throughout the ages. Jesus warns us that our relationship with God doesn’t come from being members of some group, however we define it. He challenges us to “enter by the narrow way” – we have as single, unremarkable, even valueless, individuals to commit to a relationship with our father. The narrow way we enter alone, accepting that we do nothing to earn or justify or qualify for the love of God. No group membership gets us access. Entering alone requires strength, not the strength of numbers, not the strength of community identification, but the strength of humility, the strength to accept our lack of value, the very problem we started with. “Lord depart from me, I am a sinner” Peter said when he finally recognized the power of Jesus.
In that strength of accepting our weakness we are reborn with the value we have as unique, individual, children of God.